We all want to increase our turnover. This article will give you some tips on how to do ten simple things that will help you to increase your turnover.
1. Make your customers feel welcome right away. If possible greet them by hand. Learn their names and greet them by name. You only get one chance to make a good first impression. Greet everybody even if they do not greet back. My local Woolworths has a doorman that greets people as they enter. I am sure this does not go unnoticed.
2. Conduct customer surveys. Ask the customers what they want, this shows customers that you care about what they think. If you pick up problems you must address them immediately. You may even get back lost customers by fixing the issues.
3, Follow up to inquire about satisfaction. When was the last time you just called a customer to follow up on his or her experience? This is not a sales call. Just call and ask them if they are happy with your service. If they bought an expensive item you might ask them if they are still happy with their purchase.
4. Learn to listen. It must be the most difficult thing in life. Listening. To truly listen is an art. You must listen to what they say because by connecting with you emotionally they become loyal. If you do not listen there will be no emotional connection and thus no loyalty.
5. Build on online presence. Open a Facebook page for your shop or start a blog. Many customers might hear about you and want to visit your store and will Google your name. If they fail to get a web presence you might miss out on their business. Also do not forget to be in online directories.
6. Keep in touch with E-Newsletters. Create a newsletter and send out a monthly newsletter. Do not bug the people too much or they will unsubscribe. If you keep in their thoughts they will come back to you again and again. You add value to their lives and this is important. Always ask yourself what you can do for your customers.
7. Make the purchasing process an experience. If you can you may give beading classes in store. Show people how to use your products. Give advice. Become an expert, read up as much as you can but remember not to crowd your customers give them advice if they need it. The truth is that you must earn those customers by giving them an extraordinary experience every time. Just last week I went to Vodacom to sort out a new contract. They gave me a coffee voucher and a disc that flashes when it is your turn to see the customer representative. This was a good customer/client experience for me.
8. Offer Birthday specials. We give off R100 to every person that has a birthday. I am now going to extend this to be used any time in that year. What do you do for your customers on their birthday? Do you send them a card or do you phone them? My birthday wishes are send out with a cron job. Please ask me and I will show you how to do it.
9. Hold special events. Have a special exhibition and invite your customers with finger food and wine. Have a special sales night. Make a calendar of special events and tell your customers about it so that they can bookmark that day. Arrange a flea market and give out balloons with prizes.
10. Volunteer for a good cause. Do something in the community. Go to the old age home and give a free beading class. You'd be surprised by how many new customers you can gain by reaching out.
Good luck with your business and please use the comments section to give more tips on building customer satisfaction.
Gerdus
Monday 23 May 2011
Wednesday 11 May 2011
Some ideas on buying
This article I will share some ideas on how to buy and what kind of markup will work for you.
I started off in manufacturing and ran my own pottery factory for 15 years. I was the designer, maker and marketer of the pottery. This taught me many skills of which I am grateful today. The limitations as manufacturer were many. Time was the biggest limitation. I only had 24 hours a day and I can only make so many pots a day. My kiln also limited the amount of items I could fire.
When I started a buying and selling business I was liberated from these limitations.
I realized that the the only limitations are the ones I set myself. It is like a farmer who goes out to sow a field. If the farmer sows a field of 1 hectare he will reap a harvest of 1 hectare. He can fertilize aggressively and get a slightly larger crop. On the other hand we get a farmer who plants 100 hectares. His returns can be 100 times bigger.
So the bottom line is in the size of your thinking. If you limit yourself by planting just a hectare you will reap what you have sown. We have a limit of R300 to avoid the low order fee of R150. Some customers complain about this and say that R300 is too much for them to spend. I have often wondered about this statement. If you use a markup of 100% you will sell this stock for R600. If you use a 200% mark-up you will sell the items for R900. I do not recommend such a high mark-up. It will be detrimental for future business. Customers are clever and they know how to look up information. If they buy something for a high price and later discover they could buy it for much cheaper elsewhere they will feel cheated and avoid your store in the future.
I recently shopped around for a remote control. I found one priced at R150. I decided to look further and found the same remote control for R59.00 at the steel merchant. I needed 4 remotes. This is a savings of R396.00. I have very negative feelings about the store where I saw the more expensive remote. I have told about 4 people of my findings and they are also negative about this store.
So how do I avoid this negativity. Use a standard mark-up. If you buy an item cheaply you must mark it up cheaply. We often make the mistake to think that an item has an unlimited price. To give you an example. We sell a single pearl bracelet for around R10 plus VAT. The same item was seen at a market for R120.00. Imagine where the people will buy next time. You have to keep close records on your best sellers and buy these all the time. Many of us get caught up in buying from reps that pressurize us into buying. And so our cash flow goes out into dead stock that sits on our shelves. I keep very precise reports on sales and know at any given time how many of each items sells per month. If it sells well I make sure that I stock it again. Money is made between supply and demand. If an item is in demand you will make money when you can get supply. We just struggle because our supply period might sometimes be too long apart. I stock up every 3 months. We try and buy only items that we know moves fast.
So let us get back to some predictions. If I need an income of R30 000 per month I need to buy R60 000 worth of goods if I have a mark-up of 100%. This means I will get in R60 000 and I will make a profit of R30 000 and still have R30 000 to buy more items. If I only bought items worth R10 000 and have a mark up of 100% I will only make R10 000 and be short R20000 to pay all my bills and have quality of life. You must spend money to make money. Set a larger target and get enough funds to make your business healthy.
So let us summarize.
Good luck.
Gerdus
PS: Avoid buying one of a sort. Buyers do not take you serious when you only have one of an item on the shelve. Discount all items that gets to ones and twos. Rather stock less but stock deeper. (buy more of each item)
I started off in manufacturing and ran my own pottery factory for 15 years. I was the designer, maker and marketer of the pottery. This taught me many skills of which I am grateful today. The limitations as manufacturer were many. Time was the biggest limitation. I only had 24 hours a day and I can only make so many pots a day. My kiln also limited the amount of items I could fire.
When I started a buying and selling business I was liberated from these limitations.
I realized that the the only limitations are the ones I set myself. It is like a farmer who goes out to sow a field. If the farmer sows a field of 1 hectare he will reap a harvest of 1 hectare. He can fertilize aggressively and get a slightly larger crop. On the other hand we get a farmer who plants 100 hectares. His returns can be 100 times bigger.
So the bottom line is in the size of your thinking. If you limit yourself by planting just a hectare you will reap what you have sown. We have a limit of R300 to avoid the low order fee of R150. Some customers complain about this and say that R300 is too much for them to spend. I have often wondered about this statement. If you use a markup of 100% you will sell this stock for R600. If you use a 200% mark-up you will sell the items for R900. I do not recommend such a high mark-up. It will be detrimental for future business. Customers are clever and they know how to look up information. If they buy something for a high price and later discover they could buy it for much cheaper elsewhere they will feel cheated and avoid your store in the future.
I recently shopped around for a remote control. I found one priced at R150. I decided to look further and found the same remote control for R59.00 at the steel merchant. I needed 4 remotes. This is a savings of R396.00. I have very negative feelings about the store where I saw the more expensive remote. I have told about 4 people of my findings and they are also negative about this store.
So how do I avoid this negativity. Use a standard mark-up. If you buy an item cheaply you must mark it up cheaply. We often make the mistake to think that an item has an unlimited price. To give you an example. We sell a single pearl bracelet for around R10 plus VAT. The same item was seen at a market for R120.00. Imagine where the people will buy next time. You have to keep close records on your best sellers and buy these all the time. Many of us get caught up in buying from reps that pressurize us into buying. And so our cash flow goes out into dead stock that sits on our shelves. I keep very precise reports on sales and know at any given time how many of each items sells per month. If it sells well I make sure that I stock it again. Money is made between supply and demand. If an item is in demand you will make money when you can get supply. We just struggle because our supply period might sometimes be too long apart. I stock up every 3 months. We try and buy only items that we know moves fast.
So let us get back to some predictions. If I need an income of R30 000 per month I need to buy R60 000 worth of goods if I have a mark-up of 100%. This means I will get in R60 000 and I will make a profit of R30 000 and still have R30 000 to buy more items. If I only bought items worth R10 000 and have a mark up of 100% I will only make R10 000 and be short R20000 to pay all my bills and have quality of life. You must spend money to make money. Set a larger target and get enough funds to make your business healthy.
So let us summarize.
- Buy enough quick sellers
- Use a low mark-up
- Set yourself targets on how much to buy
- Force yourself to buy enough to make the business viable
- Say no to the wrong products
- Source your own products from suppliers with a good track record
- Work on turnover rather than profit to avoid long term harm
Good luck.
Gerdus
PS: Avoid buying one of a sort. Buyers do not take you serious when you only have one of an item on the shelve. Discount all items that gets to ones and twos. Rather stock less but stock deeper. (buy more of each item)
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