Mike McKay
August 10, 2026
Number of Transactions is one of the 5 Ways. It’s also the one most owners ignore.
Because new customers feel exciting. The thrill of the chase and all that. Getting another sale from someone who already bought from you feels boring by comparison.
So, owners pour money into ads and lead gen, and they leave existing customers alone after the first sale.
That’s not taking care of your customer anyhow. They have already decided to trust you. They have already decided that you offer a good solution for them. But they most likely don’t know everything that you have to offer. And that is on you as an owner.
If you want to grow your company, build a system for repeat transactions. Not a campaign. Not a one-off email blast when cash is tight. A system. One that runs whether you’re paying attention to it or not.
Here’s how.
Start with the timing itself. When someone is already buying, that’s the best moment to offer them more.
Show them the next logical product or upgrade while they’re in buying mode. Package related items together, so the bigger purchase feels like the obvious choice instead of an upsell. Give people a reason to act now instead of later. Use a deadline, a seasonal push, or a limited run. None of this is complicated. Most businesses just don’t do it.
A word of warning. You can totally get carried away with this and almost turn it into a comedy. Kohls Department stores come to mind. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything there at “full price.” The strategy is fine; just realize you also can’t change that one. Ask JCPenney.
Next, look at how hard you’re making people work to buy from you. Every extra step in checkout costs you sales. Every missing payment option costs you sales. If a customer has to think, hesitate, or hunt for information, some percentage of them bail. Fix that first. It’s cheaper than generating more leads to replace the ones you’re losing at checkout.
You all have a “checkout” process, by the way. Whether that is signing a contract, filling out a form, standing in line, or doing something online, the intent here is to streamline the way people pay you, so you don’t slow down their purchase.
Email still has a job to do for you, but not just as a newsletter you send when you remember to.
Email is the simplest mechanism to keep you in front of people after the sale. You’ll recommend what they’ll need next, recover the cart they abandoned, or remind them of the loyalty perk that is sitting there unused.
Segment the list so people get messages relevant to what they actually bought. Automate it so it happens without you thinking about it. Email doesn’t fix a weak offer or a bad buying experience. It just amplifies whatever you’ve already built.
Build something worth amplifying first.
Don’t sleep on service either. Most owners treat service as a cost center. Something you do after the sale to avoid complaints.
But that’s the wrong way to think. It’s become almost a national sport to mock poor service from companies in the US. Everything from phone trees making it impossible to talk to a person, to subscriptions you can’t cancel without 4 hours on the phone.
You could make your service model great, though. Turn every service interaction into a chance to re-earn the customers’ trust and sell again.
Ask what they need next. Show them the full range you have to offer instead of hoping they stumble onto it. Stay in contact on a regular routine so you’re not a stranger by the time they’re ready to buy again. One sale is a transaction. A customer who buys from you every 90 days is a system. One that works for you.
The same process applies to promotions. Use them to reactivate people who’ve gone cold, move inventory, or reward your best customers. What you don’t do is run discounts constantly. Do that and you train your customers to wait you out. And that means you’re just giving money away.
We’ll talk about the average dollar sale next. Bigger transactions matter as much as more transactions. Give people a reason to spend more per visit and some of them will take it.
None of these levers work in isolation. The offer, the checkout, the follow-up, the service, and promotions. Together they become a machine. Build a machine and it keeps producing. Rely on a single tactic and you’re back to smoking “hopium.”