One of the best ways to increase your sales and one that won't cost you a lot or take a huge amount of time is by selling more to your existing customers. This can be a lengthy process and expensive to win over a new customer between advertising, sales calls, and approvals. With existing customers the process can be much quicker, smoother, and less costly.

Existing customers already know you and what you can do. Your challenge is to learn about additional opportunities within your company ,and go after them.

If the cost of sale for an existing customer is so much lower than for a new customer, why don't small companies go after their existing customers more aggressively? You should take care existing customers as good as possible ,so that they never leave you.

It's been said before that one unsatisfied customer will go out and tell 10-20 of their friends and family about their unsatisfactory experience, but the opposite doesn't seem to occur. Your customers, vendors, suppliers and associates might think you walk on water, but they won't seem to tell everyone else how great you are unless you show them how and give them an actual reason to do it.

There are many ways to get your customers never leave.

1. Hold contest for best Testimonials.

What is a testimonial? It's a statement, usually written by your customer, saying nice things about some aspect of your business, you, your employees or your products and services. If you want to use the testimonials in marketing efforts, you need to get a written release from your customers who wrote the testimonials giving your business the right to use the testimonial in marketing.

There are many ways to get testimonials from your customers. You can actually hold contests for best testimonials. Request letters of endorsements from your customers, vendors, suppliers, and any associates you have. Use those to promote your products and services. When you use testimonials to add credibility to what you do, you're letting your customers do the marketing for your business.

Testimonials from your customers are one of the strongest marketing tools available. You don't need to use all of what it says in each testimonial letter. Here are some choices or ways you can use testimonials.

You can print the entire letter.

You can print one sentence.

You can print one word.

Print with a picture of the person whose testimonial it is.

Print the person's initials only.

Print the entire name of the person providing the testimonial.

You can actually do video or audio recordings of a person's testimonial.

Ideally, you want to use all of these techniques. The benefit of using testimonials on your web site can help link popularity in search engine results as well.

Whether you use this marketing tool for both inbound or outbound reasons, you will have an advantage over your competition. Check them out next time you visit their office or web site and see for what people are saying about their business practices. You'll be amazed!

2. To build a large sales organization.

So if you expect to receive a $10,000.00+ monthly commission check from the sales volume produced by your down line organization of distributors, you first have to build a large organization. To build a large sales organization you must recruit and sponsor people.

The people you recruit and sponsor will come from either your warm market (people you know such as family and friends), or your cold market (people you don't know).

In all honesty, most people have very little success with their warm market. Which means that if they are going to build a sales organization, then they must recruit from their ........you guessed it....

...Their Cold Market

Targeting a little further ,we find two types of people in the Cold Market: the "opportunity seekers" ,and those who are not. I don't know about you but I'm going for the "opportunity seeker" and I already know that in order to recruit them I must:

Advertise for them (ads ,flyers ,postcards ,fax & email , broadcasting, etc.)

3. Stay in touch with existing customers.

Stay in touch with existing customers to learn their ongoing needs. Inquire into their challenges so as to discover needs they have that you can fulfill. It may be that someone in another department has a problem that one of your company's products or services can solve. It is only by being in touch with customers that you learn about such opportunities.

Try to find up selling opportunities. Not only more of the same, but larger orders and new features. A satisfied customer is a great candidate for expanded sales. The customer has respect for your capabilities and ability to deliver. The customer will listen to your pitch and likely tell you about possible obstacles.

4. Help solve their problem.

They will probably tell you about their limited budgets or opposition from another department. They might slip you some information about the existence of a competitor. You are then in a position where you can help solve the problem. Perhaps by offering a quantity discount or throwing in some additional service that will convince others in your company that you should provide more of your products or services.

5. Seek out leads from existing customers.

Seek out leads from existing customers. They can often provide referrals to others in their companies or to individuals associated with other firms they do business with. It always helps in soliciting a prospect to be referred by someone the prospect respects. Existing customers represent a potential gold mine. Not only for the present, but for helping expand your company's future.