Find the Goldmine Within Your Business

Doing a current customer breakdown can help you find the goldmine within your business by determining who you should be targeting in your marketing efforts in the future. There is a goldmine right there and you may or may not see it?it's your customer base! But is it all of them? No ? definitely not. Then what the heck am I talking about?

You probably already have some great customers, probably not as many as you would like though. So how do you go about finding more of the kind of customers that make opening your doors worthwhile every day? The first step is to find out everything you can about the customers that you do have. Here's how to start:

1. Get Accurate Sales Numbers - How do you determine what a "good customer" is? More than likely it is a loyal customer who keeps coming back to spend money with your business. This is why the first step you take should be to determine how many sales each customer has and what total income each customer has provided you.

2. Decide What You Consider "Good" - Is your product or service a one shot deal? Or can your customers come back again and again? If they can come back, you'll want to find out their average order or purchase size in a dollar amount and also how many times they've purchased... You'll see that they'll fall into categories. Maybe 10% are big spenders but 30% purchase consistently. Obviously this will vary depending on what type of business you have. If you sell a product or service where it is unlikely your customer will need you again, figure out what range of purchase size makes up most of your income.

It really varies from business to business. For instance, if you're a Realtor you may sell many more homes between 100 and 200 thousand, but most of your actual income came from one giant purchase... Maybe a 2 million dollar home... You don't want to ignore your bread and butter. In this case, I would recommend marketing to the "bread and butter" public. So you see, you really need to evaluate your industry.

3. Once you've determined which are the best customers (the kind you'd like all the others to emulate) and have gotten all information concerning their purchasing habits with you: Find out how they found you, where they live, what they do for a living and even what their level of income is (if it can be tactfully worked into the conversation). It's good to get this information when the customers are making their purchase because they will be more likely to give it to you. If you keep customer phone numbers you could even do a short survey by phone to find out most of this info.

4. Look for Patterns - When you gather all of the information you may notice that 35% of your best customers are doctors, or 50% of them come from one area of the city. Whatever the pattern is that you notice, take advantage of it. Do specific mailings to a list that fits the same description as your best customers and you will attract more of them. A list company can find you a list that best fits so that you are mailing to those companies or individuals that are most likely to purchase.

Follow these steps and you will be able to increase you Return On Investment (ROI) from all of your marketing programs. And remember, Return On Investment is how much income you are generating from the leads you get in from your direct mail marketing campaign.

Marketing your business will help it grow, marketing your business to the right people can get your business booming. So, tap into your goldmine!

Joy Gendusa founded PostcardMania in 1998, her only assets a computer and a phone. By 2004 the company did close to $9 million in sales and employed over 60 people. She attributes her explosive growth to her ability to choose incredible staff and her innate marketing savvy. Now she's sharing her marketing secrets with others. For more free marketing advice, visit her website at http://www.postcardmania.com



Lessons From a Six Year Old

My 6 year old daughter Emily knows exactly what she... Read More

Communicating Our Attitude

The goal of successful marketing is to create long lasting... Read More

How to Save Time and Achieve More by Creating High-Leverage Marketing Assets

The single biggest, non-renewable asset you have is your time.... Read More

How Would You Handle This?

We have been talking about choosing groups to participate in... Read More

Mail Can Make You Money

Are you still waiting for business to turn around before... Read More

Demographics For the Masses

Information is the lifeblood of the economy. That's especially true... Read More

How to Turn Your Marketing Into a Money-Making Machine - Preparing for Marketing That Yields Results

The usual complaint from companies is that Marketing simply does... Read More

How Much Is Your Popcorn Worth? Powerful Lessons In Marketing & The Psychology Of Selling - Part 4

Let's continue to discuss the various marketing principles that are... Read More

Natural Marketing for Full Business Success

Is your mind muddy on marketing? Do you wake up... Read More

URL Everywhere? Offline Marketing For Online Success

Your URL (www) should be everywhere and more.I know many... Read More

4 Alternative Ways To Gain Lifetime Customers

You will always have more people that turn down your... Read More

Are You Overlooking Your Hidden Profit Centers?

There are other names given to "Back-End Selling". You may... Read More

One-Two-Three Punch Marketing

Printed material is just as important today as it was... Read More

Do Not Consider Running the Same Yellow Page Ad until You Read This

Grant Businesses have a love-hate relationship with the Yellow Page... Read More

Optimizing Your Email Marketing

Email CampaignsEmail marketing can be a tremendously valuable tool for... Read More

How A Tiny 10 Year Old Girl Can Throw A 20 Stone Man - 3 Key Lessons In The Gentle Art Of Business

Half my immediate family trained in Judo and excelled in... Read More

How to Add Warmth, Color & Texture to Your Advertisements

"?A powerful agent is the right word?" --Mark TwainAnd what... Read More

There?s More to Marketing ROI (return on investment) Than Meets the Eye

All too often people look at marketing ROI in terms... Read More

Ten Tips for Creating a Winning Proposal ? Part 1

If you want your business to grow and attract new... Read More

Private Practice Marketing: 3 More Things I Wish I Knew When I First Started

1) Create systemsCreate systems for everything you do, especially those... Read More

How to Run a Successful News Release Program

Marketing public relations gives you cost effective ways to reach... Read More

Pricing Strategies in Marketing

Price is an often overlooked marketing strategy, as many tend... Read More

Marketing Copy - Brand Identity Guru

Tips on writing great copy for your marketing efforts.It's just... Read More

Non-Aggressive Marketing Ideas for Enterpreneurs

Do you cringe at the thought of trying to promote... Read More

Corporate Branding and Trade Shows - 8 Tips for Marketing Managers

Trade shows are part of the marketing mix and the... Read More

If you'd like to keep up-to-date,
please complete the form below and we'll put you on the mailing list
to receive our twice-yearly newsletter for supporters

* Your email address:
* choes your language: