When you think of growing your business or of increasing your profits, do you immediately think of finding new clients? If so you are not alone.

Obviously if you are a start-up, bringing in new clients is likely to be a preoccupation for you. However, StreetSmart Marketers know that bringing in new customers is a most time consuming and expensive way for any organization to increase their profits.  They look for ways to grow without spending gobs of money on expensive marketing campaigns.

Their first focus is on maximizing their customer database. They know that the database consists of new prospects not yet sold, existing customers to whom you can sell more and past customers who are not currently buying from you, plus a certain number of incorrect records.

The names of those people who you haven't serviced or sold to in the last few years represent one of your most valuable assets and an almost instant path to sales.

Many of us wrongly assume that past customers no longer buy from us because we have upset them in some way, however many customers stop buying for other reasons:

• Their needs changed and they haven't thought about you as a supplier for their current needs
• They forgot about you
• They are busy and haven't gotten round to contacting you
• They are simply procrastinating
• They think they can’t afford what you sell

There are as many reasons as there are clients, but each group represents a path to immediate sales.  Each issue will require a slightly different approach, so you should experiment with a variety of different approaches to bring them in. Try writing letters with interesting offers to bring them back, try following up with individual telephone calls to each lapsed client. When you find a way that works keep repeating it.

One key to getting a great response from these kinds of letters and calls is intimacy. I believe it is one of the most overlooked strategies in not only professional services marketing but all marketing.  So whatever you say or write, build caring into your promotional activities and materials. Make sure that your USP (Unique Selling Proposition) figures prominently.

If you build caring into your marketing over time, by using personal language such as gentle, kind and caring you will build empathy with your clients and this will result in long term loyalty. Long term loyalty is the best source of profit I know.

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