Five (5) Simple Strategies to Multiply your Sales this Eid-Kabri Season (+ 1 Jara) (VendDigest #1)
Holidays give us excellent opportunities to connect with those we love. This year's Eid-Kabir is no exception. This season presents a perfect opportunity to boost yours and improve your bottom line. You can achieve this by getting your marketing strategy right. We consulted with experienced dealers in the industry, and here are their top suggestions.
Provide Excellent Customer Service Experience
Because of the holiday, most businesses tend to shut down their offices and customer service centres. You can use this as a unique selling point to push your product and services to your esteemed customers. You can create automated onboarding emails and SMS systems if that is available to you. If not, you can get Freelancers ready to help you take calls and proactively reach out to your esteemed customers. Never forget your existing and most active customers; you can also send an email or an SMS to show them that your service will be fully available during the holidays.
Giveaways, Discounts and Promotions
You can activate inactive customers or assist existing customers in making purchases by throwing in a few promotions during this period. Besides discounting the prices of your products and services to the level where you still make a valuable profit, you can also try giving away souvenirs for an x amount of value purchased. The souvenir promotes your business while giving them a sense of belonging. Online competition can also help to create buzz for your customers and empowers you to sell new products and services.
Actively Ask for Referrals
One thing that can significantly impact this period is actively asking for referrals from your clients. You can include this referral request in an Email/SMS sent to the customers. The reason for such an impact during this period is that your clients can introduce your product and services to their family members, acquaintances and friends because we get together more during the holidays, so Word of Mouth can spread rapidly.
Get Your Stock Right
Most vending businesses will experience an increase in sales during this period; thus, you must get your stock right. One of the poor things to happen to a business is running out of stock during the peak period. It loses you money, betrays customers' trust and gives a bad image to your management skills. You can glean your previous peak period sales data to estimate your holiday top-up needs.
Get Your Cash Flow Right
These are also bringing another important Point, Cash Flow. Make sure that you get your cash flow right during this period. Get your payment right. While you need to get paid for services and products you sell, it is also vital that you make sure you can get your cash right during this period. Remember, cash in king as it gives you the liquidity. If you use a payment aggregator that does not remit during the holidays and weekends, ensure you have access to funds that can see through the weekend and the two public holidays.
Focus on Offline
It is easy to get distracted when you see other vendors generating massive buzz online. It can also be intimating. Remember that the online market represents a tiny fraction of the opportunity available to vending businesses. The reason for this will be left till another day. Here are a few strategies to win offline, noise-free and with a higher margin:
- You can target where large crowds will be gathered. If permissible and after proper permission has been taken, you can get freelancers to sell close to the Prayer Grounds around your city. It gives you brand awareness, besides the sale. A simple brand T-shirt will do the work.
- Recreation centres will be packed during this period, offering additional opportunities.
- You can also explore motor parks and sales complexes.
You don't have to do this by yourself, and you can get freelancers to get this done with you with an attractive sales commission. The more your brand is visible offline, your online credibility grows.
Remember that if you need a speedy and efficient system to deliver MTN SME data during this period, SMEVend is the perfect tool to achieve this goal.
I wish you a lovely weekend and holidays.