This
is my reply to a comment that comes from
Here
is the comment from
My
reply- A real birthday gift is perceived as a real birthday
gift (and not as a sales promotion) only when the birthday gift
is different and only when the birthday gift is additional to
the “normal” things/gifts that your customers receive or expect to receive for
free as a routine of being your customers.
As
mentioned in the MY "HAPPY BIRTHDAY"
PRESENTS Post, the budget for a real birthday present
should be about/up to 5% of the customers past purchases. Understanding this
point must make it clear that a hand-mask is far bellow this 5% budget
and therefore, a hand-mask as a birthday present isn’t attractive enough.
Make your customer come to receive her birthday
present – women who celebrate their birthday want to look as
good as possible on this special day. Therefore, I would offer to my customers
a FREE “Birthday Make Up” (a birthday look) as their birthday gift (or a part
of it). If the birthday budget allows (depends on the customers past purchases)
I would add some scented body lotions and shower/bath products beautifully
wrapped as a birthday gift. Giving the customers the idea of “looking great on
your birthday” will to my opinion make them visit your beauty salon and receive
this special gift.
Businesses are problem solvers –
offering a Birthday Make Up Look is solving customers problems of wanting
to look as good as possible on their special day. Therefore, your business will
receive a special meaning in the customer’s eyes which is an additional reason as
to why you should consider this strategy.
Think about the birthday presents and other presents as
dividends – 20% of your customers are responsible to 80% of
your sales! The practical meaning of “being responsible to 80% of your sales”
is that they are sort of partners in your business. When you get used to this
idea (of them/those best customers being your partners), it will make it easier
for you to get used to the idea of sharing up to 5% of those customers
purchases as a return of their (those 20% best customers) investment in your
business, it is a sort of paying them back up to 5% of their purchases as a
dividend.
For example - if a customer buys from you $2000 annually,
the birthday present should be around $100 in consumer prices (5%). This $100
present costs you about half!!! If you use the special Dr.Baumann promotion
products, the $100 birthday present will cost you about $25 only. This means,
that you have a great flexibility to offer really attractive birthday presents
that will make your customer visit your beauty salon in order to collect her
birthday present.
All together – the main reason
that people give presents is in order to maintain a good relationship. You must
position yourself as the receiver of the present and ask yourself if you as the
receiver would be happy with the present/dividen that you plan to give to
your customers based on their investment in your business.
GIVING GIFTS generously is a part
of building relationships based on long term loyalty. A business with NO
customer LOYALTY program will find it hard to keep customers loyalty in the
long term, hence the importance of giving gifts and dividends generously.
