Once you have been successful through other marketing efforts to get a customer or potential customer into your business, it is essential to capitalise on the opportunity to sell and upsell. Far too much effort and money is invested in attracting a customer to your store front to not take advantage of the opportunity. I sincerely believe that in today’s busy world a customer that has taken time to visit your store is interested in making a purchase of goods or services. The standard response of just gathering information today, just looking, no time today but considering in future – are exactly that- a standard responses to questions of interest that have little or nothing to do with actual intent.
The purpose of point of sale marketing or selling is to reinforce the ideas that made the potential customer come into your store. If the original marketing and advertising had not been effective the customer would not be there. Based on that it seems clear that to lose all focus on what brought the customer there would be counterproductive. That is why many stores when you enter have copies of their offers at the front door and signage repeating those offers in key areas. This also gives the customer reassurance that what brought them to the store was legitimate and not a ‘come-on’. This is no out of the box solution created by some maverick manager, but a tried and tested solution backed up by psychological studies.
In an ideal world there would be an associate available to assist every customer. In a perfect world you or your best employee would greet every customer and assist them through the purchase process. In the real world they will be assisted by the person available, when a person becomes available.
Nothing hinders the sales process more than waits or delays. The customer begins to consider other things that they could be doing, or the other places they wanted to check with the intention of stopping back at a less busy time. We all know it is far harder to get them to come back in then it was to get them to come in the first place. You need to fill this wait time with ways to engage your customers or clients in a mutually beneficial way.
The use of signage and brochures is effective at that. It gives additional information to the customer and adds details more specific than they likely had from other sources. This enables them to make a better informed decision and perhaps more importantly to identify other products or services you may offer that would also be of benefit to them. Digital signs combine many of these possibilities into one. Digital signs are typically video screens that play your set messages on a loop of some type. They can be direct sell, informational on your store and products, or indirect sell and reinforcement (fishing videos in the sporting goods store as an example). They actively engage the customer but in a way the needs no effort by the customer. They will hear while there regardless and stop to watch points of interest to them. It allows you or your best employees or spokesperson to address each and every customer whilst passively introducing the customer to other products, services, or enhancements you may offer that they do not know about.
A customer that may be reluctant or feel pressured by a sales associate may well be very content to listen to the offers in a digital format. The message can be easily changed or tailored depending on the ever changing needs. Ceiling and wall mounts allow for maximum use of floor space for other needs. Do not neglect point of sale marketing to round whether digital signs or traditional brochures and signs. It can be a very costly mistake.
