Creating ‘Sales Synergy’ In Your Adventure Business
‘Sales Synergy’ is when you make little adjustments to your sales, that when layered on each other, have an exponentially larger impact on your bottom line.
Hear how my recent experience purchasing Christine’s Mother’s Day present created ‘Sales Synergy’ for one little company in Michigan.
Then, hear how the strategies implemented by this company are applicable to your adventure tourism business.
If you want to chat about ‘Sales Synergy’ in your business or want to see how ‘Sales Synergy’ will impact your bottom line, then hit me up.
In a 20-minute virtual meeting, we can think up creative sales strategies for your business and even plug them into my projection software.
Full Transcript
Good morning, Followers!
Today is the Monday after Mother’s Day and before I do anything else, I want to wish you moms and grandmas and happy belated Mother’s Day.
What you mothers do is incredible. The sacrifices you make for your little ones are greater than any amount of gratification available in the world.
So, thank you!
On that note, I want to share with you my recent experience with a little tiny company in Michigan; collage.com.
For Mother’s Day, I bought Christine a blanket. But not just any blanket, a blanket with printed photos of us and our child on it. One side is a collage of four different photos and the other is one big family photo that I added text to.
Christine loves this blanket! She mentioned the blanket like five times yesterday and asked me so many questions about how I found it and so forth.
This little tiny company did so many things right on the sales side. From targeting me on google ads, to being listed on a top 10 best Mother’s Day gift ideas, to offering a 25% off on an upsell to print on both sides of the blanket, to making the purchase process super easy. They nailed it!
Not only was the purchasing experience awesome, but yesterday, when I gave the gift to Christine, they sent an email with a simple satisfaction survey. With it was a 60% off your next purchase discount. This was such a smart move on two fronts:
- Timing: They were confident yesterday was the day Christine received the gift. So, to send the satisfaction survey when emotions were highest was impeccable timing.
- Capture A Second Purchase: Before yesterday, this was a one-time purchase. I probably never would have purchased from this company again. But, because of the awesome feedback from Christine, and an incredible 60% discount, I will most likely buy another blanket. Also, I will do it for a family member’s birthday or Christmas present this year.
So, why am I telling you this story?
Well when I was mowing the lawn yesterday, it hit me. This company created ‘Sales Synergy’ within their experience. This is relevant to adventure tourism because you can take all the components of my experience with collage.com and provide it to your customers as well.
What is ‘Sales Synergy’?
Sales synergy is when you make little adjustments to your sales that, when combined, have an exponentially larger impact on your bottom line.
For example:
- Last week I shared with you one of my favorite ways to improve profits: Small and Unnoticeable Increases In Price. In the example, I showed you how a 5% annual increase in price leads to huge increases in year-by-year profits.
- Get Customers to Purchase More In An Upsell. From my collage.com experience, they enticed me to spend more during my initial purchase. They offered a 25% discount to print on both sided of the blanket. This convinced me to purchase the second side, the large family photo with text.
- Get Customers to Return to Spend More Often. From the collage.com experience, they will most likely capture a second purchase from me. Enticed by the wonderfully timed survey, the incredible discount and the opportunity to provide good feels to other family members throughout the year, I will purchase again. This is awesome because it is easier and much less expensive to recapture a customer who has already purchased once than to capture a new customer.
Assuming the three initiatives impact your bottom line by 5% each, then you can assume a 15% increase to your bottom line. Right?
Wrong. The actual impact is much higher because of ‘Sales Synergy.’ The 5% from each initiative compounds on each other. The actual impact that hits your bottom line is often 20% to 30% if you manage it correctly. Imagine a 30% boost to your bottom line without capturing a single new customer. It is doable.
So, this is great in concept, right? But how is it applied to adventure tourism?
Here is how each of the three sales synergy strategies applies to your adventure tourism business. I thought this up while mowing my lawn, by the way.
- Increase in the price: This year an absolutely great time to increase your pricing. Everything has changed: your operations have changed, consumer interests have changed, and it is known that there is a high demand for domestic experiences outdoors. To not change your pricing right now is self-sabotage. Start with your most loyal customers and do some market research. Figure out what interests them and build your 2020 offerings, bundles, and pricing accordingly.
- Get your customers to purchase more during the initial sale: For the most part, you guys are already pretty good at. Typically, you accomplish this through swag sales, photos, equipment purchases, and more. It is usually the stuff that people walk away with. But right now, it can also be ‘exclusivity.’ It can be a private couple or small group experience. This is attractive to two different buyers: those that seek exclusivity and are used to paying for it and during COVID-19, those that seek safety. This is an incredible upsell right now.
- Get customers to return this year: Hunting and fishing outfitters are incredible at this. Hiking and rafting outfitters, take note from these other outfits. The idea that I had while mowing, and how this is applicable to adventure tourism, closely resembles the experience I had with collage.com. When a group gets off the river, when emotions are highest, collect their reviews right away (not in an email when they get home but right away). For those that are over the moon about your experience, offer a re-booking offer for this summer. You can spin it off so many ways such as a local’s deal, second round discount, and so much more. Use the stuff they loved about your experience to bring them back. At that moment, give them the opportunity to book a future trip at a discounted price. The catch is the discount is only available today. Remember, you only need 5% of buyers to re-return this year in our example. Not everyone is going to accept your offer and that is okay. You still want to give them the opportunity to say yes. We as humans buy on emotion, so when your customers are high on life, just off the river and before they get in their cars, is the best time to recapture a sale. It is especially awesome if you can do this with a small group.
If you want to chat about ‘Sales Synergy’ in your business or want to see how sales synergy will impact your bottom line, then hit me up. In a 20-minute virtual meeting, we can think up some creative sales strategies for your business and can plug them into my projection software to see the impact on your bottom line.
I am Zeb Smith, wherever you’re watching this, share with me your synergetic sales strategies in the comments box below and stay safe out there.
