- Preprint and Pitch
Preprint a bunch of tickets and ask your team to offer these to customers who don’t ask for lottery products. Keep the price low – under $5.00. Include the ticket value in the pitch. “Would you like a $3.00 ticket in tonight’s lottery?” Hold the ticket. This approach makes it a fast sale for them. We have seen customers say no to a lottery up-sell if they see congestion at the terminal or if they have to make a decision on price. Do these things for them and drive sales growth.
Package for Seasons
Refresh your lottery offer with the seasonal card stock. Create a Mum’s lucky pack for Mother’s Day, a Dad’s lucky pack for Father’s Day. Be sure to include several different games and some instant scratch tickets
- Clever Poster Placement
Lottery companies want you to provide the full range of games. Customers tend to react better to the opportunity which delivers the best reward. We have found that promoting Powerball and Super 7’s Oz Lotto jackpots is more successful. If there is a jackpot, go hard with your promotion and put up three or four posters for this. While the lottery people will still want other games promoted, you will make more from the bold display
- Scratchie of the Week
Feature a different scratchie each week on a small display at the counter. Make sure that everyone on your team knows how the game is played. Create an A4 counter poster to promote the scratchie – suggest reasons to give it as a gift – for fun, to say thanks or as a birthday gift.
- Sell Syndicates
A consistent commitment to syndicates will develop a community of regulars. In some areas we have seen these regulars bring others in. Keep your syndicates simple and at a price point appropriate to your demographic. Ask your regular lottery customers, they’ll tell you!
- Track Your Sales
Track your lottery sales by game. Let your team know these numbers. Make sure they know which products you would like pushed. Providing visibility of this could help get them on board and drive better results for the business.
- Promote Elsewhere
If there is a new product or a jackpot, promote this elsewhere in your business – at the newspaper stand or at a business magazine display. Let customers know. Give the small poster context, create an A4 template and head it with something like LOTTO NEWS or BREAKING NEWS. Write some words which are a call to action – for them to purchase, today, from you.
- Upsell
Yes, this is the hardest thing to do at the counter. However, it works with lottery sales. Help your team find the words that work for them. The suggesting approach is good – “Have you tried this new scratchie?” “Did you know that Oz is $20 million this week?” Or, the very basic – “would you like a $3.00 Lotto ticket with that?” This last one is about having a small value up-sell but it has to be for a game they have not bought. Keep the price low!
- Second Chance Draw
Have a place where customers can write their name and number on the back of a non winning ticket to go into the weekly or fortnightly second chance draw. The prize does not have to be big. This kind of promotion will bring people back in to see if they have won.
- Promote on the Receipt
Your receipt from regular sales should include a lottery pitch. It is free advertising for you.
- How Would You Spend It?
Ask your customers how they would spend first prize. Run a competition. Maybe get them to draw this. Give a ticket as first prize. Selling the dream is crucial in successful lottery sales.
- White Board News
To create a sense of immediacy around the lottery products you sell, consider a small white board on which you list the current jackpots and other news. This shows the range of products where your more formal marketing lists one product per poster. You could also include local notes such as when you sell second and third division prizes. The key is to create some buzz around the offer.
- Lucky Lottery Shopper
Consider offering a weekly prize for a lucky shopper you photograph. Put their photo on the wall and if they come in within the week they get a free small prize. This does not need to be a fancy offer. It is another small way you are building some excitement about shopping at your shop.
- Include Lottery Products in Gift Packs
For Mother’s day, include a lottery ticket or scratch tickets in a gift pack along with other products such as chocolate, a magazine, a pen – or all three. Do the same with Father’s Day, Christmas and Valentines Day.