Daryl T. Logullo observes that
most companies spend 80% of their promotion dollars
on outbound marketing and advertising. 
The remaining 20% is spent on current customers. 

He suggests flipping this allocation
for a better return
(as the advertising arena is crowded). 

The three simple actions he recommends
(educating existing customers about your product offerings,
informing them that you wish to grow, and
then rewarding them for referrals)
will grow your business. 

On the same topic,
Troy White suggests reminding existing customers
about all the products you offer
(his fruit stand method).

If a customer comes to you with
a complaint,
action steps to fix it,
and
perhaps even volunteers time and energy,
listen up. 

This person is passionate. 
This person is driven. 
And if this person is not listened to,
they will either go to the competition
or build a competing product. 

Recently a group of advanced members of an investing forum
spent time and effort on proposed fixes. 
These were presented. 
These were not listened to. 

A month later, a competing forum is now active. 
Their first customers? 
The attendees of the previous forum. 

Ray Silverstein talks about
the three styles in sales. 
The finder looking for her next conquest,
the minder thriving on relationships, and
the grinder working the numbers.  

You can also apply these personality types
to entrepreneurs. 
The finder has the big idea
but if it takes time,
not much follow through. 
The minder needs to work in
a group to be truly happy
and can usually charm the birds out of trees. 
The grinder, which I am,
simply applies the ratio of success to failures
and then works the ratio until she is successful. 

As a grinder,
when I look for partners,
I look for someone with a finder or minder profile.