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I work in the retail end of advertising, so I measure success in terms of traffic and sales. I also put a very high priority on converting sales into relationships. The tips below are designed as cost-effective ways to make your store more attractive, your staff more effective, and your overall business more lucrative.
IMAGE STARTS OUTSIDE
The way the outside of your store looks (building, parking lot) says a lot about you and your business. And to be very frank, many outdoor power equipment dealerships do not appear to be open to the general public. Many dealerships look as though they only sell to farmers or pro landscapers or contractors, when in reality they offer a full line of outdoor power equipment products.
A very simple—and almost no cost—suggestion is to clean your lot, and then assign a staffer (or yourself) the task of a daily parking lot inspection. Keep the lot clean and attractive to potential customers (men and women), and consider investing in lighting, new striping, maybe even a decorative planter box around your sign. And remember, displaying equipment outside is a great, low-cost way to advertise. You know what you sell, but people can drive past your store for 20 years and never know that you sell riding and push mowers, handheld and other high-end homeowner equipment.
YOUR INNER BEAUTY
Take a good look at the inside of your store. Think cleanliness. Think lighting. Think foot traffic. What parts of the store do you want to make sure customers see/visit? What products do you want to make sure they see? Merchandising is such a vital aspect of marketing, and yet often overlooked. I suggest the following:
- Pull together sample ads from the forthcoming season. Review them with your staff and let your staff participate in planning merchandising around the ad focus. You get two birds with one stone: 1) Your store will be set to capture the traffic generated from ads, and 2) Your staff will be aware of what is being advertised. They can then focus on capturing traffic, selling-up and adding-on.
- Display plenty of the featured items. There is an old saying in retailing: "Stack it high and watch it fly." Remember, people want to feel safe in their purchase decisions, and there is safety in numbers. You want your store to project a look of success, which includes lots of retail activity.
- Plan now to make subtle shifts in the merchandising throughout the selling season. Add suggestions for protective apparel and accessories before Father's Day. If someone buys a $15 pair of protective glasses and dad likes them, maybe next time dad will buy a $15,000 tractor.
MARKET YOUR SUPPORT FUNCTIONS
Market your parts and service departments. It doesn't cost you anything to give a brief tour of your in-store parts and service departments to customers—especially new customers—and yet it may be the most defining characteristic separating servicing dealers from mass merchants.
A clean, well-organized service department projects an image of a dealership that is equipped and staffed to support customers. It also projects an image that looks like a place that should charge $60 to $80 per hour.
INVEST IN CONVERTING SALES INTO RELATIONSHIPS
My final suggestion is that you consider investing 10% to 20% of your marketing resources in converting sales into relationships. The cost of new customers is much higher than retaining customers. Send low-cost mailings, offer an annual service program. Hey, I'm happy to pay my dealer $200 every February for a gold service program that keeps all my equipment ready to roar in March or April. You may even consider calling good customers about new products or services. Collect names, addresses and e-mails of all customers, and treat that database like it was a mine that can produce gold year after year. Because that's exactly what it is.
Good selling!
James W. Riley Jr. is founder, CEO and creative director for Red Letter Communications Inc. A self-described "generalist," Riley is the creative leader of Red Letter, and his credits range from copy and art direction on multimillion-dollar advertising campaigns to the production of hundreds of television commercials to the creation of a management workshop entitled "Solutions to the Five Most Common Mistakes in Local Market Advertising" for Stihl Inc.'s 8,000 retail dealers.
author: By Jim Riley