Preparing your sales staff and support team in the planning stages of your proposed promotional campaign will get everyone on board with what they are responsible for, in order to make your event a success. A clear and concise plan of action will keep down confusion and ensure that everyone understands your mission.
Here are 7 steps to effectively plan and execute a successful promotion:
1. Name/Theme of Your Promotional Campaign (you can additionally use slogans or logos if you prefer).
2. Focus on specific products or services according to your client's needs.
3. Support materials/collateral needed to present your products or services successfully (posters, fliers, banners, signs, displays, etc.).
4. Get customer communication distributed about the event (Letters, direct mail, e-blast, e-newsletters, fliers, catalogues, etc.).
5. Have a "push list" of products or services available for all sales associates.
6. Create a clientele file for every customer attending your event. Not every client is going to buy from you, therefore ask non-purchasing customers if they would like to sign up to be notified of future sales or promotions.
7. Follow-up immediately after your event is over, with thank you notes and/or a courtesy telephone call to all of your customers. This may be time consuming, but going this extra mile to thank your patrons will definitely pay off in the long run.
Some of your training emphasis should reiterate the following:
o Approach and Greet (How to professionally begin your selling process in person, over the telephone or online)
o Build your sales through link or multiple selling
o Filling out a client file for all of your invitees or attendees
o Closing your sale productively
Afterwards you want to evaluate the success of your event. This will allow you to closely examine the positive aspects, as well as the challenges. Track your sales during your event (date, sales, number of purchasing customers, etc.).
Looking through the eyes of your customers, be sure that your business meets these primary guidelines:
o Visibility - Make sure your customers can easily find you if you have a storefront.
o Accessibility - You must be able to contact your customers and vice versa. If your business is homebased or online, it is just as important as a storefront business to have your customers be able to reach you effortlessly.
o Availability - Make sure you are able to keep your supply of products or services in sync with demand.
Effective communication will promote a long term relationship with your loyal and frequent customers. These are some essential steps to ensure that you will not only have a satisfied customer, but a repeat patron as well.