2 seconds after Halloween it seems that all the retail stores put up their Christmas decorations - trying to capture as much of the Holiday market as possible. Typical ways that retail stores use to capitalize on the holidays include extended hours and sales. This is all well and good. Today I want to give you an early present by giving you some novel ways to think about holiday promotions.

Many people are fed up with holiday crowds, which is reflected in the growth of online sales and the decline of some traditional retailer’s sales. There also seems to be a trend towards buying fewer gifts, but those gifts tend to be higher-ticket luxury items.

In the type of marketing we all should be doing ,we start with the customer in mind. What do we know about people this time of year?

- Time is a commodity - there’s too much to do and too little time. - People have more shopping to do than they usually do. - People are under a tremendous amount of stress. - People tend to clean and decorate their houses.

These are just some of the factors affecting people during the holiday season. I’m sure you can think of many more. Take these things into consideration, and take the stance of being a giver.

Here’s an idea I’ve never seen (so I want credit if you use it). If you own a store, offer free gift wrap - nothing new there. While people are getting their gifts wrapped, they get a free chair massage? You could partner up with a local spa, or even a massage school who could also give every customer a promotional coupon. You save your customers time, take away their stress, and create a fusion marketing partnership with the spa.

If you are in a household service business, offer to do additional winterizing services for your customers to save them time. Offer a free holiday housecleaning. If you aren’t in the cleaning business - again team up with a cleaning service.

Give-aways are great. Give away free Christmas trees - depending on where you are you could buy a couple hundred for $10 a piece. The deal could be - spend $100 and take home a free tree. Give away turkeys, or complete turkey dinners - a lot of grocery stores have this promotion.

Everybody gives away calendars, aim for something different but still useful. How about ice-scrapers if you live in the north? Blankets, sweatshirts, caps - are all good promotional items when the weather turns cold.

Holiday cards are great. People enjoy getting them and displaying them. Hardly anybody sends Thanksgiving cards, definitely consider it. In this politically correct age (gasp) you have to be sensitive to people’s religious sensibilities. Send Happy Holidays cards and not Merry Christmas Cards - unless you are absolutely sure your customer celebrates Christmas.

If you have any kind of retail business, think about add-on gifts that might be used as a second gift. A florist might include a free gift-wrapped ornament with a certain level of purchase that can be sent to a different address. Two gifts for the price of one. Buy one get one free offers are great at holiday times.

Use your creativity this holiday season and think about how you can solve your customers’ problems.

Copyright 2005 Marketing Comet

J D Moore - Marketing Comet
Small business marketing coaching that gives you more customers, higher profits, and a lot more fun in your business.
http://www.marketingcometcoach.com
blog - http://marketingcomet.typepad.com

22ed

There is an intense amount of competition in the e-commerce world. Your success depends on a lot of things like your ranking on search engines, your prices, and your product selection, but it also depends on how you treat your customers. In bricks and mortar retail when people have a bad experience they tell friends and family and their friends and family tell more people, and that can hurt your companies reputation.

Those same things apply to the internet. If someone shops at your store and has a bad experience they will share that with other people they know and that could destroy your companies reputation. The best things to do to avoid getting a bad reputation is to keep your customers happy by shipping items quickly, having real time inventories so that customers can know immediately when an item is out of stock. Also make sure you have contact information listed on your website so that people can email or call with questions or concerns. Also make sure you ship all your items with a tracking number.

Overall just do everything you can do to make a customer happy. If they are happy they will be customers for a long time. They will also tell friends about your company leading to more customers for your company as time goes on.

We sure hear a lot about business presentations and all the high-tech tools that people use when pitching their ideas, concepts or business propositions. Recently we have seen on the Donald Trump “Apprentice” Television Series and Martha Stewart reality TV program young entrepreneurial type teams vying for the business and we have seen presentations as the way to pitch their sales to clients.

We have watched some disasters as well as some very good business presentations using high-tech devices, video and storyboards. But what if you were in a low-tech business and had to give a business presentation worth $50,000 per month in business? Well, I have been in the mobile fleet cleaning business for 27 years and given many business presentations during that period and before computers even existed. And it is amazing what a low-tech business can do in anl on-site demonstration of services and pitching their services while showing the customer exactly what you can do.

When giving a business presentation to a large company with a fleet of vehicles it is necessary to do a demonstration and much of the presentation visualization comes from a clean cut crew, immaculate equipment and a rehearsed routine that flows naturally. The perfect truck wash if you will. It can be done and if you practice it; you can do it perfectly every time and it impresses customers and often will get you will work even if you’re not the lowest cost in the market. Please consider this in 2006.

Lance Winslow

Flip charts and slides shows (”canned presentations”) make the best sales product or service promotions because, “a picture is worth a thousand words,” right? Well it depends!

Stanford University’s Research Institute’s VALS study (values, altitudes and life styles) lists five distinct psychographic categories (personalities) or buying decision-making modes. What the Stanford research means to you as a sales manager is that a given picture may not appeal to one or more of the buying mind-sets (Belongers, Achiever, Emulator, etc.) outlined in the study. Using a flip chart or slides as your primary presentation tool can cost you sales, especially if you just walk through each page or play each slide as an outline of your products or service’s features and benefits.

Flip charts and slide presentations must be generic by nature and rarely focus on a decision-maker’s specific needs except for a few slides or pages. From the Stanford research, using this selling approach means that you have one chance in five of appealing to your decision-maker’s primary buying mode depending on the layout and copy theme of the slides or chart.

Slide shows or flip chart presentations are valuable tools if used to highlight specific selling points—points based in the information that your staff members uncover from their in-depth probing (using a consultative selling system) of a prospective customer or client’s needs. The myth of using a “canned sales pitch” and the field-tested and proven selling methods to replace defective techniques are outlined in the “best selling” 101 Sales Myths manual published by The $elling Edge®, Inc. (http://TheSellingEdge.com/myths3.htm) The techniques listed are are based in a proven consultative selling process that eliminates most of the fear and pressure associated with traditional presentation approaches.

VIRDEN THORNTON is the founder and President of The $elling Edge®, Inc. an Ohio consulting firm specializing in sales and sales management training, personal coaching, advisory services and publishing. Clients have included Sears Optical, Eastman Kodak, IBM, Service Linen Supply, Bank One, Jefferson Wells International, and Wal-Mart to name a few. Virden is the author of the “best selling” Building & Closing the Sale, Prospecting: The Key To Sales Success and Close That Sale, a video/audio tape series published by Crisp Publications a division of Thompson Learning. He has also authored a client acclaimed Self-Directed Learning series of sales, coaching, telemarketing, and personal productivity manuals. To obtain a substantial discount on two of Virden’s latest books, 101 Sales Myths or Organizing For Sales Success, go to: http://www.TheSellingEdge.com/

SHOW YOU CARE

Find a way to give the customer what they want.

The customer is always right - this is really about an attitude of mind. Even if the customer appears really unreasonable, listen to them, hear what they have to say, paraphrase your understanding and find ways to go for a win-win. The customer wants to feel listened to and valued. Listening, reflecting back and letting it be known that you do really want to help, goes a long way to meeting customer needs.

AT THE FRONTLINE

Staff need to know that as well as accountability they have responsibility, the power to make decisions without the continuous need to refer up the line.

Frontline staff, particularly ought to have a very pleasing manner, in tone of voice and a welcoming manner. They are the `face’ of the organisation and very often are the first contact point between customer and organisation. If you are a company where repeat business is important, then having a customer for life is much more important than an individual exercising their ego and then that customer is lost to the organisation, usually forever.

EXCEPTIONAL KNOWLEDGE

Know what you are talking about. There’s nothing better than speaking to a service or product provider who knows exactly what they are talking about. Able to delight the customer by going the extra mile and providing information that enhances the customer’s experience of your company is a great way of keeping customers interested in your company.

CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

Within a couple of days (at the most) of delivering the service or product, check the customer is happy with what they have received and check if there is anything else you can do to help them. People really do appreciate this, it gives them the feeling that they actually do matter to your company.

CUSTOMERS KNOW BEST

Ask customers what it is they need from the service; find out how the service can be improved. They are in receipt of the service/product and they know. This is probably one of the best pieces of market research you could do. Once you ask customers though, it is really important to act on at least some of their recommendations and let them know that you have by providing them with feedback.

GET BUSY SOLVING CUSTOMER PROBLEMS

Do this quickly, as far as possible at the first point of contact. People tell more people when they are dissatisfied with your service or product than when they are satisfied and the worse thing about it is, even if the customer does not complain to you they will complain to their friends, family, colleagues, and the dog, anyone who will listen. Then you have not only lost that customer, you have lost all those others as well because if they have a choice they won’t risk using your company for fear of the same treatment.

As well as being known as a company that provides an exceptional quality of service, getting busy becoming known as a company that when things go wrong, there is no quibble about putting it right.

Everything I have written so far can be summed up as GOING THAT EXTRA MILE; people will remember that your company went out of its way to help them.

Do you know someone who would be interested in reading this article? Then do please feel free to email it to them.