For those of you who didn’t attend the KnowledgeFest car audio trade show last month, here are key take away facts and tips from some of the many educational seminars presented in Dallas.
ONE: A new customer costs 3X as much money as a returning customer and the old customer is likely to spend 6X more money. So what are you doing to get old customers back into the store?—Del Ellis
TWO: How to get customers back in the store—email newsletters. How to get a customers’ email addresses (some don’t like to give it out.) Ask, “Would you like to receive our VIP newsletter every 4 to 6 weeks,” or ask if you can add him to your VIP email list with special offers. Or you can ask if he would like his invoice emailed to him.—Jody Culbertson, Avidworx
But what about the 50 percent of people who come through your door and don’t buy anything? How do you get their email address? Culbertson is a big fan of a contest to win a $100 gift card. Put a counter sign out in the middle of the store or by the door inviting people to leave their email address to enter to win the gift card. If you exhibit at a car show, put the sign out on your table and collect emails there.
THREE: Know your demographic. Then target your promotions toward that group: support the local little league, sound off events. Affiliate with muffler shops and run cross promotions. Again, for a chance to win a $100 gift card, have your customers fill out a 5-question questionnaire while they are waiting for their car. Ask if it’s okay to include the review on Facebook. “Reviews are huge.” Post the high ratings for overall satisfaction on Facebook. “It’s hard to get people to fill out a survey, but while they are waiting for the car, they’ll do it.”—Jody Culbertson, Avidworx
FOUR: Le Tour—You’ve heard this before, but it bears repeating. Bring people through your bay and show how cars are taped to protect them, how the wood shop is set up. John Schwartz of Perfectionist Auto Sound & Security, Anchorage, AK even includes the women’s bathroom on the tour. “Show them the extra things you do to care for their car…You have money invested in your toolboxes and meters, you can show that. Presentation is everything,” he says. If the store is not in a state to support the tour, fix it.
FIVE: Handling objections to a sale: Objections are clues to what a customer really wants. And that can help you sell. Here’s an example from Del Ellis. A customer comes into the shop and is looking for a backup camera. But after questioning it becomes apparent the customer is concerned about how the camera will look once installed on his car. Ellis walks him out to his car and asks, “What would look uglier, the camera or the car when you back up into something.” He took the camera,” Ellis said.
SIX: A consumers’ vehicle is neutral ground. Consumers are comfortable in their own cars. If you go out to their vehicle and look around, it’s non-threatening to the customer. “I’m not trying to sell you anything, I’m checking out your ride,” says John Schwartz, Perfectionist Auto Sound & Security. ”You can look at how much space is in the vehicle, headrests for in-car video, wheels and tires and talk about security. Then put together a presentation. Spending that extra 15 minutes to build a relationship is important.” Schwartz adds, that’s the time to build trust in your shop. “You may have a reputation out there that you are more expensive. You need to tell them, the second half of that statement, which is that you are worth it.”
Source: CEoutlook
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All magnificent observations for specialty retailers to understand and use. But of course these observations are block & tackle type tasks that specialty retailers must be routinely employing every day with every consumer every time.
In these times, managing consumer relationships can make the difference between profitable growth and a 29 hour a week job at Home Depot.