Are you Missing Marketing Opportunities?
By Ann Barr 07-Jul-03
"I didn’t know you sold that!" If you have ever heard this from a customer, your company may be missing valuable marketing opportunities. Somebody else is getting sales you should get.
Are all of your customers buying all of the products they could be buying from your company? They may be limited in what they can purchase from you because they are not aware of the range of products and services you offer. Are you taking full advantage of every opportunity to communicate new product offerings to customers?
You don’t need to spend a fortune in advertising, in order to make sure customers know about all the products you sell. There are effective and inexpensive ways to keep consumers informed. Here are three low-cost marketing tips to get the word out.
1. Attach an easily readable, colorful label (sticker) to every product that leaves your office. These labels should show your company name and telephone number in large enough print to be seen and read from a distance of five feet.
Reason: If someone in your customer’s office wants to re-order, and doesn’t realize who the products were ordered from – and if your name and phone number are not clearly visible on your products – you may lose sales. The person ordering may look through the Yellow Pages, or call one of your competitors to buy products that you sell.
2. Put a colorful marketing flyer or monthly sale flyer inside every box of supplies shipped out.
Reason: If shipments are sent out with only your products inside, a marketing opportunity is being missed. Every box of products should contain an announcement with: "this month’s special" or “new product launch.” The only cost to your company is the cost of the paper, toner or ink, development time and the time it takes to make copies. Make sure the person doing the packing, has a large supply of colorful flyers to put into each shipment.
3. With every invoice sent out, include a short message about additional products or services you provide.
Reason: Unless your customers pay cash up front, every consumer eventually receives a bill from your company. So if you’re looking for a way to encourage additional sales, you should put your bills to work for you. There is probably room on your invoices to list add-on products and services you provide. You can also include a colorful flyer with your invoice.
You Are in a Niche
If you started out by selling only printer supplies and you later decided to add fax and copier supplies (or vice-versa) your customers have put you in a niche. If you are a Panasonic copier dealer, your customers who bought only a Panasonic copier from you may never think about buying HP printer cartridges from you, even though you sell the cartridges on a regular basis. It takes consistent reminders to let them know you can provide other products than what they purchased in the past from you. Marketing research has found that it takes seven contacts within 18 months to make a new sale. Selling a new or different product to an existing customer counts as a new sale. Every reminder helps to keep your name in front of customers.
A Sales-Building Marketing Tool
“I don’t have time now to give you all that information.” You may hear this answer after asking a customer: “What kind of printers, copiers and fax machines do you use?” The Customer Survey Form (CSF) is the perfect tool to use at this point. The CSF asks for very specific and vital information – exactly the data you need to implement targeted marketing strategies. Tell your customer you will fax the form and ask her/him to fill it out and fax it back to you. Use a “please return by” date on your fax or the form may end up underneath a pile of paperwork for weeks. Create a sense of urgency by offering a special discount to the customer for faxing back the completed form by a specific date. You can get a free Customer Survey Form at www.sellingsupplies.com –click on Marketing Tool.
All of these marketing tools – if used consistently – can increase your visibility and your sales. And when you use these tools - not only will you capture add-on sales - you are sending an important message to your customers: “We want your business!”
Ann Barr is a consultant and sales trainer who conducts Selling Supplies Seminars in the U.S. and Canada. To contact Ann, E-mail to: a href=mailto:annbarr@sellingsupplies.com>annbarr@sellingsupplies.com. Or visit her web site: www.sellingsupplies.com.
Original Post