This morning I wrote, “You are not a serious business if you do not have a system in place to respond to inquiries and to close sales.”

As a business, you’ve got to maintain a steady pipeline of new customers for the following reasons:

1. In a competitive market, every new customer is market share stolen from your competitor.

2. A steady stream of new customers creates cash flow.

3. New customers provide a buffer from lost sales, when old customers leave.

4. A satisfied new customer leads to recurrent sales, which reduces your cost of marketing.

5. Most importantly, a constant stream of new customers guarantees your generational relevance and pushes you to innovate, as your business matures.

Never respond to new sales inquiries in a distracted and lackadaisical manner. They should command your best attention, as you seek to turn those prospects into paying customers.