| | | |

Reaching Out to Past Clients Is Worth the Effort, Don’t Let Your Competition Steal Them

Bylori

Finding new leads and cultivating them into customers is a necessary process, but it shouldn’t be the only method you use to keep the revenue flowing. Your past customers are also a rich source of potential sales, one that will take less commitment of resources and effort to reacquire. By reaching out to past clients, you’ll be able to find out what they currently need and how you can provide it for them.

You can improve the effectiveness of reaching out to past clients by:

  • Maintaining an up-to-date client database: A client database is your most effective tool in keeping track of current customers and reconnecting with past clients. You can keep useful demographic data on customers in this database, such as name, address, product or service needs, purchases that have been made, and dates of last purchases or contact. By combining your database with a CRM program, you’ll be able to establish thresholds and know when it’s time to reconnect with an old customer.
  • Determining if old customers are still valid customers: Some of the past clients in your database may not be valid customers anymore. Their needs and wants may have changed significantly, they may no longer be in the geographical area you serve, or your previous experiences with them may indicate they consume too many resources for too little return. Your own product and service offerings may have changed so significantly that they’re no longer relevant to customers you once served.
  • Communicating with prior clients: Make a phone call and talk with past customers individually. This will give you the chance to find out their prior experiences with your company and what you can do to reclaim their business. Present old customers with an exclusive offer if they purchase from you again. Keep your company in their awarenessby sending out emails, newsletters, physical mailings, coupons or other promotional pieces and information.

Do you have the right information and techniques in place to support reaching out to past clients? What can you do to improve the chances of recapturing former customers and making them active again?

Image via Shutterstock.com