Make new customers, but keep the old...

A whopping 89 percent of iPhone owners have indicated they will stick with Apple for their next handset, dwarfing all other hardware makers, according to a new survey.

When I was a child, I learned the popular ditty:

Make new friends, but keep the old

One is silver, and the other gold.

The same can be said for customers. Experts say that acquiring new customers costs as much as 10 to 20 times more than retaining existing customers. And existing customers purchase 2 to 5 times more. Yet most business spend the vast majority of their time and resources on getting new business rather than retaining their existing base.

Make new customers, by all means. But don't forget your your existing customers either. They're easier to retain, they spend more money and its the right thing to do.