While there are several components involved in growing store sales when opening a dollar store one of the most important is to continually bring first-time shoppers into the store. Often these shoppers will only make small purchases during their first visit. When treated properly they will soon return to make additional purchases time and again.
Of critical importance is to make sure that all potential prospective shoppers know that your store exists. While you may have selected the best possible location, make sure that store signage has great visibility to the main streets that pass by your store. A great location with a store that is hidden in the back corner is of no value at all. In fact, that is a formula for failure!
If zoning and lease arrangements allow, consider using sign holders at the busiest corners. When opening a dollar store a costume clad employee can draw instant attention and traffic to your store. Employees who are comfortably attired can draw traffic by carrying smaller handheld signs and banners during higher traffic times as well.
Advertising in smaller local newspapers can reap excellent returns for a small business owner. If you are opening a dollar store be sure to consider small, well-written ads as one method for informing local residents that your store has opened. Generally the traffic is slow to build using this method. With consistent advertising the traffic results can be impressive over time however.
If you are opening a dollar store be sure to participate in local activities. Providing supplies to local schools and charities is a very positive method of getting your name out in the community. For the donation of a few dollars worth of products hundreds and hundreds of local residents will see your name as a contributor. This is a good thing to do for the community and the returns can be impressive.
Drawing new shoppers is one of the challenges that is faced by every entrepreneur who is opening a dollar store. While bringing new shoppers into the store is a challenge, never forget that it is even more important to retain those shoppers as repeat customers into the future.
To Your Dollar Store Success!
Do you want to own your own Dollar Store? Visit www.openingadollarstore.com for more information. http://www.onlineauctionsmadesimple.net
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Bob_Hamilton
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Calculating Contact-Call Center ROI - How Do You Measure The Value Of Customer Satisfaction?
A number of factors must be taken into consideration when calculating the contact or call center ROI. There are variances in how the call center is set up, such as where it is located, whether it is in house or outsourced, what the level of response is, whether the customer is able to speak to a live source or is simply referred to another location within the company.
As companies become larger and larger, it is unfortunate that the contact people who are in the customer service business often know less and less about what is actually going on with the business.
The simple method of calculating the effectiveness at a customer service call center is to count the number of calls and time per call. Some call centers even pressure workers to limit the time spent on calls to 30 seconds or less, and an average call time of two minutes may be grounds for disciplinary reports.
In fact, the length of time spent on a call is probably the WORST measurement of the effectiveness of the call center. Another method of calculation for the effectiveness of the call center is based on determining the level of customer satisfaction with the call itself and the experience and relating that level of satisfaction to the average sales value per customer.
In order to use this approach, several pieces of information are required. First the customers must be surveyed about the results of their interaction with the call center personnel and this must occur fairly quickly following the contact. Second, the average sales cost per customer must be known.
On a ten point scale, the customer's satisfaction level at 9 or 10 is assumed to be satisfied while a score of 3 or less means the customer was very dissatisfied. For the same of example, if 60 percent of the customers are satisfied with the service and 5 percent are not, and those figures are multiplied by the average sales rate. The net of those figures is divided by the cost to operate the call center during the period in questions. A figure larger than 1 would indicate that there is a positive return on the investment in the call center, while a result of less than one would mean that it's costing more to operate the call center than is being collected in added sales.
If the call center is not increasing the investment made in the staff, equipment and training, then the decision must be made to increase the level of training, focus more on customer satisfaction with the call and the results, or deal with the underlying problem. Often, just changing the orientation of the call center to measure customer satisfaction and having the numbers to support that decision is enough to turn around the entire experience which the customer has with the call center.
If you are interested in contact center ROI, check Sam Miller new web-site.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sam_Miller
As companies become larger and larger, it is unfortunate that the contact people who are in the customer service business often know less and less about what is actually going on with the business.
The simple method of calculating the effectiveness at a customer service call center is to count the number of calls and time per call. Some call centers even pressure workers to limit the time spent on calls to 30 seconds or less, and an average call time of two minutes may be grounds for disciplinary reports.
In fact, the length of time spent on a call is probably the WORST measurement of the effectiveness of the call center. Another method of calculation for the effectiveness of the call center is based on determining the level of customer satisfaction with the call itself and the experience and relating that level of satisfaction to the average sales value per customer.
In order to use this approach, several pieces of information are required. First the customers must be surveyed about the results of their interaction with the call center personnel and this must occur fairly quickly following the contact. Second, the average sales cost per customer must be known.
On a ten point scale, the customer's satisfaction level at 9 or 10 is assumed to be satisfied while a score of 3 or less means the customer was very dissatisfied. For the same of example, if 60 percent of the customers are satisfied with the service and 5 percent are not, and those figures are multiplied by the average sales rate. The net of those figures is divided by the cost to operate the call center during the period in questions. A figure larger than 1 would indicate that there is a positive return on the investment in the call center, while a result of less than one would mean that it's costing more to operate the call center than is being collected in added sales.
If the call center is not increasing the investment made in the staff, equipment and training, then the decision must be made to increase the level of training, focus more on customer satisfaction with the call and the results, or deal with the underlying problem. Often, just changing the orientation of the call center to measure customer satisfaction and having the numbers to support that decision is enough to turn around the entire experience which the customer has with the call center.
If you are interested in contact center ROI, check Sam Miller new web-site.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sam_Miller
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