Getting And Keeping Profitable Clients Should Be Your Number One Priority

Some analysts say that the major reason for business failure is under-funding… a lack of capital. Others say it’s because of poor business management practices, or because they’ve chosen the wrong location.

And there’s yet, another school that teaches that some businesses are started by the wrong people… that those people lack entrepreneurial skills and foresight. That they would be better off working in the business as technicians or employees rather than trying to run the business.

Many business owners believe that the most important business asset they have somehow has to do with their building, their location, their computers, their staff, the products, policies and services they sell, or the knowledge, managerial abilities and sales skills they may have.

Of course, all of these things are important and will certainly contribute to the success or failure of a business, but they’re not the most important, nor are they the most valuable… not by a long shot.

The Most Important Asset Any Business Has

When you get right down to it the most important business asset any business has, is not their wonderful products, their top-notch sales people, their to-die-for location, or even their state-of-the-art production capabilities. It’s their customers, their clients, their patients, their members… it’s whoever pays for the things the business sells or provides.

If a business were to lose everything they have… their building burns down, their delivery vehicles are stolen, their employees and salespeople leave to go to work for someone else, their facilities are totally destroyed, and their products completely wiped out… as long as they maintain a base of customers or clients to sell to they may still be in business. They can rent another building, lease computers, vehicles and equipment, and even hire staff to replace those they’ve lost.

But if all their clients walked out the door to do business with someone else, all those material things I’ve mentioned are just overhead and continue to cost the company money. So the most important skill a business can have, is knowing how to cost-effectively attract (that’s “acquisition”) and keep (that’s “retention”) an adequate number of loyal and profitable customers.

If your customers are your most important and valuable business asset, then knowing how to cost-effectively attract them in large numbers, then profitably convert them into loyal, renewing or repurchasing customers who will not hesitate in referring others to you, is the most important business skill you can possess.

Your Business’ Number One Priority

The bottom line is, if you really want your business to be successful you’ve got to make getting and keeping profitable customers your number one priority.

And that’s where “Marketing” comes in. Letting others know about what you have in such a way that they are compelled… nearly forced to want to find out more, and then ultimately, pay you for the products and services you offer, and not your competitors.

Properly utilized, effective marketing can skyrocket a business to new and undreamed of heights. Not under-stood or under-utilized, a business can sink like a lead weight. Most businesses… no, not most… every business makes mistakes with their marketing efforts. Some are worse than others, and if done often enough, or severely enough, can put your business out of business.

But it’s not enough to just acquire new business. You’ve got to keep that business on the books and keep your customers coming back again and again to make repeat purchases with you if you want to build a massively successful business.

Business analysts and savvy business owners will tell you that seasoned business… that is, business that you already have on the books or that has purchased from you in the past, is more profitable to sell to than raw new business. In fact, statistics tell us that it’s six to eight times easier to sell to an existing customer than it is to acquire a new customer.

Think about it. When was the last time you heard of a company going out of business because they had too many happy, satisfied customers buying from them? My guess is you never have.

On the other hand, you can probably name quite a few businesses… even very large corporations that are no longer around because they didn’t have enough people making repeat purchases from them and referring others to them.

It bears repeating, that if your customers are the most important business asset you have… and the number one cause of business failure is not being able to attract or retain enough customers, then it stands to reason that the most important business skill you can possess, is knowing how to cost-effectively attract and keep profitable customers.