Offer your customers what they want, sound simple but is often overlooked in small business. Go through the process of finding out what your customers actually want to buy and if necessary redesign and repackage your product to suit exactly what they require. This is not a one stop exercise, continue to review your offering periodically though market research and listening to customer feedback.

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.

Encourage customers to refer your business to prospective new clients. This is by far the most potent and certainly cost effective way of marketing yourself with the objective of gaining new business. Follow up on referrals fast, politely and with relentless focus to maximise the return from the exercise. Consider incentivising the referrals for both parties if it leads to a sale.

One easy way to remind customers of your existence and generate good will and loyalty is to send out thank you letters. These should sincerely detail your thanks for their business and express how much value you put in their business. Another way to reward loyal customers is by offering a discount from their next purchase.

Know your business inside out, especially the 80:20 rule. The Pareto principle states that 80 per cent of your profits will come from 20 per cent of your product range. Have a look at your offering and carry out some basic analysis to see if this is the case, and prune down poorly performing items and increase activity on the profitable lines.

If this applies, streamline your business to capitalise on the results. Make sure you leave small clients room to grow!

Do you have a policy to resolve conflict with customers if they complain about an element of your service. If not, create one. Don’t react in a negative manner to complaints, instead offer a fast and relevant resolution that makes the customers experience absolutely perfect. They will then recommend you in the market positively. The damage done through word of mouth from a customer detailing a bad experience is too severe to contemplate.

Thank you for enjoying our information on small business. You can get more tips about small business at Helpnets.com today. Helpnets is your free network of online help for a variety of topics.