https://thespectrumpost.com/

How Traditional Retail Business Can Succeed With Online Retailers!

MAKE YOUR LIFE EASIER WITH THE SOLUTIONS YOU NEED DELIVERED!

Q: How can small brick and mortar retailers compete with online businesses?         Jason M.     Huston TX. USA

With all the changes over the last few years, the question arises of how traditional brick and mortar businesses can thrive in the world of online businesses. We want to reassure any of you that feel you may be losing your customer base to an online retailer. There is a solution. In a word, it is all about creating an exceptional customer experience. If your business is a stand alone, meaning not in a major shopping center or mall, you have several things going for you. We would like to offer a couple of simple steps that could change your entire financial picture and generate years of success.

First, what any of the online giants or big box stores could never offer for the simple fact of who and what they are, is personalized customer service. The more you emphasize a great customer experience in your daily business practices the more successful you will become. Continually look for any opportunity to add a special touch or service throughout every stage of each business transaction. We will give you some reasons why and then we will give you some examples of what we mean.

80% of Traditional Retail Business Sales Come From 20% of Your Customers.

This is simply a fact for almost all businesses. This means you need to make it a priority to find out which one in five of your customers are those who keep coming back for more of what you have to offer and then make every effort to keep them happy and buying by asking them about their needs and what they are looking for. Offering opportunities for your customers to communicate is invaluable. Try adding a comment section to your website or Twitter page and then read it often to discover how you can best serve your customers and keep them buying. ​​

Focus on long-term customers.

Repeat customers are the holy grail of sales in a traditional retail business. They advertise your business for free to their friends and family, they help you forecast, they save you marketing money, and most importantly, they buy your product or service. The same is also true for your online business customers.

 

Repeat customers cost less than new ones.

It’s less expensive to bring existing customers back into your place of business than it is to attract new customers, which makes perfect sense when you consider the expense of advertising, marketing, media, and other tools necessary to attract new customers.

 

Repeat customers are walking billboards. 

If a customer comes back to your business, chances are pretty good that they liked what they saw and enjoyed their experience with you the first time around. They’re going to spread the word to friends, family, and co-workers which is free publicity for you!

 

​To build repeat customers in a traditional retail business, be consistent. 

On the surface, developing a solid base of repeat customers might seem like little more than a matter of providing excellent service or products. While there is truth to the statement, your quality of service and product must be consistent to keep them coming back.

 

Hire the right people. 

Since your employees are on the front lines, their demeanor and interaction with your customers or clients can cement relationships that bring customers back to your business repeatedly. Individuals who are positive, friendly, and really care about doing a great job are the first step. Anyone who is going to interact with customers, from the receptionist through to the collections department, has to understand the importance of creating a positive experience for your customer.

 

Keep it personal.

By definition, a repeat customer is someone you get to know. Nurture that relationship by keeping your interactions as personal as possible. For instance, get to know customers by name. Connecting on a personal level with customers is one of the best competitive advantages there is. Everyone loves it when they go into your place of business and you remember their name and their favorite item or service.

 

Stay in contact.

Encourage repeat business by staying in touch with your customers through a blog, newsletter, comment section on your Twitter page, or some other vehicle that affords ongoing communication. A handwritten thank-you to customers with orders over a certain amount that includes a discount on their next purchase is a spectacular touch in today’s world of all things digital.

 

Learn to sell 

If you only learn one skill to use in a traditional retail business, learn how to sell. I suggest using the Feature, Advantage, Benefit approach. State a selling feature of your product or service. Next, state an advantage of that feature such as more power, ease of use, better function, etc. Now share the personal benefit your customer will enjoy when they own your product or service. That is selling. Contact Us if you’re struggling. Don’t put this one off or you’ll find yourself out of business before you know what’s hit you.

Without Sales You Have No Business

Without sales you have no revenue. Without money coming in, you have no business. Your goal and way of conducting a traditional retail business should always be that when your customer enters your place of business they should have the impression that they are personally better off for having come there, their needs will be met, and solutions to their most urgent problems will be found.

 

Always have at least three Unique Selling Points.

If you’re not doing at least three things better than your competitors, your customers may choose them over you. No

matter how long you’ve been in business, you should always be looking for opportunities to excel.  However, an exceptional customer experience is one of the greatest USP’s (Unique Selling Points) small businesses have over big box stores or regional chains.

 

Evangelize

Tell everyone who’ll listen to you about what you’re doing extra enthusiastically. If you tell 100 new people in the next month, you’ve got a ready-made network to turn to for suppliers, recommendations, potential collaborations, and free referrals.

Bring Nature Into Your Environment

This is a recently adopted phenomenon by retailers that has consistently yielded a 20% increase in gross revenue by simply bringing a bit of nature into the retail environment. Indoor plants scattered throughout your business, a small table fountain that generates the gentle sound of water creates a calming effect and causes customers to want to spend more time in your store.

Earlier we talked about the importance of high quality customer service and how it can directly impact your bottom line. Now I would like to share with you the second key factor in successfully building and growing a small business and give you my “Marketing Blueprint”.  The first step is to…

Identify your company as THE source for your customer’s needs and solutions.

You want to help your customers make a connection to you and your products or services as the solution to their problem. “I have been where you are and therefore I understand how you feel. My products and/or services can solve your problems”. As you are writing your message remember that:

 

People are motivated to take action by three things:

  • Fear: An example might be that without your product or service they will continue to suffer with their current most urgent need and that need could potentially become even worse.
  • Personal Power: However, using your products or services could result in giving them personal power over their current situation resulting in…
  • Freedom: From the headaches, concerns, burdens, and worries that up until now, have been plaguing them and diminishing their quality of life. So, to create your marketing message we are going to do a little exercise.

Using three file cards, write “Fear” on the top of the first card, “Power” on the second card, and “Freedom” on the top of the last card. Now on each card list five aspects of your product that relate to each of these motivating words. Once you have completed this step make a note of how it relates to your personal story. Now just hang on to those cards for a minute because we are going to do something else with them.

The second phase of creating your marketing message is to answer each of the following questions about your product or service.

Why should your customer buy your product or service and how will it benefit them personally? This is the old Feature, Advantage, and Benefit part that you will use to introduce your customers to your products or services. Don’t stress on this. Just come up with a sentence or two for each feature, advantage, and benefit and then write it once on each card.

Here is a little tip. A feature is a type or quantity of something. It is also a logical or intellectual statement. So, you want to see feature specifications spelled out clearly in black and white. Advantages and benefits are the quality or conditions of something and have an emotional value.


The next questions you want to answer are:

  1. What is the purpose of your product or service and in concise terms what will it accomplish for your customer.
  2. How does your product or service work? In other words, how does it do what it does? What are the mechanics of it?​
  3. Finally, What other things can it do or be used for? Can the same product or service be used in multiple ways or for different intents, and for a variety of different kinds of people?

Remember, people love to buy things but they don’t like to be sold to. So, first introduce them to what your product or service is going to do for them. Take the results of these two exercises and combine them to create your marketing message for your product or service. Now that you have your Marketing Blueprint and message I would like to show you how you can put it to good use with a few more business success principles.

Create more evangelists.

Everyone in your company has the power to spread the word about your business. Create a one-paragraph, 30-seconds-or-less positioning statement built around your core marketing message and share it with all your employees. Be sure they understand your company’s mission and why it matters to customers. When someone asks your employees what they do, each of them can become company evangelists by spreading the right message.

Get your customers fired up! 

Being an effective company evangelist requires taking your individual passion a step further by creating a message or cause that stimulates others to join your company’s movement. Events, for example, are great ways to spread your message and brand awareness–whether from a speaker’s platform, a cooperative event at your place of business, or a community celebration.

Listen to your community.

If you’re providing a great product or service, you can bet your customers are talking or writing about their experiences. Provide a friendly home for your community by inviting ideas, comments, and participation. Create a community space on your website that allows customers to interact and share feedback. Your best customers will be glad you asked for their input. You can gather information through online surveys and share special invitations and advance notices of upcoming products and services with them through email. Be prepared to accept input–good or bad–gratefully.

Create instead of compete. 

The point is to create a business, a service, or a product that is of greater use value to the buyer than the monetary price they have paid you for it and to share that product or service with as many people as you possibly can. Your focus and purposeful intent must be to increase and better others, resolve your customer’s needs to your highest capacity, provide the finest possible experience for them that you can, and continually try to do it all better. This is the golden secret of any successful business.

Finally, if it is relevant to your business…

Incorporate Online or Curbside Pick-up into Your Traditional Retail Business Model

If the global pandemic has taught us anything in regards to business, it is the fine art of pivoting. Being flexible in exactly how you serve your customers is going to be key to your survival over the long-term and your ultimate success as we begin to recover. Keep your focus on meeting your customers’ most urgent needs and if it benefits you, use the big box online companies as tools to better serve your own customer base. Pivot, create, repeat. Luxury label fashion houses stopped dead in their tracks to create desperately needed facial masks. Tesla stopped production to create respirators. Whisky producers began creating much needed medical grade alcohol. Restaurants offer curbside pickup. Small retailers offered online ordering from their website with curbside pickup. If you have your own success tips please share them on our Twitter page. You will be helping our entire planet!

 

Something Special to Help You Get Started!

To help make everything we have talked about a bit easier for you we have created a free tool for you we call our Business Growth Blueprint and you can get yours right here.  It will make using all the tips you have just learned and creating your own growth strategies so much easier and help you generate better results and greater success. 

In your Business Growth Blueprint we have already done most of the work for you so all you have to do is just fill in the blanks to a few questions and voila, you have identified your first potential partnership! If you would like to start generating more sales this week just click here now!

Your Thoughts…

If you have enjoyed this article please feel free to pass it along to someone else who you think would also enjoy it. You can also Subscribe to have more tips, tools, and resources that you need for your business delivered directly to you each week!  We would also gratefully welcome your Donation if that is a better choice for you. 

 

Now, we have a few more things for you!

 

Join The Fun!

You can join the fun on our  Substack Chat, Substack Notes, Twitter, and Instagram and share your own success tips!  We love hearing from you and read every post personally! If you have enjoyed this newsletter please feel free to pass it along to someone else who you think would also enjoy it.

 

Have a comment or question about this week’s post?

Let us hear from you! Post your own success stories or ask a question about how to move your own business forward to success! If you have a question about your business please feel free to Contact Us and send a personal message.

 

More Success Tips!

If you are looking for more practical hands-on help we have two other resources for you. First, we have created Business Genesis  and our Small Business Toolkit for small business owners just like you to help you start and grow your own successful business and meet today’s challenges head-on with confidence. You can find yours right here.

Business Genesis is a Step-by-Step Online Training Course That Shows You How to Start, Grow, and Market Your Own Successful Business Doing What You Love!

Everything you need to guide your very first steps is laid out for you in simple , easy to understand and organized modules with easily accessible lessons.

Business Genesis shows you exactly how to create financial security and build your brand and customer base, shows what works in marketing your business to the world, and guides you how to leave a legacy of success with tips and tools to help you build financial security and positive impact on your local and internet community.

You can finally enjoy the freedom of doing something you love and generating an income you can actually live on. Get Started Now! 

If you would like more step by step guidance to on understanding what drives your customers to buy from you and how to continue to grow your business, I have created The Small Business Toolkit to help you. If you have a different resource, that’s okay. It’s just important that you do it. There is a lot more to it than what I can convey here, but I hope this has helped a little. In The Small Business Toolkit I have already done most of the work for you so all you have to do is just fill in the blanks to a few questions and wha-la, you have identified your target market and created your first marketing message! These two things are worth their weight in gold as far as generating sales and growing your business. We also have one more resource to help you!

To smooth your path and guide you on your way to building your own successful business, I would encourage you to get your own personal copies of Business Genesis and the Small Business Toolkit. Together they will help walk you through each step of building a successful business before you invest a ton of time, money, and resources. Both will save you years of mistakes, wasted money, and worry. I hope this has given you a little guidance. If you have a question of your own please feel free to post it in the comments below. Chances are if you are asking it, so are hundreds of others and that is why your question is an important one! I love hearing from you and about your business! If you think this post would benefit someone else, please feel free to share it with them and we would love to connect with you on Twitter. @SpectrumBizllc.