You can spend hours a day looking for new customers. Where do you look? You Google sometimes, or go through the yellow pages – online you might post in Facebook or tweet a statement or two, and when the day is done, nothing!
The trick is to market to past customers. I use Act, a customer relationship management software, which allows me to filter, sort, and target specific clients. You could use QuickBooks or a good accounting software package to achieve the same results.
After I grouped the customers into a category, I sent an email blast to these former clients asking them two things, 1) if they know of anybody having a wedding, would they please pass along my new wedding page (which I included), and 2) Is anything happening at work for April 25, Bring your Son and Daughter to Work day?
The responses I received were “Thanks, I’ll pass it on”, from those who knew of people having weddings. Country clubs responded with, “Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind” or “I’m checking. If so, I will let you know right away. Thank you for planting the seed.” Another client said ” We are trying to get a date for bring your kid to work. There will be a meeting by next Tuesday to determine the date. This may be pushed to early May.”
Did I get any work from this… not yet! However, sending out a 356-email blast generated a 2% response, which calculates to seven people responding. I could have spent eight hours trying to find seven good contacts. Instead, in 30-minutes, I generated seven leads. So do not overlook your database of past clients, they are a hidden gold mine.
Did I get some people asking to be removed – yes! Not every client will be a repeat customer. Customers come and go, but when you look at your database, 10% of those clients are the good accounts. These people will say good things about you. The key is to reach out and contact them once in a while. Doing this will generate work.