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Sales Lagging? One Simple Thing You Can Do Today To Increase Your Sales 20-30%
More and more consumers have less and less to spend. It’s not an illusion. It’s almost not news anymore, but it still makes headlines. Back in 12/26 2008 The Wall Street Journal had the headline, “Retail sales plummet”. And then as recently as 6/14/2011, NPR reported, “Retail Sales Drop”. And of course there were many, many articles in between these two.
So it’s not a surprising to see the results of an informal poll I conducted among business owners. The most frustrating experience, by far, is that a customer expresses genuine interest in your product or service, and then vanishes.
Retailers report customers calling on the phone, or even coming into the store, grilling them on prices, and then walking out never to return again. Clearly these consumers need and want what you have or they wouldn’t have spoken with you. But they probably feel compelled to get something cheaper and inferior from somewhere else, because they just don’t have the cash flow to do otherwise.
Here’s another startling fact that supports this behavior; 50% of American’s can’t come up with $2,000 in 30 days (Time Magazine 6/20/2011), which means they have no money in their checking account, no available credit, and no cash on hand. So it stands to reason that they are going to be very reticent parting with the cash they have.
One thing for sure -- their cars still break down. They still need attorneys and dentists, and they still have unanticipated needs that put pressure on the small cash flow they have. But take this one step further. If you can figure out how to do business with this group, then 50% of the country just became a viable profit center for your business.
Surprisingly there is one simple and inexpensive thing you can do to make this happen. Offer your customers a no credit check payment plan where they have 90 days to pay. Almost everyone gets approved, and your payments are guaranteed by the bank. Everyone wins.
Next time you are asked about your prices, remember that the key issue is not total cost, but how much they have to spend today. So mention that they can get what they really want for less out of their pocket today than they were afraid they were going to have to spend, and you’re probably ready to start writing them up.
Matt Silverman is a small business consultant, living in Concord, MA. He has started a number of small businesses, including business services as well as consumer products. Matt has prepared two short, free instructional videos on how offering payment plans at no risk to a business owner, can increase sales at www.guaranteedpayplan.com
Article submitted Sunday, July 24, 2011 & read 24 times.
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