So last night a friend invites me over to have dinner with him and some friends. I get to talking with his girlfriend who runs her own dog grooming business. She is worried because customers are starting to scale back their grooming visit due to high cost of gas, etc, etc. Says she is like a a nail tech or a haircutter and can't raise her prices.

I mentioned a story about a watch maker who sold out of his 300k watch in 48 hrs even though it doesn't even tell time (it is a day/night watch .. no kidding).

I also mentioned that she needs to think of herself as a problem solver and a service, not a set priced item. Mentioned being able to pick up and drop off dogs, etc.

Anyway I start throwing some simple ideas like a newsletter, postcard to remind them to come in, etc. She says how can I do that, I don't even have their addresses.

Here is a very smart women, 27 who owns her house and in two years her business and she doesn't even keep a customer list.

I told her what I would do if I was her but my guess is nothing will change.

Dude,

I hear you.

I have a buddy that has a moderately successful website. It brings in $60-75k and has for over 4 years. He has a customer list of over 9,000 names that grows about 700 a month right now.

I've begged him for 2 years to do several things:

1. Put a face on the site, which is his wife. Let them know they're dealing with a real person that is in the same niche they are. Do this with personal emails, audio on the site, presence in the forums etc.

2. Email his damned list 1-2X per month.

3. Write articles

4. Create a competitor site which is basically identical, still run by him but just to have 2 storefronts.

He tried mailing once when I threatened to wring his neck if he didn't. Results? An extra $8,000 in sales in one week.

So did he do it again? Nope. He's afraid he'll turn off his customers or that he'll train them to wait for a sale to buy. The funny thing is, 70% of his business is new customers anyway. Besides, I tell him, you don't have to run a freakin' sale every time you write them. Just share a story or tell them what's new. Just keep yourself in front of them.

He could easily double to triple his business if he'd listen.

Keep a customer list? Now why would anyone want to do that?

Yea, it amazes me how most businesses don't seem to even keep track of their customers. Otherwise very smart people making very costly mistakes.

I think it is kind of funny when people say that (and it seems that most do). He gets a new customer and is afraid to sell them again... so they'll stay on and not buy anything from him in the future.

If they leave or don't buy then what is the difference? Sure, do it too much and people will jump off faster, but most people go to the other extreme and don't offer their customers anything to buy. Lifetime value goes down the you know where!

I remember the first time I bought something at Radio Shack. They wanted my name and address. At first I said, "Why?" And they told me so they could send out mailers letting me know of sales, new items and such. My first thought was, I'm not sure I want them hounding me. But, then I thought, I wouldn't mind hearing about stuff.