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As business owners, we have only one source of wealth. It’s not our talent or expertise. It’s not even our product or service.

Our only source of wealth is... Our Customers.

Yet it’sI want to focus on one of the most overl very easy to neglect that source of wealth.

ooked elements of business success - your communications with your existing customers.

Most marketing efforts focus on acquiring new customers. But I've yet to find a business that is maximizing its marketing to its existing customers.

I would take this a step further. When I speak to a business owner, I know without a doubt that they are sitting on a goldmine. This goldmine consists of the wealth that is hidden in their relationships with their current customers.

How do you access that goldmine?

By answering these questions:

• What do you have to offer your existing customers?
• When did you last let them know?
• What are you not offering existing customers that you could be offering them?
• When did you last send a letter to your customers?
• When did you last email them?
• Did you measure the response?
• When did you last call them?
• What would happen if you doubled your contact with them this year?
• When you do communicate with them, what more could you be doing to clearly explain the specific benefits that they will experience?

I know of a business that generated £300,000 by sending a brochure to their clients once a year. They were asked what would happen if they sent the brochure twice a year. It might seem an obvious question but the thought had never even crossed their mind. They did it (and a lot more) and it generated a fortune for them.

This is not an unusual story. We are all so close to our businesses that it is often a challenge to step back and look at the obvious - the elusive obvious.

Here are some more useful questions:

• How often do you communicate with your customers by direct mail?
• Do you test and measure the response?
• Do you spend at least 15 minutes each month thinking of an exclusive offer you can make to your existing customers?
• Do you say 'thank you' to your customers either by letter, email or telephone?
• Do you ask your customers for referrals?
• If you have a limited service or product line - do you know of additional companies, products or services that your customers could benefit from?

There are hundreds of great marketing strategies for getting new customers. But before that, you need to nurture your relationships with your existing customers. It is the first key to the goldmine.

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