Advice from America’s most expensive business consultant, Jay Abraham, who has advised such companies as Sears, AT&T, Weight Watchers, Federal Express and hundreds more.

Part II of II of a Q&A with Jay Abraham On Your Most Prized Asset in Business

As you may recall, in Part I, Jay revealed that the most priceless, yet overlooked asset your business possesses is your satisfied customers, clients or patients.

Many businesses, unwittingly, actually limit the amount of business their clients and customers do with them.

Jay offered some great ideas on generating repeat business with your satisfed clients and customers by offering add-ons and he shared a few examples of how to do this.

In Part II of this topic, Jay offers two additional key add-ons to boost your bottom line.

Q: I like the “effortless” approach. Do you know any more?

A: Hundreds! And each of them is simple yet, profitable, as with the previously mentioned idea. I get them all the time from clients, seminar attendees and my newsletter readers. Let me give you one with an incredible track record of success that I’ve personally used countless times with enormous success. And, again, this is one of those simple-as-pie ideas that ALWAYS works.

I’m referring to adding volume and frequency options. What does that mean? Simply this: give customers structured choice options to buy more and they will. It never fails to boost the initial business you’ll do with a customer on the first transaction and also over time.

Volume example:
When you buy portraits from a photography studio, you’re often offered package prices. For instance, one 8 x 10, one 5 x 7 and “x” number of wallet size might be one package. I advised a photographer-client to give such collections usage designations like “family and friends” for the most prints, “immediate family” for the next most and the “basic.” Would it surprise you to learn that only about twenty percent choose basic? Structured this way, you are inviting greater volume.

Frequency example:
A gardener builds his business by selling clients a year’s worth of lawn care instead of a single fertilizer treatment. That way, the customer can be sure of a lush, beautiful-looking lawn all year long. The gardener is rewarded with more revenue.

Q: In what other ways can I offer volume pricing to increase revenue and profit?

A: Let me answer your question with a question. How many of your regular customers would consider stocking up on a product of yours they use throughout the year if they could save some money? How many would commit to continuation of service if you offered volume pricing? Tests show it’s usually a goodly percentage. In any event, there’s no downside risk in offering such a deal. And if it works, you profit more in the process of extending a greater value to an appreciative customer.

Q: Can you give me an example of just how this kind of volume pricing pays out for me?

A: Sure. Let’s say you’re a dry cleaner who normally does one suit for $5, but who offers to clean three suits for $12.50, saving the customer $2.50. Now if your cost for cleaning a suit is about half what you charge (it may be much less than that), you would make $2.50 profit per single cleaning. But by cleaning three suits at one time for $12.50 (and assuming $7.50 in costs) you’ve doubled your profits.

Remember: Always stay focused on the increased profit –not lost profit — that an add-on transaction brings you.

Q: This begs the question — will I lose future sales from these people who are “stocking up”?

A: To the contrary. Studies show that customers start utilizing more of your product or service, not less. Once you are perceived as offering greater value on some items, all your wares are viewed in that same positive light by the customer. Plus, there’s often another new mindset on the part of your client. He thinks: It costs less so I can do it more frequently. For example, the dry cleaning customer begins to wear his suits fewer times between cleanings knowing he can now keep them looking good more regularly for less. Translation: more business, not less.

Q: What is the ‘TFN” approach you’ve referred to in selling more product or service?

A: TFN refers to “Til Further Notice” which means offering a typical one-time purchaser the opportunity for on-going, perpetual, weekly, daily, monthly or quarterly “locked in” sales.

Examples:
I got a tree trimmer to talk his one-shot customers into becoming quarterly or bi-annual clients. I convinced a termite control company to do the same thing. I taught a music teacher how to triple her income simply by offering a monthly rate instead of a per-lesson price. All this by getting them to think of the customer’s desired end result.

A cosmetics company built a $100 million empire by persuading 60% of all the women buying its products to accept ongoing monthly shipments. And nearly one-half of a famous vitamin company’s customers choose to have their supplements shipped to them automatically each month until they say stop. So this one idea is a wealth builder of the first order.

Q: You also talk about offering combinations as a way to boost profit. Explain.

A: To paraphrase a line in a popular movie, “Give them combinations and they will come.”

Observe the kinds of things people put together in a way to reach their desired end results and give it to them as a combination — and at a savings. An example of how that strategy can pay off in a gargantuan way is McDonald’s. For years, customers would get in line and order a burger, fries and a coke. Finally, the folks at company headquarters in Illinois bonked themselves on the forehead and came up with Extra Value Meals — combinations of the items people order most, but at a slightly lower price than the items ordered individually.
Result: Extra Value Meals now account for a full 40% of McDonald’s total restaurant business! Awesome!

EASY REMINDERS

– Unwittingly, you are probably keeping customers from buying more from you right now.

– When a customer buys from you the first time, he or she is saying, “I trust you.” This is an invitation for an on-going relationship.

– Offer add-on products that help the client achieve his or her desired end result. Don’t make them go elsewhere for, say, a printer to go with the computer you sold them.

– If you don’t carry obvious add-ons, find a way they can get it through you.

– Offer clients volume or frequency options that save them money. Enable them to “stock up” on your product or extend service.

– Offer them combinations of products that normally go together, but at a better value over what they’d pay to buy the items separately.

Next time, you’ll find out what has happened to customers you haven’t heard from in a while . . . and how to get them back.

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