Marketing Secrets #101- Your Most Important Sale
Which sale is the most important one you will ever get from a client?
I'll bet you're thinking it's your first sale with a new client. Well, it's not. It's surprising to find out that a second-time buyer is at least twice as likely to buy from you again, when compared to a first-time buyer.
The second-time client will usually buy again because you have proved that you add value to his/her life. The customer who has had his/her wants and needs fulfilled comes back for more.
It's very important to know where your profits will be made. They are either made on the 'front end,' at the time of the first sale, or they are made on additional, 'back-end' sales.
Are your products/services the type that will result in repeat business? If so, your initial sale could be small, but be designed to lead to many larger and more profitable sales.
Most businesses profit more from additional sales than they do from first sales. For that reason, it's important to know whether you want a customer for the long term or if you're making a 'one-shot' sale.
Is your marketing designed to generate additional sales, or is your focus more 'single sale' oriented?
QUOTE: 'Wisdom is knowing what to do next, skill is knowing how to do it, and virtue is doing it.' - David Starr Jordan
Although 'back-end' sales are vital to the survival of most businesses, one of the biggest mistakes that many businesses make is NOT capturing valuable client information so that they know which customers are returning to buy again.
If you don't keep client information showing which customers are coming back to you, then you can't use this information to stay in contact with them and sell them more products/services.
I have gone into a local hobby store several times during the last three weeks. Do you think they have ever asked me for any of my contact information? Do you think they are keeping track of the models or supplies that I have been purchasing?
Over the course of these three weeks I have easily spent at least $200.00 on various products/services for my son. You would think that they would want to make sure I had a good reason to come back.
Now, if they had asked for my info and tracked the types of things I had purchased, they could then mail (or email) me marketing offers relating to what I had been buying.
If they had my contact information, then they could let me know about upcoming sales or special offers. And if they haven't got my information, then they probably don't have information on other customers either.
The point I'm making here is that by not capturing this information, they may be leaving a lot of money out of their cash register.
QUOTE: 'Autumn is a second spring where every leaf is a flower.' - Albert Camus
Many businesses are not overly concerned with making a profit on the first sale to a new client because they have calculated that their profits will come from future sales.
In other words, they know that they will profit from repeat sales to existing clients. If you know that one out of every three customers who makes a purchase from your business will purchase repeatedly, you can take a reasonable loss on your first sale.
The key is getting them in the door the first time. If you can do that, then you know that you will profit in the future. So some of your marketing efforts should be designed to 'hook' the first time buyer.
But it is equally important that some of your marketing efforts are designed to bring repeat customers back to you.
Does your marketing strategy include efforts to both bring in new customers and keep the 'back-end' sales coming in?
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Sanford Jay Barris is the president of Business Marketing Services and the author of '97 Marketing Secrets to Make More Money: Your Secret Guide to Growing Your Business Right'
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