Increase Sales With This Quick Customer Service Tip

Adding On Adds Up To Bigger Sales & Better Service

A sure-fire way to increase sales without spending one red cent on advertising is to get bigger retail sales from the retail customers already buying something from your store. One of the most effective ways to do this is to add-on to every sale.

Done properly, adding-on is great customer service – not a pushy sales pitch. In fact, most of the time you haven’t given good customer service if you haven’t suggested add-on items.

Here’s a perfect example from my own life…

I recently got my first pair of glasses from my local optometrist (getting older is a bummer!) It is a beautiful store with friendly employees and I got great advice from the doctor – so I was very satisfied with the experience I had and I felt very good about our relationship.

I was pleased until I had to go back two days later to get the special cleaning stuff for the fancy lenses they sold me. And then I had to go back a week and a half after that to get the repair kit with the tiny screwdriver and replacement screws (and they were closed on Saturday afternoon.) And finally, I needed to go back yet again to get some of those clip-on sunglasses.  

By my third trip, I was seriously annoyed and frustrated. Because they didn’t sell me everything I needed the first time. I wasted a lot of time. Time spent in better ways than driving to and from their store. 

The bottom line is when your customer leaves your store with everything they need and WANT, you’ve got a win-win situation. They’re happy and your sales are bigger! 

You’ve got two great opportunities to add-on with every customer. 

Take advantage of them both and watch your sales and customer satisfaction soar.

First, you can, and should, add on with the “main” sale.  When I was in the kite business I would add on string and a tail whenever a customer bought a kite. If you are in the vacuum business you sell extra bags, in the shoe business you sell socks and extra laces, you get the idea. And although this technique for bigger retail sales seems obvious, you’d be amazed at how many of us small retail store owners miss this golden opportunity to increase sales.

Your next opportunity occurs after the “main” sale is made and you bring your customer to the register. The area surrounding your cash register should generate enormous amounts of money for you. This is where you put your impulse items, those crazy items that nobody needs but lots of people will buy. I recently read that in independent hardware stores the biggest selling item (units, not dollars) is no longer keys, but candy. Add-ons are fun to buy, easy to sell, and perhaps most importantly, have high profit margins.

The favorite register add-on in my toy store was a whistling balloon helicopter – blow up a balloon, attach it to the wings, and let it fly with a silly whistling sound. We sold them by the thousands at about a 70% margin!

Everyone can find great register add-ons. One of our clients has a high-end gallery and wasn’t sure this register add-on idea would work for her retail business, but she decided to give it a try. Their best add-on was a “Fizz Ball,” a large bath salts ball in beautiful colors and delicious scents that fizzes when you drop it in the tub. They were done up in sophisticated wrap and piled high in a huge glass bowl – gorgeous.

She estimates that adding on at the register increased her holiday sales by $10,000. Wow!

One of the quickest and easiest ways to add money to your bottom line is by training your staff how to sell.  You can create your own selling culture by teaching your staff how to sell in your training program or you can create a service culture that sells by teaching the "Six Steps to the Perfect Purchase." 

Visit www.retailsalesacademy.com for details on an effortless way to teach the brand new employee or the seasoned professional how to sell and give your customers the service they deserve.

Here are two tips for making register add-ons bigger retail sales generators:

1. Don’t put too many items at the register as add-ons. If there are too many choices, your customers will frequently be overwhelmed and choose none. Rotate different items until you’ve found your best bet add-ons and then keep ‘em on the counter and keep ‘em in stock!
2. Make sure everyone on your staff shows every customer an add-on at the cash register before they give the total dollar amount for the sale. A quick demonstration and an enthusiastic endorsement will persuade even more people to buy.  The trick is to add-on constantly and consistently until it becomes a habit.

It can’t be stated strongly enough that if you and everyone who works in your store attempt to add on to every single sale you will see significant retail sales increases. It’s the little things done well, and done all the time, by everyone in your organization, that means the difference between constant struggle and the type of success you deserve. 

The quickest way to add money to your till is by training your staff how to sell… You can either build this into your training program or you can put an already created sales training program in place in your store. Visit www.retailsalesacademy.com  for details. 

Give your customers what they really want – a great buying experience every time they visit your store.

Wishing you great sales and lots of fun,

 
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