Fifty Ways to Make More Money

Make a new plan, Stan

By Rich Lindblom, Contributor

I was recently asked to address a group of dealers on the subject of how to increase your sales.

As I sat in front of my laptop, wracking my brain for ideas, Paul Simon’s “Fifty Ways To Leave Your Lover” was playing in the background. It got me thinking how fitting it would be if I could come up with 50 ways for dealers to make more money.

So, without further ado, here’s my list — but I suggest you pull up the inspiring song and keep it playing in the background as you run through my suggestions.

1. Get a website. This may seem like it goes without saying, but in my time as an AVB member and as an AVB employee, I am continually shocked by how many dealers still don’t even have an information-only website. It doesn’t matter where you are located or how old your customers are, 90% of all transactions start online, so get a good website today.
2. Make your website transactional. Even though the vast majority of sales still take place in your store, you don’t want to risk losing that customer who is truly intent on buying online. As an added bonus, having a transactional website will drive more Google traffic to your showroom, which will naturally increase your sales as well.
3. Show pricing on your website. “Call for best price” is a huge turnoff to customers and the overwhelming majority interpret that as “Don’t bother calling because we are too high priced.”
4. Show competitive prices on your website. While showing a high price is better than showing no price at all, I would strongly urge you to show a competitive price (preferably the compliant price or something close to it), because many consumers are strictly shopping price and nothing else.
5. Get a connected point-of-sale system. A quality POS system will help you be more efficient with your time, eliminate pricing errors in your store and ensure that your people aren’t forgetting to charge for all of your services. 
6. Show your live inventory on your website. A connected POS system will allow you to push your live inventory directly to your website, which will improve your Google rankings and drive more traffic online and through your doors.
7. Charge more for what you sell. You don’t have to be the lowest-priced person in town and you certainly don’t need to be priced less than the competition. You just need to be competitive — close but not necessarily lower.
8. Charge for delivery. Your competition is probably charging for delivery and so should you.
9. Charge for setup or installation. Too many dealers are giving away services that their competition charges for.  
10. Charge more for setup or installation. Shop your competition and make sure you aren’t charging less for the same services.
11. Raise your service rates. On average, it costs you between $100 to $120 to send a service truck to a customer’s home. If you’re charging less than that for a service call, you are losing money on every truck roll.
12. Charge for handling the old product. Whether it’s hauling it away or just moving it somewhere else, your competition is getting paid extra for this, so why shouldn’t you?
13. Add a fuel surcharge. With gas prices so high, it costs your company more to perform deliveries and service calls. If there was one benefit to the pandemic, it’s that customers have become accustomed to fees and surcharges.
14. Turn trash into cash. After collecting your haul-away fee, you can generate even more cash from that old appliance. Whether you sell it to another reseller, refurbish it and sell it yourself or bring it to the local junkyard, there is money to be made in your scrap.
15. Embrace digital marketing. What worked 20 years ago doesn’t work today. Times have changed and you need to change with them. Digital marketing is the future. Embrace it and shift the majority of your advertising dollars to digital.
16. Sell more extended warranties. When you sell an extended warranty, you can often add 10% to your margins instantly and get the service calls on the back end as an added bonus.
17. Sell more add-ons. Stock PureWash, pedestals, drain pans, icemakers, water filters, laundry detergent and anything else you can think of. All those attachment sales add dollars to your bottom line.
18. Practice top-down selling. Rather than showing customers the lowest-priced product first, start by showing them the most expensive one. Your margins and dollars will both go up dramatically.
19. Trim the fat. One of the quickest ways to make more money is by eliminating any waste in your business, since lowering your costs means more money in your pocket. If you’re overstaffed, you can cut personnel or rework employee/store hours. Or it could simply be a matter of identifying and eliminating unnecessary expenses.
20. Change credit card processors. AVB has premier partners for credit card processing. Get a quote from them and see how much they can save you every month.
21. Use no-interest consumer financing. Switch credit card customers over to zero-percent interest financing and pay zero in fees, which puts more money in your pocket with every transaction.
22. Shop your expenses annually. Anything you’ve signed a contract or agreement for, including mobile phones, Internet access, insurance, trash hauling and rent, should be shopped around every time they come up for renewal. Again, lowering your costs means more money in your pocket.
23. Shop your parts vendor. The wholesale parts industry has become increasingly competitive. Make a list of your top-selling parts and shop it around to a couple of different parts distributors to see who will give you the best deal.
24. Ask for free shipping. Shipping costs on parts are a profit killer. Will one of your distributors offer you free shipping on parts orders? You’ll never know unless you ask.
25. Send out press releases. Google “How to write an effective press release.”
26. Suggest human interest stories. Talk to your local newspaper about running human interest stories highlighting your company, your employees or your accomplishments.
27. Use social media. Leverage the free power of social media, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and Pinterest, to promote your company.
28. Run contests. Use social media (see No. 27) to promote contests, sweepstakes, raffles and giveaways. Prizes can be overstock or obsolete merchandise, and ask your sales representative for an occasional freebie.
29. Sponsor a local charity. Align your company with one or more local charities and host fundraising events for them. Consider a car wash, silent auction, corn roast or wine & cheese tasting.
30. Create live events. Maybe it’s a grill fest in your parking lot or a gourmet cooking demo after store hours. These can be done on the cheap or even free, and promoted on social media at low or no cost as well. Ask your sales reps for help with either labor and/or costs.
31. Use service coupons. If a customer’s appliance is beyond repair, offer them a discount on the purchase of a new one from your store (must be same product and put a short time limit on it).  This will drive more sales, but don’t give the entire fee back; that’s simply not necessary.
32. Hold private sales. Host one or two a year. Send invitations by U.S. mail, addressed to your best customers (by name, not “Resident”) and hand-stamp the envelope. On average, you can do one to two weeks’ worth of business in a single day.
33. Hit every door with direct mail. Direct mail is still very effective, and it’s the cheapest and easiest way to get a mail message out to your marketplace. Recent studies show millennials actually prefer direct mail over any other marketing medium because they feel it is “trustworthy.”
34. Advertise as a group. Share a full-page ad in your local daily newspaper with other dealers. As long as you’re not in direct competition with each other, you have nothing to lose and will save money.
35. Get really creative. Think “outside the box” for really creative ideas, like sleeping on your roof or under a parking lot tent to promote one of your mattresses. The wackier the idea the better, as you want people to remember your stunts and to give them a reason to buy from you instead of your competitors.
36. Join your local chamber of commerce. Get in their referral booklet and participate in any networking or other events they sponsor.
37. Join local business groups. Get your name out there and learn to start using the power of networking.
38. Join and participate in a local social service organization. This is another way to network and keep your name in front of your community.
39. Add an outside salesperson. Or have one or more of your inside salespeople spend down time out on the street drumming up business.
40. Seek out local cabinet and countertop companies. Reach out to as many as you can find and suggest exchanging customer referrals.
41. Seek out local contractors and remodelers. See No. 40.
42. Get in touch with your local builders. Particularly custom home builders, and ask for the opportunity to be their go-to appliance supplier. Tout the advantages you offer that bigger retailers don’t, such as on-time delivery, professional installation and after-sale service.
43. Add new high-margin items to your product mix. Mattresses, gas grills and outdoor furniture are great options that don’t compete with the things you already sell.
44. Advertise custom installations. The big-box stores simply cannot handle difficult or custom installations. Capitalize on that and promote it.
45. Charge more for custom installations. If you do something that others don’t, you shouldn’t be afraid to charge a fair price for the work. Don’t undersell yourself.
46. Offer free measuring services. Many customers don’t know how to measure or will measure incorrectly if they try. Let customers know that you will have someone come out for free to measure for their new appliances.
47. Host an open house for builders, remodelers, contractors and realtors. Invite them to your store, show them what you have to offer and serve some complimentary food and drink for stopping by.
48. Be the local experts. Let your customers know that your employees are the best trained and most knowledgeable people around. Tout yourself as the local experts to come to for quality products and service.
49. Fill a void. Find areas where your competitors are either dropping the ball or missing the ball altogether and step in.
50. Take every deal. I don’t care what the margins are. I believe that dealers need to take every single sale that walks through their door. If you disagree, email me and I’ll be glad to explain my rationale.

I’m sure I missed a few ideas, but these should be a great place to start. Review the list and note what you are and aren’t doing.  Adopt a few of these suggestions and see just how much more money you and your company can make.

Rich Lindblom sold his family business, Advanced Maytag Home Appliance of Schaumburg, Ill., and now shares his 40-plus years of hard-won retail experience with BrandSource members as product manager for AVB’s SYNC point-of-sale system and as a regular columnist for YSN. You can reach Rich at rich.lindblom@avb.net.