Diversify Your Product Offerings to Generate More Sales

By Allan Pulga

Cellular retailers have a variety of reasons to diversify, to carry more than just cellphones and accessories. Some want to expand their growth opportunities and sell new items, others are trying to spread the business risk if they’re experiencing or expecting a downturn.

The prospect of selling popular electronic goods like iPods, TVs and stereo systems doesn’t seem like too broad of a stretch for an established cellphone dealer. Neither does expanding service lineups to include wireless Internet services, corporate cellular plans, or a host of other related technological offerings.

The experts at JustStartUps.com say that whatever the reasons behind your wish to diversify, you have essentially three options:

1. Find new products or services for existing customers.

2. Find new customers for existing products.

3. Find new products for new markets.

Spreading your risk across multiple offerings and multiple customer bases can help protect you from business threats outside your control – you have more channels from which to generate revenue. But first, you need to consider all the angles.

1. Finding new products for existing customers:

• Make full use of available market knowledge (about competitors and existing customers). Look closely at the competition – learn from others’ mistakes and successes.
• Think about how customers use your current offering and what you could offer to increase or assist their usage. The farther you stray away from your core, the less likely products will sell.
• Be creative. Think outside the box, literally.
• Run a contest for staff to encourage them to submit ideas.
• Do some research with your existing customers – they may have some ideas too.
• You don’t necessarily need to develop the new offering yourself. In you can source an existing supplier, why not set up a resale or other relationship with them?
• Test-marketing that new product line or offering a prototype of your new service is a smart way to get an initial feel for demand.

2. Finding new customers for existing products:

• Do you want to find new types of customers in the local area?
• Test the market to a number of different potential profiles and evaluate the results using factors such as ease of access to the customers, ease of sale, volume of sales and customer satisfaction.
• Do you want to attract a similar profile of customer at a different location?
• Be prepared to do some research on the new area to understand any local peculiarities, limitations or particularly strong competitors that may affect your plans.

3. Finding new products for new markets:

• This is generally viewed as the most risky proposition as it has the most unknown factors.
• It widens and therefore strengthens the base of your business.
• Take care not to dilute your core product and existing expertise.