Over the past six months we’ve been discussing the essential secrets for business owners who want to market themselves effectively, derived from The 16 Monumental Secrets of Guerilla Marketing presented by Jay Conrad Levinson in his national bestseller Guerilla Marketing—and there are still many  secrets to explore in 2015!  The next principle is something that I consider to be crucial to maintaining a thriving business, yet commonly overlooked:  Continue to market yourself to your clients subsequent to the sale.

Or in Levinson’s words, “It’s the marketing done subsequent to the sale that leads to the juicy profits.”  (Consider this:  Levinson follows this statement up with asserting that it costs six times more to sell a product or a service to a new customer than it does to an existing customer.)

It’s all about reaffirming the great choices they’ve made.  While your clients have already made the decision to do business with you, they always have the option to change their minds.  As consumers we have the power to choose who, what, when, where, why and how with respect to spending our money, it’s as simple as that.  Your clients also continue to choose to keep their business with you—but it’s mission critical to remind them why they made that choice and to reinforce that it was, in fact, a decision well made.  Along the same lines, there’s always the chance that they may choose to do more business with you in the future.  You want to be the first option that comes to mind as often as you are relevant to the conversation, period.  When your clients think of you as a valuable resource, your brand is elevated to one that is trusted among members of your community. It’s a win-win scenario.

Furthermore, loyalty is honorable but competitive advantage is undeniable.  You can be sure that your competition is out there trying to turn your existing customers into their new customers.  Your continued marketing builds a fence around your existing customers.  Marketing is not only a way to educate your audience about your competitive advantage; to positively and proactively influence their choice between you and your competition, but also subsequently to keep them as your customers.

I touched on this a few months ago when I emphasized the importance of consistency in your marketing efforts:  Visibility is POWERFUL; it’s the key to staying top-of-mind.  Staying visible among your existing clients is just as important as staying visible in your marketplace to attract new clients whenever they need what you have to offer.  One of the best ways to stay visible and market to existing clients, while showing potential clients evidence of how they’d be treated after the sale should they choose to do business with you, is anything that ties into customer appreciation.  Over the years, time after time, I’ve seen the adverse effects of “marketing campaign standstill,” or when a desired amount of clients or sales are garnered, marketing is then considered to be no longer essential. It’s truly painful to see all of the progress wiped away when marketing efforts are abandoned once a perceived level of success has been achieved—once you’re no longer visible, you’ll be forgotten, no matter how much you’ve dedicated yourself to the marketing efforts that led to your success in the first place.  It’s not your client’s fault that you don’t come to mind first, if at all–it’s yours.

You can count on the fact that what you do for your clients subsequent to the sale is what will continue to keep them.  Efforts aimed at retention and simply delivering the promises you made when getting the initial sale speaks volumes about your business—and through marketing efforts focused on existing clients, you are also establishing and solidifying your credibility by staying the course and continuing to market yourself subsequent to the sale.  While we should always be striving to attract new clients with our offerings—and in how we market ourselves, of course!—it is actually how we market to our existing clients that is of the utmost importance as it can prove to be far more rewarding and profitable.


by Paige Zutavern

Paige@StrictlyBusinessOmaha.com

402-730-0096