When you are in marketing, no matter what your product or service might be, and no matter whether you work from your home, from an office, or from a brick-and-mortar store front, you need to make sales. Studies show that once you have made a sale to a new customer it is wise to maintain a good and trusting relationship with that customer in order to keep that customer for the long term and have that customer make repeat purchases from you. It is also much cheaper to keep an existing customer than to acquire a new one. With that in mind, here are a few ways to maintain the relationship and bring that customer back for more of what you have to offer.

1. When you make your first sale, follow-up with the customer. Send a "thank you" email or post card and make sure they are happy with your product. Include an advertisement in your email signature or as the picture on the post card for other products you sell. Follow-up every few months to see if they need more of what they bought. Keep the lines of communication open; make sure you are always on their mind - in a good way, or course!

2. Gently upsell to your customers without being pushy or obnoxious. Make sure you tell them about a few extra related products you have for sale, such as matching or coordinating accessories, nail polish, etc. If they like what they see, they can add it to their original order. If there is some ancillary product they will need to make what they just purchased produce at it's best, make sure to offer it. (Have you ever purchased a new computer printer only to discover at home that the clerk did not bother to make sure you had the right cable and ink or toner? Ever bought something that needed batteries but nobody thought to make sure you remembered to buy some? Gr-r-r-r-r!) Upselling is more than just asking if "you want fries with that."

3. Give incentives for referrals. Companies that sell products through home parties discovered this gold mine years ago. If enough product is sold at the party, the hostess gets a freebie from the product line. The more product sold, the better the freebie. Sometimes if a guest decides to book a party, both that guest and the hostess receive an incentive, and so it goes. Some internet web hosting services give free hosting or actually pay for referrals. With a bit of creativity, you should be able to make this concept work for just about anything.

4. When you sell a product, consider giving your customers the option of joining an affiliate program so they can make commissions selling your product, thus multiplying the sale you just made. Clickbank and PayDotCom are internet examples of this concept. Some of the home party companies do this, too.

5. Sell the reprint/reproduction rights to your products. Include an ad on or with each product for other products you sell. You could make sales for the reproduction rights and sales on the back end product. This of course is an option only of what you sell is your own original work. Two types of products to consider would be internet information or some type of art work or original craft idea.

6. Cross promote your product with other businesses' products in a package deal. You can include an ad or flyer for other products you sell and have other businesses selling for you. This type of arrangement has become known as a "joint venture" or "jv" for short and is enormously effective. Do you walk or groom dogs? Consider a "jv" with someone who makes doggie sweaters or home-baked doggie treats. Or, promote your friend's scented candles at your cake decorating parties, and she will promote your cake decorating service at her scented candle parties. This is another area where you are limited only by your creativity.

7. When you ship out or deliver your product, include a coupon for other related products - or even more of the same product. This has worked for decades for almost everything. Many items you buy in your local supermarket have coupons either on the packaging or tucked inside to entice you to buy more of the same when you run out of what you just bought.

8. Whoever said you had to limit yourself to just one type of home-based business? It is perfectly OK to combine more than one type and make customers from one business customers from both. For instance, if you run a family day care center and sell environmentally friendly cleaning and personal care products, your daycare moms would be more than interested in these products for their own homes. Do you clean offices or work organizing homes or offices or do freelance bookkeeping? Those customers would buy such products from you, too.

9. Sell gift certificates for your products. You'll make sales from the purchase of the gift certificate when the recipient cashes it in. They could also buy other items from your web site. You may have to be well-established before you begin this one, but what a great idea for the holiday season as well as birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, graduations, etc. You will have made two happy customers from the purchase of each gift certificate and widened your customer data base!

10. Send your customers free products with their product package. The freebies should have your ad printed on them. It could be bumper stickers, ball caps, t-shirts etc. This will allow other people to see your ad and order. Get a logo professionally designed or better yet barter your product or service in exchange for the logo design. Cross-market each other's business afterwards!