In my local town (Friendswood, TX) there is a privately owned sandwich shop that prides itself in offering more sandwich variations than any of the fast food restaurants in town.
The owner is a friend of mine and he was mentioning to me the other day about how slow his sales were. Knowing that I was a marketer he asked me if I had any suggestions.
I Asked My Friend to Show Me His Menu...
I looked at the menu and immediately spotted a major problem. I told him, "How would you like to increase your sales by 30% with the exact same amount of customers that currently come through your shop?"
His eyebrows rose with interest.
I mentioned to him that he was making the same mistake that many business owners make in not only the food industry but in most industries.
He said, "I'm listening David."
Now I had his attention. (And I hope I have yours too.)
What I Told My Friend to Do...
As I looked at my friends menu it was packed with different types of sandwiches with all kinds of side dishes and about 12 different drink options.
There were a lot of options.
In fact, there were too many options.
I told my friend to do 4 things...
1. Remove 30% of the sandwich and drink offerings on his menu.
2. Create 5 different bundled "value offers" such as a drink, sandwich, chips, and a cookie. Then increase the price by 30%.
3. Put a big red starburst on the menu next to two of the sandwich bundles. The first one should say "Voted # 1 in Flavor by Our Customers" (highest price) and the second one should say "Today's Special" (lowest bundle price).
4. Stock up on the ingredients for the two value bundles that had the red starbursts next to them and decrease the stock of the other sandwiches.
He was courageous enough to test my recommendations and low and behold, the average transaction value of his sales increased by around 20% (Not the 30% that I had hoped for but close.)
How to Make a Simple Change In Your Business that Could Double Your Sales Conversion Rate
A smart marketer once said, "Confused Minds Always Say NO!" It's true, when you provide too many options to a customer then they get confused and often decide not to buy anything at all.
This marketing principle plays out in many different ways. Read the following examples of how you can implement this important marketing principle:
Example 1 - When asking for referrals, instead of saying, "Do you know anyone who would benefit from my services?" you say, "Is there someone on your bowling team who might benefit from my services?
Example 2 - When selling multiple items, whether on a website or in a retail store always position your best products as "Top Seller" or "Today's Special" or "Best Value."
Example 3 - When advertising retail items only focus on one or two offers or one offer per category.
Example 4 - When in a face-to-face selling situation, find out your prospects problem and offer only one, or at most, two solutions.
Example 5 - When creating different price points for different packages of goods make one price an obvious choice.
You see, the idea is not to make anyone think about your offer. If they have to think too much about your offer you're one step away from losing the sale.
How to Double the Conversion Rate on Anything You Sell - To learn more about this author, visit David Frey's Website.
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David Frey
(Visit David's Website)
David Frey is the author of the
best-selling manual, "The Small Business
Marketing Bible" and the Senior Editor of
the "Small Business Marketing Best
Practices Newsletter
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