No matter what type of business you operate, you will want to attract the best pool of prospects possible to help grow your operation. You can spend many hours identifying the various profiles of your ideal targets and we are not saying that is not useful but, quite frankly, you should already know who your best leads are. Who are they, you ask? Your existing customers!

What makes this the case?

• Existing Customers are Qualified
  People who have already done business with you have an established need or desire for your products or services. Right there, they are set apart from all other prospects. Add to that the fact that at least on one occasion, they have chosen your business over a competitor’s business. That moves them up the qualified prospect ranking even further.
• Familiarity is Golden
  By and large, human beings are creatures of habit and given the chance to select between something familiar and something new, the familiar will win out more often than not. The comfort level that comes with knowing what to expect is something that most people appreciate at some level.This concept translates over to your business and means that the very fact that your existing customers know you and what you offer gives you a better chance of being selected again in the future. We are not trying to say that people are inherently lazy so much as they appreciate businesses that make their life and their choices easier. When tired at the end of a long day, a person is more apt to choose a restaurant where they know the menu and atmosphere versus one about which they are unfamiliar. The former would simply be more relaxing.
•  The Path of Least Resistance Is Preferred
  Going off of the previous point, one thing that can make an interaction with a business more common is the simple fact that it is a known entity. Customers that know how you operate and what you offer have to work less when interacting with you than they would with a business with which they are unfamiliar.

Once you truly understand the power that exists in understanding your customer base that already exists, you should make a commitment to harness its potential. Nurturing your customers, inviting them to re-engage with you—repeatedly—is one of the most critical elements to your ultimate success.

Certainly some of your marketing efforts must always remain focused on attracting new customers—few businesses can truly ever have too many customers—but soliciting new business while virtually ignoring the business you already have is a fast track to mediocrity at best.