For a lot of businesses, regardless of if they are a start up or an established business, How Do you Increase Sales is a question that is at the forefront of the minds of the stakeholders of the business. In this age of the internet it presents a number of unique opportunities for businesses to leverage the power of the internet. It allows small businesses to present themselves as if they are much larger than they actually are.
As well as the standard ways of developing sales that most businesses use - the business website has become a very important element of the process of being able to increase sales in a company. It is however really important that you have a clear objective for your website. Most companies never test anything pertaining to their website. They simply design the site and then forget about it. In most cases their website is just a glorified ebrochure and contributes very little to help increase sales for the company. As a business owner you need to understand why and how customers find your business. This also applies to your website. Do you know what keywords they are using to find your website when they do a search on Google? Do you know what niche search terms that have low competition in your sector that you could use to rank for so that your business appears on page 1 of Google? Do you know what tools - some Free - like Google Keyword Tool - that you can use to research to find profitable niches to rank for in your sector?
Another area that most businesses - large or small - new or well established - fail to do well at is Follow Up. There are three main areas that you need to ensure you have a good followup system in place . First is at the initial point of contact with your company. 20% of the people that contact your company will engage in some way - either asking for further information or actually purchasing your product or service to become a customer . Most businesses tend tend to focus all their attention on this group. Additional opportunity surely lies in the 80% that did not engage. By putting in place a system to capture details of some of these 80% and plug them into a follow up system that nurtures them so that a percentage of them ultimately become customers.
Another area to consider is your new and existing customers. For new customers you need to put in place a follow up sequence to WOW them as new customers. Your follow up sequence can be a mixture of emails, phone calls, bonus gifts, letters and post cards - all of this geared to wowing the customer. For established customers having a long term follow up strategy that continually updates them on your company's activity and don't forget to use customer surveys for feedback on your services /products. This is a very good tool to use for asking for referrals.
A fact that most businesses tend to totally ignore is that group of prospects that may have engaged - even gotten a quote or proposal but failed to convert into a customer. Most of the time, this group of prospects end up in the "I will get to these at some time" pile. Remember these are people that have already expressed an element of interaction with your business - by putting in place a long term follow up sequence that nurtures these people so that in the future, when they need to purchase a product or service that you offer - you are likely to be their first port of call.
As well as the standard ways of developing sales that most businesses use - the business website has become a very important element of the process of being able to increase sales in a company. It is however really important that you have a clear objective for your website. Most companies never test anything pertaining to their website. They simply design the site and then forget about it. In most cases their website is just a glorified ebrochure and contributes very little to help increase sales for the company. As a business owner you need to understand why and how customers find your business. This also applies to your website. Do you know what keywords they are using to find your website when they do a search on Google? Do you know what niche search terms that have low competition in your sector that you could use to rank for so that your business appears on page 1 of Google? Do you know what tools - some Free - like Google Keyword Tool - that you can use to research to find profitable niches to rank for in your sector?
Another area that most businesses - large or small - new or well established - fail to do well at is Follow Up. There are three main areas that you need to ensure you have a good followup system in place . First is at the initial point of contact with your company. 20% of the people that contact your company will engage in some way - either asking for further information or actually purchasing your product or service to become a customer . Most businesses tend tend to focus all their attention on this group. Additional opportunity surely lies in the 80% that did not engage. By putting in place a system to capture details of some of these 80% and plug them into a follow up system that nurtures them so that a percentage of them ultimately become customers.
Another area to consider is your new and existing customers. For new customers you need to put in place a follow up sequence to WOW them as new customers. Your follow up sequence can be a mixture of emails, phone calls, bonus gifts, letters and post cards - all of this geared to wowing the customer. For established customers having a long term follow up strategy that continually updates them on your company's activity and don't forget to use customer surveys for feedback on your services /products. This is a very good tool to use for asking for referrals.
A fact that most businesses tend to totally ignore is that group of prospects that may have engaged - even gotten a quote or proposal but failed to convert into a customer. Most of the time, this group of prospects end up in the "I will get to these at some time" pile. Remember these are people that have already expressed an element of interaction with your business - by putting in place a long term follow up sequence that nurtures these people so that in the future, when they need to purchase a product or service that you offer - you are likely to be their first port of call.
About the Author:
Why not discover more about Tracey Hamilton and how she is helping businesses look at Ways to increase sales, in addition you can grab a Free copy of The Customer Life Cycle guide here Ways To Improve Sales
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