Tuesday, May 27, 2014

How reclaiming your PAST customers can save your current ones

APR's mission statement reads, in part: "Abbott Public Relations offers written communications services and strategies that strengthen your reputation with your past, present and future clients, within your company and in your community."


Wait... "PAST" clients? 

Yes. While it seems counter-intuitive, APR believes that reaching out to those who haven't been using your products and services lately, but still might, is a great, untapped resource many businesses fail to re-tap.

Going back to a well that you thought was dry and finding water (or business) is an amazing experience. 

It also yields valuable information from these past clients, such as: Why did they stop using our products and services? What would bring them back?

Learning the answers to these questions is really invaluable to your business and its ongoing reputation, because they can help you to identify ongoing problem areas and avoid problems that avoid making your CURRENT customers into PAST ones.

Obviously, not all prior customers or clients are WORTH reaching out to and bringing back. Those who didn't pay you, were difficult to deal with, or were not a good "fit" in other ways are best left in the past.

Once you have reached out to your past customers, you've taken the first step to bringing them back, and you could have prevented your current customers from fleeing, as well.