Using Promo Items to Drive Sales
By Allan Pulga
Everybody likes a little bit extra. In fact, the “extra” is often what it takes to pull a customer away from the competition. As always, differentiation is the key in cellular retail. Offering something as free and popular as an MP3 player (with a new activation) or free iTunes credits (with the purchase of a new music phone) could be all it takes to attract a new handset buyer.
“It’s the ‘carrot and stick’ theory refined over years of trial and error, by legions of smart marketers and savvy merchandisers – all to improve the success of their sales programs,” explains Philip Adler, president of Mpell Solutions, in a recent issue of the Tracpoint Wireless Fas Trac Newsletter*
“It works because people can often be persuaded to change loyalties and behavior, or act when given a good enough reason to do so.”
Adler lists four reasons retailers implement promotional give-away items:
1. Instilling a sense of urgency in customers,
2. Increasing customer loyalty,
3. Differentiate the company’s ads from those of competitors,
4. Making the advertisement unmatchable by competitors.
He says incentives programs have been successfully implemented in nearly every major industry imaginable and few industries have seen as much success as the wireless industry. “Think about it,” he adds. “Nearly every one of the millions of wireless phones out there was sold with an incentive to buy. It’s allowed us to sell huge numbers of activations, handsets and accessories.
“It’s allowed us to reach highly responsive customers, and entice them to buy at rates that far-exceed traditional marketing.”
Adler describes an Mpell promotion (“Kick the Home Phone Habit”) that helped Motorola/Cricket exceeded a sales and activation goal of 30,000 Motorola handsets over a 5 week period. The promotion was extended an additional week with over 61,000 handsets sold.
Whether these programs are used to introduce new products, generate traffic, or pick up slow sales seasons/items, they “will help you achieve breakthrough results and surpass your sales objectives by introducing your products and services to highly responsive consumers – and they can be quick and cost effective.”