How and when should you use a special offer to increase sales revenue.

In this my latest blog post, I’m going to look at how using a special offer as part of a planned marketing campaign can significantly improve your return on investment.

I would like to make it clear that I don’t generally advise my clients to sell and differentiate on price, however a well timed and genuine special offer campaign that adds true value and that has an expiry date can be very successful and be the difference between a customer making the decision to buy now and to buy from you.

Special offers should be designed to increase profits and not just volume and need to work for the seller and buyer. Special offers shouldn’t be about reducing the price. They should be used to up-sell, cross-sell and to remove any perceived barrier which could stop people from buying from you. They can also be used as a differentiator at peak times when there is high demand.

How to use a special offer to great success

A special offer has to be a genuine offer, not the all year round furniture sale. This only devalues your brand and the effectiveness of the offer.

They should be for a limited time with a clear end date. This creates the urgency and adds credibility to the fact that the offer is genuine. 

Timing is critical and special offers should only be used sparingly and randomly. You don’t want people thinking that the real price is the special offer price and so they wait for the next offer which they know will be coming up.

Each offer needs to be planned carefully and be targeted to gain sales from clients that you would not have gained without the offer. You don’t want to generate special offer sales from clients who would have bought from you anyway.

Let’s look at a scenario.

As an example let’s take a scenario for a Will Writer. A common fact is that the majority of people either don’t have a Will or have a Will that is out of date. Let’s assume I have a Will but it’s not been reviewed for a number of years and I’m aware that my circumstances have changed, but I don’t really know if this effects my Will, and let’s face it, I’m busy and its not really a priority.

The perceived barrier in this scenario could be taking the time to go and see the Will Writer and justifying the cost of a Will Review as I’m not sure if my Will actually needs updating.

A good special offer campaign in this instance would be for the Will Writer to target clients who haven’t reviewed their Will in the last five years and clients who have had a change in their circumstances. This information should be available to law firms who practice other areas of law. They should be able to identify which clients have moved house, had a divorce, had a financial settlement or have undertaken a commercial venture, business transactions, etc.

In this instance the Will Writer could design a special offer based on offering a ‘Free Will Review’ for a limited time only with a set end date. This removes the cost barrier as if nothing in my Will needs amending then I have received peace of mind at no cost, and because the ‘Free Will Review’ is only on for a limited time I will be more likely to act.

From the Will Writer’s point of view this special offer is about getting people to visit them to discuss their circumstances. Should the Will need amending then this would be charged for. What is critical is that the Will Writer has the tools and understanding to generate revenue where possible. Not just in identifying areas where the Will needs updating, but also in identifying areas to cross-sell other legal products and services that the practice offers. Having special offers on these other legal services only at the time of the ‘Free Will Review’ or if I spend over a certain amount could also provide an additional incentive for me to buy other services.

Special offers are a fantastic marketing tool to keep in your marketing toolbox to be used sparingly at the correct time to increase sales revenue. In my next blog I am going to look at how a coupon can add extra value to a special offer. 

If you would like to discuss the possibilities of using a special offer in your business then get in touch as I provide a free initial marketing consultation where I can explore how you can increase inbound enquiries through a special offer.