Guest post by Melinda F. Emerson Melinda F. Emerson

While generating new leads is important, the ability to cultivate repeat business plays a huge role in the long-term success of any business. The #1 asset in any small business is your existing customer list. Every business owner has four primary marketing goals:

1. Attracting new customers

2. Selling more products to existing customers

3. Upselling more expensive products to existing customers

4. Persuading customers to refer you to additional new customers

Notice that three out of the four goals involve your existing customer base. That’s because it’s cheaper to keep a current customer than to go out and attract a new one. Once someone has already paid you money, you’ve built a relationship with them. If you take the time to cultivate that relationship through follow-up such as sending thank you notes, helpful email marketing, and with invites to special sales offers, it is far easier to draw customers back to make another sale. It is very easy to create an upsell particularly if your customer was happy with your product or service. If you are a business owner who has lost touch with some of your current customers, here are 7 ways you can reconnect with your existing customers.

Start with an email newsletter. You should be communicating monthly if not weekly with your existing customer base. You should share helpful content. It can be original or repurposed content. You just want to position yourself as an invaluable resource to your customers.

Send discount alerts. Send coupons, product samples, and any special discount offers to valued customers as a great way to bring them back in.

Let them know what’s new. Inform existing customers of new product launches or new service offerings. Launching a new website, winning an award, or adding new employees all are reasons to contact your customers.

Invite customers to exclusive events. Hold an exclusive promotional event reserved strictly for your top customers. You can also invite your most loyal customers to join you as your guests when attending a benefit, sporting event, etc.

Engage with them on social media. Let your customers know all the ways they can connect with you, whether that’s through your website, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Foursquare, etc. Tell your customers when you launch any new social media campaign so they can participate, especially if it is a social media contest.

Build a loyalty program. Loyalty programs are a great way to build long-term relationships with your customers. Ensure the rewards are attainable and realistic. Promote your program on your website, in email blasts, through social media, etc.

Get permission to contact customers. Let people opt-in to communicate with you. Ask customers to join your newsletter list by filling out a form in-store or online. Entice them to sign up with a discount or free product. When they sign up, find out if they want to be contacted by phone, mail, email, text, social media, etc.

Making a sale is great, but you can’t get repeat business if you don’t tell your customers on an ongoing basis what you are offering. Don’t assume they know all the ways you can do business with them. If you keep in touch with great information, you will keep your customers for life.

Melinda F. Emerson, SmallBizLady, is America’s #1 small business expert. Her expertise includes small business start-up, business development and social media marketing. As CEO of The Quintessence Group, Melinda helps Fortune 500 companies develop effective strategies to engage small business customers. She is a weekly columnist for the New York Times. She publishes a resource blog, Succeed As Your Own Boss. She hosts a weekly talk show on Twitter called #SmallBizChat for today’s entrepreneurs. She reaches 1.5 million small business owners weekly on the Internet. She is also the author of the bestselling book Become Your Own Boss in 12 months; A Month-by-Month Guide to a Business That Works, and the ebook How To Become a Social Media Ninja; 101 Ways to Dominate Your Competition Online.