A growing business needs a constant flow of new customers, and there is also a strong need to focus on retaining existing clients as well. The two acts of acquiring new customers and keeping existing customers happy do not need to be mutually exclusive of each other. You can develop strong marketing strategies that allow you to retain your existing customers and bring new clients in to your revenue stream.

Referrals

One of the ways to keep existing clients, bring in new clients and keep those new clients all at the same time is to institute a client referral program. When you allow your clients to be rewarded for bringing you new business you will benefit from the steady flow of warm and qualified leads. Your clients get rewarded for having friends that want to buy your product or service and they get to feel more involved in your company's success. A referral program with financial rewards can help to keep new clients in your sales pipeline for a long time. You can also use a points system that would allow your customers to purchase items from a catalog with their referral points. The more you put into your incentives, the more you will get out of your program.

Something New

The Microsoft Small Business Center suggests that one of the ways to find new clients that can become buying customers is to try new avenues of advertising. If you have never used the social websites on the Internet before as a marketing tool, then give them a try and see what kind of interest you can create. If you have not tried radio advertising before, contact the local radio stations and see if their medium fits into your advertising budget. Once you have started to gain customers from new marketing approaches, the best way to retain those customers is to give them excellent customer service and continue to have a marketing presence in those areas where they found you. If you start a marketing plan that gains new clients and then you pull out of it, those clients may start to forget about you.

Get Personal

Today the world of business is overrun with websites, emails and electronic marketing that makes the whole customer acquisition process impersonal. Get out from behind your desk and start networking with people to add to your customer base. Get involved in local community events and start to go to business functions to reach out and talk business with people who may not even know your company exists. If someone starts to do business with you because you met them in person, you may be able to use that personal touch to retain that client for the long term.

Source:

PragmaticMarketing.com: Seven Ways to Acquire and Retain Customer References

CNN Money: 7 Smart Ways to Find New Customers

Microsoft Small Business Center: 8 Ways to Get New Customers - Now!

Resource:

BusinessKnowHow.com: New Customers or Repeat Business