Why mobility retailers need to play a different game this winter • THIIS Magazine


Many mobility retailers believe that next winter will be one of the toughest challenges in many years, but doing nothing is not an option. Retail marketing consultant Mike Glynn shares his tips on how mobility retailers can spot opportunities to maximize sales.


By Mike Glynn

When you started in business, you had a dream. A goal. Maybe it was the flexibility of being your own boss, the money, the independence, or the sense of purpose. But somewhere between your first day in business and today, you made compromises. Things didn’t quite go the way you expected. You work longer and harder than expected or expected. But guess what? You’re not alone.

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The financial success of all businesses is broadly broken down into five segments. Every business owner is somewhere on this pyramid – where are you? According to statistics, 80% of retailers “barely make it” or “go broke” – they probably never planned it that way.

One feature that most companies in these two segments lack is how they market their business. Things have changed and it’s not good now to release a big announcement in the Yellow Pages. You have to play a different game.

Many mobility retailers believe that the upcoming winter will be one of the toughest challenges in many years. How do you prepare for the rising cost of living and an unpredictable supply chain mostly beyond your control?

Some of you will take this as bad news and use it as an excuse. They might even cut their marketing spend or “bury their head in the sand”. Others will see it as an opportunity. Whichever side of the fence you fall on, doing nothing is not an option if you want your business to survive.

Over the past couple of years, we’ve seen a massive shift to online shopping and communications. Now that the genie is out of the bottle, there’s no turning back. So how do you take advantage of this experience and stay connected?

mike glyn
Retail Marketing Consultant Mike Glynn

Typically in our industry, customers come to your door late in life when they are looking for a solution. But what if you started building relationships with potential customers sooner?

Don’t fall into the trap of thinking your customers don’t use the Internet. They do, and it’s a fact.

They will not go to the library or pick you up at Thomson’s Local. They ask Google and Alexa. In today’s market, you have to think differently.

You need to start marketing, and these seven rules of effective marketing have helped thousands of business owners like you climb the pyramid. These rules give you a checklist, a roadmap and a framework.

1. Make sure there is always an offer

Ideally, it’s a “stop your momentum” offer that’s incredibly attractive to your customer and profitable to you.

It needs to be powerful enough to make people move, take the right action, and choose you. It is not enough to say who you are and what you do.

The offer does not have to be a discount. No one is excited with 10% off. It’s a lazy offer.

Try to be creative with your offer. Make it memorable. Load a bounty or add value and rarity. Impress your customer with its perceived value, but make sure it’s profitable for you. Creating the right offer will elicit responses, so it’s essential to think about it and get it right.

2. Create a reason for your customer to respond – now

Timelines work well here. Just like… 10 days left to claim this offer… After the 31st, the price goes up to… Limiting the number of offers to the first 10 also gives the customer a reason to respond now.

3. Produce clear instructions for customers to respond

Just give your customer one thing to do and don’t confuse people. Give your customers clear instructions on the one thing you want them to do.

4. Traxk and measure your results

You need to make sure your marketing is working, so tracking and measuring results is crucial. There are three key strategies to facilitate measurement. The first is to track phone numbers on each marketing piece. They are really cheap – so only use one phone number in one place.

Second, use custom URLs that point to specific pages on your website.

Third, use separate email addresses to see how many people respond. Once this step is in place, you will make informed decisions based on facts, not intuition or opinion.The money pyramid

5. Follow up appropriately

When launching your promotion, consider this. At any given time, statistically only 3% of the audience is ready to buy. The others aren’t ready yet, but in most cases they’ve been forgotten or pushed aside, so you need to have proper follow-up.

Having a systematic, consistent, and regular follow-up process helps remind prospects that you’re there. Following up keeps them engaged and close. In most cases, with a follow-up, you give up too soon. Whatever you do now, try to do a little more.

6. Introduce the benefits

Don’t worry about yourself. Show your prospect how you can help them. Make sure your product or service will benefit and solve your prospects’ problems.

7. Review the numbers

It doesn’t matter what you think or like, it’s the result that counts. Cost per sale is always more important than cost per lead, so knowing both is essential.

Watching and reviewing the numbers may surprise you, and having accurate measurements in place may reveal a golden egg.

Knowing these seven rules is very different from implementing them. But it’s the implementation that makes the difference. It is the implementation that takes you up the pyramid.

If you need help implementing the seven rules and moving your business up the pyramid, let’s talk. Call Mike on 01256 213021 or email info@mgretailconsulting.co.uk.




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Many mobility retailers believe that next winter will be one of the toughest challenges in many years, but doing nothing is not an option. Retail marketing consultant Mike Glynn shares his tips on how mobility retailers can spot opportunities to maximize sales. By Mike Glynn When you started…News, views & products for mobility, access and autonomy professionals