It’s fair to say that no business can perfectly gather 100% of possible conversions leading to sales. Perhaps a customer wishes to order a particular item from you, but it simply isn’t in stock, and they’re not happy to wait for you to order it. Could you have had it available? Well, possibly, but sometimes that’s just not how the circumstances play out. Perhaps you fulfilled a huge order of that same item a day beforehand, and now you’re out of luck. It’s best not to worry too much about circumstances like this unless they’re continually repeated.
But what about business sales that you possibly could have claimed, and yet failed to do so? This happens to all businesses, and while chastising yourself or your staff over one-off failures shouldn’t really factor into your response, it’s healthy to look for trends or patterns that allow you to make improvements and reduce their likelihood next time around.
In this post, we’ll discuss the three most common causes of lost business sales, and what to do about them:
Payment Processing Issues
Is there anything more annoying for a business and a customer than the payment failing or not being processed? It’s a lose sale and a lost buy that someone had decided on. When a customer can’t pay, that sale dies instantly and it’s unlikely they’re going to try several times over unless you’re the only person selling this item. It’s important to keep in mind that complicated checkout processes push people away.
Some businesses make payments feel like an obstacle course and it’s just not acceptable. That’s why making sure you have payment processing services by North in place is so important, as they can prevent embarrassing issues like this, especially during seasonal periods.
Failed Upselling
Good upselling feels like helpful advice, not a hard sell, and unfortunately not all staff are too aware of that distinction. For that you need to train them as opposed to just demanding it. Staff need to understand products well enough to make smart recommendations, and it requires knowing your inventory, understanding customer needs, and suggesting additions that actually improve their experience to help them feel like they’ve come away with a deal. Failing to train this, demanding too much from staff to push unrealistic targets, or a poorly timed or irrelevant suggestion can make customers feel pressured and walk away. That’s a failed possible sale, or at least one that doesn’t have the heft it could.
Unreasonable Waiting Times
Nobody likes waiting around for no reason. You can’t always help long lines, but you can certainly change capacity to limit slow service, or remove annoyances like unclear queuing systems. Make sure you take a look at your efficient staffing plans, and from there your clear communication about wait times, not to mention means to keep people engaged at the lat moment. In some service-based stores you might offer a quick coffee while they wait, or use digital queuing systems that let people know exactly when they’ll be served so they can stand away from the desk. Little techniques help take the bite out of waiting which can prevent someone from walking off, while you work on the process that made them wait to begin with.
With this advice, we hope you can avoid the most common causes of lost business sales.
