Small Businesses Smarts

Have you ever seen a deal or an offer that was for "new customers only" at a large company?  Does that make any sense?  How much money do you think it cost that company to generate the marketing for that event, and how many of their loyal customers do you think they made angry enough to go somewhere else?

Most small business owners are at least fairly conciencious about their customers' loyalty.  Some better than others.  We would argue though, that if any small business is putting more effort into getting new customers than they are in keeping their current customers happy, (even just a little more) than they're missing out big time.

Let's examine.

Which of these two transactions would you say generates more profit: a new customer buying product X once, or an existing customer buying product X once.  Easy, right?  The answer is that both transactions generate the exact same amount of profit.  

Which of these two initiatives costs more and takes more effort: talking to current customers and making sure you're they're in a position to likely continue buying from you, or trying to get the attention of new ones that don't hate being bothered by ads and salesman, and that don't know you from Adam?

I probably don't need to mention how much advertisement we're force-fed every day.

Our current customers are already paying attention.  Send them the right message, and they'll not only keep your doors open, but they'll cut down your need for marketing by doing ot for you.  And that, ladies and gentleman, is the lesson.