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Business Tips

How To Get Repeat Business From Existing Clients – Expert Tips From A Business Owner

How To Get Repeat Business From Existing Clients How To Get Repeat Business From Existing Clients

It’s no secret that the easiest customer to sell to is the one you already have. 

Research proves it—acquiring a new customer is five to 25 times more expensive than retaining an existing one.

Repeat clients can make up a large percentage of your income, and they have the potential to be your best marketing tool. Infact, increasing customer retention rates by 5% increases profits by 25% to 95%

How do I know this? 

My own busy massage clinic is made up of 90% long-term, repeat clients.  

In this article, I’ll teach you how to get repeat business from existing clients, and book yourself solid! 

Why repeat clients are your greatest resource

If you’ve been in business for a while, you probably have at least a few regulars. These clients show up consistently month after month.

Learning how to get more business from repeat clients can dramatically increase your revenue while simultaneously decreasing your workload.

Finding new clients takes time and money. Turning existing clients into repeat clients is a lot easier and a lot cheaper!

Let’s do simple math here: 

If your goal is to earn $100k a year, and your average service cost is $75, you’ll need to book about 1,333 appointments. That’s a lot of single visits, and a lot of people you need to attract to your business!

However, if a single client comes in every month, that’s $900 annually. If you change your strategy to getting clients to commit to a recurring monthly appointment, you now need only 111 clients to meet your $100k goal. 

That’s a lot more doable, isn’t it? 

If you’re wondering how to get enough repeat clients to fill that gap, I’ve got good news. 

Regular clients are your biggest cheerleaders. They are free marketing from trusted sources.

In my own practice, I serve several circles of friends and family. When you do business with someone on a regular basis, you become connected to their network. Social media has nothing on this type of real life network! 

What starts out as one repeat client, eventually turns into a whole circle of regular clients made one referral at a time. It takes time to make these connections, but once you have them, the bonds are strong. 

Here’s an example of the value of a single repeat client over a lifetime. 

Carol has been coming to see you every month for the last 10 years. She spends $100 every visit. She’s referred several people to your business, and they value your services as much as she does. 

Her sister comes in every month, since being referred 8 years ago. Her best friend became a regular monthly client 3 years ago. Carol is now valued at $25,200 and counting! That’s not even taking into account the clients Carol’s friends and family have referred!

Regular clients are your biggest cheerleaders

Loyal customers are likely to spend up to 67% more on individual products and services according to Thanx. Why? Because they trust you! That means you don’t need as many clients to reach your sales goals!

You’ll learn how to expedite this process later in this article.

How to identify clients who have the potential to be repeat clients

You already know who your regular clients are. They are the ones who set up their next appointment before they leave, people you’ve known for years and clients who keep a regular maintenance schedule with you.

The real question is how to get repeat business from existing clients like that?

You need to identify existing clients who have the potential to become one of your VIPs.

There’s no doubt you’ve got clients who would love to come in more frequently. It’s your job to figure out who they are and make it easy for them.

Take a look at your existing regular clients and answer the following questions. 

  • Who are they? 
  • What do they have in common? 
  • Why are they coming in so frequently? 
  • What makes it possible for them to consistently work your services into their schedule? What’s their motivation? 

Once you have answers to those questions, you should have a clear picture of what your ideal repeat clients look like. Now all you have to do is identify existing clients with those same characteristics, and start talking to them. 

Don’t try to sell them on it right away. Your first job is to listen. Ask questions. Find out what obstacles are preventing them from committing to regular appointments. Then create strategies to remove those barriers.

If it’s a time barrier, you might consider extending your hours on special days or figuring out a time that would work for them on a regular basis. If you have clients who can’t afford to come in regularly, create a more affordable service that would offer the same benefit, or offer a discount to your VIPs

If you can create solutions for these clients, they will repay you with multiple visits for years to come.

Strategies for getting more repeat clients

Attract the right kind of clients

Define who your ideal client is. Out of all of the people out there, who do you love working with? If you could fill your online schedule with people you enjoy and who need exactly what you have to offer, what would that person look like? Get as specific as possible. Age, gender, social status, interests, lifestyle, personality, ect.

Give this ideal client a name. Then target all your messaging towards that one person. The words on your website should speak specifically to this one repeat client. Every email you write and every social post that is written is for this specific client. Promote products and services this client would be interested in. Share information on your blog that this person would care about.

Marketing to one person exclusively may seem limiting at first. If you commit to it, you’ll find yourself attracting only people who are a good fit for your business. That means you’re spending less time on one and done clients.

Build strong relationships

If you do step one correctly, this part will happen naturally. However, when you encounter dozens of people every day or week, it’s good to have a system and some guidelines.

Your best clients are going to be the ones you develop something akin to friendship with. They continue to come in not only because they enjoy or need the service, but because they enjoy the person providing the service. Loyalty forms this sort of relationship. That said, it’s still important to maintain professional boundaries. Your clients aren’t coming in to hear about your problems, even if they share all of theirs with you.

Relationships take time, but they can develop quickly if your client feels like you know them. There’s a simple way to achieve that: take notes. 

Build strong relationships

This may seem disingenuous, but in fact it’s the opposite. I like to jot down something personal about new clients that will jog my memory about who they are next time I see them, because I actually care who they are. 

Remembering something a client shared with you like a spouse’s name, hobby or project they are working on lets them know they are more than just a number to you. As a result, you’ll be more than just another business to them.

Offer the right services and incentives

A vital step towards getting more regular clients is to offer services that are needed on a regular basis. If you want someone to come every 2, 4, or 6 weeks, it needs to be obvious that service is appropriate for that frequency.

Some services have a built in visual reminder that ensures clients know when to come back, like hair color and waxing. Other services like massage and skin treatments may be less obvious; so you need to make a point to tell clients when to come back.

Take into account your client’s available time and money to spend on services you offer. Maybe indulging in a fascial is something they splurge on for special occasions, but is there something quicker and affordable you could offer them on a more regular basis?

Create an incentive for clients to come back and to refer their friends. People like rewards. 

Make a game out of making regular appointments by offering a free service once you’ve booked X number of appointments. Offer a discount for referring a new client or prepaying for appointments. In my own practice, I find offering prepaid packages of 6 services at a time gets people coming in more frequently. Why? Because they’ve already paid for those appointments.

Nurture Existing Clients

Staying in touch with existing clients is how you get repeat clients. Not every client is in a position to become a regular client right now, but that doesn’t mean they won’t be at a later point in time.

It’s much easier to convert a one time visitor into a regular client than it is to get a whole new client. If you keep in touch with your clientele and make a point of educating and entertaining them, they’ll be back.

A lot of small businesses fall short on the nurturing stage of client relationships, but the long term results of constant communication can be immense. What starts out as a single visit for a birthday treat becomes a birthday tradition when you send a birthday email each year. If that same client sees your name in their inbox or on social media on a regular basis, your services will be one their mind more than just once a year.

Email marketing is still the number one way small businesses retain clients. Don’t be spammy. The key is to send useful and informative content on a regular basis. Try being active on social media, make sure people are seeing your face and your brand out there. Give people a reason to visit your website by blogging about self-care, products you love, and things your company cares about. 

If you are a Booksy user you can make use of the Smart Marketing feature which comes with preloaded templates making it easy to send emails. 

preloaded templates

Nurturing clients is not about selling. It’s about preparing them to be the repeat clients they have the potential to be.

Set up recurring appointments

Now that you know how to get repeat clients, you need to optimize your schedule to make the most of your time. The best way I’ve found to do this is to get your regular clients set up with a standing appointment. This means they come in at the same time every visit.

Booksy makes this simple with their recurring appointments feature. You can easily create a recurring appointment that happens every day, week or month. This ensures your VIPs get exactly the time slot they want.

Setting up a standing appointment helps both you and your client stay organized.

Recurring appointments ensure your clients stay on track with their regular services.

When you schedule just one appointment at a time, it’s easy for life to get in the way of even your best intentions.

I find having the bulk of my clients having recurring appointments makes my life easier. The checkout process is quicker. I can eliminate unwanted gaps in my schedule and make sure I get breaks when I want them because it’s all scheduled well in advance. Filling my weeks with clients who have standing appointments means my income stays consistent week to week and month to month. If that wasn’t enough, my repeat clients appreciate the special time I save just for them. 

Conclusion

One of the greatest assets your business has is your loyal clients. Getting repeat business from existing clients can save you tons of money and generate significantly more income than finding new clients ever could. Plus when you pack your schedule with clients you love, who appreciate what you do, the greatest reward is not money, it’s happiness.

Looking for more ways to stay organized while you can confidently focus on getting repeat business from existing clients? Check out Booksy, an online scheduling system that can put your business out there. See for yourself why thousands of small business owners Like Beth use Booksy to manage their time and convert more clients!

Editor's Note: This post is contributed by Beth Abney, LMT - Beth is a freelance copywriter, marketing consultant, massage therapist, and Booksy user. She helps personal service providers grow their business by writing website copy that builds authority and attracts ideal customers.

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