If you think of what you do as solving a problems for your customer, what other problems
could you be solving for them? And what sort of impact could that
have on your sales? You surely know by now that I’ll want to talk you through
some figures! Let’s have a look, and I’ll use the same figures as my last blog.
Your sale is £50 and your customers buy on average 4 times a year (but you’ve
now increased this to 5!). However let’s just stick with 4 times just now.
If there was something extra that your customers could buy at that point, and
it might be an extra £5, that’s £20 per customer. You’ve got 500 customers so
that an extra £10,000 in sales. That’s the equivalent of another 50 new customers.
Now I know it’s easy
to come out with figures and I don’t really expect all your customers will buy
more every time. But can you see how this is worth considering?
It could be that you
offer different levels of service to different customers and that’s how you can
increase the average spend. There is evidence to suggest that 10% of customers will
always buy the most expensive option. If you don’t offer them alternatives you
could be leaving a lot of money on the table. Or they may even go elsewhere
for that premium service or product.
We’re all familiar
with the upsell, for example:
MacDonalds – ‘Do you
want fries with it?’
Restaurants – ‘Would
you like a drink while you’re looking at the menu?’ ‘Would you like a
dessert/coffee?’
Airport parking – ‘Do
you want us to park your car for you?’
Hairdressers – ‘Would
you like a treatment to keep your colour longer?’
There’s a whole load
of others and I’m suggesting if you’re not doing it in your business then you
are not solving all of your customers’ problems. Some of your customers are
really short of time and would appreciate something to help with that. Some of
your customers trust you and are happy to buy more things from you. Some of
your customers like to have the best quality. So why not help them?
To be frank if you
don’t help them they may think you just don’t care enough and go to your
competitor anyway. And you don’t need to provide it all yourself. There may be
a like minded business owner you can join up with and recommend (for commission
or not) to your customers. They in turn may well return the compliment.
By thinking in a
slightly different manner you might not need so many extra leads or new
customers. It’ll cost you less to use your existing customer base, you can do
it in less time and you can strengthen you customer relationships at the same
time.
No comments:
Post a Comment