Treat Your Customers Like GoldIf you want to make sure your customers stay loyal, you'd better pull out the red carpet treatment.

Don't take your existing customers for granted, or yourexisting customers may become someone else'snewcustomers. If you don't treat them well, you can bet someoneelse will. Think of your current customers as if they were stillunsold potential buyers. They deserve just as much attention as newcustomers. Simple things like returning their phone calls andstaying in contact after a sales will improve your chances ofkeeping your customers from deserting you.

An example of treating your current customers royally can befound with one company that does tree and shrub trimming. It notonly reminds each customer early in the spring to schedule trimmingbefore the crunch starts, but it also leaves a small pottedseedling for each customer to either plant in his or her own yardor share with someone in the community that might need help withlandscaping.

Excerpted from303 Marketing Tips: Guaranteed To Boost YourBusiness