Customers Down - Revenue Up

New Zealand is in a recession and the media continues to tell us about the receiverships, the liquidations, the redundancies and the closing doors.  I have no doubt that the effects of the recession have been catastrophic for some businesses and there was nothing that could be done to save them.  It does bother me though that some businesses sit back and cop it on the chin and say, well business is bad because we are in a recession and that's that.  This post is about some of the things we have done to try and get through this downturn; the results have really surprised us.

One of my day to day charges is a domestic retail travel outlet
The customers to this business are locals, regional and international visitors.  Over the past six months April - September, customers through the door have been down between 9-28% compared to the same months last year.

Despite this downturn in customers, revenue is the highest it has ever been for each of those months.  The increase in revenue for any of those months is between 10-40% on the previous best result.

Customers through the door are significantly down over the past six months but revenue is hitting records month after month.


How we achieve record revenue with reduced customers

• we have maintained some marketing initiatives and increased others
• we have reiterated our previously trained sales techniques to our staff
• we give an instant reward for add-ons and up-sells
• we communicate with customers in ways that might surprise them

Our sales techniques
We introduced sales training to our staff several years ago but it's only now that times appear to be tough, with up to 28% reduced customers that we can see the benefits.  I think it was one of those things that you do in faith but don't really see the benefit at the time.

Those are 'Our' sales techniques too.  There are quirky things with every business that will require sales techniques tailored to that environment.  The way people move through our space, the areas we have to engage with the customers, the way we display our product all influence the sales techniques we use.

We have banned a few things:

• Sitting down - replaced with a big standing heart felt 'Hello' or 'Kia Ora'.
• 'Can I help you?'  - replaced with 'I see you are looking at the ...' and conversation naturally flows from there.
• Letting 'I'm just looking' stop us - replaced with a reply of 'Have you been in here before' which they invariably haven't and so we can introduce them to the three distinct product areas and the conversation usually flows from there.
• Offering the cheapest price - replaced with having a conversation with the client and finding all the details and then providing the right product.

Develop sales techniques that work for your environment


Instant reward for add-ons and up-sells
We have 'the badge'!  A little Kiwiana badge that doesn't look out of place on the uniform.  Only the staff know what this badge is for and they want it.  As soon as an up-sell or add-on is achieved, word is circulated to the staff and the badge is handed over.  So far the results have varied from a stamp for the postcard through to $600 worth of accommodation for the free map they came in to pick up.

A simple but instant reward and recognition


Surprising customers with communication
Conversation with customers initiated by questions has not only gained the confidence of our customers and shown a real interest in them, it has also developed a new skill in our younger staff; conversation!

We have done the usual email newsletter and social media but the real difference in all this has come from taking the time to find out how our customers' purchases have worked out for them.  We know when a customer has completed their travel and at that time we pick up the phone and talk to them about their experience.  It is amazing how much repeat business we get from doing this and sometimes we have another booking before we've hung up the phone.  At the very least we have done something that has pleasantly surprised the customer and we can almost guarantee we'll see them in the future and if not them it will be their friends who they've told.

Have real conversations with customers and check how their purchase turned out for them


The past and the future
The training and extra communication efforts of the past have paid off for the situation we find ourselves in now.  If we were starting from scratch there would be improvements in business performance but not to the levels we are experiencing now.

We do worry how much longer we can keep getting more from less.  Eventually we will have peaked and we will be getting less from less.  At the moment we are not sitting back and letting the New Zealand and global economic downturn happen to us.  It is motivating to everyone to see what we are achieving but I can assure you our fingers are still crossed behind our backs.



David Hancock is the visitor development manager for Hutt City, Wellington, New Zealand and would be delighted to receive comments on this or any other topic.
http://www.huttvalleynz.com/
http://www.facebook.com/HuttCity.Wellington