Sales are perhaps the most important aspect to running a business. Without enough, your company will fold, but by focusing on bringing more sales in, your business can thrive and even grow.
Ben Westoby, sales strategy consultant and senior client manager here at Forbes Burton, has put together some tips on improving sales figures. Some will be more effective for certain types of companies than others. Try experimenting to see which works best for your business.
This is one of the most tried-and-tested sales methods around. Customers love a bargain, and the right offer can boost sales significantly.
Of course, directors need to be careful with what they discount so they avoid making a loss. Providing multibuy offers or being the cheapest to provide a trending item can be great ways to drum up more custom.
One particularly effective offer is to provide a free gift with certain purchases. While this can be useful as a means of offloading old stock though, you do need to ensure that it’s something that customers may actually want, otherwise the offer holds no sway whatsoever.
If you sell a service or product that you think customers may have some apprehension about purchasing, a guarantee is a perfect method to allay their fears.
Maybe customers think your service is too good to be true, or that your product may not work. This is an obstacle that awaits for anybody marketing a new innovative product. By offering money back if customers aren’t happy with the outcome, you remove any barrier that’s holding them back from purchase.
Attracting new customers can be difficult, and often costs more than looking after your existing client base.
If you have regular users, subscribers, or even just a mailing list, you have the ability to increase the value of each of your customers to your company.
Can you cross-sell another service or product, provide a loyalty scheme that rewards continued custom, or even offer a referral plan that pays customers to recommend others?
Show your existing customers that they’re valued and treat them with as much importance as new customers.
Just as customers love an incentive to buy, you’ll find your staff equally enjoy an incentive to sell.
If you employ dedicated salespeople, you may find that a financial incentive can help to boost motivation. Bonus schemes, sales competitions and other incentives can see you eke out that vital extra percentage out of your workforce.
If your product or service is fairly expensive, you may find that affordable payment plans offer your wares up to a whole new market.
The cost-of-living crisis hasn’t suddenly gone away, and people are still struggling with large utility bills, mortgages, and general inflation. Any means of spreading payments are often well received, providing of course, that they don’t incur sky-high interest as a result. Customers are rightfully more careful now about signing up for financial commitments that could see them rack up debt.
Each of these can potentially have a big impact if implemented correctly. If you’d like to discover solutions that are tailored specifically to your company and its needs, however, then the best thing you can do is contact Forbes Burton for a free consultation. Visit forbesburton.com for more details
