February 19th 2019 marks the end of the Chinese New Year where millions of people will be celebrating at the Chinese Lantern Festival. Many of us have heard about the wondrous sight of millions of lanterns filling the night sky, but do you know what the festival is mainly about?
Reunion.
Just like we do on New Year’s Eve, people reflect on the year just gone but unlike us, they use this time to reunite with family and friends who they may have lost contact with or who they wish to see more of in the year to come. While this is a lovely thought in itself, it is actually an incredibly useful way of thinking if you apply it to business.
If you think about business growth, there’s a stable way and there’s an unsustainable way of growing. Put simply, companies who firefight to win more and more clients often stumble or plateau while companies who win new business AND retain old business, they are more likely to succeed over time.
In light of the Chinese New Year, we are highlighting the importance of retaining business. Reconnecting with your clients or old contacts is your biggest opportunity to build your business and here are 5 reasons why!
1. They already know you and your business
People seek comfort and knowledge is comfort. Imagine your old client is looking for your product or service and they have a choice between your competitor, someone new who they don’t know how they work and that could be risky, or you, someone who they’ve worked with before, they know what to expect and they were happy with your service. Who do you think they are going to choose?

2. You already know them and their business
Don’t forget that you know them too! With new clients, you have to think about how to appeal to them, how to stand out from competition, and how to win their business, but with current clients or old contacts, you know their specific needs and problems already! This makes it incredibly easy to tailor your marketing to your client, showing them how you can help them, and this makes re-building relationships and winning new business much easier.
3. They are more likely to be interested in your new products and services
It’s easy to write off a previous client because they didn’t quite fit with you or because the amount of business was small, but it’s always worth reconnecting. No matter how much time has passed, their business may have undergone personnel changes or strategy changes which means they now need the products or services that you offer.
What’s more is that they may even be interested in your additional products and services too as they have worked with you before. When reconnecting, ask them about their business and any new projects that they have, update them on your end and see how you can add extra value that goes above and beyond what they have previously experienced with you.
Show them a case study as proof of the value that you bring such as ours here: How We Took a Client from Zero to a 24% Response Rate!
4. It costs significantly less to acquire an old client vs winning a new one
Customers may come and go, but it takes a lot less time, money, and effort to check in with old clients than it does to try and win new business. Building relationships takes time, so why not build ones that you’ve already made with your old clients? They know you and the value of your brand so you don’t have to jump through half as many hoops as you do with a new client.

5. Winning more clients increases your cash flow and therefore business growth
Business growth can come to a standstill if your client turnover is high just as it can if you spend a lot of your time trying to win and build relationships with clients that don’t fit your core business strategy. Don’t limit your growth. Reconnect with your old clients and see if they can offer you new business opportunities. Not only are you winning new clients but you are winning loyal clients that align with your business and who are extremely valuable for generating referrals for you.
Let them know you’re still around!
Reaching out to your past clients is a great way to remind them that you’re still around. Whether you want to test the waters of a new product or service or you want to pick up new business and gain referrals, your old clients can be the key.
By simply reaching out and reconnecting to people you have formed relationships with before, you may just find they would rather work with you now or they end up reaching out to you again when something changes down the line. The key is keeping in touch and it’s an effective way to grow your business!
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Need help reconnecting? Do you want to know how to reconnect with old clients?
To grow your business, you need to segment your old clients into how much value they will provide your business and then you need to devise a tailored marketing strategy to target them. Using a combination of digital methods and powerful print materials, you can then win back old clients AND new business.
Contact us today to find out how…
P: 01792 475149
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