Tweet

Service Vs. Location Which One Wins?

Written by: Daryl Des Marais

Article Overview: So it comes down to the location of your business, which does not look that promising. You are at the end of the mall, the wrong end. You have major competitors nearby, ones with deep pockets. Do you stay in this location, how can you compete, profitably. In 2005, we assisted a company with this problem, while increasing sales 25% two years in a row over each previous year. How did we do it?

Service Vs. Location Which One Wins?

So it comes down to the location of your business, which does not look that promising. You are at the end of the mall, the wrong end. You have major competitors nearby, ones with deep pockets. Do you stay in this location, how can you compete, profitably. In 2005, we assisted a company with this problem, while increasing sales 25% two years in a row over each previous year. How did we do it?

1. Product Selection

One of the most important items in service sales business today is product selection. You must be able to move your product as fast as possibly to increase volume but also be able to increase your square foot margin by moving old product as quickly as possible. Why is this? Well in today's market, there are a lot of providers of similar products and similar service and if you get caught in not responding to product changes quick enough or not having staff to sell the benefits of exact products you can get caught with excess stock. This not only frustrates your staff, your company, profits but also hinders further customer preference in selection or when they are looking for the next item they saw advertised they want and go to their favorite store only to find they don't carry it. Trust me, if this continues the customer will soon forget about why they went to your store and come less frequently or not at all.

So remember product on-hand was outdated and had to be moved.

2. The second if maybe not first to having actual stock is having knowledgeable staff. Who cares, people just choose and get their information on the Internet and just go to make a transaction. Not so, people still select where they are going to buy that product or service due to a number of factors, and sometimes people do not want to stand in long line-ups. Sometimes people prefer no hassle over saving a few dollars more. Think about it, if you could go to your local store that was closer saving time and transportation costs and avoiding people conflicts wouldn't you pay a little more. Perhaps they have something better to due with their time, whether busy professional or a couple, with or without kids. Just think about it really, what is more valuable then time.

Service/Staffing Knowledge not up to customer's knowledge levels.

3. If your staff knowledge is high and you can expedite a transaction avoiding hassle and time and reinforcing benefits and assuring of their purchase success people will prefer you. Just think about it, do you really want to go to BIG BOX. It is about the savings, but in the end if your not going to load up your purchases and even if you do, is it really worth it. Not to mentioned wandering around, the less service responsive BIG BOX to find out where it is located, if there is any stock. Those wonderful low prices might mean they are out of stock and you just wasted a trip. TRY calling in to BIG BOX, Good luck! Incentive to call little store with great service and no long line ups that appreciate your business and understand your needs.

Benefits of Products not explained properly to customers.

4. Oh, it's hard to find staff and make a profit with these high wages with these young unmotivated people you say. Why not give them a reason to be there instead of just serving customers or stocking shelves. But that is their job you say. Why don't you get them to actually determine levels of service, levels of selection. Novel idea you say, but can I trust the stats and what they really do. There are ways to monitor performance and build staff personality types that are interested in expanding your business, you would be surprised. However, every generation has a different style or response. See Boom, Bust and Echo by David Foot.

Staff not motivated to sell a higher sales $ of products.

In essence, we aligned the staff, customers and owners with a similar vision of unique products, available at a value with extra service that customers appreciated and told others. In certain product categories we outsold Wal-Mart, we even had their manager shop at our store for products.

If you would like to know more about service competitive expansion contact one of our consultants at our site such as Russ Petts, Business Growth Consultant. @2007 Business Growth Coaching Solutions, Copyright Protected, author, Daryl Des Marais, private parnter, http://www.usabusinessgrowth.com FREE Business Growth Resources!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Daryl_Des_Marais

Related Articles
  Location is Not Everything
  Yo Adrian! You Don't Have to "Win" to be Great
  Winning Isn’t Everything…
  The Importance of Location for a Coffee Franchise
  Factors That Affect a Good Franchise Site Location

Article Tags: increasing sales, locations, open near your competitors, store opening



Related Forum Posts
Critique Small Business - Well, several things come to mind for me and is dependent upon the type of busienss (home based/ internet, brick and mortar). Being in the business financing field the first thing that comes to mind is business plan...Particularly, business history, financial plan/ projections/ budget as well as your present market and competition.... And lest not forget the three L's...Location, Location, Location!
Re: Service Or Product? - I agree with starting a Service-based Business in the economy. Here is what I think is critical: 1. Researching that your Service business has a market. 2. Marketing the Service with as much leverage as possible. 3. Product-izing the Service (aka Package Expert Knowledge). This will only help elevate you as "the" expert in your niche and make you accessible to people in different price points.
LastMinute New Web Site (Draft) - Louis, I like it much better than the previous one. I like Topic, Location, Date, Discounted Price. That is what I need to know to get interested. I believe that you are moving in the right direction. Andreas
Picking a corporate lawyer - Hi Everyone, I was just curious to know what's the most important criteria a small business owner should look at when choosing a corporate lawyer? -Cost/hr? -Location? -Reputation/Referral? -Experience? -Personality? How did you pick your lawyer? And what's a fair price to pay per hour? Thanks
Who Said Twitter Doesn't Work...? - Last month, the BBC World Service programme, The Strand, featured 21 year-old Icelandic pianist/composer Olafur Arnalds. Arnalds achieved extraordinary success through his internet-led project to compose 7 tunes in 7 days, post them on his website and then post links to it via TWITTER. As a result his website got thousands of visitors eager to listen to his music, catapulting him to fame and bringing his music to the attention of the BBC, who featured an interview with him on the World Service programme, The Strand! So who says Twitter doesn't work? (HINT: It does help if you have something uniquely your own that other people want to get hold of...)


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Sales Courage and Resilience

Starting a Business a Brave Move or a NoBrainer

Are You My Mentor

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.