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It is great to keep finding new buyers for your products or services. But in your search for new paying customers, don’t overlook your best source of future sales. I’m referring to people who have bought from you in the past, or who have at least made inquiries about you. This group of buyers and inquires is commonly called your “house file.”

Talk about a targeted list! These people absolutely fit the definition of your target audience. And they don’t cost you anything to find. Your house file is an excellent storehouse of low cost leads for you to pursue.

Make the most of this great asset by doing three things with your house file:

1. Keep your house file organized

First of all, you should keep good records of everyone who ever buys anything from you or contacts you for any reason at all. Many companies fail in this area. You MUST have an organized, user friendly, up-to-date, database.

If you have a useable database, you should start organizing it right away by segmenting your list. Here are a few different ways to segment your list depending on the kind of business you have:

General Customer List:

• Buyer File (customers who have purchased at least one time)
• Multi Buyer File (customers who have purchased multiple times)
• Inquiry File (people who have contacted you for information about your company, but who have not yet made a purchase)

Info Marketers / Publisher’s List:

• DVD Buyers / CD Buyers / Book Buyers
• Newsletter Subscribers
• Seminar Attendees
• Inquiry File (people who have contacted you for information about your company, but who have not yet made a purchase)

Service Business:

• Frequency of Service
• Service Level (Gold, Silver, Platinum)
• Type of Service

In addition to this segmentation, if you happen to know how these customers found you (radio/tv ads, internet ads, direct mail promotions, print ads) you may find it useful to further segment your list by these categories.

2. Cultivate customer interest and loyalty

Don’t ignore your house file. These people have proven that they like you and want to give you their credit card number. Keep coming back to them with reminders of your products and services.

Develop a sales funnel of back-end products or services that you can use to market to your house file. I call this a Customer Retention Path.

For example, I recently purchased a 55” flat screen TV. The TV store SHOULD put me on a Customer Retention Path that’s similar to the following:

One Week After the Purchase – Send a thank-you note for purchasing the TV.

Two Weeks After the Purchase – Send a sales letter promoting the ultimate surround-sound audio system to go with my new TV. The promotion would include half-off on installation of the sound system IF I respond within the next 7 days.

Three Weeks After the Purchase – Send a 4-Page Self Mailer promoting the latest Blu-Ray Player explaining the high quality picture that is perfect for the TV I just purchased.

Four Weeks After the Purchase – Mail a brochure with cover letter promoting the extended warranty. Explain how it will give me peace of mind.

Five Weeks After the Purchase – Invite me back to the store for 12% off anything in the store if I come in within the next 12 days.

As you can see, IF the store I purchased my TV from was focused on keeping me as a customer AND keeping me buying, they would stay in contact with me.

3. Use your house file to generate revenue

Not only can you make more money by building a Customer Retention Path for your customers, you can also use your house list as a revenue source from other companies.

1. Put your list on the market and rent it to others. List rental rates can range from $100 per thousand names to $300 per thousand. If you have 50,000 names available, and you rented your entire list for $200 per thousand, that would gross $10,000 … with NO effort on your part.
2. Use your list for Joint Ventures. For example, let’s say you are a CPA. You could approach a Financial Planner and ask if he/she would be willing to do a Joint Venture with you. You would send a sales letter to your list promoting the Financial Planner AND the Financial Planner would send a sales letter to their list promoting YOU.

Yes, to build your business you need to find new customers. But don’t overlook the goldmine you’re sitting on right now – the list of customers you already have. For your business to grow, it’s not just a question of finding new customers; you want to build a base of returning customers and keep adding to that. Your house file is the core of your business.