Which do you think is harder to do: sell something new to 
someone who has already bought from you in the past or convince 
a stranger to make his/her first purchase? 

The answer is obvious: a person who has already purchased your 
product and is enjoying the benefits you promised is a prime 
target for additional sales.   

That's why it's important to build on your existing customer 
relationships and "leverage" the trust you've earned with the 
following techniques: 

1. After you make a sale, be sure to follow-up with the customer.
Sending a thank-you email message is good manners and including 
an advertisement for other products you sell is good business.  
You could follow-up every few months, quarterly, send holiday 
greetings, birthday messages, etc. 

2. When a consumer is ready to buy, you can upsell additional 
items. When they're at your order page, tell them about related 
products you have for sale -- if you're selling Widgets, tell 
them about your Widget Cleaning Kit, or Customized Widget 
Covers.  Make it easy (and economical) to add it to their 
original order. 

3. Word-of-mouth is a huge sales generator.  Give your customers 
an incentive for telling friends by offering them discounts for 
referrals.  If possible offer a discount to your old customer 
AND his/her referral, and then watch as one sale blossoms into 
dozens. 

4. When you sell a product, give your customers the option 
of joining an affiliate program so they can make commissions 
selling your product. A satisfied consumer is a great 
salesperson and your affiliate program can help you turn 
a single sale into a stream of orders.  

5. You could cross-promote your product in a package deal.  You 
can cross-promote your own products or enter into a partnership 
with another company.  At the very least, you'll get free 
"exchange" advertising.  At the most, you'll earn commissions 
for all the pass-along business.  Just be sure that you're 
cross-promoting items that are related to your product/service 
and that your customers would truly find interesting.

6. When you ship out or deliver your product, include a discount 
coupon for other related products you sell in the package. 

7. Ever wonder how the "Barbie" empire thrives when the doll 
itself sells for just a few dollars?  It's the add-on products 
that makes the difference -- Barbie's car, clothes, beauty shop, 
friends, etc.  Tell your customers about upgrades, special 
services, attachments in a catalogue.  If consumers enjoy your 
product, they'll be grateful for the information and likely to 
buy the extra add-ons. 

8. Sell gift certificates for your products.  You can offer 
either a "pre-paid" gift certificate for a specific item or a 
dollar-amount certificate that would enable the recipient to 
make his/her own personal selection.  (The second idea works 
extremely well because often the gift recipient will want 
something that's more expensive than his/her certificate...
and that means more dollars for you!)

9. Send your customers free products (sometimes called 
promotional items) with their product package. It could be 
bumper stickers, ball caps, t-shirts etc.  The key is to 
have your ad printed on the item.  The free gift is an 
instant -- and long-term -- billboard for your product or 
service. 

Remember, a satisfied customer wants to keep doing business with 
the company that provided the satisfaction  So give the people 
what they want -- easy (and frequent) ways to spend more money 
with someone they trust…you! 

Dan Lok is known as "The World's #1 Website Conversion Expert", 
with a proven track record of selling over $25.7 million dollars 
of merchandise and services. Dan has resuscitated copy that was 
previously in "critical condition" and helped his clients to 
double and triple their conversion rates… some as much as 417%!!!
More than 200 websites have been "Lok-ed" and loaded for 
Internet action. Go to: http://www.WebsiteConversionExpert.com