So you’ve been running your business for a while, delivering your coaching, consulting or training services to a growing number of clients. You’re even getting the hang of promoting your business and attracting new prospects and customers. Just when you think you’ve got it all sorted, you suddenly notice another problem. You’re losing clients! Those clients that you worked so hard to win aren’t sticking around for very long. You thought that once you’d persuaded them to become clients, they would stay with you for life. But they’re leaving sooner than you expected. That’s not good for your cash flow or your morale.

What’s gone wrong?

They say that it costs a lot less to sell something to an existing client than to win a new one. I’ve not seen any actual numbers to prove this, but I do know that building a following of loyal clients, who stay with you and who keep buying from you, is a much easier way to run a sustainable, profitable business.

There are basically four ways to grow a business, as shown in the table below.

• Strategy 1 is about promoting your existing services to your existing clients. It’s about encouraging them to buy more from you, such as more coaching sessions or training courses.

• The second strategy looks at creating new services that your clients could buy from you – a new training course, or a book you’ve written.

• Strategy three involves promoting your business and your existing services to new prospects.

• The last strategy is the hardest, as it requires you to promote a brand new, untried service, to people who don’t yet know you.

The third strategy is where many businesses focus most of their marketing attention. And that is where they go wrong. They spend all their time at networking meetings, or using social media to meet new prospects. They chase after them in the hope that some of them will become new clients. What happens to their existing clients, while they’re out prospecting? They are all too often forgotten about. Too few businesses take the time to keep in touch with their current clients, to see how they are and if they need more help. They leave them alone, thinking that if the client doesn’t complain, they must be happy.

Then they are surprised when a client leaves without any notice!

You need to make sure that looking after your existing clients is part of your Marketing Strategy. Take the time to get to know your clients and find out what issues they are struggling with. Show them that you care about them as much as you care about potential clients, and they will be become loyal followers of your business.

How exactly do you do this? In next week’s blog I’ll share with you some really simple, practical tips that will help you to keep your clients and turn them into real fans of your business. If you don’t want to wait until next week, get in touch by calling me on 01635 578 500 or by clicking here to email me and I can give you some advice.