5 Ways to Attract Former Clients
by Steve Strauss
reprinted with permission from the Microsoft Small Business Center

Q: After three years in business, I have a list of inactive clients for my salon. Should I contact them to see if they're willing to give us another try? Thanks for any suggestions. Jackie

A: You are right to want to bring former customers back. Most of us have heard the statistic that it costs seven times as much to create a new customer as it does to keep a current one, so it behooves you to romance your current and former clientele.

What is the best way to do it, you ask? There are five ways:

1. The personal letter:
President George H.W. Bush wrote tens of thousands of letters and thank you notes over the years. He credits those letters, in part, for being elected president. The former president believes that a personal connection created by a hand-written note forges a bond with recipients. In fact, although Bush never wrote a memoir after leaving the White House, he did publish a book of letters written and received: All the Best, My Life in Letters and Other Writings.

If a personal letter can help someone get elected president, it certainly can help you bring back some wandering customers. And it is not hard to see why a letter makes such an impression, especially in this age of e-mail and texting. A letter, particularly today, is personal. It makes a connection. So write your wayward customers a letter. It could be a mass produced letter with a personal note written in the margins or a group letter with a spot for a personal sentence in the middle. Whatever the case, sign it in your own hand and see if you don't get a great response.

I once tried this at my old law firm. I wrote to 100 ex-clients telling them about a new practice area I was getting into. Lo and behold, I got about 10 new clients from that inexpensive mass mailing.

2. The hand-addressed, chunky envelope:
There are two parts to this attention-grabber: First, as indicated, the envelope should be hand-addressed. This is actually true for the personal letter option above as well. The reason is simple: People have a far greater tendency to open hand-addressed letters than ones that look like computer-driven junk mail. Isn't that true for you?

Hand addressing an envelope or package greatly increases the likelihood that it will be read.

Second, put something "chunky" in the envelope as a gift for your old customer. It could be a branded keychain or some other simple doo-dad, but the point is the same: The chunkiness of the envelope helps ensure that it will be opened, and the inexpensive gift is a great way to say "Thanks. We welcome your business. Come on back!"

It is important that your letter or flyer inside looks great. Make sure that it is enticing.

3. Make them an offer they can't refuse:
Offering old customers a special or a sale price as a way to lure them back is a time-honored strategy. For example, back when I was in my 20s and had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, I was a telemarketer. I called ex-magazine subscribers and offered them a huge discount to come back: "We want to thank you for your past patronage, and since you are one of our most valuable customers, we would like to give you a special price to come back to the magazine."  It worked like a charm.

4. Use an e-newsletter:
E-newsletters are very popular today for a good reason: They work. They are an inexpensive way to keep in contact with your customers and have a more personal dialogue with them.

So consider having a special edition of your e-newsletter just for more established customers, something like "The Welcome Back Edition! Look what you have been missing . . . Here are some great changes we made . . . Here are some sale items exclusively for you, etc."

5. Blog:
Like an e-newsletter, blogs are becoming increasingly popular for small business people of every stripe because they are an inexpensive way to personally communicate with your people. If you can write in a friendly, conversational way, and if, say, you offer some free goodies in the blog, you will find that it is a great way to create more business.