Consider employing a market research company to analyse what your customer base actually wants to buy. If your product range does not align to their findings, make sure you redesign the products and change the packaging to revitalise sales and meet the customers’ needs. Review the markets demands periodically and listen to feedback from your existing customers to keep your small business offering relevant.

Where do you spend most of your sales time, is it looking for new customers? Shift your modus operandi and throw some resource behind pampering your existing customers. Whether you see it or not, they are your biggest asset and you should work flat out at the rapport you create with one off customers with the view that they may generate repeat business. Always remember too that keeping customers costs your business five times less than trying to get new ones.

Chances are you have a great rapport with your current clients, so ask them to refer your services to their other contacts. If necessary consider incentivising both parties. Get testimonials from them and use them in your own marketing. The most cost efficient and effective way of gaining new customers can be through referrals, especially if you work tirelessly to make the most of them.

Reward customers for loyalty and ensure repeat business. There are many ways to do this, ranging from something as simple as a card or letter at certain times of the year sincerely expressing your thanks for their custom, how much you value them as a customer and by the way is there anything else they need now, to a monetised incentive such as a discount voucher.

Carry out some analysis on your product range and client lists. There is a classic rule, the eighty/twenty rule from Pareto that generally applies. In these contexts it would imply that 80% of your business will come from 20% of your clients and that 80% of your profit will arise from 20% of your products.

This approach works with your client base too, although don’t ignore a small customer with the potential to become a big account.

Make sure you resolve complaints issues promptly and without reticence. If you object and are negative towards a client with a complaint however invalid it is, they will decimate their business with you and spread the word around that you give poor service. The flipside of the coin is that if you don’t quibble, you could end up gaining new business as they recommend you as a business that provides an excellent experience for the customer.

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