“How to grow and keep growing my business?” Is the question every small business survivor keeps asking himself. The good news? Look after your existing customers and the business will look after itself …

No matter how long you’ve been in business, how small or large your business or whether you’re a new start-up, the secret to survival and growing your business lies in the worth and value of your customers. It’s as elementary as that.

Look at it this way … Customers who have bought from you before and came back for more and more can almost qualify to be added to your business’ asset register. Think about it again. That is exactly what loyal customers are – an asset to your business and should be treated as such!

Consumers choose brands like they choose friends. Treat your customers like good friends and you’ll have customers for life. What’s more, they will flaunt their friendship status and tell their friends about your brand and so doing your loyal customer base and sales keeps growing happily ever after.

So. Stop chasing after the next big client, don’t hide the light under the bushel, start building your loyal customer list or database and rather than spending lots of money on ‘wooing new customers’ invest a fraction of your new business budget by focusing, or ‘working’ your hard-won, satisfied loyal customers.

Don’t bargain on their loyalty, show them you care and value their support and turn them into loyal customers through smart profiling and targeted communication. Start by finding out and recognizing the family birthdays, the children’s and pets’ names. People enjoy it when others show an interest in their lives (without intruding or invading their private space) – a birthday or anniversary wish; a well-done message and other little touches will go a long way to building a beautiful and long lasting mutually beneficial relationship.

From there on it becomes plain sailing with knowledge of their likes and needs, how you can add quality to the family’s lives with the view to offer them the products and services they are really need as opposed to what you want to sell.

The old expression ‘you can’t sell a man who isn’t listening’ holds true – what’s the point of offering a red wine drinker a sweet rosé – and don’t always sell the client, tell them – add value to their lives. Show you know them, that you care and can add quality to their lives.

As another saying goes ‘slowly slowly catch the monkey …’ With a little bit of care and showing an interest in more than just their wallets before you know you have a happy spending customer on your books!

Retaining loyal customers is critical to growing your business. It’s a known fact that 20% of your clients will be loyal and contribute 80% to your sales and profits; and 5% increase in customer retention can translate to a 25 – 50% jump in profits.

Last word: loyal customers are earned by paying attention to doing things that matter most to them. It’s what big business call Customer Relationship Management but in small business we believe ‘All lasting business is built on friendship’.

Original article from themediagenius.com