One of our biggest rules as business owners trying to attract new customers is 'Always take care of the people you serve', even though some of them can be a pain in the butt occasionally. But since we are in business to look after their needs, if we look after our customers there's a good chance they will continue to buy products and services from us in the future.

Of course some of your problem customers need to get shown the door occasionally, but most of the time your job is to build relationships with people so they come back and buy again. As part of that role, we deliver useful information and education along with the products and services they need and want. And ideally, your goal should be to create customers who keep coming back for life.

But to get customers for life, first of all you have to get customers. And the best way to do that is to make sure your customer's first experience buying from you is a good one. After that you can take your new customers through a process of offering them additional products and services, hopefully forever.

Of course if you can't make that first sale (or if you do but the customer's experience isn't all that good), there's not going to be a second sale coming along from that customer any time soon. Oh, and they won't give you a testimonial or refer anybody else either. So, how do you make that first sale a good experience for your customer?

Since your first sale to a new customer is going to be the most difficult one you'll ever make, you MUST make it an easy choice for them to make a purchase from you instead of one of your competitors. You have to remember that these people are currently buying the exact same products or services from another business. And because most people hate change, you'll have to make a compelling, virtually irresistible offer to get them to switch, or they will just continue buying from where they do now.

It seems most business owners are reluctant to create an irresistible offer to attract first time customers to come into their business. Many seem to feel that because they are there, new customers will move from their current suppliers and start buying from them instead. The thing is, it's not going to happen unless you have a way of dragging them away from their current supplier and coming over to you.

And it's a proven fact that one of the easiest ways to encourage customers to change suppliers is to come up an absolutely irresistible offer that makes people feel like they'd be crazy if they don't take you up on it. Once they start doing business with you, all you have to do is keep them buying from you instead of somebody else.

When you've managed to get these customers away from your competitors, you should be doing everything you can to get them enrolled into some type of continuity program, or maybe a VIP rewards program. When they join as a member, you can offer regular 'Members Only' offers and deals to make them feel special and keep them coming back to you.In this way, you'll have incredibly high customer retention rates, and you will have much higher profits as well.