As you may have noticed I am currently having an Anniversary sale at Gregor Rare Books. Personally, I am not in favor of regular sales for a number of reasons. Sales can send a negative message to your customers. Not always but it depends on how the sale is presented. Certainly sales work as a way of celebrating special events and/or saying 'thank you' to your best customers i.e. customers who have been with you for some time or have done a lot of business with you. Sometimes you just need to generate some cash flow to pay taxes or buy a library. Sometimes you need more room and you need to clear space. Sometimes you need to change locations and not all of your inventory can go with you. All are legitimate reasons for offering your stock at a discount.
But in order to have an online "sale", you need customer information. You need to have a customer database complete with email addresses, which plays into my contention that it is important to constantly harvest your customer information. When I say, "customers are our business" this is what I mean. Without customer contact information we limit our control over making sales. We cannot initiate a sale if we don't know who we've done business with, what they purchased and how do we contact them with the news of our "sale"? Remember..."control" is one of the four key words in my seminar. If we leave all the control to potential buyers, we are at the mercy of their attention. Many of your good customers would like (and need to be) notified of your special offering. We are all bombarded with literally hundreds of places, events, and demands for our time, our consideration and our disposable income. We need to be present in the lives of people who have already shown us through their purchases that they are interested in what we have to offer. Passivity is not an effective sales technique. Be proactive. Be front and center. Be present. Keep your name and fine products and services in front of those most likely to respond to your offerings.
There should also be some tangible benefit to your customers for engaging in your "sale" and again doing business with you. If you make it worth their while, they will come...if they're interested.
Strategy. If you have significant holdings in a lot of different subject areas, each month you could present a special offering to your proven customers. To do this you would need you track who buys in which subject areas. You can set up an access file with all the pertinent information documented. So in January, you could offer your select Americana customers a 20% discount on your entire Americana inventory. In February, you do the same for your customers of Cookbooks. In March your gardening section etc. And in each case, only the customers who have bought in the specific section would receive the "sale" notice. That way your entire customer base is not receiving a "sale" notice every month for material they are not specifically interested in...thus over-doing the "sale" tool and potentially creating a negative impression of your business.
These are my initial thoughts regarding "sales"; I'd be interested in yours. Please feel free to post them on the facebook page for others to see.
Monday, June 14, 2010
SHIPPING DEMONSTRATION
This little exercise is something I have wanted to document for some time. Shipping horror stories abound and I wanted to ensure that people involved in my BSI programs at least get exposed to some basic shipping protocols that ensure that purchased items reach their intended buyers in the same condition they were ordered. My key mantra is: assume the worst handling and package accordingly. You do not have to spend inordinate amounts on good packing material. I seek out cardboard, either small boxes that work for books or large boxes that I can cannibalize, from neighboring shops. They are happy to not have to recycle the material themselves. So here we go.
Step 1. Once I receive the order, I wrap the book in brown wrapping paper (never newspaper because the ink could rub off on the exposed text block)to protect it from any possible rubbing to the binding or potential soiling. Once the book is wrapped, it is ready to be "boxed". Whenever possible I use the USPS Flat Envelope because it is the most affordable way to get a regular sized book to the furthest customer in the fastest time. The less time the package spends in the postal system, the better I like it.
Step 2. At this point the book is ready to be "boxed" in salvaged cardboard. The intent is to completely wrap the book in a protective material that will withstand the often harsh treatment packages receive once they leave our hands and before they reach to intended recipient. We have to assume the worst treatment and prepare our packaging in anticipation of rough handling.
Step 3. Here I have two pieces of cardboard cut long enough to fully wrap around the book long-ways. I always cut the cardboard about a 1/2 inch larger on each side than the item I am wrapping. This adds additional protection to the book edges. Then I tape this piece down.
Step 4. Here the top and bottom edges of the book are protected from any potential bumps or mishandling in transit.
Step 5. Now I lay the book cross-ways over s second piece of cardboard to protect the open sides of the book. I fold this piece of cardboard over the exposed edges and tape it down.
Step 6. Now what we have is a book with all of its edges protected by cardboard. Item to be shipped is now technically in a "box".
Step 7. This is the final step. The fully wrapped book is slipped into a flat-rate envelope basically "boxed" for shipping. This also works for using padded or bubble envelopes. Book itself is fully protected on all sides, the envelope is just the delivery package.
Professionally packing your sales is one of the most effective ways to ensure your long-term profitability. If we take the prudent steps in packaging our sales, then we greatly reduce that chances that the items will arrive damaged and therefore returned for a refund excluding shipping costs. What this translates to is damaged books that are no longer salable and a loss of income. And none of us want that. In my 23 years of shipping books all over the world I have never had a purchase returned due to poor packaging on my end. I assume that my package will receive abuse from postal workers who handle thousands of
This little exercise is something I have wanted to document for some time. Shipping horror stories abound and I wanted to ensure that people involved in my BSI programs at least get exposed to some basic shipping protocols that ensure that purchased items reach their intended buyers in the same condition they were ordered. My key mantra is: assume the worst handling and package accordingly. You do not have to spend inordinate amounts on good packing material. I seek out cardboard, either small boxes that work for books or large boxes that I can cannibalize, from neighboring shops. They are happy to not have to recycle the material themselves. So here we go.
Step 1. Once I receive the order, I wrap the book in brown wrapping paper (never newspaper because the ink could rub off on the exposed text block)to protect it from any possible rubbing to the binding or potential soiling. Once the book is wrapped, it is ready to be "boxed". Whenever possible I use the USPS Flat Envelope because it is the most affordable way to get a regular sized book to the furthest customer in the fastest time. The less time the package spends in the postal system, the better I like it.
Step 2. At this point the book is ready to be "boxed" in salvaged cardboard. The intent is to completely wrap the book in a protective material that will withstand the often harsh treatment packages receive once they leave our hands and before they reach to intended recipient. We have to assume the worst treatment and prepare our packaging in anticipation of rough handling.
Step 3. Here I have two pieces of cardboard cut long enough to fully wrap around the book long-ways. I always cut the cardboard about a 1/2 inch larger on each side than the item I am wrapping. This adds additional protection to the book edges. Then I tape this piece down.
Step 4. Here the top and bottom edges of the book are protected from any potential bumps or mishandling in transit.
Step 5. Now I lay the book cross-ways over s second piece of cardboard to protect the open sides of the book. I fold this piece of cardboard over the exposed edges and tape it down.
Step 6. Now what we have is a book with all of its edges protected by cardboard. Item to be shipped is now technically in a "box".
Step 7. This is the final step. The fully wrapped book is slipped into a flat-rate envelope basically "boxed" for shipping. This also works for using padded or bubble envelopes. Book itself is fully protected on all sides, the envelope is just the delivery package.
Professionally packing your sales is one of the most effective ways to ensure your long-term profitability. If we take the prudent steps in packaging our sales, then we greatly reduce that chances that the items will arrive damaged and therefore returned for a refund excluding shipping costs. What this translates to is damaged books that are no longer salable and a loss of income. And none of us want that. In my 23 years of shipping books all over the world I have never had a purchase returned due to poor packaging on my end. I assume that my package will receive abuse from postal workers who handle thousands of
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