The key to any successful business is the ability to acquire and keep customers without blowing your budget. Here’s a look at five proven steps that you can take to get customers and maintain your customer base.

1. Create a system to generate leads 

The first thing you need to do is figure out how to get leads. One way that many businesses generate leads is through a “lead magnet.” A lead magnet is usually free information that you offer in return for a leads contact information. You can use that contact information to send an email campaign or sales call to generate a sale. Here are some popular lead generation tactics:

• eBook
• Free consultation
• Quiz results

2. Ask your customers what they want

Sometimes you can get customers by simply asking what they want. For instance, if your business sells clothes, you can use social media to ask customers which one of your clothing items they would be most interested in buying. You can then take the winning result and offer it as a discounted featured item.

3. Create a customer loyalty program 

It’s a lot cheaper to sell to customers who have already purchased from you. Therefore, you should consider a customer loyalty program. With a customer loyalty program, you can offer discounts, free shipping, or gifts with every order. You should be able to offer these perks since you don’t have to spend big money to acquire the customer.

4. Quickly handle any customer service issues 

If someone has a customer service issue, make it a top priority to handle the issue as quickly as possible. Bad customer service can lead to negative online reviews that can hurt your business.

5. Create customer growth goals 

Have a set number of new customers that you would like to acquire in a given month, quarter or year. This will better allow you to create a plan to obtain a customer. Be sure to monitor your performance against your goals and make any adjustments.

Keeping your customers for the long term 

When you know how to get and keep your customers, then your business will be well on its way to success. Be sure to implement the steps above. Soon, you could have the best big business success story.