Ideas to Keep a Constant Flow of Customers

Now more important than ever!

Having loyal, repeat customers makes it tempting to hit the brakes on marketing when a business’s capacity gets full.

But what about during a pandemic when a large percentage of your customer base disappears?

Here are four suggestions for keeping your sales funnel full in good times and not-so-good times.

Invest in online marketing. If potential customers are forced to stay home, they’ll likely spend more time watching television and surfing the web. That change provides an opportunity for your business. If you don’t already have an active blog for your business, consider a content marketing campaign to help generate new leads for your sales funnel. Consider offering a free or low-cost webinar that showcases your expertise, products and personality. But be careful, these advertising mediums want you to focus on things like cost per impression. You want to focus on what sales it actually provides your company.

Ramp up word-of-mouth efforts. Take steps to ensure that existing customers are helping your business with word-of-mouth advertising. While most businesses let word-of-mouth advertising happen organically, you could gently nudge your existing customers with a request that referrals are greatly appreciated. To help your customers feel more comfortable sending you referrals, consider asking if they’re happy with the service you’re providing or if there’s anything that could be improved. Explain that you’re putting together a referral program and are trying to gather feedback from existing customers.

Upselling is more important than ever. Attracting new customers during a recession or pandemic is challenging if not impossible. If this is the situation your business is in, the best course of action may be to generate more revenue from your most reliable income source – existing customers. If you don’t have additional products or services to offer, be a consultant for your customers by asking what problems they are trying to solve, then help solve those problems.

Never stop marketing. Find an advertising medium for your business and stick with it. It might be tempting to divert marketing dollars to other activities, but you never know when the next slowdown or recession will occur. It’s always better to try and solve the problem of too much business than not enough and be struggling with cash flow.

As always, we hope you find our tips and news for businesses valuable, and look forward to receiving your feedback. Companies focused on growth have sought the help of Insero & Co. for more than 40 years. During that time they have consistently experienced the peace of mind that comes from knowing their CPA firm takes the concept of integrity seriously. Should you have any questions, please contact us directly.