Oliver Wendell Holmes said, "The
great thing in life is not where we stand, but what direction we are
moving."
No matter what business you work in,
a "business as usual" mindset will insure your competitors are making
more money than you are. If you don't stand out from the competition you will
find it very difficult to thrive in today's market.
Now more than ever you have to focus, improve, and possibly even
change your marketing campaign in order to attain, retain, and maintain
customers. Here are 8 tips to do that:
1) Think big and audit your time.
No matter the size of your business, you must believe that you are
the largest and most successful person in your industry. How much time is
consumed by routine office work someone else should be doing? Spend more time
with more important tasks such as marketing strategies, improving customer
relations, and implementing new strategies to expand your services.
2) Be different.
Jordan Furniture sells more furniture per square foot than any
other furniture store in the nation. They transformed their family-owned
business into a multi-million dollar corporation by following a principle
called "shoppertainment." To surprise employees and customers, Barry
and Eliot Tatleman dressed up like the Lone Ranger and Tonto and rode horses in
their parking lot. They built an IMax theater inside one store to entertain
children while their parents shopped. When you drive around the back to pick up
your furniture they provide you free hotdogs and wash your car windows.
3) Build relationships with your customers.
Create a customer database and contact them on a regular basis.
Mail them a postcard, birthday card, sales flyer, newsletter etc. to keep your
name, phone number, and service on their mind.
4) Collect E-Mail Addresses.
Get permission from your customers to use their E-mail address.
Send updates and notices to your client list on regular basis. As long as you
have their permission and avoid overuse, E-mail can be a powerful and
inexpensive marketing tool.
5) Hire top sales people.
Successful businesses realize the quality of their sales staff is
critical to sustaining their growth in the marketplace. A top salesperson can
outsell an average one 4 to 1. Sales people must understand their strengths and
have a well-defined plan to reach their potential. Many companies can provide
you sales assessments to both identify top candidates and develop currently
employed sales people.
6) Put a shopping cart on your website.
Online sales are still growing at a dramatic pace. This is coming
from people who want to save time, avoid crowded stores, convenience, and the
ability to shop outside of store hours. Just consider E-Bay for example, which
generates millions of dollars of sales each year. It does not cost anything to
set up an account on E-Bay, and you pay a proportion based on the cost of the
item you are trying to sell. If you don't want to use E-bay, consider using
your own shopping cart system on your website.
7) Paid advertising.
Many business owners are finding classified advertising is not an
effective use of their marketing dollars. Others are finding pay-per-click or
pay-per-sale advertising is an easier and cheaper way to reach a larger market.
Paid advertising will insure you receive top visibility on websites driving
more customers to your door. Advertisers bid on keywords and the more popular
the keyword, the more expensive each click is. Prices vary between ten cents to
many dollars depending on the popularity of the word.
8) Use customer service commandments to create good habits.
Bates Ace Hardware store
located in Atlanta created "Twenty Customer Service Commandments"
modeled after the Ritz-Carlton hotels outlining specific behaviors
employees are to demonstrate when dealing with customers and fellow employees.
For example, "Accompany a customer to the correct aisle instead of
pointing to another area of the store." They print the commandments on a
small card and employees carry it with them at work.
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