Incredible Shrinking Transactions, and What to Do - Part 3
Incredible Shrinking Transactions, and What to Do - Part 3
by Sid Raisch
Part 3 - Meet Them - Where THEY Are (Not Where We Are)
READ THIS FIRST - This week as we head towards Mothers Day, be thinking about the customers who haven’t been in your store and you won’t be seeing this week, next week, next month, or ever, if we don’t figure out how to REACH them.
Some customers we will be seeing this week are coming for the last time, like others who came for the last time - last year, and the years before that. Transaction counts are a slippery slope and we NEED to be doing something about it. The question is not if we do anything about it - the question is how do we replace them?
BLUNT TRUTH - Outside of favorable weather, transaction counts and average transaction are slipping again this year for the majority of IGC’s. This is a long trend based on demographics and won’t be changing for our convenience.
(WDR BIG 3 KPI’s YTD Week 15 - Revenue -2.9%, Avg. Sale 0%, Tran. Ct. -2.9%)
Meet Them - Where THEY Are (Not Where We Are)
If we’re going to meet someone it’ll probably be where they are won’t it? Average transaction isn’t increasing enough to do more than cover inflation. New customers are out there, but they’re not coming and the transaction counts are showing it.
In retail we are used to the idea of people coming to where we are. How can that work when they don’t know where we are, or even that we exist? THEY’RE not in our stores, but WE are in the palm of their hands - all of them. If only they knew?
In marketing speak this is called REACH. People reach us when they come in, but how do we reach them when they don’t know why we exist, or why they would come?
If there were a way to REACH these people who aren’t coming, you’d probably want to know it, wouldn’t you?
But before we do, what will we say? Good question, right? We’ll figure that out in Part 4 - Sell What They Want to Buy where we’ll be exploring THE CHEESE - the thing that will entice them to come to us.
The language we spoke about in Part 2 doesn’t matter until it does, and that’s when they know we exist, and then know why they would come to us. We’re prepared to eliminate our industry jargon and speak their language. (If you’re not sure, CLICK HERE to go back and read Part 2 again).
Don’t wait for customer to come to find out why they would come - they’re not going to. They don’t even know we exist. Many of them think box store garden departments are all there is because they’ve never seen (or noticed, which means they haven’t seen) a garden center.
People can’t buy what they can’t see from stores they can’t imagine exist. We’re invisible if they can’t see us - even when we’re so near as the palm of their hand. Being seen where they are is far more important than being where they can see us, if only they could.
Reaching the Unreached Where THEY Are
They’ll know us when they see us if they ever do. Becoming visible instead of invisible - visibility alone doesn’t ring the register, but it is a step in the right direction. It will happen when we STAND OUT where they’ll see us, in THEIR community. People don’t care how much we know, until they know how much we care about what they care about. What do they care about? When they know we care about what they care about we’re speaking their language and they’ll know we exist and why they would come to us. Then we won’t be able to keep them away.
Back to REACH - Marketing Media has never been the secret to reaching people - the right message is. When we have the right message we’ll be seen. We’ll stand out.
When the media we’re using isn’t seen by the people we want to have in our stores, we need different media. We need media that knows where they are and is where they are.
We need to be evident in the palm of their hands, on that device most of us are reading this on. That is also to say, we’ could die a death of a thousand cuts because there is so much media in the palm of our hands, we could NEVER be seen there, the same as we might never be seen if they can’t find our store, even if we might speak their language and sell what they’re interested in buying.
The newspaper and radio are technically on the handheld device, but why would anyone be giving them attention there if they don’t read the real paper, or don’t find them on the radio or television? Is it just fake and not real when it’s on a smart phone? We may as well not be there if we’re not found there. We choose which apps to open based on prompts from social feed, digital advertising, email and text/SMS most of the time. Why wouldn’t our customers do the same? And that is the secret to meeting the people who don’t know we exist, or why they’d want to know.
If we could REACH the customer we want, why would they want to find us?
- If we want to REACH customers who don’t know we exist, and
- We want them to BUY stuff they don’t know they want, then
- WHY would a discount, bonus bucks, or loyalty points motivate them?
That’s a great question right there, and it IS a good idea to stop a minute and ponder it now before going further. I get the email and texts a lot of garden centers send out to their customers and they’re almost all riddled with deals, discounts, and other enticements for people who don’t know we exist to come buy something they don’t know they want at a deal. This is the second definition of INSANITY, following the first, which is to keep doing what we’re doing to get the results we’re not getting. If there’s not a deal there’s an event like a Spring Open House, or Spring Fling. How many Open Houses or Spring Flings can you sell? People who don’t know we exist or why they would care, aren’t coming.
I’m leaving a gaping hole in the thought process right now and I’m doing it to cause something interesting - a new level of thinking about marketing our business to people who don’t know we exist, to buy things they don’t know they want, for reasons they can’t imagine, but certainly not to get them for less, or for more for that matter.
It’s worth thinking about this. This week as we head towards Mothers Day, be thinking about the customers who HAVE NOT been in our stores and who we won’t be seeing this week, next week, next month, or ever, if we don’t figure out how to REACH them.
READ THIS:
The customers we’ll be seeing in our stores this week, next week, next month, and all year know where we are, what we sell, why they want it, and are almost always paying less than they would have and getting a deal on top of that.
Those are NOT the people this article series is talking about reaching.
We’re talking about how to reach the people you need in the store to REPLACE the people who know where we are, what we sell, and why they’d want it. Why? Because they’re leaving us in droves. They’re downsizing, moving away or even moving in, but they’ll ALL be moving on to retirement centers, assisted living, memory care, hospitals, morgues, and the local cemetery.
Watch for Part 4 - Sell What THEY Want to Buy - THE CHEESE
Takeaways - What to DO
Before procrastination or other busyness steals another year from you Text or Call 937-302-0423 or send an email to [email protected] .
Sid Raisch is an advocate for family business leading growth, change, and results throughout US horticulture. Redefining the business future for consumer horticulture by understanding how the end-to-end supply chain needs to be redirected is a skill Sid has honed into an art. He has understanding and insight through inquisitive observations and extensive experience and has served as a trusted advisor helping transform both national and local businesses into more profitable and sustainable businesses. Developing national and international educational programs that create change in culture, community and company provides Sid venues with a front row seat creating effective and innovative business models.
Sid is a Certified Value Builder System Advisor, and currently serves as Chief Strategist and the Swiss Army Knife of Consultants to The Garden Center Group clients. Contact Sid at [email protected] or call or text 937-302-0423.
REMEMBER: Your interaction (by phone and email) with Group Service Providers such as Sid Raisch, Tim Quebedeaux, Jean Seawright, John Kennedy, and of course Danny Summers are included in your retainer!