Raise Your Average Order Value - The Carpet Cleaning College

Increase your prices – a 1% increase in your prices could mean a 10% increase in profits. Isn’t that good to know?
Up sell – you are missing out on easy money if you are not up-selling whenever you can do so ethically and with a clear conscience.
Sell add ons – what else can you sell that links nicely with your existing product ranges?
Use a checklist – make sure you don’t miss out on those extras the customer may want. Why not make up a “How to” booklet listing everything needed to complete the task at hand and advise them you sell all items?
Use questions to ensure your product hits the mark – this makes the price seem much less important
Allow payment terms / credit – people will often spend more on credit as it’s not such a lump sum to find all in one go.
Carry exclusive lines – what ranges can you carry that no-one else does? You can always charge a premium for these.
Impulse buys – just like the sweets by the checkout in our supermarkets, what else can you offer while their wallets are out or their check book is in their hands?
Create package deals – group items together for a discount. Our prospects buy more, you sell more. Result!
Create bulk buy deals – encourage larger purchases. These are great if travelling time and costs are applicable to offset those costs.
Gift with XX purchase – offer a free gift or discounted up-sell if they buy a premium product or service
Make sure clients know your full product and service list
Sell service or maintenance contracts – this would work well for just about every business, for example carpet cleaning, plumbing, accountancy, legal retainers etc
Sell extra warranty / insurance – there is nothing stopping you making up your own insurance policy. For example for carpet cleaning if you have a customer with a really nice expensive carpet you could sell immediate stain call outs warranty for say £150 per year where you would guarantee to be there within 12 hours in case of a stain.
Train your team to up sell if you can do so fairly – many businesses don’t like up selling but if the up sell is in the customers’ interests, wouldn’t they really want to know?
Use sales scripts – perfectly the perfect sales system that ensure the right result every time is essential to helping you add more money to very order. Practice those sales scripts until you get them perfect.
Have a minimum order amount – most businesses should have a point below which the order is not worth processing, but what would happen if you raised your minimum order amount by just a little year on year?
Create a level based pricing system – the more you want the more you pay. For example, the more luxury you want on air travel, the more you pay; economy class, first class, business class etc
Create higher priced packages – this is what Walt Disney does with their “Fast Track” ticket where you get onto the rides quicker rather than having to queue. Most won’t go for it but some will always be prepared to pay a premium for it. Can you do something similar?
Create a quality image so you can charge more – This is easy to do and has long lasting effects. Let’s face it, no one will pay a premium for poor service, advertising, branding etc
Only service ‘A’ and “B” grade customers and try and get C grade customers up to a B grade – only serve those customers who you want as customers. You will never be able to raise your prices servicing people who can’t afford you anyway.
Sack D grade customers – D stands for “Ditch.” Enough said.
Build rapport – the better you get to know your customers the more you wil be able to charge and the more they will trust you when you recommend up sells or cross sells etc.
Treat customers as special – because they are right?
Set a target average £££ sale goal
Measure the average £££ sale
Team incentives for bigger sales – just be really careful to monitor closely to avoid up sells and cross sells just to hit targets.
Stop discounting – offering things at a discount when you have worked out your business maths is fine (when was the last time you bought a full priced Dominoes or DFS sofa?) This is totally different than lowering the price willy nilly at the quote stage. Hold your nerve and ask what you want for your goods or services.
It is fine to charge more for your goods or services as long as you have an excellent strategy to promote the benefits of choosing you
Add value on every sale – people rarely want the very cheapest possible (believe it or not.) The vast majority of consumers want a great value product. Your job is to show the value you offer, not offer the lowest priced goods or services.
Give away perceived value – if you want to sell more add items that don’t cost a lot but has high “thought of” value
Educate on value, not price – as stated previously, people generally want value not price, so tell people why you offer the best value.
Ask people to buy some more – sounds obvious (so do it!)
4 for the price of 3 offers – as with all offers ensure you have your costs properly worked out.
Buy two get one free offers
Professional “Impact Folder” – this is the presentation folder you show to your new prospects. A professional presentation “Impact Pack” will dramatically reduce the question of price … and once it is made up you can keep on using it time and again so it is worth taking your time to prepare a terrific one.
Quality vehicle appearance – seriously, don’t underestimate this.
Use your quote form to lead the customer all the way through the quote process to the only natural conclusion of choosing you – since you have led the prospect through the quote form and got them really yearning for your products or services then price will not be as important.