crazy, but very similar to that of most people in business. We set about turning his business around with the single-minded goal of using his old customers to transform his bottom line. You wouldn't believe this now, Charlie, but before I got involved with Brad and his team, the only letters I ever sent my past customers were overdue account notices, Adrian said. They were the bad old days, I replied with a grin. Remember how long it took your Coach to convince you to simply send out a letter, with a brochure on the special printing offers for Christmas, to all your past customers thanking them for their business over the past year? Adrian was too embarrassed to answer, so I obliged. It took over three weeks of haggling before we sat down to write it for him. It cost next to nothing to put together and the postage came to around $700, if I remember correctly. Correct, reiterated Adrian. And how much business did you get out of it? $24,000, we said simultaneously. We then both glanced at Charlie, who hadn't said a word. In fact, Charlie hadn't said much all day. However, his various expressions spoke volumes. Right now his mouth was slightly open and he'd forgotten to blink for the last 60 seconds. We had begun our coaching of Adrian the same way we start with every business owner who has problems increasing the number of transactions from past customers. We hammered away at the importance of keeping in regular contact with everyone on the database (if you haven't got one, start now) and the need to constantly offer special deals, because when people are offered a special deal they feel special. When he finally relented and sent the Christmas offer, his professional life 44