Author : Stuart Lockley
Last week I had a very interesting experience while out shopping. My daughter had requested that I purchase three lever arch files for her while I went about my law full business and as a result I found myself in a small stationers shop.I picked up the files and stood at the counter waiting for my turn to be served. I became aware of a disembodied voice repeating "they are two for £2.50." At first I just ignored the intrusion but eventually I looked around and realised the voice was in fact talking to me."They are two for £2.50", I am sure you are correct thought I but why are you telling me? I finally realised that the gentleman concerned meant that the lever arch files were two for £2.50 and would I like to purchase four rather than three.You may be wondering why I bother to report this little encounter. The reason is simply that there are valuable lessons to be learnt that can be applied to your business regardless of size or the products / services that you supply. What are a few of these ideas?1. Before you are able to deliver an effective sales message it is necessary to gain the attention of your prospect. In the example above a simple "excuse me sir" would have sufficed. How do you attract the attention of your prospects? Until someone is listening to you, your sales message is wasted regardless of how good it may or may not be.2. No one purchases at the first contact. It would be wonderful if contacting a prospect once would lead to a sale but unfortunately the world does not work that way. Most people will not purchase until the sixth, seventh or eight contact. This is why sending out one direct mailing piece is rarely as successful as multiple contacts over a period of time.3. One thing the shop owner was doing right was to up-sell at the point of sale. By offering two lever arch files for £2.50 he increased the chances that customers would make a larger purchase. What products or services are you able to bundle together and produce an irresistible offer for your customers?4. Measure, measure, and measure. The shop owner priced his offer in such a way that he could easily lose money if a reasonable number of customers would usually purchase two lever arch files anyway. Had I thought to ask I suspect that it is unlikely he would be able to tell me how many files would generally be purchased at one time? Without this information it is impossible for him to know whether he is making or losing money on his offer.5. Contact your customers and let them know when you have a special offer. Create special offers just for your most valuable customers. This would be difficult for the shopkeeper in the example because he made no attempt to capture my name or contact details. If you do not keep your information in front of your customers you will be forgotten.It is really very interesting just how much there is to be learnt from one little encounter in a shop while purchasing a few lever arch files.Stuart Lockley is a UK based Business Growth Specialist. To obtain further great ideas and information to help you grow your business visit http://www.stuartlockley.com and download the "Six Keys to Double the Value of your Business" Free
Keyword : Marketing, marketing ideas, business growth
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