I love watching retailers get creative. Actually, I think creative problem-solving is one of the core competencies of successful entrepreneurs and businesses. Show three businesses the same obstacle, and each will find a unique way to overcome it.
There are certainly obstacles facing hot tubs sellers right now, and in this issue, we share some of the ways your peers are tackling them — like finding recurring revenue streams, resurrecting dead leads, optimizing financing and ensuring they are the first and fastest company to respond to customer inquiries.
It could be that I’m obsessed with efficiency in general, (we’re a small team, so wasting time isn’t really an option) but lately, I’ve been fascinated by the idea of “speed to lead.”
The statistics on being the first to respond to a lead or customer inquiry are pretty compelling — if you get there first, your chances of getting the sale go up dramatically. But the concept can apply to other areas of your business, like delivery and service. Do you keep popular models and configurations in stock for customers who want a hot tub by the weekend? Do you track the time it takes to fully resolve a repair? Being fast doesn’t just improve customer satisfaction, it potentially gives you time to do and charge for more as well.
Financing is something else that has been on my mind lately. I’m always surprised when retailers tell me they don’t do much with financing. I understand we all would prefer cash customers and transactions where we incur no fees at all. And I understand that historically for a lot of you, people have just paid upfront. And I know that interest rates could be better. However, by paying little or no attention to financing (in training, signage, sales process), don’t you think you’re losing potential customers? Can any of us afford to lose any sales right now?
If you’ve got pushback on that, I’d love to hear it. And I want to hear not only how you use financing to your advantage but all the ways you are getting creative and making new opportunities for your business.
Best,
Megan
megan@kendrickcontent.com