I received a newsletter today from the folks at Nova Mind. Nova Mind makes a great mindmapping application that I use quite a bit. They also have a project management package for the Mac that looks good. I have yet to give it a try. Anyway, one of the lines in their newsletter caught my attention:
We often find that there is a single license sold in a particular place, and then within a couple of weeks there is a huge cluster of licenses sold within that same area, and we would like to thank all of you who think of your friends and associates now and recommend NovaMind to them.
What a beautiful thing! Isn't that what we all want? Self-multiplying customers! Nova Mind has some great products. They work well and have a significant impact on your productivity. It is hard not to talk about them (ask Joe and Dan how many mindmaps they have seen from me).
As we all know, in today's chaotic marketplace new customers are hard to get. Once you get them, it makes a whole lot of sense to not only keep them, but keep them so happy they multiply.
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Hi Dave,
I agree with your principle for gaining referrals. If you keep your clients happy, they’re more likely to give you the best positive PR.
Once you figure out what you want in a client and what kind of client base you’re looking for, it becomes easier to identify your ideal client. You want to clone that 20% (your top clients – Pareto principle) and, in order to do that, you want your current clients to be so satisfied with your service they bombard you with referrals for friends and family members.
The Pareto principle basically states that 80% of your income will come from 20% of your clients; therefore, 80% of your time should be invested in the top 20% of your clients. In order to maintain that, your top clients need regular and consistent attention – phone calls, meetings (at their convenience), greeting cards, an invitation to your open house, and whatever other special treatment you can conjure up.
With this kind of implementations, your customers should self-multiply. I have gotten a lot of these ideas from www.breakthroughbusinessdevelopment.com. Check it out.
Cheers!
innovatebusiness