When it comes to growing a business profit being able to boost the Average Transaction Value of your customers is a critical key factor. The more you can make from each of your customers, the more profitable your business will become. Most times, the first sale is a taster. As a business, to boost the size of your customer transactions, you need to be able to make more sales from your customers so that you be profitable.
One of the best ways to make more money from your customers is by making more from them at the very moment they are buying from you. By using upsells and downsells in your sales funnel and during the sales process, you can drastically increase your sales and more so your profit.
So in this article, you are going to learn some result-driven strategies you can implement to make more money on each item you sell and from each customer you sell to. So without wasting time, let's get into it.
1) BOOST AVERAGE TRANSACTION VALUE BY RAISING YOUR PRICES
Too many sellers compete on price. Tons of research shows consumers have other concerns, such as quality, prestige, convenience and more. If you want to improve your average transaction value, steer away from low price, raise your prices, and make up for it with better service, or by selling quality, and the perception of quality. The idea of “you get what you pay for” still has resonance with shoppers.
Quick Tips and Action Points
- It’s up to you to communicate and create the perception that your product is worth paying more for.
- Even a small price increase can help your bottom line without dampening sales.
- Seek out a wealthy market and concentrate your selling there.
- Phase in price increases slowly.
2) THE UP-SELL
Never miss an opportunity to suggest the higher priced item when a customer is looking at the cheaper version. This is a great way to boost your average transaction value. Let them know how the more expensive model may save them money in the long run, need fewer repairs, etc.
Quick Tips and Action Points
- Convince people with benefits – make the prospect SEE themselves with the higher priced unit, making their life better.
- Appeal to emotions and ego. The higher prices item delivers a boost to both. Tell the customer that most choose the higher prices unit – everyone likes to go along with the crowd.
3) BACK-END SALE
This is one of the best profit boosting techniques known to man, or woman for that matter for boosting average transaction value. Any additional sale you make after the first puts more money in your pocket. Think of it: If you make two sales in one effort, you can double or triple your efficiency. Never think in terms of a single sale going in. Have your back-end line up ready in the wings.
Quick Tips and Action Points
- Customers may not know they want or need something until you tell them they do
- Plan from the beginning for back-end sales. Tying your hopes to one product is a risky proposition in just about any business.
- Back-ending is precisely the technique that has made most sellers true success stories.
4) THE CROSS SELL
As we mentioned earlier, the cross-sell is a great way of selling an additional item that your customer didn’t intend to purchase. Having a cross sell strategy is a very good method of booting the average transaction value of your customer especially at the point of sale or when they are about to checkout.
5) EXPAND YOUR PRODUCT RANGE
Few sellers can survive or prosper dealing in one product only. But even if you are having success with one product, you can easily go for more profits by expanding your product range. If you sell vacuum cleaners, sell carpet shampoo also. Or tie in with other kinds of household cleaning devices, such as hand vacuums, or car vacuums to increase your average transaction value.
Quick Tips and Action Points
This has the advantage of pre-qualified customers. If you sell them your original product, you know they most likely will buy a similar product. It is far easier to resell existing customers than spending time, money and resources to find new customers.
6) FOLLOW-UP
Why not call on the pretext of monitoring customer satisfaction with your product. Let them know you care deeply about how well they’re getting along with their purchase. Listen carefully to what they say – any complaints are a golden opportunity to improve. Best of all, you stay in the customer’s mind and keep them interacting with you, and increase chances they’ll come back.
Quick Tips and Action Points
Don’t sell right away. Make the first call purely a satisfaction check, and then quickly leave them. Give customer the impression that you care a lot about what you sell. It’s excellent psychological conditioning.
7) POINT OF SALE TOOLS
The very latest and powerful tool is moving display devices that attract the eye of the shopper with lights, movement, flipping, spinning and more. Results have been terrific, boosting sales by 80 to 90 percent. Old fashion signs, tags and labels however are still vital and you need to make best use of them.
Quick Tips and Action Points
- Change your point of sale tools often, try multiple varieties, and keep them fresh.
- Use SELLING words – prompt, urge, ask people to look and buy.
- Use the element of FREE. Buy one, get one free, etc.
8) SALES SCRIPTS
Again, using a sales script that works will not only make more sales, but it will make better and more profitable sales too. When you have decided what action you are going to take to increase sales, incorporate this into the script.
9) INCENTIVE BUILDERS FOR BIG PURCHASES
If you want people to spend more, give them an incentive. Offer a gift, something free, special privileges, free delivery, free upgrades, or a longer warranty. Rewarded behavior is repeated behavior.
Quick Tips and Action Points
- Give away slow moving items and dead weight in your storehouse.
- Joint venture with others to offer incentives. A car dealer buys a steak dinner for a new car buyer – the restaurant kicks in on the deal to capture the business.
10) SELL EXTENDED WARRANTIES
For most products, the average use of an extended warranty happens only about 12 percent of the time. That means that 88 percent of every extended warranty you sell is pure profit in your pocket. When you think about selling hundreds of these per year, that’s a lot of extra income.
Quick Tips and Action Points
- Push the warranty on the idea that the customer’s product is now a much better deal because any breakdowns are covered much further into the future.
- Extended warranties are best offered at time of sale, and not mailed out later. Try making it a limited time offer, though you may never want to limit this terrific moneymaking idea.
11) EDUCATE THE CUSTOMERS ON ALL YOUR PRODUCTS
Business owners hear this very often: “I didn’t even know you sold that!” Or, “I didn’t know you could do that!” The fact that such questions are asked means that customers are not being informed very well about all a particular business has to offer. They can’t buy it or ask for it if they don’t know about it! So educate your customers about everything you sell and everything you can do, if you are providing a service.
Quick Tips and Action Points
- Never assume. Make strenuous efforts to advertise and promote your complete product line and service.
- Train your sales staff to cover all the bases with each customer every time. Before people leave, put a flyer in their bag that tells all.
- Try ads that say: “Did you know...?’ and fill in the blanks
12) REMEMBER TO ASK FOR THE SALE
Ask questions like “So can I wrap that up for you?”
When you ask leading, presumptive questions like this, it makes it difficult for the prospect not to make a decision to buy or not. If you frame the question so that the answer is one you want, you’ll get the sale more often. Ask at the end of your sales pitch, and after you have answered all questions possible. But you should always ask. It will help to boost your average transaction value.
Quick Tips and Action Points
- Most salespeople say they find this difficult at first because it seems pushy and presumptive. Well, be subtle and use some finesse and you’ll grow to love this technique.
- Learn to time your question at the proper time. With experience, a good salesperson can sense when it’s time to ask for the sale.
- Remember, nearly all salespeople need to get a bit aggressive at some point.
Another great way of boosting your average transaction value and increasing your profits is to look at
ways of increasing your profit margins. This can be unbelievably simple in many cases, yet outstandingly effective and lucrative.
Your profit margin is the money you have left over after accounting for all your costs. This is the cash in your pocket, the real money you get to keep. This is the ultimate figure you want to make larger, and when you focus more specific attention on this magic number, you have a more clear-headed way of making it bigger.
Improving your average transaction value is a key component of boosting your profit. It is where it all comes together; this is what you do all the work for, this is what determines what kind of lifestyle you can choose for yourself. Thus, dwelling on your profit margin and finding ways to make it bigger is a worthy activity, fuels your motivation, and generates excitement.