Boosting your sales conversion : Convincing your prospect to take action
When a customer enters a shop he is not necessarily there to make purchases. He might just have stepped in out of curiosity, to have a look around. Ritu Marya talks about how to tackle someone who might become a prospective client and how to get him into buying your products A customer is not a customer until he or she buys. Until then they are a prospect, a shopper, or a looker. The current approximate look-to-buy-ratio is 1 to 3 per cent, which means there are more lookers than buyers. It is vital to strive for the highest conversion rate for maximising your bottom-line. Selling efficiency rates can make or break businesses everyday. It is extremely important to sell to the impulsive buyer as effectively as you sell to the discerning buyer. So the question arises that once someone has decided to buy your product (or service) what does it take to complete the transaction? To be able to do it effectively one should be able to convince the prospect that you have something distinctive to offer and stimulate them to purchase it. Perk up your sales Would it not be great to get more sales without spending more money to drive more visitors to your store? This is not to suggest that you do not need marketing and advertising to introduce customers to your product or that you do not need a sales force. However, your sales force, and everyone else in your company who deals with your customers, will sell more products if you just make it easier for customers to buy! There are innumerable uncomplicated ways to perk up your sales conversion rate, many of which can be completed swiftly and several of which cost absolutely nothing to implement! Here are a few useful tips to increase your sales conversion rate: Sell value, not price: The customer is prepared to pay for the product because of the benefits obtained, therefore, it is important to research your product or service to determine which features and benefits will interest your buyers. Make a numbered list of the features and benefits the product offers and we will cover it in the USP. Unique selling proposition (USP): It is the one thing that makes your product different than any of your competitors and involves finding a way to get customers excited about buying from you and forgetful of your competition, something that will weld them to you with a loyalty that cannot be broken. It involves that you make a list of what makes your product better. Are you offering something your competitors are not? Some unique propositions that were pioneers when they were introduced, include; Dominoes Pizza - 'You get fresh, hot pizza delivered to your door in 30 minutes or less'; M&M's - 'The milk chocolate melts in your mouth, not in your hand'. The guarantee: Offering an ironclad guarantee is vital to overcome the buyer's resistance. Guarantees remove the fear people naturally feel when committing to a product or a service. For example, Dominos says, 'Red hot pizza delivered at your doorstep in 30 minutes or you can have it for free.' A money-back guarantee is usually the most powerful tool of them all. Testimonial: Customers can be made to buy products that they were not initially interested in, if it is positively endorsed by a third party who has previously used that product or service. The use of testimonials adds a personal touch to the companies appeal and also portrays a populous image. One can see testimonials being used both in print and electronic media. Cross sell and up-sell: Cross-sell is a marketing term for the practice of suggesting related products or services to a customer who is considering buying something. Akin to cross-sell is another concept, i.e, Up-selling which involves selling more of the same product that customer came to buy. Encouraging existing customers to spend more can have a dramatic effect on your profit margins. Successful cross selling is about getting your timing right. Sales training: It is vital to encourage either one-to-one sales coaching or group seminars in your organization on a weekly or fortnightly basis to improvise your staff's sales skills. One should try to incorporate the best sales strategies not only from one's own industry but also followed in other industries, and, accordingly, train staff in the same. Even the most seasoned salesman would agree that there is never enough learning in sales business. Following up: A 'no' today is not necessarily a 'no' for forever. Experienced sales professionals know that vast majority of sales are made on the second, third or even the fourth contact. Follow-up can be done in different ways. For example, once you have sent a direct mailer, follow it up with a phone call or vice-versa. Whom to sell? As imperative as the above exercise is together with the fundamental adage that we have heard since the beginning of business times that customer is always right. On the flip side though the next time you deal with a difficult customer, ask yourself this question, 'Is the time I am spending with this customer taking time away from others who need me more?' If the answer is 'yes', then it's time to cut your losses. It does not denote that one has to get rid of every customer who is difficult to deal with. Merely a suggestion; that it may be time to weed out the unwanted set from your high priority customer base so you can harvest the greatest rewards. The best way to do that is to stick to the 80/20 rule, which implies that 80 per cent of your business comes from 20 per cent of your customers, so focus on those 20 per cent customers that have the uppermost probability to augment your bottom line. The other 80 per cent of your clients are probably costing you money. This would necessitate that you take stock of your customers and relate it to: which ones give you the most business? Most retailers spend a lot of time with an indecisive customer because they haven't asked, 'what is our next step?' or 'what must we do to get a decision from a prospective buyer?' They are afraid of rejection and objections. But getting an objection is often the only way to truly understand how the customer is thinking and to get the sale back on track-or to realize that this track is not the right one for you or your customer to follow. So the next time your first thought is 'the customer is always right', stop and ask yourself this instead, 'Is this customer right for me?' The author is Business Head, Quantum Organisation, assisting leading retail chains in India, and involved in a number of retail assignments as well. She can be contacted at mritu@frabnchiseindia.com
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