A fly fishing float trip has one or two fishermen in the boat and one guide whose job it is to point out the likely spots where fish hang out, make sure the correct “flies” are being used and, of course, to row. The guide offers advice on casting techniques (often, in my case) and positions the boat according to the current and water conditions. It was in a fairly short 100-yard run when my fishing buddy and I each hooked up (he landed his, mine got off the barbless hook).

Two hits at the same time is exciting, providing the opportunity for a ‘double-up’ which rarely happens during a 12-mile, 8-hour float trip. So the guide rowed back upriver to take another pass at this run. On the second pass, I hooked up and my buddy missed his, so back on the oars and one more row upriver for a third pass. As we were going back up, another boat floated past us, not trying to catch anything in this spot when our guide said, “Don’t leave fish to find fish.”  I, in the bow, turned around and said, “What was that?” He repeated, “Don’t leave fish to find fish. When we find a spot where the fish are stacked up like this, we keep fishing. Many people just take a single pass at them and move on.” Newsletter!

But we do it all the time; spending tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars on marketing and advertising looking for new customers when you already have hundreds, if not thousands of customers in your customer list to market to for relatively low cost who may not realize that they need a new piece of jewelry!  The saying is that you need to replace around 10% of your customers each year, so you should be fishing in new waters, so-to-speak, for new ones. But is the effort paying off relative to the expense?  And, more importantly, are your existing customers receiving as much effort and attention in your marketing plans?

You’ve done all of the hard work; built the store, stocked it, hired the people and sold something to someone… but then what? Balance to Buy™ clients should be aware of the export button that allows for a very quick selection by vendor and/or category, providing a list in Excel of those customers who purchased an item over any period of time that was selected. The list includes the customer, their email and phone, address and sales associate (or associates) that made those sales.

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A short, focused list of existing customers to contact. It costs you some time to contact those people and makes the creative folks in your company come up with reasons to reach out to them, but they already know you, and more importantly, they’ve shopped with you already!

It has never been easier and less expensive to reach out to your existing customers. It’s never been easier to identify their buying preferences by brand, category and price points. Social media, text messages and emails are almost free to use. Like our fishing trip, you won’t always make a sale, but if you know where the fish are stacked up, don’t leave fish to find fish.

Happy fishing!

Abe Sherman,
CEO, BIG
Abe@bigjewelers.com

Ph: 707-257-1456

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