Photo by Danielle MacInnes

More Offers = More Sales

The secret to coffee sales is simple: Make More Offers! I’ve heard this idea called ABL, or “Always Be Launching.” The more you make offers to your customers, the more they will buy, which is successful for two reasons: novelty and the power of statistics.

The Novelty Factor

We humans like new things! There’s a reason that every time big tech companies release a new product, people line up and camp out the night before, even if they already have a similar product. In the coffee world, we see this with pumpkin spice lattes, limited releases, and cool collabs. Don’t you get excited when your favorite roasting company does something new? There’s almost no limit to how excited we get over new things, which means that the more new things you as a coffee business offer, the more your customers will buy.

Simple Statistics

At risk of oversimplifying this point, the other reason that frequent offers or launches are pretty much guaranteed to increase your sales is the power of statistics. If you make three sales for every 10 people who see your email offering a new product, you’ll make sales in direct relationship to how many times you offer a new product! It’s your choice: once or twice a year, or every few weeks? 

How much coffee do you want to sell? It’s entirely up to you!

My Offer Brainstorm

During my marketing masterclass in May (the replay of which is available on my website), I created a huge brainstorm of Offer/Launch ideas for every type of coffee business, from coffee shops to coffee producers to consultants. You can get it free by emailing me at emily@catalystcoffeeconsulting.com and asking!

Photo of Emily McIntyre: @coffeecatalyst

What Makes a Good Offer or Launch?

While it’s tempting to try and make every launch huge, it’s better to vary the type of launches or offers as much as possible. Creativity is essential and the whole process can be incredibly fun both for teams and solo entrepreneurs. 

A great launch could be something as simple as making a big deal about expanding your open hours or free shipping for a holiday, or it could be as involved as a cross-border collaboration with a competitor or a complete new product line. The key here is to:

Come up with something new (or revive something old) that’s worth noticing.

Tell everyone about it. Absolutely talk it up on social media, in your brick-and-mortar spaces, by email, and on your website, and don’t forget to do PR around it—journalists
and editors want to hear about novelty as much as your customers do.

Track your results, learn everything you can, and do it all again! Be consistent. It takes time to become a go-to source of delight for your customers and their friends. Also, be patient, because momentum takes time to build.

The Power of Deadlines & Scarcity

If you haven’t already been using deadlines in combination with scarcity to close your sales, you’re going to love what happens when you try it—after all, we humans are driven by FOMO, or Fear of Missing Out. If someone is already leaning toward buying from you and there is a deadline to make the decision and/or limited quantities, they will be more likely to make the purchase. 

One simple way to use deadlines is to send an email announcement and offer a discount if the customer buys by a certain date (3–7 days out is good). Then, send another email to remind them a day or two later and explain what benefits they will get from it, and another an hour or two before the discount goes away. (I usually get up to 50% of my sales right at that moment.) The nudge of urgency helps your customers make decisions.

Important Metrics

Even if you’re not data-driven, you should still track your results from your offers so that you can improve with each one. At a minimum, I recommend you keep track of the ways you promoted the offer, any responses you got from customers, and your final number of sales. If you care to track results for each channel (e.g. email vs. in-person sales), then it is even more educational.

STAY TUNED for Coffee Marketing, Part 3!

READ Coffee Marketing, Part 1: Introducing The World’s First Coffee Marketing System

READ Coffee Marketing, Part 3: How to Start a Coffee Brand

Emily McIntyre is CEO of coffee importer Catalyst Trade and creator of the world’s first coffee marketing system, which can be found at catalystcoffeeconsulting.com. Get in touch at emily@catalystcoffeeconsulting.com