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Direct Marketing Article |
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Your customers are changing... Why aren't
you?
By Tim Ross
Consumer's tastes and preferences are constantly changing, yet most business
owners do very little changing themselves. They stick to what they know as a
false sense of security in an otherwise unfamiliar economic environment,
slowly wasting opportunities that are right in front of them that could mean
the difference between making it and having to close up shop. It seems as
though they hold steadfast to the old axiom that "if it isn't broke, don't
fix it." But if you don't break it, it may make you go broke.
The first step: Listen closely and pay attention to what's going on with
your customers. Your customers will speak to you in many different ways.
It's not always what your customers say to you that's important, it's often
what they don't say that matters most.
The old wives' tale about a person that has a good experience tells one
other person, but someone that has a bad experience tells 10, generally
holds true. Unfortunately the business owner is usually not one of the 10.
And thus, there is a fair bit of guesswork involved in trying to figure out
what it is that your customers are telling you.
The answers, however, are in
the numbers:
Sales Figures: Daily, weekly and monthly sales figures provide an early
indication of what is really happening with your business and in most cases
are the most closely watched barometer of how healthy or how potentially
anemic your business may be. While this is a great place to start, its not
the only place to look for ways to improve performance or identify potential
problems that might exist.
Customer Counts: Take a look at daily, weekly and monthly customer counts.
Generally speaking consumer buying behavior does change over time. It's not
unusual to see shifting trends in customer counts throughout the year due to
seasonality or slight decreases in demand over time, but if you are noticing
steep declines in customer counts or unusual buying trends there may be a
greater underlying problem. This might include product obsolescence, wrong
target market, pricing pressure from the competition or shifting buyer
interests.
Average Ticket: What is it that your customers are buying? Average ticket
volume and average ticket totals will provide an indication of how much or
how often consumers are buying your products or paying for your services.
Shifting trends from higher volume to higher average tickets is not always
negative. What it's really telling you is that your customers are either
waiting until they need what you have as opposed to buying your products
when they want them or your market is changing. In either case, there is a
way to make changes to your business in order to accommodate changing
customer demand.
While analyzing the numbers is important, you must also be prepared to adapt
to what that review reveals. Times are changing and many of the old
techniques are no longer effective. The harsh reality is that some business
owners will be able to make necessary adjustments while others simply will
not be able to make the change.
Here are a few things to consider when your business is experiencing a
transformation:
1. If the target market starts moving, move with it. While this may be
somewhat intuitive a large majority of business owners simply have no idea
where to begin. The first step is to identify prevailing trends in your
business. In the case of the automotive repair shops, shop owners have to
make an adjustment to their service offering(s) to accommodate customers who
needed preventative maintenance rather than major repairs.
2. Focus more attention on creating "lifetime customers." Taking your car in
for repairs is a bit like going to the doctor, you only make an appointment
when something is wrong rather than taking the time to get routine
check-ups. If you create a relationship with your customers and educate them
on the benefits of routine maintenance, customers are more likely to visit
more often.
3. Focus on customer service. Consumers have lots of choices and tend to
speak with their wallets. They are not always fixated on price and are more
likely to return to a place where they have had a favorable experience
regardless of how much it costs, that is within reason. Too many business
owners have forgotten what a significant impact great service has on
consumers and how it influences their behavior.
4. Communicate regularly with your customers. Smart-phones, text messaging
and email alerts provide an efficient, yet relatively inexpensive means to
facilitate communication between shop owners and consumers. It's now
possible to send alerts notifying a customer that they have a scheduled
appointment or perhaps are due for an oil change. It is however important to
note that these electronic messages must be timely and relevant or they will
quickly become just more electronic marketing clutter.
5. Audit your marketing strategy, materials and messaging. It is important
to periodically assess whether your marketing efforts are producing the
right type of results. All too often business owners' first inclination is
to provide a coupon with deep discounts to drive traffic through their
doors. The net result is that you attract a budget minded customer that may
only visit your store one time, unless of course you continue to offer
additional discounts. The fact is that if you target the right type of
customer and develop messaging that resonates with them it may not even be
necessary to offer discounts.
Change is not always bad; with change comes tremendous opportunity. So
embrace change, prepare for it, be open to it and your business will grow,
even during times of economic uncertainty.
About the Author:
Tim Ross is president of Mudlick Mail, a direct mail company serving
automotive repair shop owners nationwide. Tim has more than a decade of
sales and marketing experience in the automotive service industry. He has
spent the last eight years developing custom marketing programs for
independent auto service shops that help drive car counts and increase
ticket averages. |
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