Enter the Front Door

The first impression campaign should continue with your front door. It is only a small piece of the picture, but an important one, which is all too often ignored.

How many shops have a sign on the door that says, Welcome, Please Come In and Browse, Welcome To Our place? Probably very few, yet such signs are inexpensive to have made and make a ‘friendly’ first impression.

Use the front door as a continuation of your window. If the windows are promoting a sale or special event, have a sign on, or over, the door relating to the event: Welcome to our spring clearance sale, or meet Tony the Jeans expert, etc. Sometimes a sign isn’t necessary to serve as a bridge. For example, you are promoting St Patrick’s Day in the window, all you would need on the door are shamrocks.

Not only should you have a welcome sign of some type on the outside of the door but you should also have a thank you sign on the inside that the customer sees on the way out. It might read, thank you for shopping with us, thanks for your support, have a safe trip home or we appreciate the time you spend with us.
Other than the single sign, your front door should be clean and provide a clear view into your shop. You want the passerby who is turned on by the window to have a good view of the interior when they approach the door.

Inside … a customer friendly store

• Your merchandise should be organised in such a way that customers will easily find what they want. The larger your shop the more directional signage you will need.
• It is important that your products be displayed so that you can maximise their appeal within the store. Identify those with very strong eye appeal and use them as a major focal point. Always have an interesting product or display featured up front and visible from the outside of the shop. It should be aimed at attracting the attention of passersby, and at grabbing the interest of customers walking through the front door. Try colour co-ordinating displays and merchandise.
• Whenever you have a limited sale, or if you have regular sale table, it should always be in the rear of the store so that customers will have to pass all of your other product displays to get to the bargains. You’ll never know how much additional business you will pick up this way.
• The aisles should be wide enough for customers to walk through without bumping into displays and counters.

Remember, the easier you make it for customers to shop with you, the more they will spend with you.   Rocket science really...

SILENT SELLING