Today it looks and feels like spring. What does that mean to all my retail and manufacturing customers? It means an increase in business. People are receiving their tax checks, school will be out soon,
everyone needs to buy stuff… not only the essentials but our stuff. They need things to get the kids off to summer camp. They are packing up for the family vacation. It’s time to take care of those projects
around the house.
Now is the hard part. With internet sales increasing and big box companies trying to make us extinct we need to set ourselves apart and remind our customers why they buy from us.
Service, product expertise, wide selections you can touch and feel. With the economy in, let’s just say not like it was 5 years ago we need to fight for every sale.
When customers are searching the internet they are mainly price driven. One of my favorite retail pet shop owners was telling me a customer went down the street to a pet chain store. He purchased
a fish tank with all the accessories. He then brought the whole purchase still in the box to him for help with the set up. There you go. The big stores have minimum wage workers with no product knowledge
who sell what they have on the floor and saves the customer a few dollars, maybe. There is no special ordering, no product knowledge, no help with set up nothing. “The nerve of that guy to buy down the street and expect me to help him.”
What do I do now? Do I help him and hope he buys from me in the future? Do I tell him to go back to the box store and try to get help when I know they aren’t going to help him? My suggestion was to have a sign
posted in the store. Fish tank set up $200.00 – free with system purchase. My friend did not feel comfortable with posting the sign and was afraid that he might offend potential customers.
What do you think? Please share your success story.
