Picture yourself on Valentine’s Day. The shop is busy. The design room is hopping. Phones are ringing and orders are heading out the door.
You spot a young customer move through your showroom once, maybe twice, and then head out the door empty-handed. Do you shrug your shoulders and think, “Oh, well — can’t please everyone”?
Another approach to that missed opportunity: Ask the customer why he’s leaving without buying.
That’s something Mark Anderson, founder and president of FloristWare, has seen at least one shop do with great results.
“For the better part of a decade, two staff members worked the front door of a busy flower shop every Valentine’s Day,” writes Anderson in the January issue of Floral Management. “They acted as greeters, guides and security, but the most important part of their job was engaging customers who left the shop empty-handed.”
One thing they discovered? Many of the customers left because they wanted to buy a single rose, which the shop didn’t sell on Valentine’s Day — they were worried those small sales might take away from larger transactions.
The input staff gathered, however, helped change the store policy. Singles soon became a popular and profitable holiday item for the store.
Find out more about the policy turnaround and how a change in the shop’s pricing formula made the profitable part of the success story possible.
Read more about how customer feedback can help increase sales — and why soliciting it regularly should be part of your year-round sales and marketing strategy.
