Why Your Loyal Customers Rock

Most B2B businesses that are looking for help from marketing are looking for new leads. They want help to acquire more new customers to grow their revenue.

What's interesting to me is when I work with clients and look closer at their businesses, most of them actually have more opportunity from expanding their existing clients - or keeping their existing clients - than they do from finding new ones.

One client hired me to help him grow his revenue. He was convinced that success was about finding new clients.

We did the analysis and found that 90% of his future revenue growth opportunity was with his existing client base. That totally changed his approach to marketing and how he invested to grow his business.

Here are three ways that your current customers may be your biggest opportunity:

They are your best leads

Your existing customers are your best leads.

I'm going to share several stats in this video from an infographic created by Constant Contact, Nice job, Constant Contact!

One statistic: An existing customer costs one fifth as much to acquire (to get them to buy again) than it costs to acquire a new customer.

Another: An existing customer converts at a rate five times higher than a new customer converts.

They are your best revenue

Existing customers are also your best source of high-margin revenue.

You have put an investment into them already. And they are "down the path" as a user. They are spending and investing in you more than other clients.

The averages say that 80% of future profits come from 20% of your current customer base. In addtion, increasing your retention rate 5% increases your profitability 75%.

Existing customers spend more, cost less and have the potential to share the good news about what you do with others.

They are your best sales team

Which brings me to the third point: existing customers are your best sales team.

Having an advocate - a fan - in your market that's shouting your praises and sharing what you've done for them is gold. It's magnitudes better in influence and value in helping you acquire new customers than anything your sales team can do.

There doesn't have to be very many of them to move the needle. Bust a couple of these active advocates will make a huge difference in your business.

Also, statistics say that repeat customers refer 50% more people to your business than one-time purchasers.

I encourage you to take some time and make sure you really understand the dynamics and the potential of your existing customer base.

• What is it that triggers them to buy again from you?

• How often will they buy from you?

• How long will they stay your customer?

• What triggers them to leave to go somewhere else?

Doing what you need to do to nderstand these things is time and money well spent.

You might be surprised at how much that will change the trajectory of your business.