Screen Printing - February/March 2020 - 11

Or, would the customers keep the quantities at 72 or 144,
leaving less money in your pocket for each order as that
pricing discount hadn't kicked in yet.
With your averages, how might this idea affect the average
quantities per order? How much more revenue might this
idea create?

Your customers may be purchasing other items they need,
but you're not getting the sale because they don't know your
complete capabilities. Learn to do more, and then market
those acquired skills and add more items to each sale. Let's
pretend 15 percent of your customers added another item to
their orders. Let's say the order value was $500. What would
that mean revenue-wise at the end of the year?

INCREASE THE FREQUENCY OF THE ORDER
The next idea is to get your customers to place more orders
with you. Let's say you've examined your customers and, on
average, they each place one order per month with
you. How can you get them to place two orders per month
instead? Or more? Of course, every shop is different, but
here are a few ideas you might try:
* Start a Loyalty Program. Do you use this idea
personally? If it works to sell you a haircut or ice cream,
maybe you can start one for your shop.
* Special Offers for Repeat Orders. Can you offer
something to them if they send you more work? What
would they need to do to get free screens or artwork?
* Free Shipping. If this works with other businesses, it
can work for you, too. The cost of shipping is baked into
the price, but you don't have to tell anyone.
* Develop New Ideas. Instead of waiting for them to
send you an order, what if you pitched them an idea?
Take a proactive approach!
* Drip Marketing. Have you built an automated drip
marketing campaign that messages your customers on
a schedule? For example, after purchase, the customer
gets a "Thank You" message with an offer that expires at
the end of the month. Messages and offers are constantly
created and can be targeted to your customer's needs.
* Customer Education. Do your customers know about
that new hoodie or decoration technique? Remind them!
Send a message or video showing them what you can do.
Want to increase order frequency from customers? You
can try all of the above and more, but a great way is simply
through communication. Ask them. Based on your averages,
what if 25 percent of your customers added one more order
per month? What would that generate revenue-wise? Also,
with that increase, what pressure might that put on your
production team?

ADD SOMETHING TO THE ORDER
What else can you sell them? If you're already printing, it
doesn't take much to learn how to decorate other substrates
or items. Have you tried to screen print a poster, cooler, or
a beer koozie? A lot of items can be printed - many with the
same equipment you already own. You simply need to find
out what it takes to do it correctly and with quality. If you
can print a T-shirt, you can print a towel or a bandana. Note:
it might need different ink to print without a rough hand on
the substrate.

FIND NEW CUSTOMERS TO PLACE AN ORDER
I left this for last because it's the toughest. New customers
are hard to find. The reality is, for a new customer to start
using you, they have to fire their current printer. You have to
give them a reason to do that. Remember, the sales cycle is
composed of four movements. Know, Like, Trust, and then
Buy. (See pg. 13 of the December 2019/January 2020 issue
for more.)
* Know. They've at least heard of you. It's simply creating
general advertising to get your name out there. Do they
Know you? What are you doing to ensure this?
* Like. They know who you are, and generally Like what
you do. Social media is great for this. You can keep
score as others will "like," share, or comment on what
you post.
* Trust. They can see or tell that you're trustworthy.
Customer testimonials are one of the best ways to
build trust. Are you acquiring and posting customer
testimonials? This can be through reviews, written copy,
or videos.
* Buy. The last part of the sales cycle. If you've turned in a
good job with your best efforts to build Know, Like, and
Trust, your potential customer is about 60 to 75 percent
of the way there. All it takes to gain their business is the
right circumstances or need.
Remember, you don't need to wait for a customer to
call you. Come up with a creative idea that will help solve
a problem and reach out. They, of course, will look you up.
What will they find with their Google search? This is the
reason why your efforts in building the Know, Like, and
Trust components of the sales cycle will help you with the
last Buy part.
Here's the kicker: you don't want any customer. Instead,
spend the extra time developing ideas for attracting new
customers who match the attributes of the top 20 percent of
your customer base.
What would it mean to your shop to add one new customer
per month who averaged the sales of your top 20 percent?
What would it take to get that level of a customer? Would you
do it? Don't forget, if you're going to spend the time working
on attracting new clients, make sure they're the ones who will
make a significant impact.
And last, if you read all the way to the bottom of this
article and haven't run your numbers yet, now is the time! Get
the coffee going and do it! You won't be sorry.
FEBRUARY / MARCH 2020

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Screen Printing - February/March 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Screen Printing - February/March 2020
