Marketing Advice for Domestic Appliance Retailer to the elderly.

If you are not collecting data in a database for use in future marketing activities then you are throwing money away and worse you will cost yourself money trying to get new customers when you could be ‘cultivating' the existing ones. It costs 6 times more to get a new customer than to sell (or get to refer) to existing customers. Your existing customers should be your little sales people but they need encouraging to do this (which can be done very easily without hassling them). Your database is your goldmine. And don't be fooled that older folk don't have and use email. They do so more than ever now to keep in touch with their grandchildren who are techno savvy.

Use AIDA (Attention Interest Desire Action) for all advertising. The headline (attention) is the single most important thing so make sure it's a ‘grabber'. The next most important is the call to action (Action). What is it you want them to do next, is it ‘refer a friend', ‘call you up for a quote' or even ‘keep the leaflet'. Give them a reason to do the call to action. Incentive or provide valuable information that you can give them eg Tips on prolonging life of washing machine.

When you are planning a marketing activity make sure you leave 24 hours before sending it to print or execute it. You know when you can't think of someone's name then the next day it suddenly springs into your mind the same thing works in marketing. Think about what you ultimately want to achieve (product launch, sale, new customers or a referral scheme) and then put some rough ideas down and leave it totally alone. Go back to it maximum 24 hours later and look at it again. I guarantee you will come up with new more creative ideas (unless you and your subconscious don't get on!)

Remember not everyone you leave a leaflet with is going to be in the market to purchase so the refer a friend incentive is a good idea. Also Top 10 Tips are good ways to position yourself as an expert in your field. Try not to ‘sell' (i prefer to call it ‘give them a reason to do business with you') to them rather position yourself as the people to call when they do want to purchase.

To appeal to those who are in the market or who might consider replacing etc take away the ‘pain' points of purchasing. What is it that older folk will find a problem when purchasing, find out what these are then tell them about the solutions that you have for them. Eg ‘We know that disposing of replaced xyz can be difficult and potentially expensive. At firstchoicedomestic we know this and that's why on all installations we remove the appliance from the property and dispose of it' or ‘we know that getting used to using a new appliance can get some getting used to so thats why at fcd we provide telephone support for the first 6 weeks of your purchase' etc etc. Find the problems and explain the solution. Is there any way you can make the purchase process easier for them as well as the delivery, installation and removal. Maybe have an ‘mature person' specific model.. If I had more time I could come up with some specifics but identify the problems (pains) then tell them how you can solve their problems. I'm sure you will come up with some great ones.

Recommendations are 1 of (if not the best) forms of selling to new customers. Ask for testimonials (just a couple of sentences will do) in exchange of bottle of wine (or whatever) and use them on all your marketing materials. 2 would do on a leaflet.

Make the service you offer not just good but outstanding, so much so that they talk to their friends about it. Delivery and removing appliances are offered by everybody now. So how about a bunch flowers (my Fiancee still talks about the bunch of flowers she got when I bought my car 4 years ago... the car cost nearly £20k no one would of remembered my boring car purchase but everyone knows about the flowers and where she got them from), chocolates, 2 months free washing powder, free 6 month health check (the appliance not the person!!) show them how to operate it without having to read the instructions, or create a fcd guide to common issues they may encounter using the appliance eg fuse, temp too low etc). Maybe team up with a local business and ask them to offer a free 2 month membership of their bowling club (or the like) or a £10 voucher (if spend over x) to spend in a shop (these don't cost you anything but add high perceived value to the sale). These are just a few ideas I'm thinking of as I type but I hope you get the gist and I'm sure you will think of more ways to be remarkable!

Don't get DFS syndrome when it comes to your sales... have a reason. It can be a soft as it's your birthday, St davids day, x years you've been established but always have a reason. The best ones are where it genuine and believable good examples include overstock, flooded, new range, need to make space etc etc

Follow up your sales with a courtesy call after 10 days. Yes it takes time and it might seem pointless (and you might be scared they will have problems and questions.. but they shouldn't!) but you will be amazed what will go on after they put that phone down. I bet they will tell 10 people about it at least. You won't get that in Comet!! You also could use it to ask if they know of anyone who is looking for a new appliance as you are offering £25 for referrals the moment.

Run a monthly competition where you can win a new vacuum cleaner or something (have 2 runner up prizes) and all they need to do is give 3 names of friends so you can send them some information. Make a nice box and keep it in the shop with cards to fill out with name address and email (make sure you put a disclaimer about sharing not sharing, selling theri info). I would normally suggest putting this on youir website as well to capture the names and email of those visiting but thats up to you. I just feel for every 100 people that go on your website and don't buy anything its like 100 people walking in your shop and not buying. Datacapture is key to marketing success.

If you can afford it purchase a contact management software (database software really) to handle all your data and make sending emails, letters and recording historical data a breeze. I can't stress enough how much this automates marketing to prospects and customers.

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