4 Surefire Ways to Get More Sales from Current Customers

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Everyone needs customers, and while new customers are always great, sometimes it makes more sense to target your already loyal customer base. A huge benefit of marketing additional services to your current client base is that they already know you. You’ve already spent the blood, sweat and tears to convert them. The time and effort expended to sell an additional service to this audience will be considerably less than trying to attract new customers. And if that isn’t enough incentive, according to Inc. Magazine, the average spend of a repeat customer is a whopping 67 percent more than a new one. How’s that for motivation?

So, how do you go about upselling your current customers? Below you’ll find a few tips and ideas to help you improve your bottom line by marketing new services to this group.

1. Sell a service customers are asking for.

The best way to know what customers want is to listen to what they are telling you. No matter what business you are in, you are bound to get some type of feedback or request for assistance with something. Go back through customer emails and see if you can spot similar requests. Is there a way you can develop a new product or service to address those needs? For instance, if you’re a web designer, many clients need hosting. If you’re able to work out a special package or even a referral fee for another company, that could add up to a considerable chunk of change for very little effort.

2. Be timely.

When changes happen in the marketplace, there’s often a short window of time for the quick thinker to capitalize on the shift. For instance, when Facebook forced timeline changes on Fan Pages, those Pages immediately needed a large image to make their page look good. Graphic designers who were on top of things offered special prices to create these graphics for their current clients. Make sure you stay on top of upcoming changes in your industry to look for unique opportunities to be first to market.

3. Keep in touch.

Just because someone may not be in the market for all of your services at the original point of sale, it doesn’t mean they won’t be indefinitely. Every so often, make sure to keep in touch with your client base to see how things are going and if there are any areas where you can help make their lives easier. If you keep a good relationship with your customer base, they will often tell you exactly what’s troubling them. This is a long-term practice that definitely pays off.

4. Develop products or services with upsell potential.

The best way to make sure you can keep selling to your customer base is to make sure your base product or service has additional opportunities built into it. Florists, for example, can upsell by adding chocolates, candies or delivery services to their base flower products. A consultant can host special webinars or provide specialized reports that can help educate their client base. A hosting company can provide site backup or website security services as an extended service. The more you think about it, the more opportunities you’ll find!