• You could double your prices and hope that customers are willing to pay more?but it's probably going to backfire, so don't try it.






• You could find other sources of revenue that you aren't currently using.



• You could find twice as many customers to purchase your product or service.



• On the other hand, you could get your loyal customers to come back twice as often.

The most realistic and inexpensive way to double your revenue is a combination of the last three I mentioned, but many business owners overlook the option of getting their loyal customers to come back more often. Customer retention is the key to being able to increase sales quickly and easily.

Using your website, you can gain customer loyalty and have repeat sales time and time again ? and it's a lot simpler than you think.

Take a moment to think about your current loyal customer base. What are they doing at 2:30 PM on a Thursday afternoon?

Most of them are probably at work, sitting in front of their computer. (If you have a lot of retirees or stay at home parents as customers, THEY too are probably sitting in front of a computer too, sending e-mails to their friends and family. Hard to believe, but everybody uses the computer these days.)

For those folks who are at work, the afternoon may be a little slow or they might be in need of a break. Either way, a brief e-mail from a company they are loyal customers of, will catch their attention the moment it arrives in their inbox. I've seen it happen many times.

Now, suppose you notice that business is a little slow and there is room to increase workflow. With a few clicks of the mouse, you send your customers an e-mail blast promoting a special or promotion that begins that same afternoon.

In a matter of minutes, your phone will start ringing with loyal customers scheduling new jobs or placing orders, and you haven't spent a dime on advertising.

How many times each month would you have to do a promotion like this before you radically increased the number of customers, and more importantly, INCREASE PROFIT?

My friend, this approach works. It increases customer retention, sales, and best of all it requires no printing or advertising expense.

You can take this same approach and use e-mail to promote online specials & coupons. I even know of a small business owner who posts coupons on his website every week. He's built such a reputation for his weekly specials that customers visit the site every week to see what the special is going to be. He doesn't even need to e-mail people anymore to get results!

This article contributed by Spire Advertising & Web Design--Leveraging powerful results for small business leaders.