While growth is a necessary goal, concentration on the acquisition of new customers alone probably won’t sustain any business. Especially as the holiday season rolls in and distractions are everywhere.

So, maybe you should try something else at this point in the year.

Sure, you can put some energy into acquiring new customers but you’ll get a bigger payback from the marketing actions you take on your existing customers.

This includes your inactive customers as well (Stick around; we’ll show you how).

And the holidays are the best time (and excuse) to execute this strategy.

The Shortest Route to Your Next Sale

Your existing customers—the ones who have already spent money with you—are your most fruitful source of future sales. The stats look something like this:

• Probability of selling to a new prospect: 5-20%
• Probability of selling to an existing customer: 60-70%

So who does it make the most sense to spend your marketing dollars on? Without a doubt, it’s your existing customers.

On top of that, it’s cheaper to market to them, since you’ve already acquired them. And It’s also easier because (a) having made a purchase from you, you know they are within your target audience and (b) you have a pretty good idea of the kind of offer they’ll respond to, so there’s less trial and error.

Direct mail postcards are an excellent method of reactivating your “lost” or inactive customers, staying in touch with your active customers, and rewarding your best ones. It’s just a matter of segmenting your list and delivering a tailored message to each.

Get Rediscovered By Your Lost Customers

You probably have a list of inactive customers. It may stretch back several years. Contact them and directly acknowledge that you haven’t heard from them in a while. Ask them straight out if something has changed. “Dear Former Customer,” you might write. “Do you no longer want to receive our offers? Has something changed?”

You could ask them why they went away. Was it poor service? Competitors’ lower price? Another reason? Find out what their objection was and tailor your future messages to handle that objection.

If it was poor service, promise stellar service.

If it was price, offer them a discount to come back.

Continue to make offers that correspond to, and handle, the objection and you will win back those lost customers.

Cement Active Customer Loyalty

With your existing, active customers, the best way to generate more business is to add value. If you’re a service business, offer additional services. Add new or innovative services to your offer to help your customers succeed.

If you sell products, create offers addition products that are complementary to your main offer.

If your customers are other businesses, create offers that promise to help them scale up. Create mutual value.

Reward Your Best Customers

This one is the easiest, of course: Thank them for their loyalty and offer them something to reward that loyalty—a substantial discount, a free month—whatever would really make their day (without putting you out of business).

So there are some suggestions for messaging approaches for the three customer segments: best, active, and inactive.

It’s great to find new customers too, but past customers—inactive or not—are still your most fruitful source of income.

Your source for high-quality, do-it-yourself direct mail postcards is ProspectsPLUS!’s online design, print, and mailing platform at www.prospectsplus.com/pei. Use our customizable design templates to create winning campaigns. Then build or upload a list and mail to it, right from your computer.

Or, if design isn’t your thing, give Opportunity Knocks a call at 1 (866) 319-7109 and talk to one our design and marketing pros about your customers and your sales dreams. They’ll create a postcard marketing campaign to make those dreams come true.