Have you ever noticed that birds of a feather flock together? People usually communicate with like-minded people . In other words, a person’s center of influence usually has a fair amount of people in it that are just like them.

Here are 5 easy steps to make the best use of for gaining more ideal customers :

Step 1:

Decide which customers you already have that you would classify as being the ideal customer . The easiest way to do this is to pick one customer that you (and your associates ) really enjoy having as a customer .

Step 2:

List the positive qualities that had you think of them as a ideal customer . Examples could be:

They pay their bills on time .
They are courteous to you and your associates .
They are regular customers .
They are punctual for appointments.
They refer other people to your establishment.

This is an example list and your list would be unique to your establishment and the types of customer you like to serve. The objective of this exercise is to set up a qualifying , of sorts, so you add more of the exemplary ones – not just grow the numbers of customers . After all, isn’t that what you would love to work towards – only serving customers you enjoy?

Step 3

List a few other ones that also share these positive qualities . This technique is usually pretty eye-opening to see how many of your customers you really like serving versus the ones you would rather do without. (Using this process of gaining more customers will make room for you to get rid of the less than exemplary ones down the road.)

Step 4:

Create a strategy of effortlessly and objectively letting the customer on the list you just created know you appreciate them. For example, What is something you could do that would be so remarkable they would be inclined to contact all their contacts and have a “Guess what I just got …” phone call about an action you took. It could be a birthday or anniversary card (although in many industries , sending a card is common-place – and not falling in the remarkable category, which is required, for this to be productve ).

However, sending a gift is not common-place . How many of your customer are young families that are now having newborns ? Sending newborn baby gifts would be so outrageously remarkable and it is sure to be worthy of lots of rants about thoughtful you are!

In fact, I would venture to guess if you did send a unique baby gift, you would be the center of conversation every time they looked at the gift. You would have to work pretty hard at losing them as a customer after that act of generosity . And they would be sure to acknowledge your kindness !

What competing business in your industry is going to do this for those new Mom’s and Dad’s?

Actually, there is already a trend developing in this direction. Many business owners – health care providers, lawyers , insurance agents, real estate agents, for example - are seeing the value in setting aside a small percentage of their customer appreciation program budget for customer relationship management. Client loyalty and referrals abound when business owners thank their existing customer for doing business with them by sending a small gift of congratulations for important events. The investment of this strategy pays off exponentially in attracting new customers .

Step 5:

If you have completed the first four steps, get prepared for the accolades that will be streaming into your office. And celebrate what a caring and savvy business owner you are in implementing this new strategy for gaining new customer by acknowledging the ones you already have.

About the author:
Pat Graham-Block has been coaching small to mid-size business owners in how to strategically develop their establishment with unique, proven ideas that work. She is also owner of Simply Unique Baby Gifts, an online store that offers a large selection of newborn baby gift baskets ready to be delivered to the new happy parents on your behalf.