It really is something to celebrate being one of the few countries to have managed the COVID-19 virus into apparent elimination.
However, for much of the small business community, this feels more of a ‘Pyrrhic victory’ than a celebration, as many struggle to bring in enough sales to pay the staff and keep their landlord at bay, let alone achieve a profit.
For many businesses, life was tough before, and the effects wrought by COVID-19 management efforts have been just too much, and they have already succumbed.
What Can You Do to Help Your Business Survive & Prosper?
In times like these, customers often need encouragement to buy or make a larger or more expensive purchase than they were first considering.
Everybody loves extra appreciation or additional value when making a purchase, and the easiest encouragement you can offer is a discount – yes, it may well persuade the customer to complete the purchase, but for you, it is losing more of your margin that you can ill afford to give away.
If you were to offer the customer something in addition that the customer saw as being of value and use to them, but which hasn’t cost you so much to source, then the sale is made, and you have kept hold of the greater part of your much needed full margin!
The Bed Salesman
For example, last week, we decided to replace our bed. We visited four retailers and each bombarded with specifications and merits of various beds, but we were not persuaded and didn’t find a bed that met our needs. But at the final store, the retailer talked us into viewing a bed twice the value we had in mind. The bed more than met our needs, and we were seriously interested… but at twice our ideal budget, the deal needed encouragement to be completed!
Without any negotiation, the retailer offered it to us at less than half price. It turns out he was overstocked and needed to put money back into the bank. He discounted the bed so heavily I doubt he returned even all of his cost back into the bank. Had he offered some extended credit plus a couple of sets of quality sheets and a duvet, (all of which would cost him substantially less than it would us), he could well have still achieved the sale but would have preserved maybe three-quarters of his margin.
Gift With Purchase
We can assist businesses to identify branded items for them to use in running a ‘Gift With Purchase’ programme, enabling them to increase margin, or increase the volume of the sales. Items can be a tailored to the nature and value of the sale and may be as simple as a quality branded microfibre cloth, beanie, scarf, umbrella, notebook and pen gift set, a set of bone china coffee cups, beach umbrella or sports watch – there are plenty of items featured on our website.
Find out more, including umbrellas and the lastest digital brochure.