Your Customer or a Competitor's Prospect

I read the following in my friend Andrea Nierenberg's newsletter.

"Great customer service never goes out of style, yet sometimes we may forget that our best customer or client is our competitor's best prospect."

I thought it was worth sharing for a few reasons:

1. Who doesn't need this reminder?  Treat your customers well or they will leave.  It is very easy for a competitor to pick up one of your unhappy customers.
2. When the economy is hurting and budgets are cut a good place to look for new sales opportunities is your existing customers.
3. Let's not forget the old marketing idiom that it costs less to keep an existing customer than acquire a new one.
4. I am hoping to share some marketing results from a customer marketing effort that will illustrate how powerful your customer database can be if treated properly.