So it comes down to the location of your business, which does not look that promising. You are at the end of the mall, the wrong end. You have major competitors nearby, ones with deep pockets. Do you stay in this location, how can you compete, profitably. In 2005, we assisted a company with this problem, while increasing sales 25% two years in a row over each previous year. How did we do it?

1. Product Selection

One of the most important items in service sales business today is product selection. You must be able to move your product as fast as possibly to increase volume but also be able to increase your square foot margin by moving old product as quickly as possible. Why is this? Well in today's market, there are a lot of providers of similar products and similar service and if you get caught in not responding to product changes quick enough or not having staff to sell the benefits of exact products you can get caught with excess stock. This not only frustrates your staff, your company, profits but also hinders further customer preference in selection or when they are looking for the next item they saw advertised they want and go to their favorite store only to find they don't carry it. Trust me, if this continues the customer will soon forget about why they went to your store and come less frequently or not at all.

So remember product on-hand was outdated and had to be moved.

2. The second if maybe not first to having actual stock is having knowledgeable staff. Who cares, people just choose and get their information on the Internet and just go to make a transaction. Not so, people still select where they are going to buy that product or service due to a number of factors, and sometimes people do not want to stand in long line-ups. Sometimes people prefer no hassle over saving a few dollars more. Think about it, if you could go to your local store that was closer saving time and transportation costs and avoiding people conflicts wouldn't you pay a little more. Perhaps they have something better to due with their time, whether busy professional or a couple, with or without kids. Just think about it really, what is more valuable then time.

Service/Staffing Knowledge not up to customer's knowledge levels.

3. If your staff knowledge is high and you can expedite a transaction avoiding hassle and time and reinforcing benefits and assuring of their purchase success people will prefer you. Just think about it, do you really want to go to BIG BOX. It is about the savings, but in the end if your not going to load up your purchases and even if you do, is it really worth it. Not to mentioned wandering around, the less service responsive BIG BOX to find out where it is located, if there is any stock. Those wonderful low prices might mean they are out of stock and you just wasted a trip. TRY calling in to BIG BOX, Good luck! Incentive to call little store with great service and no long line ups that appreciate your business and understand your needs.

Benefits of Products not explained properly to customers.

4. Oh, it's hard to find staff and make a profit with these high wages with these young unmotivated people you say. Why not give them a reason to be there instead of just serving customers or stocking shelves. But that is their job you say. Why don't you get them to actually determine levels of service, levels of selection. Novel idea you say, but can I trust the stats and what they really do. There are ways to monitor performance and build staff personality types that are interested in expanding your business, you would be surprised. However, every generation has a different style or response. See Boom, Bust and Echo by David Foot.

Staff not motivated to sell a higher sales $ of products.

In essence, we aligned the staff, customers and owners with a similar vision of unique products, available at a value with extra service that customers appreciated and told others. In certain product categories we outsold Wal-Mart, we even had their manager shop at our store for products.

Author: Daryl Des Marais

About the author:
Daryl Des Marais is a partner at http://www.usabusinessgrowth.com providing small business owners with marketing plans, business plans, customer plans, and strategy consultation.

Article source: Free Customer Service Articles.