Doing research for a new course I'm developing, I ran across a statistic you may find exceptional. We all tend to be so focused on building our client base, getting new business in the door. Knowing that 75% of your business success is determined by your existing clients may give you pause to think about your marketing strategy.

According to Ross Reck, author of “Turn Your Customers Into Your Sales Force”, 25% of our success in business is based on getting a sale from a new client. (Reck uses the term ‘customer’, but, in today’s marketplace we have clients, not customers if we know what’s good for us.)

The other 75% of our business is determined by our existing clients.

25% from repeat business from existing clients; and 50% (yes, 5-0) of our success comes from existing clients recommending and promoting us to their friends, associates and family.

This may not apply so dramatically in every industry, but for service and consumer related businesses it is especially true.

What percentage of your marketing resources, time and dollars, are you allocating to client service? Or, do you even have a budgeted amount for client service at all? If not, you will be well served to reconsider.

One thing you can do right away without any financial outlay is to implement a “Go the extra mile” procedure. I call it this based on Napoleon Hill’s 8th Law of Success, “The Habit of Doing More Than Paid For”. This isn’t talking about giving away the shop, but it is talking about doing more and doing better than what your client expects; you go the extra mile for them.

For example: You have a dry cleaning business and you offer free pick up and delivery service. Let’s say you have a specific time range for your pick up and delivery – 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Your delivery truck breaks down and you aren’t going to be on the road until after 11:00. The extra mile would be to call your clients to tell them! Let them know what happened; that you'll be late and when they can expect to receive their cleaning.

Is getting their dry cleaning late a major issue for your clients? Perhaps, if there’s a special occasion, but probably not. But don’t you think getting a call from you just to let them know about the delay would be nice? Don’t you think they would appreciate it and remember the special effort you took to keep them informed? Necessary? No. Important? Yes. The next time someone asks them about dry cleaning, don't you think they would say something like "You should try _(your name here)_dry cleaners. I use them and they're great."

I came across another article on the same issue, the importance of your clients being your best sales force. The angle this author, Graham McGregor, took was based on using psychology; more specifically, using the “principal of reciprocation”; reciprocation meaning “to mutually give and take” – or – the “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” principal. McGregor called what I mentioned earlier as the “Going the Extra Mile” procedure as "doing your clients ‘favors’". Excuse me? That’s a really egotistical (and expensive) way to look at it, if you ask me. Giving your client the consideration of a phone call, a favor? Mr. McGregor needs to go back to Client Service 101, he seems to have not gotten "it".

The principal of reciprocation is a powerful tool you can use in marketing and I will write more about this in a later BLOG. However, giving a client good service, going the extra mile, shouldn’t be considered doing them a favor; not if 75% of your business success is dependent on them being happy enough with you with buy more from you and to refer others to you.

That’s my opinion. Let me know what you think about this and what you do to keep that 75% of your business strong & successful - and your clients coming back for more.

And don’t forget – you have to BE BOLD in business! Take charge and make it happen. It all starts with a vision.

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