Offering Extended
Hours
Opportunities for More Sales
If you have been in this business
for twenty years, you can remember when a shop would open at 8
am, close at 5 pm, and the couple of real progressive dealers
would be open for 4 hours on a Saturday morning. The product lines
that you selected were most likely exclusive with you within your
trade area. And while there were a number of large servicing dealers
that could dominate a market, everyone was able to earn a living.
Today, protected territories
are gone, and everyone is selling many of the products that you
do. You only have to visit the box or discount store to know that
the same type of merchandise is now being sold in these non-servicing
retailers. But worse yet, this equipment is being sold during the
same hours that you are at home. These retailers are open as early
as 7am, closing as late as 10pm, and in a growing number of metropolitan
areas, these stores are now open 24 hours a day.
Don't worry, as
I am not about to suggest that a servicing dealer should never close.
But, if you have the traditional Monday thru Friday hours of 8am
to 5pm, then the majority of your potential customers are either
unemployed, retired, or one of those people that works the nontraditional
hours.
Look at the advertising within
the market place and you will see little advertising that is directed
to the retired or unemployed. This is because they do not spend
the amount of dollars that the 8 to 5 workers do. And, if you do
not have a lot of factories or hospitals in your trade area utilizing
the nontraditional shifts, you may need to reconsider your marketing
and your hours.
While this strategy calls for
additional hours and services, you can make these changes gradually
and in a manner that will quickly determine the profitability.
One
of the first additions you can try is to offer a "drop off your equipment
on the way to work" service. Starting at 7am or 7:30, you could
have one person at your back door that would receive power equipment
and write the service tickets. The shop does not have to be open,
and you don't have to have your technician on hand.
An inexpensive
way to promote this would be to create a couple of window posters,
a one page flyer that you can use as a bag stuffer, and a rubber
stamp message that you can imprint on each completed service ticket.
For most businesses, the dinner
hour is one of the slowest times of the day. But after that time,
people are often out shopping. Still not convinced? Take a couple
of evenings and travel to the box or discount store. Wander through
their lawn and garden department to see how many people are shopping.
These shoppers are potentially
your customers. To bring them to your store, of course you will
have to be open during these hours. But, they will need additional
reasons to come to your shop.
Opening during the evening with
a skeleton staff will do for many dealers. If your staff has the
basic knowledge to be able to provide the initial service and to
answer some repair questions, or give estimates, you have already
surpassed the big competition. The task is marketing.
Again the
ideas shared earlier can help, but you will probably need some
other advantages. Do you have the equipment assembled so that you
can fuel it and allow the customer to take it home immediately?
Can your customer test operate the equipment before buying? Are
there questions you can answer that the sales help at the competition
cannot? And most importantly, do your customers know this?
Yes,
the rules of retailing outdoor power equipment have changed.
And they will continue to change. Those that will continue to be
in the game will be those that have the best offense.
