Your customers fall into three categories. Bargain hunters visit your retail store, pick over last year's holiday inventory, then disappear for months. Casual shoppers chat up your sales staff and buy sometimes. But devoted customers, your loyal clientele, love your store, buy often, and refer their friends to you.

How do you get more devoted customers? One of the best ways is to host a special event that can persuade your mid-tier customers to become your best customers, according to experts. "Selling to existing customers is easier than spending money to acquire new ones," says Dan King, a retail industry consultant and Microsoft Certified Partner.

1. Let your customers know why you're asking for their personal information.

This will help ease any anxiety your customers may have about giving out their phone number or e-mail address.

One of the best ways for a business owner to collect customer information is to have an outline ready for staff members to follow at the point-of-sale.

2. Create motivation for your customers to provide their information.

Consider offering the following incentives to your customers who give you their personal information:

3. Protect your customers' privacy.

Train your sales staff to ensure your customers that their personal information is for in-store use only. Plus, be sure to post a privacy statement on your store's Web site that spells out how customer information is used.