Dollars are hiding in your customers’ pockets, purses and wallets. And do you know what? You probably aren’t doing enough to coax those dollars into your cash registers. Here’s some advice from two of our terrific Best Practices contributors on how to make it happen - without spending more on advertising or marketing outreach.

First, Drive More Traffic

“Feet come first!” says Dean Marcarelli, Chief Marketing Officer of CCA Global Partners. Dean’s message is that your marketing efforts should focus on getting more customers into your store. If customers aren’t there, you can’t sell to them.

To bring more people through your doors, apply some of the traffic-building tactics that have been part of the retail landscape for years. Advertise loss leaders. Offer in-store promotions. Hold special sales for your established customers. But use some guerrilla marketing tactics too. Post signs in churches, daycare centers, libraries and other locales where your core customers can be found. By talking to your customers where they spend their time, you can create more traffic at lower cost.

Second, Sell More to the Customers on Your Floor

Kelley Robertson, a powerhouse sales training consultant who is a member of our Best Practices group, has some great strategies to win more of dollars from your customers once they are in the store.

“Ask your customers one or two questions to determine what they’re looking for and what they’re specific needs are,” Kelley suggests. “Then make recommendations for additional products that complement the original item.”

If this sounds like basic advice, think again. Kelley points out that too many salespeople wait around for customers to come up and ask them questions. Instead, coach your salespeople to proactively go to customers and ask questions first.

And Kelley has another suggestion for snagging more of those elusive dollars. “Instead of trying to sell a single product, bundle together products that relate to each other,” he says. “Even if you reduce the total price slightly, the overall sale will be higher - which means more money in the till!”

And don’t forget to ask . . .

Are your displays working for you? Are they actively pointing your customers to the products you want them to buy – or are they bewildering your customers and working against you?

How can you tell? Go out onto your selling floor and look around as though you were a customer. What do you see? Are your shelves cluttered and confusing – or does their neat organization allow your customers to comparison shop and make buying decisions on their own? Are you giving end-of-aisle display space or other prime locations to the products that will generate the most profit for you?

So are there dollars out there, waiting for you to claim them? Of course there are. If you visit our Best Practices area, you will find dozens of powerful ways to capture them.