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Tactical Ways To Grow Your Business, Part III: Guarding Customers And Growing Market Share August 12, 2020 (0 comments)

New York, NY—In the first two installments of our series, Emmanuel Raheb, CEO of SmartAge Solutions, presented eight ways for retailers to improve their website and online customer experience, and nine tips for using both Google and social media better. In the final installment, he goes offline to find fresh approaches for tried-and-true strategies of clienteling and building market share. 

1. Clienteling. “This is so valuable! We’re seeing so much success with this from so many retailers,” says Raheb. 

A lot of retailers worried about bothering people at home, but he says don’t be. “The best person to sell to is usually your customer. You can do it in a very smart way, not necessarily pounding the phones and asking them to buy.”

He suggests sending a personal message to anyone who’s made a purchase in the last six months. Personally reach out to your important customers and see how they’re doing through this pandemic—and in the process, it reminds them you’re still around. 

2. Add a concerige service. Become personal shopper—even if it’s not on your website! Help customers shop your website but, if need be, even look on another website. Show them what’s new. Lean on your brands to help, Raheb says—they need you as much as you need them.

3. Set up sales incentives for the staff. “It’s not taboo to sell now, you just have to do it in a creative, cheeky way,” says Raheb. Set sales goals for your team: not aggressive “how many sales did you make” ones, but “how many people did you reach out to and check in on?”

Don’t pick up the phone and hound customers, he said, but let them know you’re there. Try things like gift certificates, gift-with-purchase, donations to a cause, hello emails, etc.

4. During hard times, guard all your high-value customers. Raheb says this maxim of Ogilvy’s is more true than ever. “A lot of brands are doing outreach to their retailers. They’re calling you, reaching out to you to show new collections. You don’t feel that’s wrong or intrusive; in fact you feel like you’re important to them. It’s the same for your customers! Your customers are human, just like you,” he says.

5. Develop and implement strategies to win market share. “This is like [in 2008] when 30 of my competitors became three. This is the time to pique the interest of consumers you didn’t have before,” says Raheb. The guy down the road is nice people just like you, ready to help customers. But when your competitors are a bit flat-footed and not doing any activities, this is the time to increase and take that market share. 

“Now is the best time to get out there and win new customers for life. It’s cheaper and less noisy than ever.”

Don't decrease your marketing! This is the time to gain up to four times your market share, says SmartAge Solutions' Emmanuel Raheb.

6. Assess the competition. Look carefully at your competitors’ ads, website, and store and see what you can do better. Raheb’s hint: Whatever they have on their homepage is probably what they do best with and care most about. 

7. Set realistic market share goals. No matter how good you are, you’re not going to have all of it. Look at census information for your area—including how many people are likely to get married—and set targets for what percentage you want. Go after the market, not necessarily after your competitor. But Raheb again stresses to be realistic in your expectations. It’s easier than it was to gain market share but you are not going to have it all. 

8. Co-op advertising. Right now your brands need you more than ever and you’re probably needing them more than ever, says Raheb. 86% of Millennials care about what brands they buy from, and brands are more open than ever to collaborating with their retailers and trying to help their retailers. Through co-op marketing, brands and retailers can really help each other. Come together, cooperate and collaborate.

9. Do not cut back on marketing. “This is not me or SmartAge telling you this. This is Ogilvy,” says Raheb. There are studies that show companies that increase marketing spend in recessions recover three times faster in normal times. There’s been more than a 40% increase in social media and web traffic.

“This is not just about surviving, it’s about surviving and winning.”

Don’t feel shy, he reiterates, citing a story of one retailer who had a client’s $40,000 engagement ring ready to pick up, but felt awkward about calling the client at the height of the pandemic. They called anyway. And the client responded with, “This is the best news I’ve heard all week!” 

Homework for retailers for these topics: 

• Create an outreach strategy for previous clients and assign goals to sales team to touch base.
• Identify your market and share as it stands today. Contact your marketing strategist and request a current competitor’s report, then create and implement a follow-up plan of real strategies for acquiring more market share.
• Reach out to your brands and inquire about your co-op dollars. Create a plan of action to allocate and run co-op campaigns.

“This will pass. We will come out of it and we will want to celebrate. The industry will flourish because nothing feels as good as giving someone a piece of jewelry as a token of love or a symbol of a milestone," says Raheb. 

“Live smart, but not in fear. Zig Ziglar said fear means two things: ‘Forget Everything And Run or Face Everything And Rise.’ The choice is yours.”

Missed the first two installments? Click here for Part I and here for Part II.