Profiting after the sale

I guess that it almost goes without saying no matter what your business is, if your job is selling, you want to make sales. To go further, you need to make sales in order to survive -- making sales is your lifeblood and the reason that you get out of bed in the morning. I know this because, before I got involved in the online business world, I spent many years selling all sorts of goods and services in the real world to ‘bricks and mortar’ businesses. I was even fortunate enough to work in many different countries doing the same kind of work, so I have managed to learn quite a bit over the years. Throughout those years, one thing became crystal clear to me: as much as landing a new customer gives you a real buzz because it tells you that you are doing something right, being able to turn someone into a loyal customer is even more of a high because that tells you that you are doing a lot more than just ‘something’ right. In this case, the customer is obviously happy with most of the things that you are doing, and, therefore, you are beginning to build an all-important business relationship with them.

Loyal customers were by far the most valuable asset ever acquired by any of the businesses I worked for or owned. They were people who would continue to buy unless there was a definite reason why they should no longer do so. Sometimes, they stopped buying for external reasons such as a new competitor entering the market with considerably cheaper prices or a better product range. In general terms, this situation is something that you can only fight against, but never completely prevent. However, losing loyal customers because of poor service or inattention to detail is an inexcusable and expensive mistake, and one that you should never make.