Let me guess: You've been in business for a couple years, and you have no problem getting that first sale from a new customer, but you do have a problem getting that second, third or even fourth sale. Am I in the ballpark? If so, I'll teach you how to keep those customer profiles up to date and how to keep them coming back long after the first sale.

In my consulting years, the first thing I would ask my clients was to grant me access to their vault.

No, I didn't mean the wall safe hidden behind the Degas painting. I was talking about the data vault. Every business owner maintains some form of database record of his or her customers. Whether it's just a stack of invoices with coffee stains all over them, paper receipts lying around, business cards in a fish bowl, OR a digital file, which includes personal info and email addresses.

What people don't often realize is that these customers have practically thrown themselves-and their valuable information-at you, and you have not taken the opportunity to capitalize on it.