Return of the Mystery Flights

A few years ago airlines would sell “Mystery Flights”. They were cheap fares of $99 and used to fill up empty seats on aircraft that were scheduled to make a trip whether full or half empty.

For businesses that are owned or run by a married couple or a couple of partners these flights provided a great opportunity. You could get a notepad, board a Mystery Flight and have a great lunch at the destination before returning home, all in a day.

The benefit for the business was that invariably the topics of discussion were the business and the notebook came home with a wealth of great ideas, improvements and actions written in it.

In the last couple of weeks two clients have independently raised these types of brainstorming with me in separate discussions. So it seems like the mystery flights could be making a re-emergence.

Here are a couple of websites I found that offer them:

http://www.mysteryflights.com.au/

http://www.mysterytrips.com.au/MysteryFlight.aspx

The Anatomy of your business

Here is the answer to another question I recently received from an e-club member.

Fiona wrote:

I’d like a “list” of the various “departments” that a typical business should have.

I can think of

–          HR

–          Finance

• Accounts (in/out)
• Business position

–          Strategy & Planning

–          Production (ie the doing bit)

–          Marketing

• Branding
• Advertising

What else…????

Fiona – you got most of them – but here is the logic behind your answer.

There are 6 key areas that are common to virtually every business:

• Planning
• Administration
• Financial Management
• Marketing and sales (Sometimes these two are distinct enough to be separate)
• Staff
• Computers/IT

Then there are generally only 3-6 that are specific to the actual business

Eg A smash repairs shop

• Client Service
• Parts management
• Repairs
• Paintshop

Or a Retail Store

• Stock management (Purchasing etc)
• Store management (ie Shelf layout etc)
• Customer service

Or a Mortgage broker

• Client management
• Product evaluation and selection
• Loan Processing

Or a Real Estate Agent

• Property management
• Real Estate Sales
• Sales Support

To determine if you have the complete list, think of anything you do in your business and try to classify it logically under one of the headings. For example: redesigning your logo fits under marketing. Creating a training program or induction program fits under staff.

This is a valuable list and has many uses. It can form the basis for a logical computer directory structure. It can be the index for a filing system. It is also the index for your Procedures manual.

Your Upsell Funnel

When you get a new client you are an unproven quantity to them. We are all a little skeptical of the unknown and so we generally tread with caution and are more attune to evaluation of the product and service we are getting.

As our familiarity grows we become more trusting and the relationship counts for more than our exercise of caution and due diligence,

So what does all this philosophical hypothesizing have to do with your business.

Well, in many businesses you can create an Upsell Funnel. It works like this:

• A new potential customer hears about you from some aspect of your marketing.
• They are interested in what your business is offering
• You have an introductory offer or a free info pack or some way to make the first trial less risk.
• They take the trial and start experiencing what your business offers.
• They are treated so well and are so happy with the outcome that they buy again – but this time at full price.
• They are still happy and now they are a “seasoned repeat customer”
• They buy again with no hesitation because your business has proven itself to the customer

So here is where it gets interesting … for 2 reasons.

1. At this point the customer can become a raving advocate for your business and send others to you – these people who are sent bypass all the apprehension of the unknown because it is not unknown – even if it is not their own personal experience yet.
2. At this point the regular customer will trust your business and buy more frequently and larger dollar value items from you. They trust you with more of their money

The upsell funnel can move clients from a free introductory offer to higher and higher price points and frequency of purchase as they continue to work with you.

This is the challenge for you: What does your business sell that satisfies this advanced stage of the relationship with a client. If you don’t have something then maybe you can package some existing offerings together or design something new.

Have fun thinking about it … better still discuss it with your staff or even the right key clients.