Company
Try this next time.
The concept is simple... Increase the amount of the initial customer purchase by offering discounts or other extra bonuses on quantity purchases.
What you want to do is encourage the buyer to spend more money by offering special inducements, extras, discounts and special deals. Some buyers are happy to buy consumable products by the case, rather than by single package, if they can save a little money by doing so. Just look at the success of stores like Costco. Much of their food items are bundled into quantities that are larger than those a typical family would buy. But often the price is just too hard to pass by. People end up spending more cash to "save" money.
Once you have a customer in your store, or browsing through your catalogue, your task is to maximize the value of that purchase. You want to make it easy for your customer to spend more than he or she originally planned to. And you want them to do so happily and without regret.
Your goal should always be to develop life-long customers. Therefore, whatever special deals you offer them should always be in their best interest.
Examples
Increasing the value of a purchase can be as simple as providing supporting materials or accessories that are natural and convenient additions to whatever the customer is buying.
An electrical supply store could offer booklets that guide homeowners to safely make minor repairs and installations. A store selling sportswear - sweatshirts, track pants and tee-shirts, could also offer socks or wind-breakers as extra accessories.
It could also mean scaling your prices according to the amount purchased. This works well with products that have large profit margins and where customers can easily justify getting more than one, such as with gift items.
There's a fellow who sells single bottle wine stands at local fairs and shopping mall shows. The product is simply a single piece of wood cut on a sharp angle with one hole drilled right through, cut on the same angle. The weight of the bottle balances the board. It's a novel idea that captures people's attention. This marketer sells one wine stand for $5 or two for $6.50. He sells far more packages of two than single unit sales. Why? It's such a great deal, few can resist. An extra buck and a half is mere pocket change and there's always someone the buyer could give it to.
Think of supermarket pricing. Where I shop, the price of bundled green onions is 3 for 99 cents. There's no price listed for just one bunch. Guess what? Most people that buy, take 3 bunches for 99 cents. Why? It's a perceived special price on a quantity purchase. The actual value may even be irrelevant. People often assume that it's a better price for three than for buying just one. Here's how the thinking goes. "Maybe I'll be charged 50 cents for one. Buying 3 gives me each for just 33 cents. That's better value, so I'll buy 3".
You can often encourage customers to spend more by offering an attractive discount on a second or third similar product. This could work well for businesses whose customers would like to buy more than one. A good example would be a ladies shoe store. Such a business could significantly increase sales by offering a second pair of shoes at 15% off.
More resources at www.makeyoursalessoar.com
Author Bio
Robert Boduch is an author of dozens of best-selling books, reports and articles on the art and science of selling. A free newsletter targeted at anyone interested in selling more of anything is available at www.makeyoursalessoar.com
We all know the expression "you only get one chance to make a first impression," well it holds true when it comes to presenting your product to your customer.
For starters, the last thing you want to do when a customer walks into your office is present the first product that pops into your head.
Before you present a product to your customer, you must first find out exactly what it is your customer wants and needs.
The first thing you want to do is introduce yourself to your customer. Offer them a seat and make them feel as comfortable as possible.
Get to know your customer, talk about non-business subjects, this will take some of the pressure off of the both of you and make it easier to talk to one another.
Once you believe that you and your customer have found a comfort level, begin to evaluate your customer's needs.
Start by asking questions to find out his reasons for coming in to see you. Find out what products he currently has and uses. And how much he pays for them. Find out all you can about the company he obtained his products from, and what he thought of the customer service he was provided with.
It is important to know these things for reasons of comparison.
Once you have evaluated your customer and have a pretty good idea of what his needs are, get ready to present the products you have, that you believe to be an ideal match to his needs.
But before you make your presentation, make sure that you are prepared. Have all the materials you need to make your presentation a solid one at your finger tips. Such materials would include, brochures and literature, not only to give to your customer, but to go over with your customer. Unfold the brochure in front of him as you discuss the product. Literature is also a good way to be prepared in case you are hit with a question you can't answer, this will be a good resource for reference.
The point that I am trying to make is; Present to your customer a product you believe they will need. Your presentation should be based on the information that you have gathered from your customer during your sales session.
You could be the greatest presenter of products in the world, but if you are presenting products that customers don't need, you'll never sell a thing.
So be sure to evaluate your customers before you start presenting your products.
Author Bio
Jay Conners has more than fifteen years of experience in the banking and Mortgage Industry, He is the owner of www.jconners.com, a mortgage resource site.
Protect or Run away?
The fight or flight response is a natural response to danger. Our bodies are created to fight or flee when danger is upon us, such as being attacked by a mountain lion. When faced with this kind of danger, the stress hormones pour into our body, causing some blood to leave our brains and organs and go into our arms and legs. This is vital to us if we are actually being attacked by a mountain lion or a mugger. The problem is that this same response occurs when we become afraid in other situations, such as conflict with a partner.
When in conflict with a partner, we need to have the full capacity of our minds to deal rationally and lovingly with the situation. Yet the moment we become afraid, some of the blood leaves our brain, we cannot think as well, and we automatically go into fight or flight. That is when partners tend to fight or withdraw, neither of which leads to conflict resolution.
Obviously, fighting or fleeing is not the best way of dealing with conflict. Yet when fears are triggered - fears of losing the other through rejection or abandonment, or of losing yourself and being controlled by your partner - the stress response is automatically activated and you find yourself fighting or shutting down. Now matter how much you tell yourself that next time you will respond differently, the moment fear is activated you automatically attack, defend, yell, blame, or shut down through compliance or withdrawal.
What can you do about this?
There are two solutions to this dilemma.
The moment there is tense energy between you and your partner, it is best for both of you to walk away from the conflict for at least 15 minutes. During this time, you can calm down and do some inner work. As the stress response leaves your body, you can think better. This allows you to open to learning about your end of the conflict. Once you are clear about what you are doing that is causing the problem and what you need to do differently, you can reconnect with your partner and talk it out. Sometimes there is not even anything to talk out because the conflict was about the fight or flight rather than about a specific issue. More often than not, it is the stress response itself that is the issue. When you take the time to calm down, you might be able to apologize for your anger, blame, defensiveness or withdrawal, and the conflict is over.
The second solution is a longer-term solution. This is about doing enough inner work, such as the Inner Bonding process that we teach, so that your fears of rejection, abandonment, and engulfment gradually diminish. The more you learn to value yourself rather than expect your partner to define your worth and lovability, the less fear you have of rejection. The more you learn to take loving care of your own feelings and needs, the less dependent you are upon your partner. When your fear of rejection diminishes, so does your fear of engulfment. People give themselves up and allow themselves to be controlled and consumed by their partner as a way of avoiding rejection. When rejection is no longer so frightening, you will find that your fear of being controlled diminishes.
The less fear you have, the less you will be triggered into the stress response of fight or flight. The more secure you feel within due to learning to value yourself and learning to take loving care of yourself, the less fear you will feel in the face of conflict. This is when you stop being so reactive and are able to remain open and caring in the face of conflict.
There is no point in continuing a conflict when one or both of you are coming from fear. Continuing a conflict when the fight or flight response is activated will only erode your relationship. Until you can stay open-hearted in a conflict, it is best to continue to follow through on the first solution - taking a time-out until you feel open-hearted.
Author Bio
Margaret Paul, Ph.D. best-selling author of eight books, and co-creator of the powerful Inner Bonding healing process. Visit her web site for a FREE Inner Bonding course: http://www.innerbonding.com or email her at mailto:margaret@innerbonding.com.
