What You Need to Know Before Launching a New Product

I hear people all the time saying that they have developed a new product or service that they know is going to be a hit.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard someone say, “It`s going to sell!  It`s going to make money!”  Well, maybe it will, but don`t make the mistake of getting tunnel vision with your own product.  You’ve developed this product and put your heart and soul into it.  This is your baby so of course you want the world to know how fantastic it is.  But before you spend even $1 of your marketing budget on promotion you need to do some research.

 

Some of the basic things you need to know before launching a new product, service or business are:

1.       Is there a market for your product?

2.       Who is most likely to purchase the product?

3.       What kinds of similar products are already on the market?

4.       Would your customers recommend the product to a friend?

5.       What do consumers like and dislike about the product?
 

Getting access to in-depth market research databases can be both time-consuming and costly.  And unless you understand how to read and analyze the information you may not be getting a true picture.  However, there are a few ways you can at least get some basic information without breaking the bank.  And at least this way you can customize your research to your specific product.

1.       Implement market surveys.  These can be done by phone, by email, through social media or in person.  Make sure the questions you ask are:

a.       relevant to your product

b.      not overly lengthy or complicated, and

c.       not skewed towards a positive outcome

2.       Hold focus groups.

3.       Do a product test launch

4.       Host a free promotional event where you let people sample your product.  Ask people for their honest opinion by giving them a short (3-5 multiple choice/yes or no questions) questionnaire.  The more feedback you get the better.

The information gathered will help you narrow down your target market, make appropriate changes to the product, and give you a starting point to developing your marketing strategy.  Now that you have a better understanding of what your customers want, you can go about giving them exactly what they want.

However, all of this research might show that there really isn’t a market for your product.  If that’s the case, find out why.  If you’re still convinced that this new product needs to be on the market, find out what concerns your potential customers have with the product.  This information will give you a better insight into what changes you can make that might make the product more marketable.  But if your research indicates that there isn’t much of a market for your product right now, that’s okay.  It just means that you will have saved a lot of money on the promotion of a new product only to have it sit on store shelves.

So, before you spend any money on promotion, be sure to allocate some money to research.  It’s just as important, if not more important than your advertising spending.  Get your head out of the clouds and really look at things from the consumer’s point of view.  It will be well worth it.

 

How to Increase Your Sales This Week

I often hear people say that Christmas has become too commercialized and that it’s not about the true meaning of the holiday anymore.  But no matter what your thoughts are on this, this weekend is the busiest shopping week of the year.  In fact, according the 2012 BMO Holiday Spending Outlook, it is estimated that Canadians will spend an average of $1610 per person this holiday season.  That’s a lot of money! 

Having worked as a store manager, area manager, and regional manager in the retail industry for over 10 years I know firsthand what it takes to operate a successful retail location.  As a retailer you can capitalize on consumers’ spending this week to increase the amount customers spend in your store (instead of your competitors’ store!) with a few simple sales tactics that really work.

·         Encourage multiple unit sales (UPT’s) – Set a UPT goal and hold a contest among your staff to see who can get the most units in one sale.

·         Increase your average total transaction dollar amount – Encourage your staff to make each sale a minimum amount, for example $50 per sale.

·         Show complimentary items. Don’t just tell customers about the other items in your store.  Show them!  And present them with items they already want to purchase.

·         Put items near the cash so customers will see them when they already have their money in their hand.  These are referred to as Point-of-Purchase items (or POP’s) for a good reason.  Often customers will pick up one of these items just out of curiosity while you’re entering their other items into the cash.  Train your staff well on providing exceptional customer service and selling these items will just come naturally to them.

·         Create displays that tell a story.  People purchase benefits not products.  When they can see themselves using a particular product that’s when they will buy it.  Get creative with your displays, but don’t overdo it.  You don’t want it to be so busy that the customer gets overwhelmed and walks away.

Try these tricks in your store and you’ll reap the rewards of having more sales in your cash and you'll be able to say that you helped put more money into the economy.  But amidst all the craziness, don’t forget why we celebrate Christmas in the first place.  Happy selling!

How to Leverage Customer Service to Avoid Negative Business Reviews

Later this week I will be attending a luncheon hosted by our local Chamber of Commerce.  The guest speaker is my personal friend and social media celebrity Dave Carroll.  Dave’s a musician who has used his talents to raise awareness of customer service in this country.  For anyone who hasn’t heard of him, you can visit his website at www.davecarrollmusic.com for the full story.

So since we’re only 3 weeks away from Christmas I thought this would be a fitting time to talk about the most important thing to a business… customers!  One of the most important parts of the marketing plan is your personal selling activities.  The customer experience is what people talk about when they talk about your business.  Do you want people giving rave reviews about your business or do you want people telling their friends to never shop in your store?

This is the time of year where you need to put aside your ego and pride, just buckle down and do whatever needs to be done.  Whatever the customer wants, you make it happen.  I would hope that you’re doing that all year long, but at this time of the year, when you have 10 times more people in your store than usual, it really is a challenge to stay on top of every customer.  But I can guarantee you that if you can just focus on providing exceptional service to each and every customer they will remember and appreciate it.

For many years I was a retail sales manager, first for a telecommunications company, then for a clothing retailer.  Each store that I managed achieved sales results that surpassed the competition and the other store locations within the company.  And I truly believe it was primarily because our customers felt appreciated in our store and kept coming back… and bringing their friends with them.

Here are some tips to help you provide the best possible customer experience.

·         Treat your customers like they are guests in your home.

·         Brace yourself for the craziness.  You know it’s going to be crazy busy so just go with the flow.  No point in stressing out over it.  Customers are already stressed out as it is trying to complete their shopping.  They don’t need you to be all frazzled too.

·         Anticipate your customers’ needs and order enough product to have on hand.  Not having enough product leaves you with unhappy customers and lost sales.

·         Train your staff well.  Staff need to be trained in customer service and they need to know how to multi-task.

·         Drop everything when a customer enters your store.  Stop chatting with your co-workers, put down the new shipment of product you just received, tell the Purolator guy he’ll have to wait a second, and make your customer your number one focus.

·         Conversations that are private in nature need to held in a staff room where customers can’t hear you.  I once walked into a store where a manager was reprimanding an employee for being late, completely oblivious that a customer had just walked into the store.  That just makes the whole shopping experience very uncomfortable.

So, unless you want to end up like United Air Lines as the subject of a viral YouTube video bringing their terrible customer service to light, give your customers everything they want and you just might be the subject of a viral YouTube video praising your amazing company instead.

Happy selling!!

What is Sales Promotion?

So far I’ve covered the importance of your company website, public relations and an overview of the marketing wheel.  In today’s post, I want to educate you on what sales promotion is.  Time and time again, I hear people say “advertising” when they really mean “sales promotion”.  The two terms are often confused with each other but they are not the same thing.

Sales promotion is used as a short term technique to persuade customers to make a quick purchase.  These are things like:

·         coupons

·         buy one get one free deals

·         giveaways

·         free events such as workshops

·         loyalty programs

·         buy now – pay later plans

·         free samples

This is just a short list of the things that you can do to incorporate sales promotion into your marketing plan, but it gives you an idea of what sales promotion is to begin with.

Advantages of sales promotion:

Price competition – One of the advantages of sales promotion for small business owners is that you can significantly lower the price of a product (at least temporarily) that is in direct competition with a larger retailer.  This in turn can drive traffic into your store, hopefully turning these new customers into permanent customers.

Encourages repeat purchases – Things like loyalty programs can encourage repeat purchases.  We’ve all been to a coffee shop or sandwich place that gives you a card where they punch it every time you purchase something.  Then after you’ve purchased 10 coffees you get one free.  That free one at the end kept you coming back, didn’t it?!

Entices new customers – As a small business owner, it’s often more difficult to make customers aware of your product or company since you don’t have a massive advertising budget.  But people always want something that is going to provide a benefit to them, so if they are going to get something for free, they are more likely to come to your store, instead of going down the street to your competitor.

Disadvantages of sales promotion:

Short-lived – The biggest disadvantage of sales promotion is that it doesn’t develop brand loyalty.  It is intended to generate immediate, short-term results.

Price Sensitivity – If sales promotions are done too frequently, customers will come to expect great deals all the time.  In this case, they will just wait until you have another promotion before purchasing the product.  Promotions are great tools, but do them infrequently.  Otherwise, you’re losing out on sales of regular priced items and losing profit.

Quality image may be compromised – When you heavily discount a product, customers may think that the product isn’t selling, so there must be something wrong with it.  For that reason, sales promotions need to be used sparingly, especially in businesses where quality and image are important to their marketing strategy.

So, definitely incorporate sales promotional activities into your marketing plan.  Plan them out to coincide with your other campaigns, but don’t do too many of them.  Remember that sales promotion is not advertising… it’s a tool that is used to generate quick, short term activity.

For help planning your sales promotion activities, contact us at info@s-b-m-s.ca.

Consistency in your image is crucial

Communicating a consistent message is absolutely imperative to any business, from your marketing materials, to your on line marketing to the look of your business.  That includes the visual layout of the store, the cleanliness of the store and the attire of your staff.  Many small businesses just kind of wing it when it comes to marketing, not really knowing what to do when and not having a lot of money to play with.  But no matter what kind of business you’re in, the first impression a potential customer has when they walk into your business is an impression that will stay with them.  So what kind of impression do want to make?

·         Merchandise your products in a way that is appealing to your target market.  For example, a discount store can put racks of clearance stuff out front and centre because that is what that customer is looking for.  As soon as you put a clearance rack in a store that is geared to the wealthy and affluent customer, they’ll be insulted and walk out.

·         Make sure your company signage reflects your brand.  It doesn’t have to have your logo all over it.  It just needs to reflect the core values of the company.  I have a client that sells all natural products to a very elite target market who expect exceptional quality and service at any cost.  With this client, we needed to develop different sets of signage, some that could be used year round and some that could be used seasonally or during a particular occasion or event.  The signage that she uses everyday shows the products along with a description of the product and the manufacturer.  The other signage reflects the feel of the store with earth tone colours and pictures, without overdoing the “natural” theme or plastering her logo everywhere.

Creating that consistent image doesn’t need to cost a ton of money.  Get creative with decorating your place of business.  Better yet, make sure your place of business is clean and inviting.  Make sure your staff is dressed professionally and they greet your customers with a smile as soon as they walk in the door.  The last thing you want is for your customers have a consistently “bad” image of your company.

The Importance of Visual Merchandising

With Christmas only 24 days away, retailers everywhere are working their butts off to get through the craziness.  But customers are doing the same thing… just trying to get through the craziness.  So, from a consumer point of view, I want to get in and get out of the store as quickly and efficiently as possible.   But if I’ve never shopped in that store before how would I know whether or not I should go in or not?  Well, for one thing, it needs to be attractive to me.  That’s where some creative visual merchandising comes into play.

When the giant nineteenth century dry goods establishments like Marshall Field & Co. shifted their business from wholesale to retail, the visual display of goods became necessary to attract the general consumers. The store windows were often used to attractively display the store's merchandise. Over time, the design aesthetic used in window displays moved indoors and became part of the overall interior store design.

Visual merchandising has several purposes.

·         It makes it easier for the customer to find what they're looking for

·         It makes it easier for the customer to self-select

·         It makes it possible for the shopper to co-ordinate and accessorise

·         It gives retailers a chance to recommend, highlight and demonstrate particular products at strategic locations

I was in a clothing store recently that I’d never been in before.  This store has only been open for about a year and half and they market themselves as a high end boutique store.  So, needless to say I was a little shocked to walk in the store and find that the store was merchandised like a stock room full of merchandise.  I walked in, spent all of 3 minutes in there and walked right back out. (It didn’t help that the sales clerk couldn’t even take the time to say “hello”.)  It was so frustrating to find anything.

So, how does your place of business look?  Take a serious look at the space that your customers see.  Whether it’s a retail clothing store, a service station, a law office or a car dealership, your business needs to reflect the brand you have been marketing to your potential customers.  Is it attractive?  Is it organized?  Is it clean?  With Christmas just around the corner, more and more people are out and about.  Do you want them to come into your store?  Of course you do.  But you want them to stay there, too.  Don't add to their frustration.

LISTEN! PLEASE JUST LISTEN!!

Customer retention is so much cheaper and easier that customer acquisition.  But I see it time and time again, where small business owners work their butts off to try and get customers to come to their place of business and buy their products, but fail to build a relationship with their customers.  As a marketer, I know how absolutely vital it is to generate awareness of a company.  But, where advertising creates an image for your company, your relationship building skills (or unfortunately as we’ve all seen, lack thereof) solidifies that image in the eyes of the consumer.

Your primary focus is to listen to your customers.  You’ve gotten them interested enough to come to your store/office/etc.  Now ask questions and really (I mean REALLY) listen to what they have to say. 

So, what questions do I ask?  Don’t get so wrapped up in a conversation about your business and what you can do for your customer.  Your goal is to dig a little deeper, find out stuff about the person.  People like to talk about themselves and the things they tell you can be incredibly enlightening.  You can learn so much from your customers.  And by taking the time to listen to them, you are creating an atmosphere of trust.  That trust goes a long way in developing a long-term relationship with your customers. 

Years ago, when I was a manager of cellular phone store, I had a gentleman come into my store to find out some stuff about phones.  He was an older guy, maybe in his 60’s and knew nothing about cell phones, but his kids were telling him he should get one for emergencies.  He must have spent about 45 minutes in the store that day.  We had quite a conversation about his kids, his grandkids and his love of motorcycles.  He left the store that day without a phone, but he came back about 2 weeks later with his son to get himself a phone.  When he arrived, I had just stepped out of the store for a minute, so he told my co-worker that he would wait for me because he told her, “She knows me”.  Based on all of the information I had gathered from him, I got him exactly what he needed… nothing fancy or expensive, but something that was useful for him.  The one thing he hadn't mentioned in our conversations was that his son was a business owner.  A month after I made the sale to the father, the son came in and wanted to switch ALL of his company’s current cellular business lines to us.  He said that he was so impressed with how I treated his dad, that he wanted to be sure his company and his employees would get that same service.  They became long-time customers of ours all because I took the time to listen to his dad.

So, take the time to engage in a 2-way conversation with your customers.  Don’t just go off on some rehearsed sales pitch about what you can do for them. Of course you can’t please everybody all the time, but your goal here is to let the customer know that you sincerely want to hear what they have to say.  Let’s face it, we all want to be heard, understood and appreciated from time to time.  Let your customers know that you are genuinely interested in what they have to say. You never know where that relationship can lead to.