Adjusting pricing for different customers
Knowing how to maximize sales goes beyond simply efficiently bringing services to as many potential customers as possible. There's also much to consider regarding pricing your services and whether you should be offering discounts, offers, etc. Ilan Mochari posed the question on Inc. Magazine as to whether it is advantageous for businesses to offer deals to new customers or existing, loyal clients.
Mochari said each business will have to see which of clients contributes most to its revenue. Paying attention to the right group of customers is essential, as an imbalance may harm the potential a company has for making sales. Of course it's hard to know which clients are contributing the most revenue without good tracking and reporting in place.
Citing professors Jiwoong Shin and K. Sudhir from the MIT Sloan Management Review, he said that businesses need to look to reward returning customers, specifically ones that spend the most money, if consumers are interested in flexibility and market value. In these instances, it may be best to start a loyalty program and reward customers whenever they return to work with the field service organization again.
"If either of these characteristics is not in place - that is, either the value concentration is low, purchasing flexibility is low, or both are low - then managers should focus on rewarding new customers or those drawn from the competition," the professors said in the review, according to Inc.
Increasing sales other ways
There are also other ways to increase sales that field service organizations should look at. By rearding customers, either new or returning, they can strengthen bonds with clients, but that may not impress every potential customer.
Caron Beesley wrote on the U.S. Small Business Administration's website that organizations need to strive to understand what, aside from pricing, sets them apart from customers. If it happens to be speed, due to field service software, that should be highlighted for potential clients. The company needs to figure out how to help utilize these things that set it apart from other companies and use these perks to boost its reputation with possible clients.
On a similar note, she said small businesses should work to get to know who the competition is and figure out their weaknesses in an effort to help sell against them.
"Check out online reviews (Google+ Local, Yelp.com, etc.) and even local community discussion boards," Beesley wrote. "If you lost out to a competitor on a deal, be bold and ask the prospect why they chose to do business with them and not you."
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