Want to increase sales, bring in more customers, and boost your business revenue? Some strategists will tell you to go after “big wins:” a new product, a big advertising push, the sort of endeavor that takes a lot of time and money but has a potentially huge payoff.
Big wins are important, but sometimes you need to look at the small wins too. In fact, it’s often the little things that make or break a business.
Here are a few examples to get you thinking.
Washing the windows
Imagine that you’ve got a nice storefront on a well-traveled street. You’ve got an attractive product display in the window and are offering competitive prices on quality materials. If you want to increase foot traffic into your store, what would you do?
A “big win” might involve launching a brand-new product, creating a city-wide contest, or otherwise developing a gimmick to get people in the doors.
Want a small win? Try washing the windows.
Entrepreneur John Gran recommends that high traffic retail stores wash their windows every 2-4 weeks — are you washing yours as often as Gran’s suggested schedule? Can you remember the last time you washed them?
Turns out that washing the windows brightens the appearance of your entire store. It’s a small win that will help you get more customers in the door and increase your sales.
Putting out counter displays
Once you’re inside your store, how do you lay out your products? Do you work with aisles, with themed clusters, with an outside ring of items surrounding a few interior displays?
Here’s a solution for a quick, small win: put up some cardboard counter displays. These displays can work as both endcaps as well as point-of-sale displays. You can even put up a counter display in the middle of an aisle to break it up visually and give customers something to look at and peruse.
According to Lewis & Leyser, “in the United States approximately 62 percent of supermarket sales and 80 percent of luxury good sales are made up of impulse purchases.” Counter displays, especially point of sale displays, help rack up those impulse buys. It’s a small win that can pay off in big ways for your business.
Ask staff to ask one more question
Nobody likes a hard upsell. Instead, ask your staff to ask customers just one more question. “Are you thinking about a finial to go with that birdfeeder?” “Would you like to see some shoes to match that dress?” Even something as simple as “was there anything you wanted that you couldn’t find?” will get the customer talking and potentially lead to an additional purchase.
Make sure this type of conversation always sounds natural. We’ve all been in the checkout line with the staff member who rattles off “may I interest you in saving 20% by opening our store credit card?” with all the charm of a bored beetle. In that example, the no is already present in the question. Instead, teach your staff how to ask just one more question that helps the customer, and see what happens.
Drop a low-selling product and try something else
Do you have a product that just doesn’t move? Take it off the shelves and try something else. Maybe fill in the space with a new product, or add a shiny counter display, or just stock the shelves with even more of a best-selling product. By removing a product that doesn’t sell, you make space for something that does. It’s another small win that can have big effects.
Do you have other small wins that can benefit businesses? Let us know in the comments!
About the Author: This article is written by Tara Miller