A sad, but all-too-common, scenario: businesses knock themselves out trying to gain new customers, while practically ignoring their current customers.  How short-sighted is this?  We all know it costs six to ten times more to bring in new customers than it does to serve existing ones.   Yet businesses continually incent their sales teams to bring in the shiny, new customers, while serving the tried and true customers often gets taken for granted.

Prospective new customers need to be convinced.  If they initially bought from you on a whim, chances are they will also buy from your competitors on a whim, unless you give them a sound reason for staying with you.  Haphazard buying occurs every day in a perfect storm of right place / right time, but you really can't count on it as a growth strategy.

Your current customer, however, has already made that big decision, which is whether to even buy from you.  Assuming that the interaction was positive, and the product or service they received from you was of good quality, and the price you charged was fair, you have already achieved several points in your favor.  You have a track record with the customer.  You are a known quantity, and your chance for repeat business is greatly increased. 

Now you must leverage your advantageous position, but not all at once...

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