In this installment I continue with strategies that build on the multipliers discussed in part 1.
House Party
Any customer whose sale totaled $5,000 or more (you pick the figure) get a catered house party hosted by you! The lady of the house invites her friends over for an evening of wine and hors d’oeuvres, and to admire her new floors! You’re there to meet and greet, do a raffle drawing for a free area rug, and take photos of the proceedings so you can trumpet the event in your newsletter. All attendees get a gift bag from you with gourmet coffee and chocolate, and a $200 gift certificate “Exclusively For Friends Of Rhonda Rumplestilskin,” good for any purchase at your store of $2,500 or more.
All who respond go through your “Core 3” strategies:
- Sales Closer System,
- Referral Marketing System,
- and are subscribed to your monthly Direct Response Customer Newsletter.
As I detailed in part 1, the Core 3 act as “marketing multipliers” because they dramatically increase the effectiveness of all your other marketing efforts.
Customer Appreciation Events
This can include holiday parties, parking lot BBQ’s, Wine Tasting, etc. (Need more event ideas? My friend Lisbeth Calandrino has written a fun little book called, 50 Events To Drive Traffic To Your Store. Get it and I promise you’ll never run out of great ideas for events.) All attendees fill out raffle tickets with their name, and physical and email addresses to be entered into the drawings taking place every 30 minutes. After the event, attendees are sent a “You Won!” letter, which includes a gift certificate for $200, good for any purchase of $2,500 or more. Include a deadline. All who respond go through your Sales Closer System, Referral Marketing System, and are subscribed to your newsletter. All who purchase go through the 5-Around Strategy, Testimonial Drip Campaign, and House Party strategies detailed in part 1.
Website Marketing
Here are two elements to add to your website that can dramatically enhance its effectiveness. First, have a page dedicated to testimonials. Include photos of customers whenever possible. Second, offer a free report that visitors opt in to download. This gives you the opportunity to do follow up marketing. All opt-ins are subscribed to your newsletter. (See my July columns on digital marketing for more details on the free report strategy.) All who go from your website to visiting your store go through the Sales Closer System, and the other multipliers mentioned above.
Facebook Testimonials
Post photos of raving-fan customers. Begin the post by saying, “Help us congratulate Bob and Betty Bugler on their new Berber!” followed by a testimonial from the Buglers, and a brief description of the floor and why they selected it. Tag them in the photo so the post appears in their timeline. When a FB “friend” of your customer visits your store, she goes through all the multiplier strategies.
Some dealers might say, “But Jim! I don’t have time to do all that!” If that’s you, then I have a question: what is taking up all your time that’s more important than driving sales in your business? You need to take a hard look at how you spend your workdays, and delegate a bunch of the low-dollar tasks so you can focus on activities that will propel sales, and build wealth for you.
You’re welcome to email me at the address below if you have a question about any of the strategies discussed in this series.
To Tons Of Customers!
Jim Augustus Armstrong is The “Coach”
Jim Augustus Armstrong is the President of Flooring Success Systems, a program that equips dealers to double their profits, cut their work hours in half and beat the boxes! Many dealers have totally transformed their businesses and their lives for the better after joining Flooring Success Systems.
See what real, live dealers are saying!