For the past 2 days, I have been sharing with you what I believe to be the TOP 3 WAYS TO SELL MORE WITHOUT SPENDING A DIME ON MARKETING.
Today will provide you with my final tip, but if you have missed the first two, you can read them here:
So here we go:
#1: The Most Important Thing You Can Do
to Grow Your Sales Is...
Before I get right into it, I want to ask you a question:
If you walked into a shoe store looking for a new pair of work shoes, and nobody was in the store, what would you do? Would you try on shoes, find a pair you like and wear them out? Nobody is there, why not?
Probably not.
That would be theft, of course. So you would probably just leave, eventually. But it would be worse than that, wouldn't it? You would leave that store frustrated and annoyed because you couldn't buy anything. You were thwarted in your desire to BUY because there was nobody available to SELL to you. That store just lost your sale, possibly for life.
Now here is another question for you: what is the difference between a store where there is NOBODY there, and a store where there is nobody SELLING to you?
Precious little, in reality.
If there is a cashier at the till, you do have the ability to buy something, unlike a totally deserted establishment, but if that cashier - or anyone else - doesn't try to sell you anything, you may still leave empty handed.
Whenever a person walks into a retail store, they WANT to buy something. Even if they are just browsing or window shopping, I guarantee you they would not be in a store if they didn't WANT something. Even if they are not planning to buy something, they WANT something.
Today's tip is this: find out what they WANT and sell it to them.
It just doesn't get any more simple than that, but it is so very sad that way too many shoppers walk out of retail businesses empty handed.
You can start growing your sales today if you apply this very simple - NO COST - tip. Find out what they want and sell it to them.
Find out what they want and sell it to them.
That's all there is to it, but I feel a very strong need to repeat it over and over and over.
Don't fool yourself into thinking that just because this is as simple as making jello pudding that you are going to convert ever person who walks through your door into a customer.
There is skill to it. You can't just ambush people and push products on them. Think back to the last time you were shopping and a sales person asked you if they could help with anything...what did you say? Personally, I am likely to say something along the line of "Thanks, just browsing for now." That usually gets them to leave me alone. And then I often walk out of the store empty handed.
There are many ways you can get shoppers to open up to you and share their wants with you, but you will have to find a strategy that works for you and sounds sincere from you. Welcoming everyone who comes into your store is a big step.
Having adequate staff to help your customers in all corners of your store is another great step. If someone is "just browsing" and spends 10 minutes looking at the colorful Ecosavr box, there should be a staff member there within the first 2 - 3 minutes asking questions and sharing information to encourage the transition between interest and ownership.
Learning how to read people is another great skill that can help your sales go up, up and away. If you can tell the difference between a frustrated pool owner, a frustrated wife, and a frustrated mother you can improve your sales. A frustrated pool owner wants a solution to their pool problems. A frustrated wife wants to solve the problem her husband failed to, in a easier and cheaper way. A frustrated mother wants to find something that will keep her kids happy while she shops to find items that will keep her happy. This could be the very same woman, but her WANTS are going to be different each time, and your sales approach will become exponentially more effective if you can realize this.
Anyhow, to sum it up, the #1 thing (in my opinion) that you can do to increase your sales without spending a single dime on marketing costs is to find out what your shoppers want and sell it to them.
If you can supplement this #1 tip with making your store "Red Car" ready, and by making it really easy to buy new things, and a bit harder to buy necessary things, you can increase your sales dramatically and almost immediately without spending a dime.
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