How Every Serious Retailer Can And Should Maximize Their Offline Sales Funnel!
It does sound a little odd when you say it out loud, but you do realize that an offline business has a profitable sales funnel too,right? Their spending their hard earned money and resources, just like an online entrepreneur does.
But here’s the really good news, if your business has extremely limited cash flow, then you definitely want to consider the following non traditional type of “think outside the box” marketing strategy.
In fact, have you noticed that whenever the typical small business owner and or service provider, has advertising budget challenges (a lack of money), that they get extremely creative, primarily out of necessity.
And while you may not necessarily think of the entire offline (retail) sales process as a sales funnel, rest assured it is.
For ex; let’s suppose you own an extremely popular local women’s boutique store of some kind. The thing is, since you’re not currently located inside of one of the major malls (yet) you can’t readily take advantage of all that constant foot traffic or can you?
How Any Serious Retailer Can Maximize Theirs Sales Funnel!
(Especially On An Extremely Limited Budget!)
Let’s say you go out into your local community (may be go to) your local flea markets or one of the community fairs and find a couple of vendors that sell mouth watering deserts of some kind.
Like, some really tasty chocolate chip cookies or (really) yummy cupcakes etc. And offer to let them come to your store and sell their products, once a month or twice a month.
But these potential vendors need to meet a few preliminary criteria. First, they definitely need to be active on at least two of the three main social media platforms. Primarily twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn and Pintrest etc.
And it doesn’t hurt if they have either an old school static website (if nothing else) or a WordPress blog or some type of hopefully, self hosted (paid) blogging platform. And either an on or offline subscriber database of 100 and growing.
If they meet these preliminary requirements or are extremely close. Then you can seriously consider the next leg of your long term sales funnel. Suppose you find at least four such potential vendors (to begin with) and as long as they all agree to make their own subscribers list aware of the other three being showcased at your boutique store on the first Monday of each week.
(Meaning- they’ll all rotate and take turns on the first Monday of each month. Or whatever day you test and discover which day consistently brings out the most bodies.)
Simple Local Networking Can Dramatically Increase The Overall Results Of Your Sales Funnel!
If they agree to do that, at the risk of being excluded from future opportunities to not only be showcased at your store, and perhaps other local small business owners stores and shops as well etc. Then you’ll gladly agree to let them keep anywhere from 75-90% of their gross profit.
May be you’ll decide to let them keep more of the lions share, just depending on the size of their email, mobile or offline snail mail database and the size and responsiveness of their social media following as well.
The main point being, that you’ll get direct access to each of your four local vendors audiences, for virtually pennies on the dollar. They’ll email their list and tweet when they’ll be appearing at your boutique, informing their audience that the first X amount of customers through your door on the first Monday of the month, they’ll get a free cupcake or chocolate chip cookie or homemade this or that etc.
You’ll also offer their individuals audiences time sensitive VIP new customer only discounts of X! It’s a great way for every body concerned to relatively inexpensively maximize each others sales funnel.
Don’t you agree?
Please list at least two simple spin off concepts (in the comments section below) that you can apply to your business, product or service in the next 30 days or less!
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No doubt about it, Mark, retailers develop sales funnels all the time. If they don’t they’re losing a great opportunity to optimize their customer base and list. In fact, even professionals employ sales funnels. Did you ever close a real estate deal with the help of your attorney who, at the end of the closing, reminded you that you might want to put your new acquisition in a family trust… and that he/she could arrange that for you? That’s a sale funnel, too.
Retailers do this all the time, such as the example you give of offering VIP bonuses or future discounts to existing customers.
A sales funnel is probably the most important aspect of online business, for sure, and I work with people all the time setting them up to be effective and vastly improve profits. It’s no less important for retailers to do the same.
Those are some really great points you raised David!
And for sure (as you pointed out) that the most successful online
marketers (retailers) of all sorts included, most definitely have or
need to get (asap) a proven sales funnel process.
And that’s a really great example you gave about a real attorney offering to setup
some type of family trust, right after a recent real estate acquisition.
Great points (as always Coach!) thanks so much for sharing your extremely valuable
insights and your continuous support.
Both are greatly appreciated!
This is really an out of the box thinking idea, have not heard of it. Online I have heard of safe swaps, exchanging solo ads to each others’ lists.
Thanks Siphosith!
I guess that’s what makes marketing such a potentially powerful
asset to have and utilize in your business.
Because every body gets a different perspective from the same situation
and that can mean a lot more or a whole lot less!
It just depends! That’s why I constantly make it my business study as many
successful leaders such as yourself as I can!
That way I keep being exposed to the most effective points of view!
Thanks so much for stopping by and sharing your extremely valuable
input! It’s greatly appreciated!