Next Friday you will see another side of retail and of people. Queues in stores will be streaming out the doors, people will be setting their alarms to get into stores as early as possible, to ensure they grab, what they believe, is the biggest deals of the year. There will be pushing, shoving and eager aggression to save BIG. E-commerce stores will also see a soar in sales with this being one of their biggest trading days.
So what is Black Friday and why all the hype? “Black Friday is the day following Thanksgiving Day in the United States (the fourth Thursday of November). Since 1952, it has been regarded as the beginning of the Christmas shopping season in the U.S., and most major retailers open very early (and more recently during overnight hours) and offer promotional sales.” Wikipedia.
So let me ask you what it would feel like to reach Black Friday sales in your business every day? Is it not strange that we all refer to many Mondays as a “Blue Monday” when in reality there should only be one blue Monday a year!
“Blue Monday is a name given to a day in January (typically the third Monday of the month) claimed to be the most depressing day of the year.” Wikipedia.
Why is it that we are so easily attracted to negative rather than positive trends? Is it that it is just easier to go with the flow of negative influence in the market rather than trying to turn things around?
What if you planned your sales ahead of time, focused on who and how you could reach new and existing customers with compelling deals and offers. I am not saying start discounting and marking down your services and products on a daily basis, but what would happen to your business if your customers believed every day was a Black Friday deal?
Believe me, I love a deal and I am often drawn to the big “SALE” signs but why is this? Is it a result of me not seeing the value in goods or services at the standard prices? Is it that getting a deal excites me? Why will I buy three items of the same product, when I originally only planned to buy one? I believe there is a host of emotions that makes many others and me a crazy sale shopper.
So how can you create that excitement in the life of your customers every day? How do you upsell and get them to want to buy more? These are questions you should be asking yourself every day. We all know that getting a new customer into your business is often a costly process, so keeping customers is the key to continued sales success. You want your customers doing your marketing for you, bringing their friends, family and Facebook tribe to your business.
Here are a few tips to help get this right
• Show your customers the value in your product or service
• Be willing to back your product and service
• Make the customer King
• Look at ways of making the sale easy, many online retailers have done this with creative apps
• Focus on aftersales service
• Understand what your customers want and need
• Get into the hearts of your customers
• Become a customer-centric business organisation
Will these tips guarantee many "Black Fridays" for your business? Well, that is entirely up to you. What I can guarantee is that with on-going planning, improved customer service and valuing your customers' feedback, it certainly will reduce the number of "Blue Mondays".
For assistance in developing a successful business growth strategy contact Coach Sonja Shear