2018 01 Increase sales largeOne in eight workers in the United States is a full-time salesperson.

With so many people working and competing for sales, how do you separate your business from the crowd and increase sales?

Getting the edge on the competition usually requires some hard work and even more creativity. But how do you know where to start?

Luckily, we have 10 great ideas you can implement immediate to increase sales. What are you waiting for? Dig in!

1. Work on Your Relationships

Relationships with your clients are the foundation of effective sales. [quotesright]When you focus on building a relationship rather than pushing immediately for the sale, you set yourself up for more successful relationships with your clients. [/quotesright]

Most leads do not want to make a purchase right away. They want some time to think and don't want to be bullied into parting with their money. [quotes]Being too pushy is a surefire way to drive away tomorrow’s loyal clients.[/quotes]

Instead, treat any contact with your customer or prospect as a relationship rather than a sales pitch. Listen to their needs and ask questions. Then, modify your sales pitch to show how you can meet those needs.

This will prove to your prospects that you understand what they're looking for. It also makes your pitch more convincing. Clients will see exactly how your product can help them.

Building strong relationships with clients takes more time and effort than more pushy sales tactics. It involves keeping in touch over time.

You'll want to check in with calls and emails, keeping the conversation going and giving them updates. (See my article on marketing automation for automatic ways to stay in touch.)

Though you'll be spending more time on each client, you will be raising the likelihood that you'll make a sale. This means you can spend less time prospecting new leads, and your clients are more likely to become repeat purchasers.

2. Ask for Referrals

People don't really trust sales representatives. Customers know they're biased. They're going to say that their product is the best one on the market; Have you ever had sale reps tell you any of their products suck?

[quotesright]Prospects are more likely to trust people who have used your product or service. [/quotesright] Sites like Yelp, Tripadvisor, and Amazon user reviews are used and read because of the truth you get from other users like yourself.

People you've worked with who can act as referrals are one of the best sources for increase sales.

We wrote before about getting great referrals for your business. Start incorporating these referrals into your standard marketing and watch your sales increase!

3. Work on SEO Optimization

Marketing is a lot easier when your customers come to you. Doing so starts with a great website since the web is one of the most common ways people find businesses. It’s the first thing they look at in evaluating your ability to solve a problem or meet a need.  [quotesright]Don’t make it good. Make it great. It’s your storefront and showroom. [/quotesright]

Case in point: 85 percent of consumers report using the Internet when looking for a local business

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is a great way to get your business noticed. By keeping SEO in mind when you design your website and create content, you can move up the Google search results page for your targeted keywords.

As you get closer to the top, you'll become more visible to potential customers. Since they're searching for the type of service you offer, they're already more likely to make a purchase.

Building an SEO plan is another excellent way to increase sales.

4. Start Automating

Salespeople spend almost half their working hours on things that are not actual sales. [quotesright]Drafting emails, researching potential leads, and scheduling and attending meetings are all big drains on their time. [/quotesright]

If you can take some of these time-consuming tasks off your plate, you can focus more time on selling.

Do you find that when you draft emails to potential leads, you're sending the same text over and over? Since you've spent so much time and effort perfecting your opening pitch, it makes sense to use the same one.

This is a perfect example of a task that can be automated. There are a ton of email management systems that allow you to set up automatic send-outs. You can usually even program follow-ups for leads who didn't respond or let your list know about special offers.  (See the “Funnels article in this month’s newsletter for more on email automation.)

All this would be time-consuming to do manually. With automatic software, you just have to devote a bit of time to start-up and maintenance.

When you automate your most basic office tasks, you can devote more of your attention to the task that really matters: sales!

5. Keep in Touch with Newsletters

[quotesright]Informative regular newsletters or periodic updates are fantastic ideas to increase sales. [/quotesright]

Encourage website visitors to sign up to your mailing list. Then, use this list to send out high-quality newsletters.

This will keep your current customers engaged. It will also build brand awareness for potential leads and is an important part of the relationship building we discussed earlier.

With newsletters, it's important to publish content that people want to read. If you send out low-quality content just for the sake of putting something out there, your clients will unsubscribe.

[quotes]Instead, think about what your clients want and what you can provide.[/quotes] Can you give tutorials or product reviews? Can you talk about conferences you've attended or what you're doing to improve your business?

Occasionally sending out information about sales or discounts is another way to keep potential buyers engaged.

6. Plan Smarter with Analytics

Do you know how many leads your website pulls in? How many sales did your last email campaign drive? Which subject lines perform better with your clients?

With analytics software, you can know the answer to all these questions.

[quotesright]Having the hard data about your business performance allows you to plan your marketing more effectively. [/quotesright] You can determine what's working well and what parts of your strategy need to be reconsidered.

Plus, you can spend your marketing budget more effectively. There isn't much sense in pouring money and time into developing content for Instagram if most of your leads come from Google searches.

With analytics, you can market more effectively and get the most bang for your buck. [quotesright]In turn, stronger marketing translates to increased sales. [/quotesright]

7. Collaborate with Market Influencers

A great way to promote your business is by working with market influencers in your field. This can include bloggers and social media stars. The important thing is that the person's following aligns with your target audience.

For example, imagine you provide gardening supplies. You could search for gardening bloggers in your local area. You could offer them free samples of your products to review or ask if they'd host some of your content.

[quotesright]The great thing about working with influencers is that you can take advantage of their engaged following. [/quotesright] Plus, they generally have a level of trust built with these followers. This means that their recommendation is more meaningful than an ad you put out.

8. Work with a Growth Hacker

Working with a growth hacker can help increase sales quickly and effectively. [quotes]They specialize in helping businesses grow. [/quotes] This means increasing brand presence as well as sales.

A growth hacker brings a ton of experience and an outside perspective. They can objectively analyze your business. They can show you what's working and what needs to be changed.

They can help you lay a strong foundation of ideas to increase sales now and in the long term. This means you can build a sustainable business model.

9. Focus on Current Customers

Too often, salespeople forget about a customer once they've made a sale. That's leaving money on the table! [quotesright]People who have purchased from you before are more likely to buy again and your cost of acquiring them is zero. [/quotesright]

Instead, devote time to look after customers who have already made a purchase. As long as they like the product or service your business provides, they'll be more likely to come back and purchase again in the future.

Incentives such as reward programs or free samples can increase customer loyalty. There are also other ways to provide value, such as offering technical support or having a blog with interesting and engaging articles.

Looking after your current customers rather than always chasing new ones helps you build a loyal base, increasing sales for the long term.

10. Get Your Team Onboard with Ideas to Increase Sales

[quotesright]To really make these ideas to increase sales effective, your sales team needs to be onboard. [/quotesright] They're going to be implementing changes as they interact with clients.

If they don't understand the changes you're making, they won't be able to use them effectively.

Have a team meeting to make sure that everyone understands the direction you want to go in and is ready to use your ideas to increase sales. Plus, open the floor for discussion. Your employees might have valuable insights to add and can help make your plans even more effective.

Wrapping Up

In this article, we've gone through 10 great ideas to increase sales that will work for virtually any business.  Even if you only apply one or two of these ideas at a time, you're taking big steps to build your business.

Do you want more ideas to increase sales? No matter how big or small your question, let's start a conversation. We're growth hackers who have helped thousands of businesses small reach higher sales, profit and meet their owners goals faster and more certainly than any other way.  Let's talk, contact: USA: 877.433.6225 feedback@focalpointcoaching.com

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