A discussion about sales, sales tips and advice, and about those who land the deal

Rich Schefren is a business expert with a knack for turning around failing companies, and starting new ones that enjoy hot sales from the word go.

His secret?  Understanding his customers, and how to capitalize on the opportunity to serve them.  But, how can you tell when one of your past customers is still a viable current customer, especially if you are selling to people via the Internet?  Here is his answer:

Just because someone buys something on your website doesn't make him a customer.

Most Internet entrepreneurs don't really understand that their customer list is perishable. Without putting future offers in front of their customers, they become accomplices in degrading their business's number one asset

So, how can you tell if a customer is still a customer?

One way is to understand customer lifecycles and how to use customer behavior metrics (such as latency, frequency, recency, and monetary value) to conduct predictive modeling. The concept here is that you can predict a customer's future behavior by comparing his current behavior to what you know about the aggregate behavior of your former customers. Then you can take preventive action to keep him as a customer.

Predictive modeling also lets you know in advance when a customer is displaying hyper-responsive tendencies (i.e., by responding quickly to your marketing attempts). This way, you can make sure you put offers in front of this customer fast enough ... so he doesn't go elsewhere to quench his thirst for whatever it is you're selling.

If you've never considered the "How can you tell if a customer is still a customer?" question, you are practicing "The Ostrich Theory of Internet Marketing." This is where you operate under the false assumption that your customers are customers for life - unless they specifically tell you they are no longer interested in buying from you.

To make sure your customers keep buying from you, get your head out of the sand, and take these three steps:

1. Get an understanding of the customer lifecycle for your particular business.

2. Define the latencies between each desired customer action. (A "latency" is the average amount of time between two of these actions - like buying a product and then visiting a customer service website.)

3. When customers deviate from the customer lifecycle, create an irresistible offer that lures them back.