How to build an effective CRM strategy for your business?

How to build an effective CRM strategy for your business?

How to build an effective CRM strategy for your business?

June 29, 2024

Effective CRM strategy

In this era, people have knowledge about digital platforms and are well aware of all the techniques followed by businesses. This is the reason a power shift has been made from companies to the customers. Now, it is very essential for businesses to create or modify strategies that can manage the customers and the problems faced by them. So, a CRM strategy has been introduced for maintaining a good relationship with the customers

CRM stands for customer relationship management and it is very essential to implement it by all business owners.

What is CRM strategy?

The customer relationship management strategy, aka CRM strategy, focuses on transforming every prospect into a client on the basis of every piece of conversation and communication with them. This method has encouraged good communication with the clients and help in solving their problems related to the services in their field of business. It helps to interact more with the audience and achieve their target and goals.

The benefits of CRM when applied multi-level

The CRM strategy should be applied equally and followed in all aspects and business levels if you want good results from it. All the departments have to equally follow the website marketing strategy to make it work efficiently for your business. 

If you are able to follow the strategy properly, you will be able to experience the benefits of customer relationship management soon enough.

  1. It will help to reduce the cost of customer acquisition.
  2. It will increase customer loyalty and lifetime value.
  3. Decision-making will be done on the basis of precise data, so no need to fear decisions.
  4. Enhances forecasting and communication with the clients.
  5. Enhances efficiency in marketing.
  6. Boost sales volume.
  7. Better visibility in execution.
  8. Reduce the volume of email

All these are the benefits of CRM when applied ideally. If you are unable to follow it, you have a high chance of risk and disadvantages in your business.

  1. With a lack of communication, customers can feel dissatisfied and might not like to trade with your organization.
  2. If you are not able to communicate properly with the prospects and audience, you will not be able to cross-sell or upsell your services and goods. Missing such opportunities directly refers to lesser profits.
  3. You will be unable to attract a new audience and retain the older ones.

You will lose in the competition in your field and your brand awareness will become low with time.

CRM strategy best practices for maximum effectiveness

All of the above-mentioned factors make it clear that it is very important to develop a CRM strategy for your company. According to research, it is stated that most of the business will struggle in building and developing a CRM strategy that can be proved efficient for your business. 

Set a goal

It is very important to have a clear vision so that you can set goals and achieve them with the help of your CRM strategy. Your strategy can be designed and developed in such a way that you are able to meet up your goals and measure your progress easily. You can check metrics for measuring progress for different factors and accordingly reset the goals. 

Your ultimate goal should be clear in your mind and CRM strategy should be designed accordingly. It should also be designed keeping in mind the customer experience as it plays a major role in making a business successful. 

Synchronise the CRM strategy with other strategies

An effective CRM strategy should show progress in every quarter of the business. It should determine the scope in every single phase so that the wholesome goals can be achieved. This strategy should actually act as a roadmap that makes a positive impact in every business process.

CRM strategy focuses on strategic goals for example better efficiency in marketing and increasing customer’s long-term value. However, the companies have other corporate strategies that focus on boosting revenue growth and providing a good experience to the customer. These strategies focus on different factors for achieving the goals for the company. But, it is very essential that both of these strategies align and complement each other. The CRM strategy should also focus on corporate goals for fulfilling your goals. If your CRM strategy is not able to address the corporate goals, it is very difficult for your business to sustain. 

Check and examine existing data

The existing data plays a great role in developing a CRM strategy as it contains all the details about the customer choices and their experiences with your company. It helps to get insights into customer’s journey and based on that journey and experience, analyze their personas. Data analysis also helps you to understand the problems faced by the clients while trading with your company. Now, you can improve and work on such problems so that the new clients don’t have to face the same issue.

You can segment customers into different groups based on their experiences with your company. Dividing the audience into different groups will help you to initiate a conversation differently and target them according to their choices and demands. Regular customers can be given more preference and can be given special discounts for keeping them connected. 

Provide effective support channels

The main aim of a solid CRM strategy is to provide support channels and communicate more and more with the audience. Communication with the audience helps in encountering the problems faced by them.

When you listen to your client’s problems and try to solve them, your customers will be satisfied with your services and stick by you. One of the methods of support channels is to create an option of live chat which will provide customers with instant solutions to their problem. It also helps in increasing conversion rates. Other than this, you can also go for social media channels for solving issues faced by customers. The method is not important, listening and solving customer’s problems is what is needed the most.

Use the best CRM software

Most of the companies often select inefficient CRM software for their business and regrets their decision later. It is very important to research and gather information about the software you choose. Good CRM software is one that integrates with your business operations and works efficiently for your work. You can also compare and collect data on the software used by your competitors. 

You can also check reviews and experiences of the other customers by visiting the forums for choosing the perfect CRM software for you. CRM software uses CRM strategies for getting good results in their business. An ideal CRM solution helps to manage the communication and interaction with all the customers through a digital platform.  

Different CRM software is available in the market, you can get into the details and research each one of them. Research as much as you can but ultimately choose the one that fits best for the operations performed by your company. Always remember that your CRM software should provide you with good results in every field of the business. 

Sometimes, a company is not ready for a CRM strategy and does it in the wrong way. Here are some warning signs that define if your company is ready to develop the strategy and what needs to be done in the case it isn’t:

  • If you are not able to make long-term investments and are not able to process and work that way, you should first do a good job on CRM projects and learn.
  • If your company is not able to achieve the strategic goals even after the proper execution of all the strategies, then you should try to focus and learn about tactical gains.
  • If your company lacks in the integration of data and is not able to clear up the databases, then you should try to limit the dependencies from external data and go for outsourced services.
  • If you have numerous CRM solutions, and support systems and it gets difficult to manage the overall strategy, then you should reduce it for fewer business units.
  • If an external competition is going on between VP’s of different departments, then you should limit it to a single domain.

Improve Business Workflow With CRM Integration

When you use CRM integration correctly, it can become one of the most powerful tools your company can have.Building relationships that cater to the wants and needs of your customers is never done by accident. It takes time and effort, but it is the most important part of your business.

CRM integrations streamline your email and social media marketing, your leads and customer contact information, and your sales process. The quicker you simplify things, the faster you can grow in other areas of your business that demand your attention.

You can start with automated emails, social media engagement, and SMS promotional campaigns to get more eyes on your new product line after a launch for example. You can craft pre-written emails to save time when sending out reminders to prospects about new offers. Set them up once and that’s it.

CRM software allows you to laser focus on targeting new leads and prospects, while strengthening existing relationships at the same time. Integrations help you use the customer qualities you find to your advantage—with little to no effort. You will instantly improve your workflow by knowing what to focus on, and removing manual errors in the process. That’s what makes CRM integration so worthwhile.

Conclusion

Developing a CRM strategy is a very important aspect of business no matter which industry it belongs to. It helps to interact and communicate with the customers in a proper way and provides them with solutions to their issues.

Technological advancement has made huge progress and made it an important key factor of success for all kinds of business. In order to sustain a business, it is very essential to adapt to these modifications. Along with the time, CRM will implement various changes for making a good impact in business and helping it to grow. If you want to increase sales and increase your conversion rates, you should definitely follow these tricks and increase conversion rates for your business.

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30 small business growth tips that have been proven effective

30 small business growth tips that have been proven effective

30 small business growth tips that have been proven effective

June 29, 2024

Business growth tips that have been proven effective

Even if you’ve only just started your entrepreneurial journey, it’s natural to contemplate small business growth. After all, no one opens a business without the intention to scale. Having a growth-mindset has proven to be an instrumental trait for success in entrepreneurship.

This doesn’t mean that all small businesses should become large corporations one day. It just means to maximise the company’s potential and stabilise revenue. The following small business growth tips will give you an idea of how you can do it. It takes action and constant effort to take your business on the next level. 

Customers and clients won’t come knocking at your door if you don’t show them the door, and more importantly, what’s behind that door.

 1. Don’t give up

 2. Automate with technology

 3. Customer-focused mindset

 4. Focus on one lead source

 5. Listen to your customer

 6. Keep innovating

 7. Reflect on your marketing actions

 8. Detach yourself from day-to-day workings

 9. Invest in your team

 10. Personalise the customer’s experience

 11. Find out who your ideal client is

 12. Start with organic marketing

 13. Find a mentor

 14. Learn from your most loyal clientele

 15. Collaborate with other businesses

 16. Focus on your vision and goals

 17. Delegate work

 18. Keep a rolling budget

 19. Retain existing customers

 20. Cut costs wherever possible

 21. Take calculated risks

 22. Build a marketing strategy

 23. Prioritise opportunities

 24. Have realistic goals

 25. Be committed to growth

 26. Go online

 27. Create a financial forecast

 28. Develop profit-improvement strategies

 29. Leverage digital marketing

 30. Go extra miles for your customers

30 unique small business growth tips

Many of these unique small business growth tips look obvious and intuitive but it’s safe to say our brains often ignore the evident and try to overcomplicate things. So let’s see how many of them you’ve already implemented.

Don’t give up

Don’t quit. You may not be the biggest, most unique, or in-demand product or software, but you have the drive. Stay driven. Utilize technology when you can to automate your workflows, and get yourself a team of mentors. Just don’t quit.

Guillermo Gette, CEO at Workast

Automate with technology

Use technology to your advantage to automate manual or repetitive processes. There are great tools like Zapier and Glide Apps to automate repetitive tasks and help you keep track of everything that is going on in your business.

Jesus Vargas, Founder of LowCode Agency

Customer-focused mindset

My number one tip would be to think about your customers and put yourself in their shoes. Ask yourself questions like what does my product/service do/what problems can it help them solve? You need to have a customer-focused mindset and focus on both attracting and retaining customers.

Jacob Dayan Esq, CEO and Co-founder of Community Tax

Focus on one lead source

My number one tip for business growth is to focus on one lead source/marketing avenue at a time. There are so many ways to grow a business, whether it be through online advertising, direct mail, or partnerships. However, because each lead source is different, you need to dedicate time to learning the ins and outs of each one. If you focus on too many lead sources at once, you won’t be effective at any of them.

Filip Duz, Owner of Giraffe Window Cleaners

Listen to your customer

Proactively approach your existing customers and ask them what current pain-points they experience, what needs they have, which products or services they wish they had. You already did the hardest part – acquiring a loyal customer. There are likely tons of opportunities to up-sell or cross-sell them new products and services that would make them even more in love with your business while helping you grow faster! 

Julia Lemberskiy,  Co-Founder and Managing Director of JJ Studio

Keep innovating

Never stop innovating should be the constant organizational theme. By staying ahead of the curve and creating a distinctive niche in the marketplace, that alone should generate a competitive advantage while better serving the needs of clients and prospective clients. Effectively marketing one’s unique selling proposition while always under-promising and over-delivering is then expected to produce exponential results. 

In other words, an effective organization is always exceeding expectations with a high-touch client experience that generates repeat business and future referrals, thus, minimizing acquisition costs. And at the same time, there should be a keen institutional focus on promoting underlying brand values both internally and externally in order to create a positive culture that fuels continued growth.

William Scott Goldman, Founder of Goldman Law Group

Reflect on your marketing actions

When a business owner comes to me for business growth advice, the first thing I encourage them to do (and share with me) is to reflect on what they’ve already been doing to market the business – sometimes that honest review shines a light on opportunities and weaknesses. Both are areas to improve. From there the business owner can set specific goals. 

With that evaluation in tow, my advice is consistent: seek out more ways to educate their audience with their marketing and storytelling. Finding ways to show-not tell and to add value for the audience – without asking for the sale. It may seem counterintuitive to give value for free but it is a winning strategy that I’ve seen pay off many times.

Stephanie Riel, Founder of RielDeal Marketing

Detach yourself from day-to-day workings

When it comes to growing a business you’ve got to allow others to carry some of the load for you, which is hard when you are building your vision. You need to invest in good tools that free up your time, like an automated CRM platform (we use ActiveCampaign), a kick-butt PMS (try Teamwork), and a rock-solid Invoicing/Billing System (QuickBooks or Zoho). Look for cost-effective ways to hire enthusiastic superstars that are self-lead (remote staffing companies can be a good way to find an affordable helper). You also need to have an accountant that aggressively looks out for your business. 

The overall goal is to detach yourself from the day-to-day workings of your business so that you can build the free time needed to work ON your business instead of IN your business.

Cindy Moore, Managing Member of Senioridy LLC

Invest in your team

One of the best investments a small business owner can make is in their team because businesses do not scale without an efficient, gritty, multifaceted team. This means investing in educational/professional growth, prioritizing work-life harmony, host team building events, among other things.

When done effectively, this can retain great employees, increase performance, and creates a collective vision around the organization you’re trying to build.

Joel Keylor, CEO of Tresle Inc.

Personalise the customer’s experience

The trend of personalization continues to be a driving force in marketing strategy. Consumers have come to expect personalized experiences across channels, and brands must continue to implement data-driven personalization into their communications strategy at every level. Brands like Amazon, Starbucks, and Netflix get the most from consumer data by creating a customer experience built around the unique personality of each user.

The quest in 2021 continues to be finding innovative ways to merge personalization with segmentation both on a granular level and at scale while addressing a growing concern for consumer privacy. Keeping up with shifts in messaging delivery is another challenge, and machine learning software may be the key to fine-tuning relevancy for targeted personalized B2C campaigns.

Campaigns that hone in on what really matters to your customer base will continue to build that priceless loyalty needed to maintain a competitive edge. To master personalized messaging you have the power to speak to each unique customer with one process aided by automation.

Darren Litt, Co-Founder of Hiya Health

Find out who your ideal client is

To grow your business, find out who you serve, what they need, and how you can be their hero! Sometimes, entrepreneurs get hung up on being the best they can be and doing the work that’s self-satisfying but in order to grow, you must be solving a problem for your customer or client.

You can learn more about your ideal client by doing some soul-searching and studying. I always like to understand my client’s journey. Where did they start? What questions do they have? What roadblocks will they face? That’s where I start to relate to them and I jump in to save the day mode. You must find out where your client’s been, where they want to be, and what you’re going to do to get them there. 

The more you can understand your client’s journey, the better you can help them, and the more they’ll want your work.

Liz Illg, CEO of Liz Illg Consulting

Start with organic marketing

My advice to new small business owners is to find what works organically before paying for traffic. Understanding SEO and the keywords that tend to create a higher conversion rate will give a great foundation to build an advertisement campaign around.

Ben McLaughlan, Owner and Founder of Easy Mode Media

Find a mentor

I do invest time and money with mentors. There’s no other way for you to learn best practices but to be mentored directly by experts who can guide you on your skills-building goal. In my case, I continue to consult with my business mentor who’s been so kind to provide me with his opinions on what I do in terms of investing, sales, marketing and customer relations during this pandemic season. So far, I’ve been learning a lot and applying these lessons to my business.

Matt Rostosky, Owner of Cashofferky.com

Learn from your most loyal clientele

Amongst your existing customers or client base, find those who spend the most, complain the least, and refer new business to you. Then phone or email to ask them directly “What is better about us than our competitors?” They’ll quickly tell you your strong points and your advantage – the reason they choose your business.

Use that as a blueprint to craft your message to the market. Maybe you take it to the market at scale – outbound cold contact, or social campaigns. If you have a sales team, give them the cheat-sheet you’ve gained from your customer base, and go forth and multiply!

Ben Hirvi, Founder of Lead Commanders

Collaborate with other businesses

The most important way for small business owners to get exposure and expand is to not shy away from collaborating and working with others. Reach out to your peers in the industry rather than treating them as the enemy— it goes a long way.

Chris Vaughn, CEO, Founder of Saucey

Join Enterprise League to find , connect and collaborate with other companies

Focus on your vision and goals

A clear and meaningful vision empowers you to overcome the inevitable obstacles that challenge your growth.

Goals are the targets we aim to achieve our vision. Goals must be well defined, measurable, and time-bound. Break each goal into three parts – a goal you must do no matter what, a goal you know you can do, and a challenging goal.

Following this framework lays the path for growth in your business.

Blake Bobit, Founder of Solution Scout

Delegate work

Delegate, delegate, delegate. Don’t do everything yourself. As soon as you can afford it, outsource or hire people to work for you. Your business can’t grow if you do everything yourself. Don’t be the bottleneck.

John Jonas,  Founder of Onlinejobs.ph

Keep a rolling budget

Learn to keep a rolling budget and forecast for your business. It is easy to want to be extremely strict and rigid with your budget but, try as you may, you simply cannot expect the climate of your business to align with your predictions so make sure to allocate for both positive and negative fluctuations.

Benjamin Smith, Founder of Disco

Retain existing customers

The ability to retain and expand existing customers helped us as we didn’t have to depend on significant new business during COVID. Our operations could look into data and find customers who we could expand, customers who we could retain, and customers who we could offer free trials for a limited time. This significantly cut our costs on lead generation in times when there were none.

Rishi Kulkarni, Co-Founder and CEO of Revv

Cut costs wherever possible

Always aim to cut your costs when you can. Overspending is one of the main hindrances of small business so make sure to critically analyze your outcome and make it your goal to minimize wherever and whenever possible.

Roy Ferman, Founder and CEO of Seek Capital

Take calculated risks

Choose your risks and make them calculated. No one grows from their comfort zones. All business have risks with their first steps, if you don’t want to get out of your box, you’re not going anywhere. Every success started with these but not all are worth it, not everything brings fortune. So choose what you’re going to venture into. After putting up a goal, plan it out. Risks without calculation are suicide. Don’t rely on your good luck, instead sharpen your eyes to foresee possible roadblocks and plan ahead for their solutions.

Owen, Digital Editor at ODDigital

Build a marketing strategy

The best piece of advice I can give you is to build a solid marketing strategy. Your marketing strategy is like a battle plan. Have you seen any military force going into battle without a plan? I certainly haven´t! So, it makes sense for your business to go into the marketplace with all the ammo it can get and that starts with getting crystal clear on your buyer personas, your potential customers, essentially.

You and your team need to know their average day, pains, desires, where they hang out online, how they make decisions, what can prevent them from making decisions, etc. Market research is vital to the success of your small business, it’s not sexy like the latest marketing tool but without it, your enterprise is dead before even stepping into the battlefield.

Pedro Campos, Founder at Advertongue

Prioritise opportunities

Your growth problems may not be what you think they are. While more top-line growth is important, operations can significantly contribute to profitability. Look at your entire business holistically and determine where the greatest opportunity exists to make an impact. Prioritize the opportunities, then determine the best way to tackle each one. If sales growth is your biggest concern, research unsaturated channels and mediums so you can achieve lower cost amid reduced competition.

Jon Robinson, Founder of Second Eclipse

Have realistic goals

My advice to small business owners looking to grow – make sure your goals for growth are realistic. There is such a thing as growing too quickly! You can’t climb a mountain in an hour, and you won’t grow your business overnight. Instead, work out what growth looks like for you – whether it’s rolling out a new product line, expanding your workforce, or simply increasing revenue – and work backwards to map out mini-targets on the path to your overall goal. This approach helps to keep you focused, enables you to manage the growth sensibly, and recognizes the importance of small businesses by preventing your business from accelerating faster than you or your staff can handle.

Tom Dempster, Operations Director at True Boost Digital

Be committed to growth

Growth comes from clarity of direction, truthful outcomes, and taking the action to produce them. The first thing is that to grow, we have to be prepared and committed to growth. Commitment to growth means that there will be uncomfortable as well as happy and excited stages during this period. Clarity and commitment to the outcome is a must. After that is established, then a growth plan must be created, adhered to, and have a strong feedback community and accountability group.

Doug C. Brown, CEO of Business Success Factors

Go online

My advice for growth is to turn your business online without hesitation. You have ridiculous fees to get a boutique online compare to a brick and mortar shop, you can have double-digit year growth during years to come from SEO marketing (personally I aim and reach 30% growth a year for my own business), you are open 24/7 all year long with or without the pandemic situation, and the SEO marketing efforts you will make in 2021 will still serve you as far as 2026 and after, so this is the best long term effort you could make for growing your business.

Nicolas Tranchant, Owner and CEO of Vivalatina Jewelry Brand

Create a financial forecast

Growth is hungry and the fuel that it needs to grow is cash and/or access to capital. Cash is the lifeblood of a business and without it, a business can go under in as quick as 90 days. A business owner who is looking to grow should create a financial forecast that includes a proforma income statement, balance sheet and cash flow forecast. Ensure that it is based on appropriate, not optimistic assumptions. Make use of a professional to help with this if/as needed. From there, secure the cash or access to capital that is needed to support the cash flow shortfalls during growth. Increases in accounts receivable or inventory should be considered investments as they tie up cash.

Tracey Bissett, Chief Financial Fitness Trainer at Bissett Financial Fitness Inc.

Develop profit-improvement strategies

Ensure you have the right strategies in place and focus on the profit centres in your business. Actionable steps need to be taken to increase business revenue and maximise value. Look into your current situation and develop profit-improvement strategies that are tailored to your needs such as:

  • removing unprofitable products or services and only concentrate on those that are profitable;
  • review your pricing and adjust to meet demand;
  • increase your target market though getting new customers can sometimes be more expensive, ensure you manage to still retain the customers you have through innovation, incentives and more;
  • reduce your overheads by doing stock control and by reviewing where your greatest expenses are and how you can improve that by upgrading, automating or cutting back.

These four practical ideas will help SMEs to achieve business growth. 

David Toby, Director at Pathfinder Alliance

Leverage digital marketing

One of the easiest and most efficient ways of reaching a broad audience nowadays is digital marketing. I advise all business owners to make a good marketing budget that will allow them to advertise on multiple platforms. Social media marketing gives very good, fast results as well as Google ads or Youtube advertising. Of course, the type of ads will depend on the nature of a business, but this is the recipe for quick growth. 

Another great thing about digital marketing is the option to adjust the audience specifics based on the results you see in real-time. There’s no need to wait for complicated reports when you can access analytics and see all of the metrics at once.

Nick Chernets, CEO of Data for SEO

Go extra miles for your customers

When you listen to your customers and give them more value than they expected, they’ll start talking about your business. They would say “Wow!” if you provide great service by going the extra mile or adding value to their lives in some way. 

People love to talk about how they got amazing service from the grocery store or their mechanic. They would definitely share it with their friends. Word of mouth is powerful. When people start talking about your business, you’re getting free exposure and free advertisement. And it’s likely you’re also getting referrals. 

Moreover when you’re a small enterprise, producing customized items is one of the key growth channels. Use custom product packaging to your advantage, but you will need to experiment with each product and service line to find out what works best for your business. A lot of times, different regions have different tastes.

So, start by figuring out what your customers would really appreciate. Ask them if they need any improvement in your products or services. Look at what competitors are doing. Look at what businesses in different industries are doing. Then do something and see how your customers react.

Ben Simon, Marketing Manager at Finesse Literary Pass

Conclusion

It’s safe to say many of these small business growth tips revolve around customers. That’s no news, considering that customers are the backbone of every business. You can have the most amazing product in the world, but without no one to buy and use it, it’s all in vain. Nevertheless, growth requires constant action, analysis, and innovation.

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How to get customers in the door and increase sales

How to get customers in the door and increase sales

How to get customers in the door and increase sales

June 29, 2024

How to get customers in the door

We have now officially entered the Q4 of 2020. And instead of looking forward to the busiest shopping season of the year, brick and mortar businesses worry about how to get customers in the door. This is not the case with online retailers, although they too have to complete some steps to ensure a lucrative quarter.

Of course, looking for ways to increase sales in retail has somehow become a norm in recent years due to the growing popularity of eCommerce. But this year, especially, the need for retail business ideas and strategic retail partnerships to boost sales is significantly higher. The measures imposed by the governments as a response to the pandemic have been ruthless for brick and mortar businesses.

While Jeff Bezos has cashed in billions during the lockdown, traditional retailers are desperate to figure out how to maximize sales in retail.

 1. Curbside pickup

 2. Customer Loyalty Programs

 3. Build a community

 4. Enhance safety

 5. Geo-targeted digital marketing

 6. AR experiences

 7. SMS marketing

 8. In-store discounts

 9. Pre-order strategy

 10. Visual merchandising

 11. Prep your staff

 12. Conclusion

11 ideas about how to maximise sales in retail

If you’re wondering how to maximise sales in retail during the Holiday season and even beyond that, there are several ways you can do this. More often than not brick and mortar retailers would have to opt for more than one way in order to make it work for them. In other words, you can’t expect that only one of the retail ideas to boost sales presented below will be your magic trick. Instead, you’ll have to find the right mix.

Curbside pickup

One of the most simple retail ideas to boost sales is offering curbside pickup. This is especially important as some customers are elderly or immunocompromised and still concerned about Covid-19, and if we should have another uptick in the fall it would be great to have this system set up and ready to go instead of scrambling to get it setup.

John Frigo, Digital Marketing Lead at BestPriceNutrition.Com

Hybrid models such as “buy online pickup in-store” (BOPIS) or curbside pickup will continue to grow in importance for customers who are hesitant to return to brick-and-mortar stores.

In-store retail owners who have invested in those fulfilment models will see further growth. Retailers that have considered adopting those models or have emergent versions will accelerate their efforts to adopt similar capabilities given how widely used they have become during this period of time.

Carlos Castelán, Managing Director of The Navio Group

Customer Loyalty Programs

One of the most effective ideas to increase sales in retail stores is a Reward or Loyalty Program to nurture the loyalty of regular customers loyal and bring them back to your store recurrently. 

We work with many brick and mortar clients, and especially during the pandemic it is essential that they are still generating in-person customers. Some of these businesses don’t have an eCommerce offering, so their survival is dependent on attracting new and repeat customers.

I recommend starting with your existing customer base. Develop a Customer Loyalty Program and exclusive marketing offers for existing/repeat customers. Moreover, consider setting up opt-in email or text outreach to communicate promotions and reasons for customers to come into your store.

Alex Membrillo, CEO at Cardinal Digital Marketing Agency

Build a community

Another thing that’s less tangible, but one of the best ideas to increase sales in retail stores, and we’ve had great success with is starting to build more of a community among our customers, hosting special events, etc. Basically, just building a stronger brand. 

For reference, we have started a fitness club that meets Saturday mornings to go for a hike, ride bikes, etc, that really brings customers together. We’ve also been having more special events like an axe-throwing event, martial arts events, we have a haunted bike ride coming up for Halloween where we’ve partnered with a local brewery for the event. So that’s another great tip: connecting with other local businesses to collaborate on events and things to share your customer bases with each other for a mutually beneficial arrangement.

John Frigo, Digital Marketing Lead at BestPriceNutritoin.Com

Enhance safety

It’s important to ensure that safety is prioritized in your store. As an example, are you considering a more seamless checkout experience for customers that allows for greater safety such as self-checkout or contactless payments? 

Identifying a more efficient checkout experience can not only increase safety for customers and employees alike but also enhance the customer experience if done well while reducing the cost to serve customers. Furthermore, creating clear signage to guide customers if there’s a change in protocol is important to communicate to customers.

Carlos Castelán, Managing Director of The Navio Group

Geo Targeted Digital Marketing

Shoppers search for goods and services on Google before visiting stores, and most searches include the words “near me.” Example: a shopper will likely search “shoe store near me.” With that in mind, brick and mortar owners need to invest in good local SEO: have a solid website with your name, address and phone number (NAP) clearly listed, create a Google My Business (GMB) listing with the exact same NAP info, and gather reviews and photos. Then, build “citations” in business directories across the web – these rank you higher in the map pack.

Secondly, connect a Google Ads account to your GMB listing and build a campaign targeting shoe store terms – that way, when people search for “shoe store near me,” they will see your advertisement at the top of the map pack. Dial in your location targeting!

We’ve seen a lot of success following this exact strategy for the Yao Clinic in Denver – local SEO has directly grown in-store traffic.

Adam Gingery, Partner at Majux Marketing

A large portion of consumers actually prefer in-store shopping, but physical retailers have to compete with the constant accessibility of online stores. Oftentimes, physical retailers do not realize they have access to powerful data analytics and marketing tools like geo-framing, IP-targeting, and more that allow them to identify and target shoppers actively looking for products.

For instance, retailers can use geo-framing to observe in-store traffic within their region to gauge which customers are shopping for which products. Once their marketing team has identified these shoppers – the store can then target them and offer them great deals for products they can pick up in their local store immediately.

Eric Grindley, Founder & CEO of Esquire Advertising

Almost everyone has a Gmail account and it’s very easy to set up a Google My Business profile. GMB profiles are usually local and are a great advantage to those having brick and mortar stores. Make use of the post feature it provides and consistently post about the various offers you run. There’s a high possibility of your post being shown to people searching for those products or services. What’s nice is that it allows you to upload photos for each individual post making it quite unique and distinctive. It also allows you to offer a discount code that they can use if they visit your store offline.

Noman Nalkhande, Founder of WP Adventure

AR experiences

While many people have become comfortable shopping online during the pandemic, when things open back up there will be a revival of in-store shopping and retailers should focus on creating amazing experiences to bring customers in.

The use of QR codes to activate Augmented Reality experiences isn’t a new concept, but a great thing to leverage today as it can help personalize the shopping experience while making customers feel safe.

For example, sales representatives can provide in-store shoppers with take-home QR codes, allowing them to use their smartphones to bring the couch or other items they are considering to life, true-to-size, in their own home to ensure it fits and looks good. In-store, QR codes can also be placed next to products so customers can obtain more information while minimizing human contact.

Brands that have been early adopters of AR technology have seen a significant lift in sales for several years. Seek’s customer data shows a 150% increase in conversion and a 25% decrease in returns. Time to make buying decisions has been cut in half.

Jon Cheney, CEO and Co-Founder of Seek

SMS marketing

Brick-and-mortar retailers succeed when they leverage their local presence as a competitive advantage over e-tailers. How? Offer a level of convenience, personalization, and safety that even Amazon can’t. At Switchbird, our retail clients invite customers to order and pay for whatever they need via text message and then arrange quick and streamlined curbside pickup.

Small and medium retailers who’ve been building their SMS contact lists are well-positioned to outperform this holiday season since text is emerging as *the* channel for contactless local commerce during the pandemic. If you provide the tools for potential customers to get answers, product images, pricing, and even order and pay by text, the convenience (and safety) of doing business with your store goes way up. And so do your sales.

Jon Hall, Founder and CEO of Switchbird

In-store discounts

Offering discounts that are available in-store only is a great way to increase sales for brick and mortar businesses. They have to come to your store to get the discount, and they will if it is attractive enough. Next, institute an online pick-up plan, where the customer gets a perk for placing an order online and then coming to the store to pick up the item. Including shipping is a given, but you might want to offer a nominal additional incentive. Finally, leverage social media. That’s where most of your customers are now anyways but if you can come up with a sales campaign or discount offered strictly through social media, not only will you build your following, you’ll hopefully increase sales as well.

David Bakke, Sales Department Head at National Air Warehouse

Pre-order strategy

It’s not a secret that traditional brick and mortar stores are facing one of the worst years and patrons and loyal customers are very cognizant of the struggles that local stores are facing. To combat this a strong communication strategy that enables stores to inject some cash into the business by virtue of asking customers to pre-order popular products by paying for it up front is an extremely sound strategy for the busy shopping season.

Pratik Jain, Founder of OutreachBolt.com

Visual merchandising

You can’t ask how to attract customers in retail store without mentioning the importance of visual presentation of your products and brand overall. Appealing to the eye of the customer is not easy, but utterly necessary. Because the first contact they will have with your brand is through their visual sense. 

For instance, you have to have a visually attractive display in order for them to come in. And even inside, all products must be arranged in a way that catches the attention of the customer.

Speaking of that, for fashion retailers it’s really important that the clothes display enables your customers to find what they are looking for quickly and easily, whether that’s achieved by displaying the clothes by colour, style, or collection.

Nour Eissa, Content Writer at Stacks Market 

Moreover, check with your local city on ordinances for putting out exterior signage (or balloons) to show you’re open. We have noticed that some local communities have relaxed their sign ordinances right now as a way to help small businesses show that they are open.

Alex Membrillo, CEO at Cardinal Digital Marketing Agency

Prep your staff

You can implement all of the ways to increase sales in retail mentioned above, but if your staff is uneducated about the things they sell, it’s all in vain. Customers don’t always know what they need, and they can often have dilemmas, but it’s your staff’s job to give them the right solution.

Most of the store owners don’t prepare their staff and educate them on what they are selling, and therefore they aren’t able to help the customers. This will lead to the customer not trusting the shop and leaving, so it’s important to prepare your staff to help whenever they are needed.

Nour Eissa, Content Writer at Stacks Market

Conclusion

Answering how to get customers in the door and ensure they will spend their money in your store is not achievable without a multi-layered marketing plan. Everybody wants to know how to maximise sales in retail but you can only figure it out through trial and error. One thing is for sure, you have to be consistent in your efforts and measure the results.

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5 unique reasons why is competition good for business

5 unique reasons why is competition good for business

5 unique reasons why is competition good for business

June 29, 2024

Reasons why is competition good for business

Although many entrepreneurs are scared of small business competition, at least in their early days, the benefits of competition in business are too many to ignore. The list of why competition is good for business is endless. And those who fail to see them often become the victims of competition.

So, why is competition good for business?

You may ask yourself why is competition good for business when it’s Doomsday for so many companies. The truth is, small business competition is the driving force. 

Without competition in business, the market will be flat and still. 

The benefits of competition come in many forms, like innovation, creativity, pricing, expertise etc. To understand them better take a deeper look at the following examples of why competition is good for business, provided by entrepreneurs and professionals who were smart enough to take advantage of competition.

Did you know that Adidas and Puma, one of the largest sportswear manufacturers in the world, are a product of direct rivalry?

The importance of competition in business for your online visibility

This may be an unexpected answer to why is competition good for business but the fact is competitive analysis in SEO, gives valuable insights into a number of areas to improve your online visibility.

Using your competitors to discover what content they are creating, the keywords they are targeting and the strategies used to reach potential customers can be valuable.

Another area to improve your website is discovering high authority and relevant backlinks pointing to rival websites. Reverse engineering and replicating these backlinks can improve your online business reach and customer potential.

Ben McLaughlan, Founder of Easy Mode Media

Specialisation is one of the main benefits of competition in business

Without the competition, there wouldn’t be an incentive for specialisation. The rivalry challenges firms to find their niche areas and enhance expertise. That fosters long-term, fruitful ventures that bring real value to the customers. It also organically eliminates the short-sighted businesses driven only by short-term profit. In turn, relationships with clients are not formed out of necessity, but because they are mutually beneficial. That promotes meritocracy and creates more satisfying careers and cooperations.

Rebeca Sena, Consultant of Marketing for Architects & Designers at GetSpace.digital 

As a strategy consultant and executive coach to high-growth tech start-ups, competition is often at the heart of conversations and at the heart of my own practice.

It’s so easy to think that in the absence of competition we would thrive – whether we’re thinking about our business, our colleagues or even a search for a mate. But, competition is both an important indicator and a valuable circumstance.

As an indicator, it tells us something about how much the market demands our product or service. No competition? Either there is no need for what you’re selling, or you’re in the unlikely situation of having a monopoly.

In my own work, there is lots of competition. A CEO seeking a coach or strategy consultant can choose from thousands. But, the fact that there are so many choices has improved my own company. It has required us to hone our expertise, improve our messaging, and offer far better coaching and consulting than we would otherwise. I often send clients to other professionals because they are not the best client for Beyond Better, and we are not the best provider for them. Competition leads to specialization and to higher degrees of excellence.

Amie Devero, President of Beyond Better

Business competition drives improvement

Competition is what makes businesses grow and turn them into the best version of themselves. Being the only one in the market gives you an advantage because people will surely buy from you since you are the only business offering such a product but what’s not good with this set-up is the fact that you only get customers out of their necessity and not because they want it. You may survive for the first months, but it will be hard to thrive when people find an alternative or get tired of sticking with what you offer. 

Competition drives a business to improve and explore its potential in the field. When you don’t feel the threat, you won’t make a move to protect or defend yourself. This goes the same for business. You will only learn to be protective of your assets, your customers, and the business as a whole when you see someone trying to take them over. Moreover it will inspire you to look into other creative ways to make the most of your operations. In many occasions it can be extremely beneficial to form an LLC in order to compete in the country. As long as the competition is healthy, both businesses would benefit. 

Willie Greer, Founder of The Product Analyst

Competition in business forces you out of your comfort zone

Competition is great for business because it forces businesses to be resourceful, nibble, and demonstrate the value of every customer to their business. In highly competitive industries, those mastering all three of these characteristics, combined with efficient operational standards, will have an edge over their competition. Non-competitive environments tend to take much for granted, including those who use their services – the customers. 

Competitive environments demand the very best from those playing in that sandbox. The best product will not guarantee a winning position. And taking one’s eye off the company’s “raison d’être”, is not an option. Those able to respond quickly to changes, leverage technologies and tracked data to innovate quickly, drive loyal customers, and optimize price points by way of efficient operations will stay ahead of others.

Jenn Drakes, Founder of ICANNWORLD INC. 

Having competition forces you to always improve your business and stay on top of the game. There is no time for relaxing because you need to maintain the quality at all times. 

I have seen a lot of business owners who became too comfortable in their positions and didn’t pay much attention to other competitors. Slowly, other companies started taking over the market simply because they were hungry for success. Therefore, as long as you manage to stay up to date with your competition, you won’t risk losing relevance and you may be able to get additional inspiration in the process. 

The more actors there are in the market, the more creative you will have to be, which is great for your business.

Mikkel Andreassen, Customer Experience Manager at Dixa

Customers get the most benefits of competition in business

One thing that I have come to see is that competition ultimately benefits the customer.

In an effort to stay competitive, brands keep their prices within the average price range of the market. There is no undue exploitation of the consumers through charging exorbitantly high prices.

Now, since brands are not competing on price anymore. Brands and market players will adopt a more value-based pricing. In an effort to stand out from competition, brands will bundle in unique offers and services into their products.

Brands or business owners will be more creative and think of out-of-box strategies to capture their customers’ attention. They will work towards understanding the finer details of their target customers – their pain points and triggers for purchase, which can also help discover some new untapped customer needs.

With much value-based offerings, brands and businesses will continuously work towards improving their products. 

So for me, Competition is definitely good!

The customer gets to be the ultimate winner. Not only are they paying for what is appropriate, but they are also getting more value for their money.

Smruti Ghag, Owner of PharmaDigiCoach

Conclusion

Looking at the examples above there’s no doubt that competition is good for business. The benefits of competition in business are mostly felt by the consumers but employees and owners are not left out of the equation as well. It is pointless to talk about small business competition in a negative tone when it’s the cause for constant improvement.

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