Here they are again:

1. Sell to more customers

2. Increase your transaction value

3. increase the number of times a customer buys from you

Today's focus is on the one that most people would think, ?Sure, that would be great to get them to buy more often, but how??? It's actually simpler than you may think. In fact, you may already have a perfect product set up for continuity, but you aren't capitalizing on a few simple ideas.

So I've broken this article down into what I feel are the three most powerful ways to increase the number of times a customer buys from you. As you read this article, think of ways you can incorporate each of these ideas into what you have already built.

If you are just beginning to build your online business, then write down a plan of how you are going to use these strategies as you progress.

The $2,496 Glass of Water:

On March 4, 2004 I read a post in a popular marketing forum by a guy named George Wright. The post was titled, ?The $2,496 Cup of Water.? It has forever left an impression on me as one of the most powerful ways to get someone to continue to purchase from you over and over again. I wanted to give you a part of his message here:

?When my daughter was 14 she was inline skating. All of a sudden she started feeling very ?dry and dizzy? and in great need of a drink of water. Being diabetic she had been trained to ?be in tune? with her body and she knew that she needed some water right now along with some glucotabs that she carried all the time. She skated into a donut shop from which we bought donuts on a weekly basis. I need a drink of water she said. ?No free water? was the curt reply from the woman behind the counter. ?Please? my daughter said, ?I really need water?. Again ?no free water? was the reply. ?How much? my little girl asked, ?50 cents? she paid the money and drank the water and came on home.?

?After telling me the story, it was all I could do to not pick the phone and express anger to the proprietor. However, instead I explained to my daughter that the cup cost money, and the time it took to pour the water was to be considered also. I also explained to her that she would know how it felt to be thirsty if in the future some one asked her for a drink of water and she could have compassion. Since then she has proved many times that she is generous and would help someone in need.?

?I never went back to that donut shop. In fact I forgot about it until the other day when a friend of mine wanted to stop for donuts, ?not there? I said ?let's go over there to the next one.?

?After I got home I did some figuring. Conservatively I spent 3 dollars a week there sometimes even 6 to 10 dollars a week. It's been 12 years. So let's say $4 X 52 weeks is $208 a year. $208 X 12 years= $2,496. Wow! that's a lot for a drink of water.?

?This is not a judgment as to right and wrong. It's merely the story of a $2,496 cup of water. This makes me want to be sure to give the ?water? or whatever else I can to my customers. Water can cost.?

I love this story from George because it shows the power of how you interact with your customer. It could be your sales page, your emails, your customer support, your products? all of these are types of water that you are giving your customers.

If they are happy with what they are getting, they will continue to come back over and over again. As soon as it stops, so will they.

The Product Pipeline:

I haven't seen many people do this as effectively as one internet marketer who I have looked up to ever since I first got online. His name is Armand Morin and he is one of the true legends of internet marketing.

One of Armand's first products was called Ebook Generator, and it was a simple program that helped people create their own ebooks. After he started to sell this product, he had a lot of people ask him how he made his ecovers for his ebooks. He saw that all of his customers needed this, so his next product was Ecover Generator.

After they had their ebook and ecovers, the next thing they kept asking him for was something to help them create sales letters, and next came Salesletter Generator, then followed by Audio Generator, Video Generator and more. Do you see the psychology behind why this works?

He then went on to create dozens of other products that all complement each other. Now what Armand told me (and I've seen happen as I've promoted his products as an affiliate) is that within 30 days of someone buying any one of his products, they will almost always buy three to four more products during that time period (and often a lot more).

I want you to think about this while you are creating your products and services. If you pay attention to what your customers want, and you create products and services that are related to each other, you will see two important things.

First, you will be increasing the value you are giving to your customers.

Second you will be increasing the number of times that they will purchase from you each month.

Creating Continuity:

I'm sure that at some point in your life you have signed up for (or know someone who has signed up for) one of the ?Get 6 CD's for $1.00? promotions from Columbia House or BMG.

The numbers are always different but the idea is that you pay just $1 to get six CD's and are committed to buying 10 more CDs over the next 10 months at full price. Then each month they ship you a new CD and bill you full price.

This is an example of a continuity program. It is an incredible strategy to boost your transactions per customer because you make the sale once, but you get paid over and over again. This newsletter that you are reading now is another example of a continuity program.

I want to share a quick story about a company that isn't using continuity. Each month they have to fight hard for new customers.

The name of this company is BodyBuilding.com and they are one of the largest supplement companies in the world. The problem they have (at the time of this writing) is that they have no continuity program set in place.

For example, if you go to their site and buy some creatine or protein, in 30 days when you have finished using the supplements, you have to go back to their website and re-order (or just go to the closest GNC and buy from their competitor).

Do you see the problem this creates for them? They have to keep getting new customers, or hope that they come back on their own so they can re-sell to them.

Instead, if they were to put all of their customers on an autoship program, then they would make the sale once, and every month would get the customer to re-order without having to put forth any extra effort.

This is also convenient for the customer who knows that they can expect a package of supplements before they run out of their last supply without having to remember to place an order.

Again, this is another powerful way to increase the number of times that your customers will be purchasing from you.

Are Your Numbers Looking Up?:

Over the past several months, I hope you have been able to realize that no matter what point you are at in your business, there are powerful strategies you can leverage to increase the amount of profit your company brings in.

Most of these strategies are simple to implement, yet a huge percentage of business owners never capitalize on them because they simply don't understand how to make the most out of every sale.

If you're not sure where to start, pick one of the ideas I've talked about over these last four issues and set a goal for what you expect your sales to arrive at once you've implemented it.

Then, once you have the first strategy down, start another and another until you are bringing in sales from multiple angles.