When you are looking to grow your business, use this chart to guide you through the easiest, most profitable route.

A business’ easiest sale is to sell current products or services to current customers (Box #1).  Think about all the different departments and functions within your customers’ organizations – are there still opportunities there that you could explore?  If so, use the good reputation you’ve built in the areas you already serve to help open doors to the opportunities in the new areas.

The second easiest sale is to sell a new product or service to a current customer (Box #2).  “Would you like to try our new sea salt potato fries with that?”  The fast food industry understands this really well.

The third easiest sale is to sell existing products/services to new customers.  Seek out prospects who look, act, and value the same things as the customers you serve today.  So why is this third choice?  Because it costs 5 to 7 times as much to acquire a new customer as to retain and develop an old one.

And the hardest sale is to try to sell new products to new customers.  Surprisingly though, this is the way many small businesses try to go when they’ve realized their business has stagnated or shrunk.  They go after a different type customer base, with new products / services, in a new geography.  I recommend leaving this to new entrepreneurs and for established businesses to take advantage of the value they’ve already created in the market by starting with the steps above.

Good Luck!