Aug. 17/24; Volume 30/Number 5
By Jim Augustus Armstrong
(Second of two parts)
In this installment I will continue with the topic of marketing multipliers, which are practical, hands-on strategies to assist dealers in gaining more leads and referrals from past customers. These strategies can be used by businesses to immediately generate more profit and build on the marketing multipliers discussed in Part 1 of this series (FCNews, Aug. 3/10).
House party
Any customer whose sale totaled $5,000 or more (you can choose the specific amount) will get to throw a catered house party hosted by you. The lady of the house can invite her friends for an evening full of wine, hors d’oeuvres and the chance to admire her new floors.
You should be there to meet and greet the guests, host a raffle in which the prize is a free area rug and take photos so you can trumpet the event in your next newsletter, on your website or via social media. All attendees will receive a gift bag from you with gourmet coffee, chocolate and a $200 gift certificate that reads, “Exclusively for friends of Rhonda Rumplestilskin” which is good for any purchase at your store of $2,500 or more.
All who respond will then go through your Core 3 strategies previously discussed: sales closer system, referral marketing system and a monthly direct response newsletter. As detailed in part one, Core 3 methods act as marketing multipliers because they dramatically increase the effectiveness of all your other marketing efforts.
Customer appreciation events
These events can include anything from holiday parties to parking lot BBQs or even wine tastings. If you need more ideas for events, my friend Lisbeth Calandrino has written a fun little book called 50 Events to Drive Traffic to Your Store. Get it and I promise you’ll never run out of great ideas for enjoyable and effective store events. Attendees can fill out raffle tickets with their names and mailing and email addresses to be entered into the drawings that take place every 30 minutes. After the event, attendees are sent a “You won!” letter, which includes a gift certificate for $200, good for any purchase of $2,500 or more at your store. Include a deadline.
Website marketing
There are two elements I suggest you add to your website that can dramatically enhance its effectiveness. First, have a page dedicated to testimonials and include photos of customers whenever possible. Second, offer a free report that visitors can opt in to download. This gives you the opportunity to use follow-up marketing.
Anyone who goes from your website to your store will also move through the Core 3.
Facebook testimonials
Post rave reviews and photos of enthusiastic customers to your Facebook page. Begin the post with, “Help us congratulate Bob and Betty Bugler on their new Berber floors!” followed by a testimonial from the Buglers and a brief description of the floor and why they selected it. Tag them in the photo so the post appears on their timelines. When their Facebook friend visits your store, she will also go through all of your multiplier strategies.
Some of you might be thinking you don’t have the time to implement these strategies. If that is you then let me ask, what is taking up all your time that is more important than driving sales in your business? You need to take a hard look at how you spend your workdays and delegate a bunch of the low-dollar tasks to others so you can focus on activities that will propel sales and build wealth for you.