05 Dec 5 Ways To Increase Sales Today
Whether you’re a small business, big business or a solopreneur it’s all about one thing; increasing the bottom line. Now for the sake of this article I’m not going to go into how to increase profits. That involves other activities such as cut expenses like payroll, supplies, marketing budget, etc. All of which on top of what needs to be done to increase sales. The title of this post is 5 Ways To Increase Sales Today. Although there are times when you may see the importance of cutting costs, I would like to focus on increasing production rather than retracting and playing safe. Because if you really start understanding the principle of “safe” in business it is actually risky. Staying safe is a speedy path to ground zero. You need to expand the production fast and make it sustainable while keeping it scalable. Lets dive into it.
- Call existing clients. Now I know this sounds very simple but I’m a very simple and practical business operator. Even though I love all the creative and social media driven business (more on that later) I’m also very practical and strongly believe in “old school” activities such as face to face contact and making calls. I’m assuming you’re a smart business and you actually collect your client’s data, be it via email, CRM or even the good old book of business (yes there are still businesses that have index cards for each of their clients with their name, phone, address, etc.) Whatever your data collecting method is, and there better be one, pick up the phone and call your existing client. Especially those that haven’t visited you or bought anything from you in more than whatever your standard for repeat business is. For some it’s 30 days, for some its quarterly, and some annually. Heck, I don’t care if they bought something from you yesterday. You should call them anyway to thank them and offer them a deep discount for another product or service as “today only”. It’s better to have 50% – 70% of something then 100% of nothing. This activity is a sure method to increase sales immediately. It’s a matter of numbers game.
- Social Media Promotion. Now whether you’re an offline brick and mortar business or an online brand, store or individual expert you mostly likely have an online presence on at least one Social Media platform. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or Snapchat…same applies to them all. Create a post, share it and have a CTA (call to action). Give your audience an offer they can’t refuse. Make it special; discounted offer, more value with their purchase than usual, or create an offer where they will buy an item at a discounted price (none of that 5 or 10% off garbage, you will be wasting your time and embarrassing yourself) and will receive an additional service or item for free which retails at fill in the blank. Make sure you PAY to promote this post. You want this notification to reach as many eye balls as possible immediately.
- Ask for referrals. Another stupid-simple approach but how many people are actually doing this? Most don’t. They feel it’s “begging” or “beneath them”. Really? I don’t know what type of profession they chose by feeling that way but I chose one where I’m proud of what I do and based on the service I provide for my clients I expect them to recommend me. When you’re proud of the work you do and see a genuinely happy customer it is your duty and obligation to ask for referrals. They are happy, they are probably recommending your service/product to other people already, BUT they are doing it on their time. Which is what you want anyway, word of mouth advertising. But here we are talking about boosting your sales TODAY so now this has to happen on your time and you have none to waste. Ask genuinely, politely and preferably before the service is rendered (if in person). Also, I highly recommend some kind of incentive for providing you with a referral. Banks, telephone companies and other major establishments do it all the time. Why not you?
- Email blast. This is another great way to disseminate your promotion fast. Send the email to your existing database of clients and let them know why they should revisit you now. Get creative with your offer and your writing skills. If you or someone in your organization can’t create compelling newsletters then hire a professional copy writer who will do this. It is worth the money you will spend many times over. There are a handful of Email Auto responders out there for a nominal fee that you can use if you’re not using one already. It’s a must have for ANY business. I’ve used 5 auto responders since 2009 and can highly recommend GetResponse.com which is what I use personally. If you’re a small business or solopreneur who is on a tight budget you can start with MailerLite.com. Email marketing is a very effective and reliable source of communication, productivity and increase retention with your existing clients.
- Generate new business. The 1st four recommendation out of the 5 Ways To Increase Sales Today were suggested to implement with your existing clients or audience. This 5th recommendation is about getting new clients, creating new sales. While there are hundreds of ways to generate new business I recommend sticking to what you already know and have done successfully. This will save you the time of learning something new only because we are focusing on creating more sales TODAY, immediately. My favorite method to generate more sales, if I’m doing most of my promotions online, is Facebook Ads. It’s the fastest way to get in front of the right set of eye balls. Based on the criteria Facebook allows me choose; zipcodes, profession, hobbies, interests and other I am more likely to succeed with my marketing than most methods out there.Here is a bonus tip for you, it’s part of the generate new business recommendation and can be listed as a whole new point of generating more sales. JV, joint venture, is a proven and scalable marketing method to increase sales immediately. There are different ways to do this but I’ll give you the simple break down. Find someone who already has an audience or client base that may be interested in what you’re selling. Work out an agreement with them to promote your product/service. This way you’re tapping into someone else’s established and trusted audience by leveraging the existing trust.
The idea is basic, spend more time on income producing activities. Too many business owners are micromanaging everything. From the hiring process to marketing and sales. When it comes to production a more of a military approach is required. Ready, Fire, Aim. The whole idea is to give your potential customer a reason to buy from you today. An incentive has to be enticing enough to make the decision immediately. The offer has to come with a fear of loss (only good for today or it won’t happen again) and it has to have a clear call-to-action.
What other immediate action steps do you know of that will create immediate sales? Comment below with your ideas and let me know.
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~ Raphael Mavi