One of the best skills in life is being able to make the most of what you’ve got.
Look to any entrepreneur, businessperson, leader, manager, or sportsperson, and they’ll tell you it’s not easy to get to the top.
And it’s even harder to stay there.
The reality is that hard work will always beat talent if talent doesn’t work hard – I know it’s a cliché, but it’s absolutely true.
And when we talk about maximising the potential and making the most of what you’ve got, what does that mean?
Well, in business it means looking to your existing customers.
I’ll let you in on a secret… the easiest way to get new business is to get your existing customers to buy again or purchase new stuff.
OR to get them to refer a new customer to you.
Why I hear you ask?
Because they’re already a customer. They already trust and love you.
Building An ‘Existing Customers’ Community
I can’t think of too many business models that don’t think about upselling, cross-selling or repeat business opportunities.
Think about it – there’s a time limit on some purchases. Sometimes they’re short, and sometimes they’re extended.
Cars, weddings, and kitchens, for example. BUT even in these markets, there are complementary opportunities to be explored.
Weddings are supposed to be a ‘once in a lifetime’ event – but the reality is, 50% of the time, they’re not. Okay, I know that’s a little bit pessimistic.
But on a more positive note, there’s anniversaries, celebrations, and possibly even the pitter-patter of tiny feet at some point too.
Where Is Repeat Business More Prevalent?
In most sectors, however, there’s a more regular need. It’s more repeatable, and as long as it’s managed well, then it’s REALLY easy to maintain.
It’s a common joke that gym memberships spike in January and the direct debit has usually been binned off by Easter… but it’s also true.
Gyms, fitness coaches, and personal trainers are all completely aware that their business is cyclical.
And the same is true of any coaching, tutoring, or support-led business. That’s why they tend to be on a subscription, pay-monthly, or limited-time contract basis.
Sure, customers might say ‘sorry, that’s the end of the road for me’ – but it’s not the end of the world. Even if it’s not what you want.
Importantly, though, that doesn’t have to be the end of the relationship.
In fact, it shouldn’t be.
How Do Other Businesses Ensure Repeat Purchases?
You’ve seen it a million times before, but you might not have given it a thought.
Take a look in your wallet or purse – how many loyalty, reward, or store cards have you got?
Tesco’s Clubcard gets you exclusive discounts, Sainsbury’s Nectar card offers tailored prices, offers, and discounts, and Asda have introduced their own rewards system.
Supermarkets and stores aren’t stupid.
Starbucks does this right. Every year, you get a free drink on your birthday. What’s not to love?!
It’s simple and effective. Why? Because you need to have a Starbucks reward card/app to register for your birthday freebie. Then Starbucks can capture customer contact info and they can market to their customers in a much more specific manner.
And it gets repeat business too. IN FACT, Starbucks app users are 5.6 times more likely to visit a Starbucks store EVERY DAY, according to Numerator.
Data gathered by the app, and reported by Numerator, also found that 71% of Starbucks app users were visiting a store at least once a week.
It’s not because they want to give away even more of their tight margins – it’s because they’ve developed a system.
It’s highly sophisticated and allows them to capture, measure, segment, and manipulate the communications, offers, and literature that arrive at your door and in your inbox.
If you go to order an item, then the system will calculate that you might also need complementary products.
So, if you’ve just added a phone to your basket, you might also be interested in phone cases, earphones, and an additional charging cable.
Imagine the millions of customers that walk through the doors of leading stores every week. Now think of the thousands of products in every store that can fulfil the demand.
Sounds incredibly complex, doesn’t it?
Well, good news – it’s not!
Sure, in a system that’s so in-depth, there will be people checking, measuring, and tweaking data every day. But in general, it works on its own.
And that effort alone is why huge national chains can maintain their position in the price, service, and branding battles of modern retail.
What else do they do?
One of the easiest wins for a lot of businesses is to find ways to stay in their customers’ thoughts.
Once they leave the store, complete the transaction, or subscribe, it’s up to you to make sure they remember you.
The solution for many businesses is to invest in free promotional material – which can be successful if it’s properly thought out, well-timed, and the material is practical and useful.
It’s a great way to say ‘thank you’ or ‘welcome’ to a client – think, if you’re coming to the end of an agreement, then a pen and a diary arrive at their door, complete with a note saying thank you for your time together, that’s immediately putting the relationship in a positive frame of mind.
What About Referrals?
When you think about your own life and the products and services you’ve been thinking about exchanging your hard-earned cash for, what comes to mind?
Because I think about what motivated me to purchase.
And more often than not, the reality is that I trust my friends more than I do the words on a website or the reviews on Google, Amazon, or wherever they might be.
Which is why referrals are one of the greatest tools in every business’s arsenal.
In fact, the only easier way to generate sales is through repeat orders from satisfied customers.
And all it takes is a little incentive – to make it worth your while.
Referred leads are the crème de la crème of leads because they’re coming straight to you after someone who loves what you do recommends you to them.
They need barely any convincing to get them over the line, making them
the perfect lead, and yet most businesses never even try to access them.
And all you need to do to find more of them is create an effective referral
generating system. All the best ones are made up of three key steps:
- Step 1: Providing great service
- Step 2: Providing incentives for sharing
- Step 3: Capturing the referrals
The incentive can be anything from a £50 gift voucher for every converted referral to an upgrade to your premium service for 12 months or even a 50% off voucher.
Whatever it is, it needs to be attractive, and it must make it worth their while to make the effort to recommend someone to you.
And this is where automation steps in.
How Do I Automate Referrals and Repeat Purchasing?
The reality is if you don’t love your customers automatically, someone else will.
What I mean by that, of course, is love them through automation – a process-driven system.
You probably won’t need a system that’s anywhere near as complex as many large businesses operate…
But if you want to maximise the longevity of those relationships, you HAVE TO HAVE A PROCESS!
Because the thing is, complexity is easy when the health of your business depends on it.
The good news is that A LOT of these things can be automated in Keap… and we’re specialists in Keap, Infusionsoft, and all things related!
We can help you implement automation through Keap, train you on maintaining your system, and assist you wherever you need it.
Our proven approach to implementation reduces the time it takes for you to start enjoying the benefits.
Our training helps you understand how to get benefits from the technology, not just which buttons you should be clicking.
And our assistance means we’re always there with fast answers, done-with-you, and done-for-you assistance to drive your business forward so that you can jump straight to the next level.
Whether you’re looking to set up a process for repeat purchases, referrals, or both, you can automate your process or offer. That means all of the data is collated, the emails are distributed, and everything happens without you needing to manually handle every single step.