Exploit Your Very Own Gold Mine

I was in a store last night and they had a mailing list sign-up
sheet on the counter. It said "Give us your address so we can
let you know about specials, sales, and news about our store."
Good idea!

Every business owner has a private gold mine just sitting there
and very few seem to be taking advantage of it: their current
customers. We all know how expensive it is to get a new
customer, but how many of us are getting all we can from the
customers we already have? This isn't rocket science; you are
providing a valuable product or service and your current
customers already know and trust you. Be in a position to make
special offers to them to get the biggest bang for your
advertising buck. To do this, you must know who they are and how
to reach them. To do that, create a database that is just for
customers. Anyone who has ever bought anything from you or
inquired should be in it. START NOW, EVEN IF YOU HAVE NO IDEA
HOW YOU WILL USE IT; it takes time to accumulate the data and
enter it. Then, when you decide how to use it you'll be ready to
rock 'n roll!

Collecting the data may be easy or it may not, depending on your
situation. The retail merchant I mentioned earlier only had
walk-in traffic, so they had to ask for the information. There's
nothing wrong with that. It's actually better, because their
customers are ASKING to be sold to! If your business is mail
order, you already have shipping information; be sure you have
their mailing address as well. If you want, you can even keep
track of what they buy, so you can send them specialized
mailings. If you owned a pet store, for example, you could note
whether they buy dog or cat products. Then you could send
specialized mailings for each type of pet.

When you are collecting the data, however, be sure to get their
e-mail address. It costs nothing to ask for it, so ask for it!
Here's why: when you do decide how and when to contact your
customers, you can send e-mail instead of an expensive mailer to
everyone with an e-mail address. You save money on labor,
printing, envelopes, and postage. Plus, it gets there in minutes
instead of days.

What should you send to your list? How about special offers to
get people to come to your store during slow periods, or sales on
slow-moving merchandise? You can start a newsletter; it doesn't
have to be fancy, just keep your name in front of them and give
them something useful such as recipes or "newsy" things
pertaining to your products or services. Give them value.
They'll give you business.

Do not miss this incredible opportunity! Start building your
database now. Trust me, you'll figure out how to use it and when
you do you can be very, very effective in very little time.