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Client Re-Conversion Can Lead to Big Rewards

By: Jayne Speich

Courtesy Of: E-Myth

19. Jun. 2008

A client of ours named John owns a chimney-sweeping business. His customers love him and the great service he provides, but the nature of the business is seasonal and his customers only call him once each year, usually at the beginning of winter.

During the warm weather months, his revenue stream is lean and he worries about how the business will survive until the next fireplace season begins. He wonders how he can persuade people to have their chimneys cleaned regardless of the time of year; how he can hang onto the employees he painstakingly trains every year; how he can attract more customers to grow his business.

Last year, while enrolled in the E-Myth Mastery coaching program, John had a sudden realization. He has a thousand happy customers, but sees them only once a year. If he could somehow serve that exact same group of a thousand customers even just one more time in the year, he'd double his business! Perhaps they wouldn't need a second chimney cleaning, but maybe they would need some other seasonally-related work to be performed, such as scouring winter salt off their driveways and sidewalks, or removing and power washing their storm windows. In fact, what if he had a seasonal cleaning package offering an array of services throughout the year?

"I've got a field of diamonds here," he said, "and I think I should mine it!"

John realized a fundamental E-Myth principle: an ideal target market for any business is the satisfied customers it already has! Converting one-time customers to ongoing clients is its own kind of lead conversion called client re-conversion.

Setting a Strategy

When you perceive a customer as just a one-time buyer, a world of opportunity is missed. But make the mental shift that John made, and suddenly the best target market imaginable - your existing satisfied customers - comes into focus as a key element in building and growing your business.

Set some time aside to think about what else your one-time customer would like to buy. How can your business develop a relationship with a customer that brings repeated opportunities for them to buy what they want and need, leave satisfied, and come back yet again? How many friends could that customer refer to your business? How would knowing the answers to these questions change the way you plan to build your business?

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