If you are a business owner you probably have heard of the marketing funnel. Picture a funnel which is wide at the top and then necks down to be very small at the bottom. From a business prospective this means you would put all your potential customers into the funnel at the top and a few would fall out at the bottom and become customers.
There is a growing segment of the business community that views the funnel as being flipped upside down where the smallest part of the funnel is at the top and the wide part is at the bottom. The idea is we put our current customers in the top or top prospects and we take such good care of them and provide them ways to refer our business that in the end we have a lot of new customers at the wide end of the funnel. Think about it if you actively engage in conversations with your current customers and take excellent care of them and let them know you are looking for new business they will more than likely help you obtain what you want. Think about all the money that you spend in advertising trying to get a complete stranger to purchase your product service. What was your new client acquisition cost last year defined as total spent on advertising divided by the total number of new clients. If you had your existing clients working as your marketing department what do you think that number would be in 2012?
Look for ways to encourage your existing clients to get the word out about your services. With social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, etc. it is easier than every for your customers to share their experiences with your business than every before. During 2012 look for ways to “flip the funnel” to help drive up your company’s profits.
