Getting Customers In Your Store
April 29th, 2006 at 01:00pm Lorie Obernauer
So how do you get people to come into your store? In Gift Basket Review Magazine, May, 2006, an article entitled “It’s Not Just An Open House”, suggests that those old time open houses just don’t work anymore! We’ve seen the same thing in our wholesale floral supply business. Everyone is too busy! Customers are reluctant to give up limited free time.
Here are some ideas for some events that might bring customers in. How about a tasting! Offer your customers a chance to taste the products that you’re thinking about selling for the next holiday season. Take a close look at the products that sell the best for you. Contact your suppliers that sell you those products. Explain that you are thinking about adding some new products to your line and ask them to donate tasting samples for your event. Most of your suppliers will be eager to participate in hopes of future sales.
Here’s another idea: teach a class! Teach your customers how to make a bow. Show them how to make a package look special by adding simple enhancements like silk flowers or seasonal picks. Demonstrate how they can take their home baked holiday cookies and package them in a lovely basket. And once they learn all this, they can buy all these lovely products from you!
Regardless of the type of event you try, don’t depend on a single piece of mail to get people into your store. Make a phone call to your very special customers and extend a personal invitation. Send an email reminder a few days before the event. Make sure you have plenty of signs displayed around your store and in your windows. Get your sales staff to mention your event to every customer who stops in. Offer a great give-away or a discount on certain popular products the day of your event.
Our customers need a good reason to take time from their busy lives to come into your store. Maybe the best idea is to just ask your regular customers what would be appealing. The more you cater to your customers, the more likely they’ll remember you the next time they want to send a special gift.
Entry Filed under: Business Tips
3 Comments Add your own
1. Flora Morris Brown | May 2nd, 2006 at 10:08 pm
A good way to get folks to attend your tasting or open house is to invite a local TV personality or civic officials. Because the weatherman, for example, is often overlooked in high profile media events he may be delighted to attend your event.
Once your event is planned, send news releases to your local newspapers to attract not only your target customers, but media attention as well.
2. Shirley George Frazier | May 4th, 2006 at 12:05 am
Your suggestions for getting customers into your store are extremely helpful. I also like the fact that retailers no longer have to re-invent the wheel to concoct ways to get more traffic.
What are other stores doing to get clients’ attention? Which artists can be invited for special signing events? Which non-competing, area stores can I work with on a collaborative effort?
There’s a lot that can be created, not invented.
3. Lorie Obernauer | May 4th, 2006 at 10:18 am
Shirley, your idea of collaborating with other stores is a good one. Given the time constraints that we all experience, it would be appealing for customers to be able to attend events at a variety of stores in a particular neighborhood on a single day. A flyer or advertisement could be created for all the stores that participate and each store could then distribute that to their customers.
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