Sales – Page 11

External Market Forces that can Drive you out of Business

April 10, 2011

In case you have not heard Blockbuster; the go to place for video rental just a few years ago; was purchased by Dish Network for peanuts. This is the company that was valued at Billions of dollars before the market and technology changed around them and new competitors such as Netflix and Coinstar came along. They completely missed the boat.
Such is the power of free market economy! Business owners who focus only on internal operations of their business without paying attention to external market forces will get hurt. The market forces will put them in oblivion in a few short years or even months.
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Filed Under: Buyers, Marketing, Sales Tagged With: Business-Start

Why Embracing KISS Principle Leads to Happiness

April 6, 2011

KISS -Keep It Simple Stupid.
Many small business owners like to take the road less simple. If a task takes 2 steps to finish they will manage to stretch it to 10 steps. They are wired to think complex. We have pondered on the question for some time – when you are running a small business should you opt for a simple operation or a complex one?
You can see the examples of simple and complex operations in franchises as well. On one hand you have a pizza franchise such as Little Caesar’s – home of $5 Pepperoni Pizza with no delivery. On other side there is Pizza Hut with large number menu items and toppings and it not only has carry out; but also delivery and dine-in. Which one is easier operation to run?
There are number of reasons why you should try to keep things as simple as possible.
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Filed Under: Customers, Employees, Management, Operations, Sales Tagged With: Business-Start, Cost-Management, Customer-Complaint, Productivity, Profit, Time-Management

Improve Sales and Customer Loyalty with Subscription Model

April 2, 2011

Many people incorrectly assume that the subscription model only applies to specific types of business and miss out on the benefits it provides. The business that is closely associated with subscription model is newspapers and magazines. After all, magazine industry was the first one to introduce subscription business model. A number of other industries have since adopted this model including health clubs, DVD rental (Netflix), cell phone companies, etc.
The subscription model creates a win-win opportunity for both business owners and customers. Businesses benefit from subscription model because they get guaranteed sales. In some cases, they also get advanced payment for the services that customers will enjoy over a period in the future. Subscription model also builds a customer loyalty and reduces the marketing / customer acquisition cost for small business owners.
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Filed Under: Customers, Marketing, Operations, Sales Tagged With: Competition

How Can your Employees Help Improve Sales

March 16, 2011

It is our belief that your employees can help improve sales at your business by more than 20% if you help them help you. Most business owners don’t really think of their employees as ones who can help them improve sales; however the front line employees – the ones that interact with customers – can make a big difference in improving your business. These employees are talking to and interacting with your customers all the time. They are responsible for making your customers come back by providing great customer service. In short, they are representing your brand and your business.
So what are the specific ways in which your employees can help improve sales? In our experience of running business for 5 years we have come across multiple opportunities.

They can make your existing customers come back by providing excellence customer service.
They can also help bring new customers by word-of-mouth from existing ones.
They can help you up-sell and cross-sell at the point of order taking and payment.
They are aware of where opportunities exist for improvement in customer service and operations.

It is your responsibility as business owner to make this happen. You have to provide them with the necessary resources and incentives that will motivate them to give their best in front of customers. We have identified below several areas that you need to address.
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Filed Under: Customers, Employees, Marketing, Operations, Sales Tagged With: Customer-Complaint, Hiring

How to Ask Customers to do Marketing of your Business

March 9, 2011

Most small business owners are at a disadvantage compared to their large competitors when it comes to marketing. After all, small businesses do not have the marketing muscle and budget of the large companies. They have to find innovative ways to do marketing and advertising that is not expensive yet is equally, if not more, effective.
Many small business owners get intimated by this challenge and think that there is no way they can succeed against Goliath in marketing. We believe that is not true. In our earlier post on 5 fundamental rules of marketing we argued that good marketing strategy does not have to cost much. We also showed how you can improve your sales in a low-cost fashion through community involvement. There is another aspect of low cost marketing that is not utilized well by small business owners. That involves seeking help from your existing customers to do the marketing for you.
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Filed Under: Customers, Employees, Marketing, Sales Tagged With: Advertising, Community, Social-Media

Improve your Sales with Up Selling

March 6, 2011

“Would you like fries with that?” – We have all heard this while ordering burger at a fast food place. How many times have you answered it with – “sure”? Well, this is the power of up selling. In its simplest form, it is just a matter of asking customers if they want to add more items to their order. In a more subtle form, it could be something like placing a complementary item to the one that you intend to purchase in a grocery store and enticing you to buy it.
If you are not taking advantage of up selling and cross selling opportunity in your business you are probably losing 20-30% of potential sales. Some companies have really mastered the techniques of up selling by making customers buy additional items at a high price. For example, Ford has increased the average selling price of its cars by making customers want and pay for the extra options in their basic cars. When Apple introduced its next generation of iPad on March 3 it also showed a screen cover that will be sold for $39 for basic model and $69 for leather version. Can you imagine what their profit margin is on these items?
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Filed Under: Customers, Employees, Management, Operations, Sales Tagged With: Profit

Improve Sales by Helping Customers Make Choice

February 23, 2011

Every one of us has been to a soup isle in the grocery store at some point. Have you noticed the number of choices they have for sale? There are endless shelves stocked with soups from different companies in myriad variations. Just imagine having to make a decision on what soup to get – Campbell or Progresso, ready-to-eat or condensed, Mushroom or Minestrone, low salt minestrone or regular or high fiber and on and on. Is your head spinning yet?
Psychology professor Barry Schwartz makes good arguments in his book The Paradox of Choice: Why more is less on why you sell less when you provide customers too many choices. When customers cannot make up their minds on what to get they will simply just walk away without making any purchase.
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Filed Under: Customers, Marketing, Operations, Sales

Checklist to Understand Marketing Benefits of Franchise

January 31, 2011

In the post about benefits of buying a franchise versus independent business we argued that one of the primary benefits provided by franchise is better marketing at a lower cost. By leveraging their size and expertise a franchise can create better brand and improve sales for all franchisees. Subway positioned itself as the Diet Sandwich Shop in the minds of all Americans by running the “Jared” campaign for number of years.
However, not all franchises do such a good job of marketing. A number of them waste their and franchisees’ money by spending on frivolous, useless marketing activities. That’s why it is important to understand the value provided by franchise in terms of marketing and compare it against the investment you have to make as a franchisee – in other words the return on your marketing spend.
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Filed Under: Buyers, Management, Marketing, Operations, Sales Tagged With: Advertising, Franchise

How to Improve Sales with Community Involvement

November 9, 2010

Many small business owners focus all their marketing effort on advertising and promotions. As we mentioned in this post on 5 Fundamental Rules of Marketing; marketing is much more than just advertising and many times costs very little to do. One of the great marketing opportunities overlooked by small business owners is getting involved with the local community.
Community involvement establishes long-lasting relationship with your customers that will keep your business on top of their mind for a long time. A typical advertising, in contrast, only has a single transaction relationship where the customer will think of your business as a result of advertising flyer or coupon for a short time.
There are several avenues you can explore to get involved with the local community.
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Filed Under: Customers, Marketing, Sales Tagged With: Advertising, Community, Coupon