As we all rush out to do some holiday shopping and retailers put their best foot forward, as a small business owner you want to be sure that
your sales don’t cripple your business. Attracting new customers is great, but what you want is repeat business and customer loyalty. Stick with these tips and build a relationship, not a sale.
Listen to your customers
While it is tempting to sell only the things that you think are important, without your customers you don’t have anything. So when they
tell you they want to see more of a certain product or ask why you don’t provide a particular service, take that information to heart. Crunch the
numbers and see when you can bring in that service/product and if you can’t provide it think about creating a partnership with another small business that does provide that service. You’ll be satisfying your customers and building a great reciprocal relationship with another small business.
Use sales to introduce customers to your product
Most businesses use sales to get rid of poorly selling inventory or to create room for new inventory, but I think this a bad tactic. Sales have the ability to bring in a huge number of new customers and you should be harvesting this opportunity as a chance to introduce the customers to
your products/services. The sales should whet their appetite and create a desire for more; hook them on your quality not your steep price cut.
Let common sense rule
This is the most important tip. When you are planning and strategizing your sales, let common sense not greed dictate the terms. The reality is that it is a lot easier to sell to current customers than new customers, so your strategy should include that perspective. When I take off my
business hat and put on my consumer hat, the things that draw me in are how do they treat you once they’ve made the sale? Your reputation is more often than not what will draw in new customers and if you incorporate current customersinto you business development strategy, your sales will do their job.
The holiday season is a great revenue machine lately, but most customers crave a company that looks after them. While some businesses
find that counterintuitive, small businesses have the luxury of cultivating relationships that turn into sales that turn into loyal customers.
