In a slow growing economy, getting customers to plunk down cash or credit cards to invest in carrying a NEW line can be painful. Your customers may only see the risks. How can you help them mitigate the risk? How can you incent them to take action now?
To stimulate sales during slow periods, you may need to consider offering creative extended payment options. If you offered 6 equal payments over the next 6 months, would that spur the customer to make an investment now vs putting off or never making the commitment to sell a new line?
Determine what your goals are and where you want to take the risk for your own company. Stimulating business with a customer that is already way past due, might not be the growth you are looking for. But extending some creative payment terms to customers that want to grow and have solid growth plans may be a risk worth taking.
- Determine your Target Customer Group
- What type of promotional payment plans do you want to offer?
- Ensure that the pricing of the products include the ability for you to make money with these extended payment terms.
- When is the best time to Offer Extended Payment Terms?
- Is there a particular season that you want to boost sales? Typically, you might not offer these types of payment promotions during a very busy part of your season. You may want to make these offers during slow season or just before a season begins.
- Understand what sales goals you want to achieve and ensure that you map out the entire profitability of your approach.
As always, ensure that you measure and evaluate. You have to understand if you have effectively implemented your program and achieved your goals. Enabling customer growth, enables your growth!