Leveraging Your Transaction
We previously looked at pricing as a leverage point in your business and the possibility of adjusting your pricing to acheive your goals. Today we are going to look at the transaction itself. How can we take the action of doing business, closing the deal, making the sale and turn it into a leverage point?Well, at the point of the transaction, there are a few options. First, let’s look at a transaction that takes place online. If you are selling online, you can offer your visitor what is called an “upsell”. That is when they go to check out and you make them a special offer that they have to take right then. This ties in a bit with your pricing because if you have different service levels, this is one way to push people into the next level. Once the transaction is complete, you bring the customer to a “thank you” page. This is the point wehre they can download the product (if it is digital) or at the very least, you can thank them for their purchase and confirm what happens next (they enter more information, you are sending out their product, one of your agents will call them, etc.). It can also be a great time to offer people some other service or product that you sell. In fact, you could also them a related product or service that someone else sells. I’ll do an article later on Joint Ventures.
The point of transaction can also be used to invigte people to join a continuity program you may have. Could be a paid monthly newsletter, could be automatic shipments of consumable products, could be an ongoing support program. Whatever fits your offer.
OK, so this all sounds fine and dandy online, but your business may not be online and so what can you do. Well, first off, I am going to encourage you to explore if there is a way you can use the internet for your business. You may be able to integrate and automate some of these ideas into your daily business. But the point of this article is not to sell you an online setup, the point is to leverage the transaction to your benefit. No problem. First off, you could still collect email addresses of customers and send them an email. When was the last time you went to a physical store and made a purchase and then came home to a thank you email? I can’t think of one time. It would be kind of cool though. This will also open you up to being able to offer other products or services.
When a person “checks out” or completes a transaction, are you inserting anything into their package? Some kind of flyer or promo peice. Maybe you have a sale coming up you can tell them about. Or a special event. You can give them a coupon which they can use on their next purchase. This helps create repeat business and gives them a happy feeling as they leave.
You can still offer an upsell at point of sale. Think of “would you like fries with that?”. Is there a different version or accessories or something else you can offer at time of sale that will help increase your revenue?
The point of sale can still be used to offer some kind of forced continuity or warranty program. I am thinking of a recent purchase I made at Future Shop and they would try to sell me an extended warranty. I bet they make more money selling the warranty than they make on some of the products. But that is their business model. Low front end pricing and then an upsell. Can you incorporate that into your own business?
The main thing to note is that once a person makes a transaction with you, you want to make this a very pleasant and happy experience. They are in a buying mood and just trusted you with their money. This puts you in a good position to earn that trust again – possibly right away. Review your transaction process and see if you can leverage it for more profit.
