To succeed in business, you need to attract customers or clients. Not just first-time customers, but those who continue to buy from you on a regular basis.

It's the “customer” that put you in business in the first place… and allow you keep your enterprise operating. Of course, a lack of customers will force you out of business — in short order.

When you really think about it, you can never actually claim to be “in business” until you first have some customers.

Sure, you can register a company, lease space, buy equipment, develop or acquire a product to sell, and hang out your shingle. But until the first sale… all you have are expenses.

It's rare for businesses to fail when they have a steady stream of customers willing to spend money in exchange for their product or service.

Companies that establish workable systems to consistently attract customers or clients are those most likely to succeed in the long term.

Remember...Grow Your Profit And Prosper!

Rodney Burge

Customers are the greatest asset of any business or professional practice. It’s the customer or client list that adds significantly to the value of a business.

Customers mean revenues and profits. They’re the very lifeblood of every business – large and small.

Therefore… your focus as a business owner should be the continuous building and nurturing of your own customer list. This is what sustains your enterprise, gives you an income and enables you to consistently expand and earn even greater sales and profits.

Remember...Grow Your Profit And Prosper!

Rodney Burge

Acquiring new customers and then keeping them for life is what it’s all about.

Ideally, it should be a matter of delivering superior products and service, then renewing the sales relationship with each new customer, so they buy over and over again and… are happy to do so.

With this kind of customer satisfaction, you’ll not only turn one-time buyers into lifetime customers, you’ll also automatically gain many more first-time customers by word-of- mouth referrals.

Business success begins with the first-time customer.

Unless you already have a large list of customers… your primary focus should be in the area of attracting more and more first-timers, on an ongoing basis.

Remember...Grow Your Profit And Prosper!

Rodney Burge

So where do you begin when attracting more customers or clients is your goal?

In a word…marketing.

Effective marketing is what brings customers to you. A dependable, consistent marketing plan and implementation system delivers customers efficiently, on a regular basis, and for a much lower investment than the hit-and-miss methods many business owners attempt.

No business can achieve optimum success without solid and consistent marketing. Without an effective marketing plan in action, your growth and success in any business is unnecessarily handicapped.

Remember...Grow Your Profit And Prosper!

Rodney Burge

A simple definition of marketing would be anything you do to get customers or keep customers.

Your display ads, newsletters, web sites, sales letters, direct mail packages, brochures, Yellow Pages ads, classifieds, etc., all represent part of the marketing picture.

The same goes for your sales people, service staff, letterhead, business cards, as well as the sign on your office or shop.

Every representation of your company…every contact you have with prospects or customers… every perception a prospect or customer gathers… is in effect, marketing.

Marketing is a never-ending function of business – you’re always marketing whether you realize it or not. And every facet of marketing either helps your business prosper, or it hinders growth and profitability.

Everything is marketing and… marketing is everything to your success!

Remember...Grow Your Profit And Prosper!

Rodney Burge

If you want to expand your business in the most expedient, cost-efficient and proven way, you need to take a good look at your overall marketing strategy.

When you realize “everything is marketing”... you begin to look at your business operation in a whole new light.

You’ll see obvious mistakes when you consider how your customer or prospect might view a particular situation, event, or marketing document.

Remember...Grow Your Profit And Prosper!

Rodney Burge

There are 4 fundamental elements of successful marketing to consider:

1. Product – You must have a quality product or service with widespread appeal and you need to be either competitively priced, or offer something that’s superior to what anybody else offers.

2. Prospects – You need to have a market to sell to. Who are your prospects? Is the market large enough to serve your continual growth?

3. Media – You also have to have a way to get your message across to your market. What methods provide the best, most reliable access to your market?

4. Message – The message is your communication with your market. It’s everything you put into your advertising and marketing materials to convince prospects and customers to buy.

Remember...Grow Your Profit And Prosper!

Rodney Burge

Think of your business as a bridge that has 4 main columns supporting the entire weight of the bridge. The 4 columns are named: Product, Prospects, Media and Message.

These 4 columns are the supporting structures that provide the rock-solid foundation of your business. A deficiency in any one area throws the whole bridge into the water.

In your business, any weakness severely hampers your profit opportunities.

When all 4 areas are strong, your chances of success are multiplied exponentially.

Remember...Grow Your Profit And Prosper!

Rodney Burge

The best place to start is to spot the market first.

Identify a market with “wants”…then figure out which of those desires your product can fulfill.

Next…decide on the media that will enable you to access this market segment and then prepare a strong sales message.

And, most importantly, in order to attract first-time customers economically, you’ll need to develop an appealing marketing message —one that gives you a clear competitive advantage—and deliver it to the best prospects in the most effective and cost-efficient way.

Remember...Grow Your Profit And Prosper!

Rodney Burge