Tuesday, March 17, 2009

A Simple No-Cost Marketing Tactic for Retailers


This Guerilla Marketing retail sales tactic is simple yet very powerful and will cost little or nothing to implement. Fact is that this tip is not new. Currently 18% of businesses are using it. Unfortunately, these are major businesses like grocery chains and other larger businesses.

A whooping 82% of businesses ignore or are unaware of this potentially powerful tactic. Even when it is fully understood only 20% businesses “get it” and take action. The other 80% brush it off as a good idea.

This simple tactic is guaranteed to increase transactions by at least 4% - 18% of current sales level. It will definitely make a big difference in meeting the expense of running a business. Imagine being able to purchase more adverting, get a new employee or purchase additional inventory by implementing this simple tactic. The official marketing term is “the post sale offer.”

It requires that every sale be accompanied by an offer for another item that compliments the item purchased. For example, if the purchase is a writing pad, the offer would be on a writing pad case, a pen, paperclips, staples, or even markers. If the purchase is a suit the offer will be on ties, shirts, belts or socks. It works just as well for services, if you are in the carpet cleaning service, offer drape cleaning, upholstery cleaning, fabric sealants or even a discounted annual service contract. Get the picture? Know why it works every time?

You have been a customer and you know how it feels. Purchasing anything from someone require a degree of trust. You must like them. They must have satisfied you and made you happy, assuming they actually did. At that point you are at a peak buying mode, you are vulnerable. All you need now is a little encouragement and you will purchase something else. But that’s not all.

It depends on the industry and the point of purchase. In the case of a retail establishment it usually happens in the store. This may take the form of what is called an “utterance” where the cashier or salesperson utters a predetermine pitch at the customer that informs them that because of their current purchase they are entitled to a special offer. This also may be done in one of the following ways:

• A pre-printed offer on the receipt, invoice or purchase order
• A flyer that is given with a receipt or invoice
• A post sale letter/email to the customer

The idea here is to include an offer in any post-sale communication preferable not a new communication but with normal post sale activity. And here is another guarantee; not everyone will accept your offer. Statistically, 2 – 3 out of 10 people will say yes. For the effort involved in setting this up to get a 20 to 30 percent increase in the number of sales, this should have been done last week.

If you sell any product or service consider implementing this tactic into your sales operations. The benefits will amaze you.

Have an awesome week.

Be well.

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