Devon 20 Days 15
PLANNING & PROMOTION GUIDELINES
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The success of your DEVON DAY promotion is simply. The following notes have been put together to help maximise the outcomes and increase the potential for success of your event.
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k e y to S U C C E S S 1. an agreed and focused objective 2. clear communication 3. excellent planning 4. strategic promotion 5. professional presentation 6. diligent follow up
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Planning
Well planned DEVON Day(s) provide a focused activity and opportunity to: Create a point of difference When you launch a new product or ask customers to engage with your business in a new way, this sets you apart from your competition. Planning for your DEVON Day compels us to identify something new or different that offers value to our customers.
Create new content and communication opportunities One of the easiest ways to create new content for our customers is to create news. DEVON Days are focused on promotion and news in relation to products, materials, outdoor trends and brand positioning.
Create up-sell and cross-sell opportunities When you package or bundle products around a theme at a DEVON Day, you can often generate sales of multiple items rather than a single item.Â
Drive customer decision making Limited availability offers can create a sense of scarcity in your customers that get them to act. When combined with new content that helps customers clearly see the benefits of what we are promoting, we can create compelling reasons to buy now.
Create word-of-mouth opportunities Our regular customers are almost always in a routine to buy from us. A DEVON Day affords our regular customers a new reason to be surprised and delighted by our products and your business which gets them to talk about us to their friends.
Create training opportunities for staff Retail sales staff (or any employees who have direct contact with customers), can fall into a routine and lose the enthusiasm in their voice. A DEVON Day gives us a chance to train, prepare, re-invigorate and motivate them in relation product and sales technique.
Grow revenue DEVON Day promotions are a great way to build sales momentum and produce revenue growth.
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S t r at e g y
Clearly define the OFFER / TERMS & CONDITIONS & PROCESS for our Devon Day. The main factors you need to consider are: Objective: Why have a Devon Day? What are you trying to achieve? How much will you spend on stock and promotional materials, which sales channels will you use, will you have special offers during the course of the campaign, and possibly extra goals and bonuses for the sales team.
Action: Who needs to do what by when to achieve your desired objectives and outcomes?
Who: Who is the Devon Day aimed at?
Timing: Having a Devon Day (pre-summer season) will promote your products in time for your busiest period for selling outdoor furniture. Start and finish - is there any further benefits to customers post- Devon Day??
Key personnel: Who are your key personnel in your organisation to follow through Devon Day and follow up? For example, Who will plan and implement your Devon Day and will they also measure and report success of Day?
Support: What sort of back-up is required in terms of advertising, administration, sales, stock holding etc?
Assessment: How will you measure the success of your Devon Day? What data will you collect and how? (Number of items sold, number of return customers post Devon Day?)
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Objective
Detail the objectives of your Devon Day. The Devon Days are designed as short-term promotion strategies with long-term benefits for you and your customers. The Devon Day aims to: •
Accelerate sales of products
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Clear old stock
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Level out peaks and troughs to sale figures
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Develop Customer loyalty
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Motivate your sales staff
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Provide healthy competition in your market place through offsetting competitor activities and building your profile as the outdoor furniture retailer in your marketplace and locality
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Build brand awareness
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P r o d uc t p r o m o t i o n
PROMOTION of your products and the DEVON DAY. Select a sales promotion format that suits you and your Devon product promotion. Some promotion activities you might wish to consider include sales coupons, rebates, price reduction, loyalty programs or contests. Decide if the promotion is available to anyone who walks in the door or at certain spending limits. In many cases, promotions that reward only certain customers may discourage the rest of your customers. A more well-rounded promotion is multilevel, offering something for everyone. For example, allow all customers to receive a percentage savings on a purchase rather than offering only to those who spend more than a certain $ value or who have made previous purchases. Maintain the momentum. A short-term promotion can lead nowhere if there is not follow up. In order to build and sustain awareness, keep likely customers informed of the Devon Day offers, products and in the range and encourage them with other offers (cross promotion?). At the end of the Devon Day, publish the results and send them to all staff and the Devon team.
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P r o m o t i n g y o u r DEVON DAY
Promoting your Devon Day early will be a key to success on the Day. Raising awareness with your potential customers regarding the timing and scope of the event through: • PRINT - Newspaper / Flyer / letterbox drop • RADIO - popular personality to do voice over • DIGITAL - Facebook / Instagram / Pinterest... • POINT OF SALE RESOURCES brochures on the counter, displays advertising the upcoming Devon Day. • CROSS PROMOTION - With other retailers who may come on-board with your promotion to promote their wares and services, for example, wine sellers, other outdoor products and service providers (landscape architects & designers / landscape contractors). Any up and coming architects or designers who would be willing to give of their time to promote Devon Day/Devon products in the hope that they will pick up some work as well? Perhaps contact local universities / Design Schools for students or others that may wish to be involved? Gives a different dimension to our Devon Day and gives them experience and / or exposure and/ or work.
CONN & GEECT SOCI T AL
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DEVON DAY G U IDELINE S
Develop a quick checklist or guide for the Devon Day including: Key Store Contact Who is the point of contact for planning and implementation of the Devon Day?
Person in Charge of Orders Nominate person to take all orders on the day and ideally follow up on orders after the Devon Day. Taking Orders - have a streamlined process ready to go on the Day.
Follow Up Be clear about who is following up on orders and time frames within which this can reasonably be achieved. Don’t over promise to customers - better to over-deliver!
Staffing Sales Have enough coverage of staff familiar with details of Devon product
Housekeeping Nominate someone to make sure everything is looking spic and span on the day (all day)
Start & Finish Times Allow enough time for everything to flow smoothly on the day. Place a tight time line on the sales promotion to encourage customers to buy as soon as possible. Setting an end-date after a short period of time also allows you to take time to look at the results of the sales promotion to assure that it's a beneficial idea for your business.
Set Up Procedures A Devon representative will work through this to personalize the Devon Day to your store, your needs and your customer needs.
Marketing Resources Devon Outdoor Furniture has provided the “Retail Specialists Sales and Marketing Support” folder with all product information and brand guidelines that will be useful on the day. POS resources are available for use in store and to assist with store display set up.
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DEVON DAY G U IDELINE S ( c o n t i n u e d )
Staff Training Staff will need to familiarise themselves with the above mentioned folder and all current items in the Devon range. Feature and Benefits sheets have been developed for this season’s range that gives a full description of each item. Staff will need to be familiar with these F&B sheets and have it at hand as a ready reference to respond to any questions from clients. You may wish to also think about how you can motivate your sales team to make the Devon Day succeed. Without cooperation from the salespeople in the trenches, even the best-planned campaign will fail. So most sales campaigns are best accompanied by some extra compensation for the sales team. The easiest and possibly most motivating tool is, of course, cash. Or you might set up a contest, where the salesperson who sells the most units of a particular product gets a bonus. If funding is running a bit short, you can also try some non-monetary rewards. If you're not sure what to offer the sales team, go to the source – ask your salespeople what kinds of rewards (other than cash) they'd like to get. Create incentives for your employees. In order to encourage your staff to advertise the Devon Day, consider offering employee incentives for participation. Possible incentives might include a bonus for promotional product sales, free products to high sellers or a gift card for the salesperson with the highest sales during the promotion.
Checking Available Stock Levels It might seem like a basic thing - but is something you don’t want to overlook. We want to focus our sales activities on products that we know are available – ideally items that you have in stock in your warehouse or those which can easily accessed (via SIMS facility) and deliver to clients in a timely manner. We want to avoid at all costs any difficult conversations regarding inability to supply.
Allocate Stock for the DEVON DAY Promotion We can allocate stock for items which you want to promote or target the sale of on the DEVON Day. This needs to be agreed prior to the day and accurate sales data needs to be maintained through the event.
Data Collection for Future Promotion & Cross Sales Have a think about what data will be most useful to you. Best selling items? Return customers? Income on the Devon Day? Number of orders placed? Find out which form of advertising was most useful to get people into your store e.g. Ask your customer to mention a saying or where they learned about the promotion as a condition of receiving the discount.
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Gather contact information from each customer who takes advantage of the sales promotion if possible, such as an email address or phone number, so that you can contact the buyer later to ask what the person thought of the product or service. Ask questions of customers who visit or call your small business because of the promotion. Besides learning how they heard about your company or product, ask what has prevented the customer from trying the product in the past.
Image Display Often it is not feasible due to floor space in store to display all items in the DEVON Collection, an effective means to display to your customers is through having a means to display the DEVON website and or image files via an iPAD or Display Screen. Let’s explore options for setting up this means of display for the DEVON Day or through the season.
Draw Entry Forms Define the rules and scope of the promotion. Post a specific time frame or deadline. Explain how consumers win and how prizes are distributed for contests or when sales end. Clearly state any availability issues. For example, if the offer is only available online or only in stores, it should be stated as such.
Linking Event with LOCAL Organisation Are there any local organisations with a high profile or a that would like to use the event as a fund raiser by providing catering (e.g. Sausage Sizzle or home baked cakes and drinks). This gets you into their network, gives you the image of being a part of the local community and also provides refreshments to your Customers. Your store could provide a donation to the organisation based on sales at the Devon Day?
i n su m m a r y
The Devon Day promotion is a very specific effort to promote Devon products or service to your previous and potential customers. The promotion includes an offer to your customers to encourage them to purchase the Devon furniture. To assure the success of a sales promotion, it's important to manage and monitor its progress closely.
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KEY A C TIVITIE S
TIME LINE
DEVON RETAILER
DEVON / SIMS
2 MONTHS OUT
• PLAN ACTIVITY & AGREE: OFFER / THEME / TERMS & CONDITIONS / BUDGET / INPUTS / FLOOR STOCK • APPOINT STAFF FOR COORDINATION OF THE DEVON DAY • APPOINT STAFF FOR COMMUNICATION, MARKETING AND PROMOTION
1 MONTH OUT
• EVENT MARKETING & PROMOTION COMMENCES (SOCIAL MEDIA)
• COMMENCE SOCIAL MEDIA
2 WEEKS OUT
• EVENT MARKETING & PROMOTION INCREASES (SOCIAL MEDIA)
• FLOOR STOCK DISPATCHED
1 WEEK OUT
• EVENT MARKETING & PROMOTION INCREASES (PRINT & RADIO)
• POS RESOURCES DISPATCHED
• DEVON RETAILER PRODUCT TRAINING COMMENCES
• DEVON FLOOR STOCK ARRIVES AT STORE
3 DAYS OUT
• EVENT MARKETING & PROMOTION PEEKS (SOCIAL MEDIA / PRINT & RADIO)
• ALLOCATE / RESERVE PRODUCTS FOR THE DEVON DAY PROMOTION
1 DAY OUT
• SET UP STORE & ASSOCIATED DISPLAYS
• SET UP AND TRAINING OF STAFF (PRODUCT, MATERIALS, TRENDS, KEY SELLING POINTS) • SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS
EVENT DAY (S)
• DEVON DAY – SALES • RECORD ORDERS • CUSTOMER DATA / PRODUCT FEEDBACK RECORD • SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS (PHOTOGRAPHS)
1 DAY AFTER
• CONSOLIDATE & PROCESS ORDERS • UNDERTAKE A REVIEW OF THE DEVON DAY – WHAT WORKED / WHAT DIIDN’T / HOW CAN WE IMPROVE
1–3 WEEKS
• STORE DELIVERS PRODUCT
1 MONTH AFTER
• PRODUCT DISPATCHED • UN-ALLOCATED STOCK RETURNED TO GENERAL DEVON STOCK
AFTER
• CUSTOMER FOLLOW UP SERVICE
• DEVON EMAIL FOLLOW UP
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SIMS DISTRIBUTING Freephone: 0800 84 82 80 | sales@sims-distributing.co.nz
www.devonlifestyle.com