Customer service is a term we all hear on a fairly regular basis. It is also the one aspect of selling that you have complete control over. Providing exceptional customer service can’t just be something that is thought about, or talked about occasionally. It has to be a standard operating procedure; it shouldn’t be just a department. Providing exceptional customer service has to be a part of your company’s culture. The products that you are selling are probably similar to those of your competitors and, chances are, so are your prices. Good customer service can set you apart or set you behind your competition. Not only will good customer service help you make the sale today; it will help you make more sales in the future.
One of the most basic fundamentals of good customer service is telling the truth. The first thing you need to do as a salesperson is to establish trust and the best way to establish that is by telling the truth. This goes for all promises that are made to the customer, no matter how small it may seem to you. The customers are going to remember every promise that you make to them, so you better remember them as well and follow through. Repeat business is a key to sales and keeping your promises is one way to ensure that repeat business. In short, if you say it, do it!
Every customer is different with different wants and needs. Therefore it would be silly to use the same approach on every potential customer. A good salesperson will talk with each and every customer and find out what they want and then make every effort to satisfy those wants and needs. Satisfying a customer can be done in many ways. It may be simply taking an item back that did not meet their needs. It is not your fault that the product did not meet the customers’ needs but by taking it back you are showing an understanding of what the customer’s needs are. You also may be able to sell them another product that better fits their needs. A satisfied customer will not only return to you for further needs but they will also share their experience with two or three friends. Whereas, an unsatisfied customer will not come back and will share their experience with up to 10 people. There are many people in this world but we certainly cannot afford to be losing up to 10 potential customers every time we fail to satisfy a customer’s needs. We will not be in business for very long at that rate. Satisfy every customer!
We are all people who, whether we want to admit it or not, like to talk about ourselves. That’s the nature of being human. As a salesperson, though, it just will not work. Very few people who are coming into a store to buy something from you care that your car broke down on the way to work that day. The one thing they do care about is how you can provide them with what they want. Let the customer talk about themselves and what they want. You accomplish two very important goals this way:
1. You build a level of trust with the customer, making it easier to sell to them.
2. You find out what their needs are. Now you know what they want and you have their trust, that’s a great combination. Keep your personal problems out of business!
We all want to feel important and that something has been done just for us. That’s why it is always important to give the customer your full attention. No one is more important than that person standing in front of you at that moment. We talked about trust earlier in the article. One of the easiest ways to begin to gain that trust is to simply pay attention to what your customer is saying. It is also just as easy to lose that trust by taking phone calls, talking with others, looking disinterested and talking too much yourself. We also talked earlier about customers don’t always buy the same product for the same reason. Therefore it is important that you are listening and paying attention to your customer, so you can best meet their needs. As was mentioned above, we all like to feel special or important. One simple way to make our customers feel that way is by using their name.
Listening is an art that all of us need constant work on. It is especially true when we our listening to our customers speak. They are taking the time to tell us about themselves and what they need or want. We owe it to them to listen and never interrupt! A sale can quickly be lost if a salesperson continues to interrupt his/her customer. By listening to everything the customer says, they may answer most of the questions we have from them about what they want or need. No one knows better about what they want than the customer themselves, so listen and give them what they want—they want to be heard. We talk a lot about developing trust in a seller/buyer relationship and listening goes a long way towards developing that trust. If you listen well and hear what your customer is telling you, and then the sale will be easier. They will be more willing to listen to you if you take the time to listen to them.
We are a society of first impressions. Is that completely fair? Probably not, but that’s the time that we live in today. You cannot make a sale by being neatly groomed but you can certainly lose sales. You need to look competent and potential buyers are going to notice how you are groomed before you say one word to them. You may know your product better than any other salesperson on the floor but if you are dressed in old jeans and a T-shirt, you may never get the chance to demonstrate your knowledge. Especially if all of your co-workers are dressed in business attire and “look the part.” Don’t lose potential sales because of your attire. There are enough things in sales that you cannot control, so take advantage of those things you can control. Dress for success!
Some people still hold the stereotype that all salespeople are nothing but pushy con men. It is up to you to prove that those days are long gone. People today buy products based on value, features and benefits. Salespeople need to explain their product in clear, easy to understand terms. This also means stay away from jargon. Every industry has its own language or jargon that is used within the industry but the customer will probably not understand that jargon. So it is vital that you speak to your customer in a clear and concise manner. Your job is to understand what your customer wants and then provide it with clear and honest communication. No fast talking!
No one wants to buy a product from someone who is not excited about selling the product. You need to be able to show your enthusiasm for whatever you are selling. It’s important to remember that the customer who is buying your product might be buying it for the first time. Take a jewelry salesperson for example that probably sells many engagements rings a week. It may become routine or even boring for that salesperson after a while but the customer is, most likely, buying an engagement ring for the first time. The customer is very excited because this is the biggest moment of their life. What happens to that excitement if they come across a salesperson that is tired and does not match the customer’s excitement? They are many furniture stores and chances are the buyer will seek one of them out. However if you match their enthusiasm about there pending home purchase, then you have all ready began to establish a rapport with that customer. Along with showing your enthusiasm for your product and your customer, it is also vital that you SMILE, SMILE, SMILE! Smiling is contagious and can go a long way in making your customer more comfortable and the more comfortable they are with you, the more comfortable you become with them. A smile can also provide an icebreaker when approaching a potential customer. If you flash a smile at a potential customer and you receive a smile back, then the ice is broken. There are still a lot of misconceptions about salespeople and a simple smile can go along way in showing our customers that we are just another person.
By showing your enthusiasm and smiling you have all ready gone a long way in making it fun! Anything you do is going to be more productive if the parties involved are having fun. We have all ready discussed the idea that customers are usually excited about making their purchase and if you share their excitement, then a lot of fun can be had by both the seller and the buyer. If you go to any mall around the country, chances are the mall we have some type of entertainment to make the shopping experience more enjoyable. If you are willing to make it fun for both you and your customer, your customer will remember the good time they had buying from you and will come back to you when it is time to buy again.
The golden rule is something we all grew up hearing about. “Do unto others as you would want done unto you.” This rule can certainly be applied in the sales field as well. If you are honest, straightforward and professional, then you are more likely to get the same in return. Not every sale you make will wind up with a happy customer. It’s just not realistic to believe that. Products either break or don’t meet the needs of the person who bought them. You can’t control stuff like that but you can control how you treat people. The better you treat people, the more sales you will make.
The salesperson who want to stand out from the rest will always go the extra mile! Find a way to make everyone who buys from you feel special. It can be, and usually is, something simple. For example, a lot of mortgagee companies will provide a bottle of champagne to new homebuyers upon final closing. Not only does this make the buyers feel good about their purchase; it also might provide you with more customers. Sure those new homeowners are going to bring in their friends and show off their new house but they are also likely to point to that bottle of champagne and tell the story of where they got it. That has the potential to lead them to recommending your company to any of their friends looking to buy a house. Word of mouth is a powerful thing that can spread like wildfire, good and bad. Make it work for you by taking the time to go that extra mile.
In the end, quality customer service is common sense. Find out what the customer wants or needs and the find a way to deliver it to meet the customer’s desires. Treat all your customers like they are your only customer because at that moment, they are and deserve your undivided attention. If you choose to become an expert at customer service you will not only sell more than your competitors today, you will continue to outsell your competitors in the future. People, eventually, will no longer have a use for the product they bought from you. However they will remember the high standard of customer service that you provided and that will bring them back.
Author, trainer, consultant, and speaker Brad Huisken is President of IAS Training. Mr. Huisken authored the books “I’M a salesman! Not a PhD.” and “Munchies For Salespeople, Selling Tips That You Can Sink Your Teeth Into”, he developed the PMSA Relationship Selling Program, the PSMC Professional Sales Management Course, The Mystery Shoppers Kit, The Employee Handbook and Policy & Procedures Manual, The Weekly Sales Training Meeting series along with Aptitude Tests and Proficiency Exams for new hires, current sales staff and sales managers, along with the new Weekly Internet Sales Training Series. In addition, he publishes a free weekly newsletter called “Sales Insight” For a free subscription or more information contact IAS Training at (800) 248-7703, info@iastraining.com, www.iastraining.com or fax (303) 936-9581.
Tablets were on almost every holiday gift giving guide last month and those that haven’t made the jump into “Tablet-land” sure are jealous when they see their iPad-touting friends walking around. By 2014, approximately 90 million Americans will use a tablet device, with the iPad leading the way.
Here are some stats on this ever-changing, popular technology:
What does this mean for retail? Tablets are changing how people interact with technology in their every day lives. They are replacing laptops, books and in some cases, cameras (on a recent vacation, I witnessed a tourist taking all of his photos with an iPad). According to a recent article Tablets, Smartphones Redefining The Retail Shopping Experience on MacNews.com, tablets and smartphones are also redefining the retail shopping experience and will be a $5 billion market per year in the U.S. by 2015.
Many retailers are starting to utilize this new technology on their showroom floor. Rooms to Go, an independent home furnishings store, has been using tablets to create a better customer experience. Instead of having to lead customers over to a kiosk for orders, Rooms to Go sales associates can now engage the consumer in the room setting they wish to purchase. Associates no longer have to run around the showroom looking for SKUs, they can pull the information up through their Rooms to Go app. View the YouTube video on how Rooms to Go is utilizing this technology at: http://tinyurl.com/rooms2go.
With tablets still considered a fairly new technology, the growth, excitement and ideas to utilize this technology will continue to grow. Many industry technology providers are looking at new ways to integrate tablet technology into their Point of Sale systems. How else do you envision tablets changing the retail environment?
Leave your comments on how you think tablets will influence retail in the future.
Looking for a last minute recipe for Thanksgiving? Check out these favorites from the team at Western Home Furnishings Association!
Ingredients
Directions
Mix in processor
From Kaprice Crawford
Ingredients
Directions
Thaw pearl onions and then sauté in butter until golden brown. Deglaze by adding a little water at a time. Finish with heavy cream and reduce until you achieve a smooth consistency. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper, add chestnuts, and serve immediately.
From Cindi Williams
Ingredients
Directions
Combine flour, sugar, oats and cinnamon; cut in room temp. Margarine until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. I use my hands, they work better than a mixer or spoon. Lightly toss 1 cup crumb mixture with yams and cranberries; arrange in large pyrex or corning (approx. 13 x 9 or larger) baking dish along with bananas halved and sliced in 1 inch lengths. Sprinkle with remaining crumb mixture.
Bake at 350 degrees, 35 minutes. Then place marshmallows on top, bake until golden brown (about 10-15 minutes). Keep your eye on them and don’t burn them.
From Melissa Dressler
Ingredients
Bars:
Icing:
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.Using an electric mixer at medium speed, combine the eggs, sugar, oil and pumpkin until light and fluffy. Stir together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and baking soda. Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and mix at low speed until thoroughly combined and the batter is smooth. Spread the batter into a greased 13 by 10-inch baking pan. Bake for 30 minutes. Let cool completely before frosting. Cut into bars.To make the icing: Combine the cream cheese and butter in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the sugar and mix at low speed until combined. Stir in the vanilla and mix again. Spread on cooled pumpkin bars.
From Melody King (and Paula Deen!)
Ingredients
Directions
Place bread on cookie sheets and leave out for a day or two until somewhat hard or place in warm oven to harden
break bread into small pieces in a large bowl – pour water onto bread, mix until moistened then squeeze out excess.
In a large frying pan, sauté vegetables until soft in olive oil with a small amount of butter added. Lower heat. Add softened bread and mix together well. Add egg(s) and mix well. sauté until fluffy. Add additional water if stuffing gets too dry. Add seasonings to taste. Place mixture into covered casserole. Bake in a slow, about 300 degree oven until browned on top. takes about 2-3 hours. Check occasionally to be sure stuffing is not too dry or too brown.
From Sharron Bradley
Longtime mattress manufacturer, Everton Mattress, Twin Falls, Idaho, acquired several new machines in order to improve the quality of their product and improve the plant and operator efficiencies. The Everton factory recently added its fourth quilter which is a computer aided tack and jump quilter, this machine can add additional comfort layers found in the surface area of the sleep set in faster and more efficient matter. … Gates Home Furnishings, Grants Pass, Ore., participated in a rewarding opportunity by making the dreams of the McPhail’s family come true through the show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime, inspiring experience in the furniture industry,” said Gates. “It’s a chance to help a deserving family in need to receive a home that will better their lives. And it’s also the opportunity to join a very caring community as we all came together to help out one of our own.”…Fruehauf’s in Boulder, Colo., won the 2011 International Casual Furnishings Association Apollo Awards. The Apollo Award is presented to one store each year that has demonstrated retail excellence in the sales and marketing of outdoor furnishings, and must demonstrate outstanding accomplishments and commitment to customer service. When owner Mary Fruehauf found out about the win, “I was texting everyone as fast as I could to tell them the news, it was so exciting!” … Mum’s Place in Pacific Grove, Calif., is celebrating their 25th year in business! … Another store celebrating 30 years in business is Michael Alan Furnishings, Lake Havasu, Ariz. … Congratulations to all of our wonderful WHFA members! … The third annual National Home Furnishings Month held last September broke records with 15 percent more dealers participating and an 11 percent increase in consumer engagement.
Lexington Home Brands worked with MicroD to design and build a visually-rich and informative online merchandising solution for its new Henry Link Trading Co. brand. The website leverages advanced merchandising tools to communicate the brand’s story, inspire consumer demand, and drive sales.
MicroD Incorporated, in partnership with Lexington Home Brands, has launched an innovative new website and online marketing solution for the new Henry Link Trading Co.® lifestyle furniture brand. Powered by the advanced ePiphany™ online furniture merchandising platform, the new website treats online furniture shoppers to an unparalleled user experience with visually-rich and informative product and gallery presentations, high-definition video, room planning, and upholstery customization capabilities. Lexington believes the new website will inspire consumer demand and drive sales at dealer locations worldwide.
According to Robert Stamper, Lexington Senior Vice President of Marketing, “We are very pleased with the online debut of our exciting new Henry Link Trading Co. Because this is a brand whose passion lies in the discovery of unique and inspiring furniture designs from every corner of the globe, we chose a website partner who could effectively deliver that distinctive destination experience to the consumer. MicroD gave us the fresh perspective in website design and product presentation that we needed to enable consumers to see and appreciate these exclusive product details and engage with the brand and our retailers.”
Henry Link Trading Co. is comprised of signature pieces hand selected by an experienced team of well-traveled designers and collectors. To communicate the brand’s compelling story and rich legacy, ePiphany provides exclusive multi-product displays, integrated email and social media, advanced search and navigation tools, and other leading-edge website capabilities that make it possible for Lexington to interact with online shoppers like never before. MicroD provides site design, catalog content and updates, website hosting, and maintenance services through a convenient, managed services subscription. Retailers are also able to display this innovative and exclusive Henry Link website embedded inside their own website.
“We are pleased with the opportunity to work with Lexington on such a creative and rewarding project”, noted Manoj Nigam, President and CEO at MicroD. “The Henry Link website represents the state-of-the-art technology for furniture websites and online merchandising. It is a striking example of how advanced design and functionality can work together to inspire consumers online.”
Eligibility: You must be at least 18 years of age or older to enter. Must be a member in good standing of the WHFA/NHFA or other group supporting the 2012 Home Furnishings Industry Conference. No purchase necessary, see details below.
Starting Date: January 28, 2012
Ending Date: February 10, 2012
Mail-in Entry Postmark Deadline: January 28, 2012
Mail-in Entry Receipt Deadline: February 10, 2012
Grand Prize includes: three nights accommodations during the HFIC dates of May 6-8, 2012 at the Westin Mission Hills Resort & Spa, Rancho Mirage, CA. in a standard room single/quad occupancy (applicable tax included), 1 complimentary 2012 HFIC conference registration (includes all planned meal functions and incentives). Roundtrip coach air travel for 1 (not to exceed $500.00, airlines terms and conditions apply, certain restrictions may apply). Ticket is not refundable and is not replaceable if unable to attend. Winner will not receive any cash value of prize. Contest dates will not be extended. Accommodations
Agreement to Official Rules: By participating in any of the above Sweepstakes, entrant fully and unconditionally agrees to and accepts these Official Rules and the decisions of the Sponsor and/or Administrator, which are final and binding in all matters related to the 2012 Winning the Dream Sweepstakes.
During any individual sweepstakes period, hand print your name, address, phone number, 2012 Winning the Dream Sweepstakes on a 3″ x 5″ piece of paper and mail it in an envelope with proper postage to “2012 Winning the Dream Sweepstakes” on the envelope, c/o WHFA 500 Giuseppe Court, Suite 6, Roseville, CA 95678. For each mail-in request you will be entered once into the sweepstakes.
Limit: 1 entry per envelope. All mail-in entries must be handwritten. All entries become the exclusive property of Sponsor, and none will be acknowledged or returned. Proof of sending or submission will not be deemed to be proof of receipt by Sponsor. Sponsor is not responsible for lost, late, incomplete, invalid, unintelligible, illegible, misdirected or postage-due entries, which will be disqualified. All mail-in entries must be postmarked and received by the dates set forth in the details of each individual Sweepstakes.
2012 Home Furnishings Industry Conference Vote for Your Conference Logo Contest
Eligibility: No purchase necessary, open it all residents of the United States. The 2012 HFIC Vote for Your Conference Logo Contest is brought to you by The Western Home Furnishings Association, 500 Giuseppe Court, Suite 6, Roseville, California, 95678, 916-784-7677.
Contest Starting Date: August 26, 2011
Contest Ending Date: September 14, 2011
Winning Logo Design Announced: September 15, 2011
Agreement to Official Rules: There are no prizes being offered in conjunction with this contest. By participating in the above Contest, entrant fully and unconditionally agrees to and accepts these Official Rules and the decisions of the Sponsor and/or Administrator, which are final and binding in all matters related to the 2012 HFIC Vote for Your Conference Logo Contest.
The winning logo design will be determined by the collection of votes from the Facebook page: www.Facebook.com/homefurnishingsconference.com. All votes will be tallied at 5:00pm PDT on September 14, 2011. The logo with the most votes will be determined the winning design and will be used for the purposes of promoting the 2012 Home Furnishings Industry Conference. Voting totals will be available for one week on the 2012 HFIC Facebook page.
During any individual sweepstakes period, hand print your name, address, phone number, title of sweepstakes on a 3″ x 5″ piece of paper and mail it in an envelope with proper postage to the WHFA office and write the title of the particular sweepstakes that you wish to enter on the envelope, c/o WHFA 500 Giuseppe Court, Suite 6, Roseville, CA 95678. For each mail-in request you will be entered once into the sweepstakes.
Limit: 1 entry per envelope. All mail-in entries must be handwritten. All entries become the exclusive property of Sponsor, and none will be acknowledged or returned. Proof of sending or submission will not be deemed to be proof of receipt by Sponsor. Sponsor is not responsible for lost, late, incomplete, invalid, unintelligible, illegible, misdirected or postage-due entries, which will be disqualified. All mail-in entries must be postmarked and received by the dates set forth in the details of each individual Sweepstakes.
WHFA is running two website contests during the month of August 2012. The following are the official rules to the daily contests and grand prize contest.
During any individual sweepstakes period, hand print your name, address, phone number, WHFA Website Contest on a 3″ x 5″ piece of paper and mail it in an envelope with proper postage to “WHFA Website Contest” and write the title of the particular sweepstakes that you wish to enter on the envelope, c/o WHFA 500 Giuseppe Court, Suite 6, Roseville, CA 95678. For each mail-in request you will be entered once into the sweepstakes.
Limit: 1 entry per envelope. All mail-in entries must be handwritten. All entries become the exclusive property of Sponsor, and none will be acknowledged or returned. Proof of sending or submission will not be deemed to be proof of receipt by Sponsor. Sponsor is not responsible for lost, late, incomplete, invalid, unintelligible, illegible, misdirected or postage-due entries, which will be disqualified. All mail-in entries must be postmarked and received by the dates set forth in the details of each individual Sweepstakes.
Any questions on these official rules can be direct to Melissa Dressler at mdressler@whfa.org.
Department store pioneer John Wanamaker made a classic statement 100 years or so ago when he said, “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.” Think about it… that was before 300-plus radio station options (many of them commercial-free) and over 250 TV network, cable and satellite options were available to watch at any one time.
And remember, when Wannamaker made that statement, there were no iPods or computers vying for the consumer’s discretionary time.
This tremendous increase in media options has led to such consumer fragmentation that there is no more mass consumer. The end result? Your cost has greatly increased to reach and entice the customer to visit your store.
If that doesn’t make your job to advertise tough enough, consider this: the July 16, 2007 issue of Advertising Age reported young women’s attention is being diluted by new media properties and refocused toward social media. That means traditional media is losing ground to digital mediums like social Internet sites and blogging.
All these choices have created very demanding consumers that focus solely on satisfying their own wants and desires rather than being loyal to your retail store.
Therefore, successful marketing and advertising demands that you connect with the customer so they clearly understand why you are their store of preference.
If your advertising is solely designed to drive traffic with sale and financing offers, without focusing on getting connected to your customer, you are wasting 95 percent of your advertising investment!
The old model of brand advertising was to get more customers through your door at a faster rate than attrition. We called it the “command and control” branding model. This worked well when the economic situation was one of high demand and relatively low supply. Today, that model is not only expensive, but given time, will put you out of business.
So, how can you know that you’re not wasting your advertising investment? The answer may surprise you. You see, it is not about advertising; it is entirely about marketing! Marketing is the science of moving goods from producer to consumer and making a profit. That’s right, “making a profit!”
Advertising is an expense… and without strategic marketing it cannot be held accountable. And without accountability of your advertising investment, you will waste an inordinate amount of your precious advertising dollars.
Today, you can know which half (or 95 percent) of your advertising is working. Your advertising can be held accountable.
You need to put into place systems that integrate with a strategic marketing communications plan predicated on analyzing every promotion’s effectiveness.
A strategic marketing communications plan is the foundation to your business. It will define your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. It will define your unique reason for being and your brand’s promise and unique position in the market.
And, it will serve as your marketing road map and give clear direction for every part of your advertising effort.
A strategic marketing communications plan prepares you to invest your advertising budget with intelligence and the confidence that you can hold every dollar accountable!
Such a plan generally consists of five parts:
The following describes each of these steps briefly.
1. Analysis of your current marketing situation.
This is a critical discovery step where the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to your store and its brand must be candidly reviewed alongside those of your competitors.
To prepare for this, you should calculate:
Also consider performing a zip code sales analysis. This will help you determine your best zip codes (in terms of sales and/or household penetration). In addition, it may help you locate other zip codes with similar household income, etc. that may be future targets for you.
Then, start projecting:
Professional agencies are also often able to add demographic data, spending-potential indexes in a variety of product categories and marry those findings with media information.
2. Defining your short, mid and long-term goals.
Working from your business plan forecast, you must understand your gross sales goals, quarterly sales/profits and traffic expectations.
Establishing your marketing budget should also be done at this stage — based on a percentage of forecast sales, competitor activity and considering your level of awareness among customers and prospects.
3. The strategy and tactics.
Here you focus on the creative message, media and materials that you will need in order to achieve your short, mid and long-term goals.
Look closely at the branding of your store in order to understand, strengthen and enhance your brand promise. What is it that you do better than anyone else? What sets you apart from your competitors?
This is the time to revisit everything that communicates with your customer and achieve a consistent, meaningful message. So, take a look at everything, including:
4. Analysis/review of the media, activities and creative strategy in terms of words and visuals.
You, an agency or freelancers should prepare preliminary “rough sketches” and copy concepts to suggest the style, design and content of various marketing communications activities you feel you need.
While this step does not require that your efforts result in final copy and artwork, it is important to view some tangible elements at this stage in order to unify the strategic focus and achieve message and visual consistency.
5. A comprehensive action plan.
Start assigning responsibilities and budgets to the various elements of your marketing communications plan. Create a calendar to help assure realistic goals, timelines and tasks for accountability.
Your “calendar” should also include a Media Plan with sample media buys and budget spreadsheets. This will help you define where your marketing dollars will be invested and the frequency and reach required to impact your market.
The point I want to clearly establish in all of this is that there is no room for “assuming” in today’s business climate. You must develop a clear understanding of who your customers are and the most efficient and effective way to reach them; as well as to know where to find more of them. The only way to accomplish this is by developing a strategic marketing communications plan.
If you have neither the inclination nor confidence to put such a plan together, consider engaging professional help.
Ninety-five percent of today’s advertising is wasted because the retailer’s message is exclusively about sales and financing and does not clearly communicate your unique brand promise!
Notice I said, “…exclusively about sales and financing…” Yes, pull-through offers are vital to retailing. However, if that is all the consumer hears, you are not communicating all those unique reasons why the consumer should make you their store of preference.
One final area where thousands upon thousands of dollars are wasted or selling opportunities are missed every day is the Internet.
Probably one of the most misunderstood facets of marketing and advertising is how to integrate a website into your planning and have it generate profit for you. The Internet, which casts fear into many a retailer’s heart, offers the most exciting marketing tool available today!
If you are using the Internet for just a virtual showroom or cyberspace yellow pages, you are only experiencing 50 percent of the benefit that the Internet can provide your business.
The Internet has changed the way consumers shop. It has empowered consumers with tremendous knowledge and prepares them to go through the purchasing process before they come to your store.
For example, in the real estate industry, the average buyer who spent time on the Internet viewing properties, has reduced their time spent with the agent and the buying process by almost 50 percent.
Today’s consumers are more savvy and informed. They have greater expectations from you because they have visited and compared your store to perhaps dozens of stores online and maybe even spent time on blogs to hear what other consumers have to say about a brand or a certain store. In fact, they may have spent time reading about your store!
Take time investigating software programs available today that can help you integrate traditional advertising communication mediums with the Internet. This will enable you to connect with the customer and initiate an ongoing dialog with them.
In addition, some software programs can provide warm, qualified “new customer” Internet leads. Some even schedule appointments online and, after a sale, can be programmed to provide an automatic cross-sale opportunity to pull that customer back into your store again with a special offer designed to match their wants and needs. This, of course, yields a greater return for the advertising investment.
Today, unlike John Wanamaker, you can know how your advertising is doing and you can hold it accountable! Stop assuming, wondering and hoping!
Develop a strategic marketing communications plan. Then focus on getting better connected to your most valuable asset — your customer. Define how to increase your market share by building a stronger position and defining new market opportunities. And finally, hold every part of your plan accountable!
There are diamonds in your own backyard — a strategic marketing plan will help you locate them.
© Copyright 2008, Knorr Marketing.
Douglas Knorr, known as a “retail marketing activist” is president of Knorr Marketing (www.knorrmarketing.com), a full-service marketing and advertising agency specializing in the home furnishings industry. The agency provides strategic planning, creative production, public relations, sales promotions, website development and media buying services. Headquartered in the resort community of Traverse City, MI, the firm serves clients throughout the United States.
