If you want solid business, you need to do more than just have a lot of sales.
Don’t get me wrong, companies that hold a lot of sales are going to get a certain amount of business, but the kind they get will be short lived and last only until the sale is over with. The more sale based your customers are the less business you’ll do during those period between sales. What you need to do is develop stronger ties with your customers.
The first thing to do is contact them for reasons other than just sales. There are all sorts of methods for maintaining good relationships with your customers that go beyond simple sales. Why not use color printing to send out some newsletters each month? Tell your customers about what kind of people you have working for you and what other events you have planned. Let them get to know you, form a stronger bond with you, and you’ll find you have customers who really want to shop with you.
Holding events outside of sales is another good way to developing a strong relationship with your customers. Host local events or organize other kinds of interesting activities. I’ve seen plenty of bookstores that have special reading events where people can bring in their children to have stories read to them.
Back during the craze for Pokemon Toys R Us regularly held tournaments specifically for Pokemon cards. By going beyond purely advertising upcoming sales they were able to develop a different kind of bond with their customers and create the strong image of a fun store to shop at.
You also want to be sure that your line of communication is two way. Don’t just send out a bunch of ads without any concern for what your customers think. Ask them for their thoughts and opinions on what kinds of events you should do or what kinds of sales they’d like to see the most.
Make them feel important to you. Make sure they know that their input is valuable, and they’ll feel closer to your company. I always like the feeling that a company is really trying to do its best to make me happy. They aren’t just concerned with how much money they can make from me.
If you own a larger store, how often do you go down and walk the sales floor? How often do you actually talk to customers face to face to ask them how they’re doing and what they’d like to see more of?
I like to talk to the person in charge to know that my opinions are going to be heard by the real decision maker. There’s no reason to hide away from the people who are allowing your business to exist by shopping with you.
Just remember that color printing can be used for more than telling people about the next sale. Get up close and personal with your customers and I think you’ll find you’ll develop a much stronger relationship with them that works out better for everyone involved.
