Let them know that having them as happy customers of your business is very important to you. That you would like to take a little time to understand their needs a little better. That you like to make sure you give them most appropriate, best-value answer to their needs. It normally doesn't take much time to gain an understanding of customers needs, and to work out what best solutions are. You can then 'play back' to them what you understand about their requirements, and recommend appropriate solutions. With an explanation. "Product X is $20 cheaper now, but refills cost twice as much. At your rate of use it will cost you more inside 12 months" "If you're planning on vacationing in tropics, a pure cotton would be cooler than a heavyweight mixture" "That bike will last 20 years, but your son will be too big for it in a year, why not look at next size?"

If you really care about your customer, it will show. If you really give good advice, most often it will be appreciated. Appreciative customers are happy customers. Happy customers are repeat customers. And happy customers refer other people to you.

Do yourself a favor. DON'T give customers what they WANT. If you want to be a professional, help them discover what they NEED.

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When will you run promotion? Leading up to an annual event, particular month, permanently, every week on your quietest sales day, etc. Consider starting and promoting it long before event so people have a good opportunity to take up promotion offered.

Where will you promote promotion? Online, offline, both, webpages, email, pop-up ads, traditional mail, advertising, newspapers, magazines, mailshots, etc.

What resources will you need to run promotion? people, online facilities, offline facilities, time, overall cost, physical space, computer software/hardware, literature design, instore space, materials, printing, events, event staff, etc. Are there any other elements you should consider? Yes, particularly element of time. Depending on promotion you do it may be beneficial to introduce element of time to lever potential customer into buying now. It stands to reason that if offer is only available for a limited time it makes it more special and urgent. e.g. Offer valid until given date, buy today and get x, today only, etc.

Don’t be afraid to experiment with descriptions and tone of voice you use. Study promotions elsewhere, particularly suppliers who tend to use a more direct approach, to see what effect they have on you and if you should adopt their approach.

And finally, if promotion doesn’t get you desired results, figure out why and change it. The more you experiment to find what offers work, more you will understand your market, their needs and desires. Armed with this valuable information everything you do in future will be targeted more effectively.

Some tips: You can run a promotion at any time. Try to design promotion to get maximum results for minimum effort and resources. It can be as simple as you want it to be. See our website for a simple example. Consider how much ongoing time you will need to allocate to promotion. Will it increase at times, etc.? Can you measure and monitor results accurately? Will it be easy to update and tailor offer quickly.

Good luck!

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