The Path To Repeat Customers

It’s not always the direct approach that brings in more sales

How do you find the “best” customers, clients, or referral sources? It all starts with knowing the path that brings your ideal customers to your door, learning the route, studying the stops along the way—the contacts you made, which can lead to more business—and showing this map to employees and business associates who can help you use it.

Scott Barth, a coach with Action International, a business-coaching firm, stresses the importance of “understanding the attributes of the ‘perfect customer’ and knowing how you found them.” When he works with clients he stresses the importance of answering these questions:

“Who are your best clients?” “How did you get them?” “How do you plan to replicate the process?”

He also recommends Attracting Perfect Customers: The Power of Strategic Synchronicity by Stacey Hall and Jan Brogniez., as a primer on the subject.

Find the Paths

Start by asking yourself a basic question, “How did I get my three best clients or business referral sources?” In most cases, it was probably a twisting path, rather than a straight shot. Most likely, there were “entry points” along the way--a person or company that led you to the next step. Each entry point becomes a potential referral source or potential client, as well as a connection to other new potential clients.

Look for Referrals in Unlikely Places

Alan Luzietti, principal of Echo Concepts, a document scanning and storage firm in Denver, knows how a twisty path works. “One of my ‘best’ clients doesn’t have a single piece of paper to scan. In fact, his entire business is based on destroying paper,” he says. “But I have built a relationship with this company—generating mutual referrals—that has increased our client base by 20 percent to 25 percent.” Luzietti met his referral partner at a business networking event, where the two business owners learned that they were on opposite ends of the same business.. “Now we talk on a daily basis,” he says.

Luzetti developed another rich vein of clients by looking for “entry points” while scanning documents at the offices of a law firm. He took the time to get to know all the lawyers there. None needed his services at that firm, but they remembered him when they moved on. “As a result we now do business with three other firms across the country,” Luzetti says.

Think “Outside the Box”

Not everyone you meet is a potential customer or client, but nearly everyone is a potential referral source. By knowing the links between the elements in your path to success, and identifying the ways you found your “best” clients, many of the people you encounter on a daily basis can become great referral sources. Barth suggests asking the people you meet or deal with the following simple question: “Who do you know who…?” and then fill in the blank with the people you have identified as your “best” clients and “best” referral sources.

Name Your Sources

Try this simple exercise:

• Make a list of your three best sources of business referrals
• Make a list of your three best clients in terms of revenue
• For each entry on the two lists write out the detailed path that brought the two of you together.
• Include dates, places, and names. The path will almost always be full of twists and turns.

Each person, twist, and turn along the path is a potential source of additional business and referrals. The more clearly you can trace every step in the path the better positioned you will be to replicate your success. Even more valuable, you’ll be able to quickly sketch the path to business clients, acquaintances, associates, and referral sources.

Knowing how you got your best clients goes a long way toward “cloning” those customers. Each step along the path is a potential “insertion” point where a casual acquaintance, business partner, or other contact may be able to refer you to your next “best client.”