7 Tips to Boost Sales Now
Is your business struggling in this down economy? Here are seven tips for boosting sales you can implement right now:
1 - Focus On Your Most Profitable Customers
Selling to your existing customers is more effective than trying to attract new customers. Current customers already know your company and the products and services you offer. They don’t need to be persuaded to do business with you.
But it’s even more effective to focus on your most profitable customers, especially during an economic slump. Do you know who they are? It really pays to spend some time investigating this.
Using the old 80-20 rule, you’re probably getting 80% of your revenue from only 20% of your customers. How can you serve these customers better? What will it take to increase their spending with your company?
Start building relationships with these customers. Do a better job understanding what they are looking for, why they are buying from you, and tailor your solutions to their specific needs.
2 - Emphasize Your Most Profitable Products And Services
In the end, your business is, or should be, about profitability, not just sales. Not every product or service you sell makes an equal contribution to the bottom line. A detailed review can shed light on which products and services have the highest margins.
Emphasize these profitable products and services in your sales effort for maximum impact on your company’s bottom line. And don’t forget to look for opportunities to up sell and cross sell to your customers.
3 - Ask Your Customers What They Want
Don’t assume to know what your customers want. You have to ask. Ask your customers and prospects what they need and how they think about your firm and you’ll be in a better position to provide them with the right products and services.
Seize every opportunity to get feedback. Get the facts. And use what you learn to fine-tune what your company has to offer them. Real insight into your customers is an excellent way to gain competitive advantage. You have to outsmart the competition, especially in today’s economy.
4 - Value, not Price
Price is one thing, value is another. You don’t have to have the lowest price to get the sale. Review the difference your product or service makes in your customers’ lives or in their business. Does it make their life easier or better? Does it improve their business?
Quantifying these benefits in dollar terms can demonstrate the real value of your product and help reduce price objections.
Highlight the benefits of what you’re offering, rather than just listing the features. Help your customers better understand the value you’re offering and why the price is justified.
5 - Stand Out From The Competition
Keep in mind that your customers always have a choice about how and where to spend their money. Does your company stand out from the competition in a way that’s relevant to them? Or are you just another player in an already crowded field?
The economic downturn can be a terrific opportunity to take the initiative to stand out from the crowd. Spend some time learning about your competitors and look at them through your customers’ eyes.
Figure out what you do better than the competition, make sure it’s something your customers value and then run with it. Communicate clearly why your customers should choose your business over the competition.
6 - Launch A Direct Marketing Campaign
Many businesses do not communicate with their customers as well as they could. As a result, they miss out on potential sales. Build a relationship with your customers by providing them with frequent, relevant information about your company, your products and services.
Regular mailings or e-mails to your customers keep your message alive and increase awareness. If you use e-mail marketing, make sure to e-mail only to those customers who have given you permission to do so.
To reach beyond your existing customers you can purchase or rent targeted mailing lists that include your best prospective customers. Since repeat frequency is important, make sure to set up an on-going marketing communications program and commit to it.
7 - Be Persistent And Improve Your Follow-Up
The majority of sales are made on the fifth or later sales call, yet most salespeople give up after only two or three attempts. Don’t give up! Keep in front of your prospects with mailings, phone calls or opt-in e-mail. Be friendly and persistent. Improve your follow-up and you can increase sales from your current stream of prospects.
But Don’t Forget the Long Term
In the current economy your focus is on increasing sales right now. But don’t forget the longer term. Take time to reflect and think about why you’re in this situation in the first place. Of course, there are many external factors to blame, but are there any internal factors that made your business particularly vulnerable?
Now may be a perfect time to rethink your business, to make smart strategic decisions, change course and put your company on a new track towards sustainable, profitable growth.
Or as management expert Peter Drucker put it “.. the best way to predict the future is to create it.”
Trackback
•
Posted in Business Tips
|
|||||||||||||
Trackback
•
Posted in Business Tips
Trackback
•
Posted in Business Tips
5 Overlooked Ways To Market Your Work at Home Business
Everyone is always looking for more ways to market their business. You often hear about Pay Per Click advertising, writing articles, link exchanges, and a few other business marketing techniques that everyone uses. However, there are many other ways to market your business that a lot of people just don’t think of.
Here are five good business marketing techniques below that are often overlooked. Of course, many people do use them but there’s not nearly as much competition in these techniques as there is with some of the others. Plus, these marketing techniques are all either free or very near it. Getting traffic to your site for free or very little cost is always a good thing in my opinion.
Here are five ways to market your business that you may not have thought of before:
1) Enhanced Business Card – Get a business card with color, an eye catching background, and add your picture to it. Maybe you could also have a cool quote or a free offer on it, plus anything else you can think of to get peoples attention.
The point is you need to make it stand out among all the other business cards someone might see in a month. Make sure your website URL is on it in a highly noticable place. Then, leave it everywhere you can, and hand it out to everyone you meet.
2) Give away freebies - Underpromise and overdeliver! That is the best business marketing strategy ever thought up. Pretty much all the “big-dogs” use it in their marketing campaigns. You can too by giving away free stuff at your website, or in your newsletter, without telling anyone they will be receiving it.
Say someone visits your website from an ad you placed that didn’t mentioned anything about getting a free ebook. They will be absolutely delighted to find the extra free gift.This is a great way to get people to not only return to your site, but tell their friends about it too.
3) Sponsor Events - A great way to spread the word about your business is to sponsor events in your area. There are many games, events, charity drives, intramurals, little leagues, etc… That are just waiting for people like you to give a little bit of your money to help out.
You will usually get your business name on a T-shirt, a sign, a flyer, or something else related to the event. A lot of people will be seeing these events and YOUR business name. It’s a great way to drive local traffic to your online business website or offline business if you have one.
4) Blogs - Having your own business blog can be a great marketing tool. With a blog you can quickly and easily offer free business advice, information, fun stuff, resources, tips, or anything else you want.
If you have a very interesting and/or informative business blog people will keep returning for the great stuff that your blog offers. Update it every day or two with fresh info and you can build a strong following fairly quickly.
5) Guestbooks - There are many people that have guest books on their websites that you can sign. Most of them allow you to put a link to your website when signing. This can be a good way to bring some traffic to your site and get a one-way inbound link that those search engines really love.
Make sure you don’t just post a random comment or spam the guestbook. You should actually check out the website and leave a useful message. This will keep your reputation intact and provide the webmaster with usable information. A win-win situation!
Alright, now you are armed with five more work at home business marketing techniques to bring traffic to your website and customers to your business. Get going on them now so you can increase your profits this week!
Trackback
•
Posted in Business Tips
1