A common misconception business owners have is that all of their clients already know about them. While it may be true that many of your clients have been doing business with you for years, it’s also very likely true that they were doing business with someone else before you came along. This means that they can chose one of your competitors over you at any time. Another important factor to consider is that clients enter and leave the market all the time, so while you may have been satisfied with meeting the needs of your existing clients, new ones are entering the market everyday and if you’re not working to add them to your client list, you can be sure someone else is. Over time, this situation can snowball and give your competitors a serious advantage over you.
So how do you avoid this? Toss out the idea that everyone already knows about your company. Even if they do today, it doesn’t matter tomorrow. Aside from the obvious, such as providing a quality product or service at a reasonable price, you need to maintain exposure to your existing client base while effectively targeting new clients. This ensures you a solid foothold in your market that can weather the ups and downs of business.
