Scenario: "Dude, we gotta focus on finding new customers. Jillions, here we come. Jillions! Yay!" Or, you could just do something easier and a little sexier:

1. Focus on serving the customers you already have.
2. Find new customers when you've optimized your customer retention.

Why Focusing on Previous Customers Rocks

Imagine a humongous-freakin' wine bucket:

• Day 1: You pour 8-oz. of sweet-mutha-gosh Chateau Petrus wine into the bucket.
• Day 2: You pour another 8-oz. (i.e. 16-oz. total).
• Day 3: And then, you pour another 8-oz. (i.e. 24-oz. total)

Now, imagine Scenario Two with the same humongous-freakin' wine bucket:

• Day 1: You pour 8-oz. of sweet-mutha-gosh Chateau Petrus wine into the bucket.
• Day 2: You empty the bucket. Then, you pour another 8-oz.
• Day 3: You empty the bucket again. Then again, you pour another 8-oz.

You go on a hot date. Which wine bucket would you rather have with you?

If you answered the first scenario: Ding! Ding! Mutha Ding! Ding! -- you'd be one right mutha-badass.

Businesses that focus on the first sale, then dump their customers, are doing what we call:

The-dump-and-find, whacked-out-way-of-doing-business.

As soon as those businesses are finding customers, they're dumping them -- then working just as hard as to find another customer.

Awesome-kick-butt business on the other hand focus retaining customers, then building on top of what they already have.

That helps them in several ways, which we'll explain in two seconds.

Why Retaining Customers Rocks

According to a research study by Bain & Company consultants, an increase of 5% in customer retention can increase your profits by 100%. Why?

1. Your past customers are more receptive to your offerings.
2. You reduce your operating profit margins.
3. You increase your word-of-mouth referrals.
4. You increase profits from every successive transaction.

"But, I sell: ________. I can't figure out how to retain customers. How in the $!%# do I do it?"

Just ask your bad-self this: "What job does my product do for my customers?" People buy your stuff because they want it to provide some-sort-of-solution for them.

• If you sell tires, that could be to keep your customer's car riding like a sexy thang that it was meant to be.
• If you're in the tea business, that could be to keep them healthy, and peaceful, and all the other good shizzle.

"Dude, show me a demonstration!"

You + Logo Design Business

Say your company sells "Logo Designs" for businesses. 99.9% of your customers buy a logo design once.

1. You're running out of cash flow. You need business quickly.
2. You ask your customers: "Why did you buy my logo design?"
3. They tell you: "to increase sales."
4. "Eureka!" You fulfills that job: "increasing sales" -- by improving the credibility of the customer's company.
5. You start selling other stuff to improve a business's credibility: business card design, stationary design, apparel design, corporate identity consulting, etc.
6. More transactions from previous customers, here we come!

Whatever business you're in, remember:

• People don't buy a plane ticket; they buy transportation.
• People don't buy a movie ticket, they buy entertainment.
• People don't buy a newspaper; they buy information.
• People don't buy a book; they buy knowledge.

The key: You're not in the "what you sell" business; you're in the "what job your product provides" business. (And if you need some ideas on what that is, don't hesitate to contact us.) Think of your business as a lifestyle brand for your customers, and you'll start finding innovative ideas to retain your them.

Retain Customers + Adding New Customers = Kick-Ass Recipe to Growing Your Business