And just to be clear, I don’t mean younger when I say new.
Let me use my three year journey as a triathlete to illustrate.
Seven years ago, I became acquainted with a couple, both triathletes at the local pool. I could barely swim. In fact, at the time I was a ballet, hip hop, contemporary dancer on the brink of retirement. I swam at the pool because my dance career had started stressing me out. The male component of the couple was training for an Ironman. I nodded with some mild understanding. My high school running coach had competed in Kona. And while it sounded exciting and all, I was just trying to keep in shape for my next dance performance.
Then shortly after I retired from dance, I started running. I completed my first marathon.
Then I started biking again.
One day I inadvertently completed all the distances in one day for a Sprint Distance Tri. So I bought a better bike and signed up for a race.
I completed the Gold Nugget Tri (my first) in 2014 and I haven’t looked back since.
Three years…three sprint, two olympic, two halfs, and one and a half IMs later…people are asking me for advice. Now please understand I am not a podium winner. I found out I qualified for this year’s age group nationals because no one else competed in my age group thus I placed first. I am a mid-pack finisher. And yet, I have noticed a new crop of people on my swim team, in my run group, and in our local cycle club who have recently completed their first triathlon. Not young kids, but grown adults in their 30s, 40s, and 50s. And they are enthused to do more, which means eventually they will be ready for new equipment to handle longer distances.
Your marketing mind can pull together a number of high ticket items they will be spending $$$ on–bikes, shoes, wetsuits, tri suits, registration fees, travel, hotel, and on and on…
The question is…do you have your marketing in place? Will newcomers know to go to you for a particular product or service? Do you have what they need in stock? Is your customer service ready with advice and encouragement? Do they know of resources (or have them) that can meet their needs?
It doesn’t matter what product or service you sell, markets continually refresh themselves. Don’t let your marketing to newcomers lapse just because you haven’t heard them from them for a while, or because you have a number of established customers. A discovery is still a discovery for someone, even if what they just discovered has been around forever.