Cathy Stucker - The Idea Lady

Attract Customers and Make Yourself Famous

Expanding Your Product Line

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You do not have to find new customers to make more money. One way to increase revenues and profits is to increase the average amount of each sale you make to your customers.

If you have a small number of products and services, the upsells you can offer to customers are limited. Expanding your line of products and services will have an instant impact.

Obvious add-ons include accessories for the products you sell. That may mean a clothing store adding a line of jewelry, or a bookseller offering reading lights, and bookmarks.

Your add-ons can also be services. A computer reseller may offer an extended warranty, or a business consultant may provide merchant accounts for clients who want to accept credit cards. If you know what your customers want and need, you can better serve them and earn greater profits.

Here are some ways to enhance your product line.

Resell products produced by others. You can buy products at wholesale prices and resell them to your customers at retail. Find products that complement what you are currently selling, and contact wholesalers or manufacturers to learn their terms.

This can involve an investment to buy product (and you will have to have a place to store it) but the time and money involved will be much less than is required to develop products of your own. Some suppliers will drop ship, sending individual orders directly to your customers, so you can avoid the shipping hassles as well as the upfront cost and storage issues.

Sell private label products. There are many manufacturers that will package their products with your labeling. Search manufacturing directories to find a company that makes the products you want, and inquire about private labeling options.

This also works with services. I offer a private label version of PR Web Direct’s publicity services.  Although my logo is on the page, the page is managed by PR Web Direct. I simply refer clients there and receive a percentage of sales.

You can even create custom products for your private label. For example, http://www.essentialwholesale.com/ will blend and package cosmetics, essential oils and other products to your specifications. A spa, salon or massage therapist could create their own line of products that customers can only obtain from them. There are many other products that can be private labeled and sold under your name.

Join affiliate programs. There are thousands of merchants paying commissions on sales referred online. When you join an affiliate program, you are given a link with your affiliate code in it. You put the link on your Web site, and when visitors click through from your site and make a purchase, you get paid.

To find affiliate programs, visit the sites you would like to recommend and look for a link that says “Affiliates” or “Affiliate Program.” Or, search affiliate network sites to find participating merchants. Two of the leading affiliate networks are Commission Junction and LinkShare.

Making more or larger sales to the same number of customers will make a huge difference in your bottom line.

How Likable Are You?

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People buy from people they like. That seems obvious, doesn’t it? When people have a choice of where to take their business (as they usually do) they will choose to spend their money with the company or person that makes them feel good. 

When customers like you, they are not only more likely to buy from you—they are also more likely to recommend you to friends and associates. Use the following ideas to increase your likeability quotient.

Look like your customers. This can be as simple as dressing in a style similar to your customers. When it is not appropriate to dress like your customers, dress in a style that makes them comfortable. A massage therapist who wears a white lab coat or similar uniform enhances her image as a professional and reminds clients that they are in capable hands.

Listen to customers. People like to talk about themselves, and they feel good when they know someone is truly listening. Show that you are listening by asking appropriate questions and responding to what customers say.

Make connections. Showing a genuine interest in your customers’ lives can help you find areas of common ground. Do you share a hobby or interest? Look for clues to areas where you may have something in common.

Validate customers. Comment approvingly about the customer’s selection. Acknowledge their expertise. Express respect for their opinions, concerns and objections. Make them feel important.

Compliment customers. A genuine compliment will go a long way toward building rapport. Even if customers know that you are going out of your way to compliment them, or they do not believe the compliment, the compliment will still give them positive feelings about you.

Be nice to their children. Consider your customers’ children to be extensions of them. How you treat their children will affect how they feel about you. Talk to the children, laugh at their jokes and be friendly. Have games or other activities available to entertain children while their parents meet with you.

Be nice to their pets. Does it make you feel good when the teller at the bank drive-through offers a treat to your dog? Sure! Pets are members of the family, too.

Make the buying experience pleasant. Events work because they create a sense of fun and excitement. Although you may not be able to make every day an event, you can make it relaxed and enjoyable. Have a comfortable area for shopping or waiting. Offer coffee and soft drinks when customers have to wait. Have current magazines in the waiting area. Play music.

Say thank you. It is simple, but many skip this step. Say thank you at the time of purchase. Follow up with a handwritten note. Say thank you before the sale. Thank a customer for viewing a demonstration. And do not forget to thank anyone who refers new business to you.

Making an effort to make customers feel relaxed and happy will pay off in increased sales and referrals. And it will make you feel good, too.

Overcoming Objections Before They are Raised

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Overcoming customer objections is key to making sales. A good salesperson is prepared to handle customer objections as they arise. A great salesperson anticipates customer objections and defuses them even before they can be raised.

The first step is to identify customer objections. Anyone who has contact with your customers can be helpful in this step. That means salespersons, service staff, administrative personnel and others. List the objections that customers bring up. Which are most common? How were they dealt with? You may find that salespersons are dealing with objections in different ways. Do not assume that only one way is correct.

Think negatively. Put yourself in the customer’s shoes and imagine everything that might possibly cause you to hesitate before buying. Encourage staff to brainstorm about objections customers might raise.

Consider hidden objections. Customers may be uncomfortable about stating some objections, and hide behind others. For example, they may raise a false objection to avoid admitting they think the price is too high. Dealing with the unstated objection up front takes it off the table. For example, you might show how you get better results than cheaper services, or that your product is more durable than others and will have a longer useful life.

Hidden objections may include issues that are not truly objections, but are obstacles to making the sale. For example, is it difficult for customers to understand what your product or service does? Are choices and pricing options too complicated for them to easily grasp? In those cases, customers may simply say no rather than admit they are confused and take the time to study. It is your job to make buying simple for them.

Once you know what the objections are, deal with them. Information to preemptively address objections may be presented in your advertising, brochures, Web site, or presentation.

A FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) on your Web site or in other marketing materials is a powerful way to head off customer objections by providing them the answers they need. Are they concerned that they might not be able to get maintenance or service in their area? Show a list or map of service centers. Do they wonder what happens if the product turns out to be wrong for them? Let them know about your return policy or satisfaction guarantee.

Responding to some objections may require changing the way you do things. If the purchasing process is too complicated, streamline it. If there are too many choices, group some of the most popular options into packages.

Remember that you can not be all things to all people. Some objections raised by customers may indicate that your product is simply not a good fit for them. Do not contort your business to fit the needs of a small group of customers who are not representative of your core market.

Addressing customers’ concerns before they raise them, perhaps even before customers have thought of them, will show that you understand their needs and it will be easier to close the sale.

More Revenue, More Profits, Not Necessarily More Customers

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more-revenue

Attracting new customers is one way to help your cashflow. However, you may be able to increase both revenues and profits without a lot of new customers. 

You can do this by making more sales to existing customers, increasing the amount of the average sale, or raising your prices.

You may be able to make more sales by staying in contact with your current customers. Start an online or print newsletter to keep them informed of new products and other information of interest to them. Offer to text or e-mail product specials and sales to them. Call from time to time to remind them to reorder consumable supplies, or just to ask if there is any way you can assist them.

One way to increase the amount of each sale is to sell more items. Offer a discount when customers purchase multiples. For example, one widget is $20, two can be purchased for $35 or three for $45. Yes, you get less per widget. But let’s say your cost per widget is $5. The “three-fer” offer increases your costs by $10 and your revenues by $25.

This is a simplistic example. but it illustrates an important point: Certain fixed costs (e.g., order taking and fulfillment) don’t vary much whether you sell one, three or more items. If you can encourage multiple sales with a discount, you can come out ahead and make your customer happy, too.

Instead of selling more of the same items, you can sell add-ons and extras to increase revenues. Ever notice that toy stores sell batteries? That’s because their customers want to get everything in one place. So do yours.

Finally, you can increase profits by increasing prices. Most small businesses underprice, especially for services, because they believe they have to have the lowest prices to compete. Will charging more cause customers to leave? You might be surprised by the answer. Of course, it depends on how price sensitive your market is, but at least a couple of things can happen when you raise your prices.

One, you can lose customers. But, you might find that you are more profitable without those particular customers. Often, the ones least willing to pay a reasonable price are the most unreasonable in their expectations. You may spend a lot of time and money trying to satisfy these clients—time and money which can be more profitably spent elsewhere.

And, you may attract new customers with a higher price. Others value our products and services only as much as we do. If you charge a cheap price, customers may believe you offer an inferior product or service. Of course, along with a premium price you must deliver a premium result—but you’re already doing that, right?

One other result you may find with these customers is that not only are they willing to pay a premium price, they will buy more products and add-ons than your bargain-hunting customers. Don’t be afraid to charge what you are worth.

“How Am I Doing?”

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Former New York City mayor Ed Koch was famous for asking, “How am I doing?” The question let his customers–the voters of New York–know that he was interested in their opinions, and that he valued their feedback. Do you regularly ask your customers how you are doing?

As a professional speaker, I am accustomed to getting immediate feedback from my audiences. At the end of each seminar, attendees are asked to complete evaluation forms. Over the years, my performance has been evaluated by thousands of people. Fortunately for my speaking career, the responses have been overwhelmingly positive; however, I learn from both positive and not-so-positive comments.

The secret to successfully implementing changes based on customer feedback is first to determine what changes are necessary. There are several methods that can be used to solicit customer comments.

In-person discussions with customers, such as through focus groups, allow you to hear what customers think. If you run the focus group you may get answers that are not as candid as they should be, as customers may not want to give you the unvarnished truth about problems. Using a facilitator, with you out of the room, can make it easier for them to open up.

Instead of a focus group, consider assembling an advisory board made up of customers. Ask customers who represent various segments of your market to meet with you to give feedback on your products and services and make suggestions about how you could better meet their needs.

A written or online survey may be appropriate for getting opinions from a large group of customers. You can mail a paper survey to customers, or hand out survey or comment cards in your place of business. Make it easy to respond by including a return envelope or putting out a box to collect the forms. Online surveys can be conducted at little or no cost through services such as http://www.SurveyMonkey.com/.

Keep your survey short and simple. If it is too complicated, customers won’t take the time to respond. You may want to focus on one aspect of your service, or one product line, to keep the number of questions at a manageable level.

Give customers the option of providing feedback anonymously. They will be freer to offer their true opinions if they can do so without divulging who they are.

Once you have the results, review them objectively. It is tempting to think that anyone with a negative opinion simply does not know what they are talking about. Do not let your ego get in the way of receiving important information.

Make appropriate changes. If it appears that a lot of customers want you to have hours on Saturday afternoons, it might be worthwhile to do that. You do not have to implement every suggestion, though.

Once you have made changes, let customers know what they are, and that they were made in response to customer requests. Even those who did not participate in the survey will appreciate that you are reaching out to customers to serve them better.