"How Giff Gates Had His Best December In 60 Years...And How You Can Too!"

Giff Gates suffered a drop in business in 2006. His traffic and sales were declining like many stores.

There are many reasons for this. TIVO, satellite radio, the emergence of the internet as a powerful source of news, cynical consumers who don’t believe in “another 40% off sale,” and busier, more time conscious consumers.

Giff runs a tight ship. He was President of the Western Home Furnishings Association, and National Retailer of the Year recently.

He’s been doing item advertising, sale advertising and works hard with his ad manager to brand his store’s image. If your sales are stagnant, or declining, you may wonder if there is anything you can do to get your traffic numbers back to where they belong.

 

You Bet There Is. That is if you are willing to accept a new way of marketing.

 

Here’s the deal: A store owner’s most important responsibility is to attract customers and keep them coming back. Sounds simple enough right?

Unfortunately bad advice about advertising abounds. That’s one reason why we see the “same old, same old” home furnishings ads in newspapers, radio and TV. Competitors in marketplaces all over the country use similar ads. It is an example of the “blind leading the blind.”

 

If you tuly are better than your competition…why aren’t you telling the market about the benefits of doing business with you?

 

You can solve all your Traffic problems by using the direct response marketing techniques presented in this article.

 

Direct response is the opposite of brand building. It is designed to elicit a response from your customer or client immediately. And it is traceable down to the penny.

Many in the advertising world want you to believe that you have to build a media “brand” to be successful. This only works if you have a very large advertising budget. We’re talking Nike, Coke, Ethan Allen, Art Van or La-Z-Boy big.

Moderate size retailers in most markets end up running a course of pre-packaged “me-too” ads and find that they are unable to measure their effect (measured in sales).

 

The “Secret”

 

Direct response marketing is designed to get specific, traceable results. If done correctly, a direct response ad will more than pay its own way. Its purpose is to inspire a prospect to get off the couch, come into your store and buy. Why else would you be advertising? You advertise to get sales. Period.

From 25 Million to $250,000.00 Million
Using Direct Response Marketing

In 1987 NORDIC TRACK was only a 20 million dollar a year company, using traditional advertising. After switching to Direct Response Marketing, they quantum-leaped. Becoming a $250 Million a year company! Nordic Track did this by following the direct response marketing formula.

Here are Two Elements of effective direct response marketing:

#1. Create a Unique Selling Proposition: “Why would your customer do business with you, above any and all other options, regardless of price?” You must answer this question in your advertising! This can be VERY difficult…but it’s essential.

#2.Write effective, relationship building marketing ad copy: Writing ad copy that captures your prospects interest and then builds a relationship is vital. Using the typical “Labor Day Weekend Sale” isn’t creating a relationship with your customers. You must use “Why People Buy” techniques.

 

Here are a few pointers about Ad Copy.

• Headlines. They must be compelling, attention grabbing phrases typically 7-15 words long. Your company name is not a headline. It isn’t a reason “why people buy.” An example of a good, strong headline is “7 Secrets Everyone Must Know Before buying their next bedroom set!” If you were about to buy a bedroom set, would that get your attention? I think so.

• Personality. This is the key to creating an emotional bond between you and your customers, and will make them feel obligated to buy from you and you alone.

Speak as though you are talking to a friend. What would you say about this piece if you were explaining it to your best friend? It needs to be conversational, not institutional.

• Create a compelling offer that your prospect can’t refuse:

This can be a free report; you can give away premiums, even if they are totally unrelated to furniture. Store owners have had success giving away ipod’s or movie tickets as incentives. Discounts can work as well but be careful, the money you lose by slashing margins is huge compared to the expense of giving away great premiums.

The offer is a key to direct marketing. Find something that hits a hot button with your customers and give it to them.

 

The 1 Million Dollar Strategy

 

Customers come into our stores all the time who need our products and want to buy, but for some reason feel compelled wait for a while. These customers tell us, “I’ll be back.” Contrary to popular belief, this doesn’t mean you’ve lost the sale.

Most stores lose hundreds of thousands per year because when “be backs” leave, they get distracted and forget about you. This is unforgivable! Once someone has taken the trouble to actually come down and visit your store, statistically they are much more likely to buy from you than any other prospect.

So what are you doing to consistently remind them that you are still there, waiting for them, and excited to help them when they are ready?

Once you plug this hole in the bottom of your boat you’ll see huge results in a hurry.

We talked about Giff at the beginning of the article. After implementing several strategies Giff put together a 4 page letter and sent out 10,000 of them in December of 2006. (That's right 4 PAGES!)

The letter was interesting, presented a compelling offer, and followed the direct response formula. He didn't have ONE SINGLE PICTURE of furniture in it.

He stopped all the other marketing he was doing. Going totally black. He really wanted to see if this was going to work. Check out what he had to say about this! 

I Had The Best December In The History Of My Company!

 

“After 10 down months in a row, I’m amazed at what this advertising has done for our store. We stopped all other advertising in December, to really test if your methods work. We only sent out 10,000 mailers and we were, in a word, amazed. Our store has been around for over 60 years, and I’m happy to report that we had the best December in the HISTORY of our company. We were doubling, even tripling daily sales figures. (This, after 10 down months! I couldn't believe it.)

 Recently we started using the strategy to get “Be Backs” to come back. Again we stopped all other advertising. (Usually costing us about $25,000-$30,000 per month) Using a FREE email message to our list, we generated more sales than we had last February…without spending a dime on advertising. Your strategies continue to amaze us.”

Giff Gates, Gates Furniture, Grants Pass Oregon.

 

 

For More Information about how to get a copy of Giff's 4 page letter, and The Traffic Guys other programs to put Loads of paying customers into YOUR store call 800-393-2054, click HERE.