This Growth Coach business coaching blog is dedicated to helping your customers get even more value from your company...to buy more and more often from you.  To be successful at getting your current customers to spend more money with your company and more often, you must increase the value of what you offer and educate them on such value.  After all, you want them to have an optimal buying experience and level of satisfaction with your company.  To do so, you must communicate with and continually educate your customers on why it's in their best interest to do business with you, continue to do business with you, and increase the level of business they do with you.

To make this happen, you must first increase the collective “self-esteem” of your company.  You and your employees must believe that you are different, better, special and highly valuable to your customers, even worth a premium price.  You must fight the “we are a commodity” mindset with every fiber of your mind, body, and soul.  The day you believe you are in a commodity industry or business is the day you begin to die.  If you are similar to your competitors, you must break out from the pack.  For example, add more services to your offering, give greater performance and money-back guarantees, provide on-going education seminars for your buyers or consider packaging/bundling other products or services with yours.  Again, be different and more valuable. 

Here are some ideas and specific examples on how to increase the average purchase size and frequency of your sales:

• Upsell...provide higher-end solutions or additional options.  If your client/customer can achieve better results and more satisfaction, educate them on buying a higher-end product/service.  Do a better job of assessing their needs and matching to your products/services that will give them the optimal buying experience and satisfaction.  You will increase your profits and their fulfillment.  For example, at The Growth Coach, when in the client's best interest, we offer certain quarterly workshop clients additional services they can buy (i.e. face-to-face coaching or tele-coaching) when they require greater levels of coaching, attention, feedback and accountability.  The client benefits and so does our business coach.

• Cross-sell your full array of services.  If you have multiple product lines or service lines, communicate and educate your customers/clients on the full spectrum of your solutions -- services, products, and expertise.  Continually ascertain their challenges/problems and match up with the other solutions you offer.  CPA firms, for example, cross-sell their audit clients on tax and consulting services.  At the Growth Coach, we cross-sell business owner clients, when appropriate, on sales coaching & accountability for their sales teams, business coaching for their managers, or even a strategic retreat for the entire company.  Again, for it to be effective, cross-selling must have the client's best interests at heart.  It must be a win-win outcome.

• Package or bundle better. Consider packaging complementary products/services together.  If a customer is going to buy a gas grill, for example, offer them a complete package of cooking utensils, mesquite wood chips, barbecue book, grill cover and apron.  By saving them time and helping them to buy a more “complete solution”, you can charge a premium for this convenient “barbecue in the box” offering.  At the very least, they will have bought more than they otherwise would have – you made buying easy. 

• Offer volume or frequent buyer discounts.  If you can get your customers to buy more and buy more frequently, reward them with incentives, discounts, extra level of services, etc.  Since you have maximized your cash flow, be willing to reward them with a few extra perks.  Bookstores, coffee shops, and airlines have “frequent buyer” programs. 

• Raise your prices, if you can.  Educate your buyers on the superior advantages, benefits and results you provide them and explain “the reasons why” you need to raise prices – increasing manufacturing costs, customer-service enhancements, better guarantees, better ingredients, etc.  For example, while our business coaching services will always be affordable to small business owners, our Growth Coach franchise owners do charge a premium because they provide tremendous value and provide a 100% money-back guarantee on all coaching services. 

• Offer other products/services that will complement what you already sell.  Ask the question, “Who else sells something that goes before, after or along with my customer’s purchase?”  For example, if you sell computer products, consider selling “technical needs analysis” services on the front-end or installation and computer training services on the back-end.  Be sure it makes economic sense to add such services to your business. 

• Communicate with your customers often and give them buying ideas/solutions via mail, phone, email, newsletters, intranet, website, in-store displays, etc.  Look out months in advance on a calendar and plan for seasonal events and holidays.  For example, if you are a hardware store, and as early fall approaches, use direct mail and in-store displays to communicate to your customers the need to fill cracks and seal coat their driveways. Sell them on the benefits of taking such action. Package all the supplies together (sealant, crack filler, broom, gloves, removal cleaner, “how to” booklet, etc.) and offer a single-solution price. 

• Conduct special events to educate your existing customers on your additional service/product offerings. Do this in an informative manner and in a way that has “their best interests” at heart.  Hold a “sneak preview” for your new products, services, models, etc.  Hold exclusive events for your best customers.  An upscale luxury auto dealer might hold a wine and cheese party with a musical quartet to unveil the newest car models.  For example, at The Growth Coach, we provide quarterly coaching clients ready to graduate from our two-year Strategic Mindset Program with the actual experience of Strategic Mastery, our business coaching and strategic roundtable program.  They get to see, experience, learn about, and benefit from the next level of business coaching, in advance.

Hope these ideas spur other ideas to help you get your customers to have a better and more satisfying experience with you by buying more and more often from your company. 

Daniel M. Murphy
President, Founder & Business Coach
The Growth Coach
Business Coaching Franchise System