Ignoring This Is Like Leaving Money On The Table
Here’s some harsh truth about succeeding in business: you have to make sales. You can have everything else in your business set up perfectly, but without sales you will go out of business quickly. In fact, lack of sales is a big reason so many new businesses fail.
Today, let’s talk about some proven steps you can take to increase the number of sales you make. These steps will help you to not only survive, but thrive beyond your wildest dreams. And don’t worry, selling doesn’t have to be sleazy or “icky”. Keep reading to find out more about selling the right way!
This Is A Valuable Income-Generating Strategy. Are You Ignoring It?
Business owners who make selling a priority are often so focused on the need to make a sale now they ignore a proven way to produce more revenue in the long term. There is a powerful sales strategy that’s much easier than making that first sale to a new customer.
So what is this proven revenue generator? It’s making repeat sales to your existing customers. Think about it: your current customers have already bought from you. They trust you. You’ve delivered great service and value. So why not approach them again with a new offering or product upgrade? There’s a great chance they will make that repeat purchase happily and enthusiastically.
Let’s say you own a high-end electronics store. A customer buys a state-of-the-art home entertainment system from you. Two years later, you start carrying some new, improved stereo components you are confident they will love.
Don’t sit around, twiddling your thumbs, waiting for them to come into your store to buy again. Contact them! Tell them you have some new toys you believe they will be excited about. “Sell” them on making a return trip to your store.
Not A “Quick Fix”
But, keep this in mind: this tactic isn’t a sales “quick fix”. It takes time and effort. You need to provide great products and great service at the original point of sale, great technical support and customer service after the sale, etc.
You need to put in the required time and effort to remind your buyers about you. How?
For starters, do email marketing. Send out an email newsletter on a regular basis. This is a great way to develop TOMA (Top Of Mind Awareness) with your customers, so when they are ready to make another purchase, you are the one they will think about.
Granted, getting to the happy, prosperous state where your current customers want to buy from you again and again will take time. If you are new in business (or even not so new), you need sales now! This can help you…
Sales Tips From McDonald’s?
When you eat at McDonald’s, what’s the question you always hear? You got it: “Would you like fries with that”? This simple tactic has helped McDonald’s build a company worth more than $20 billion. So take a page from their sales playbook. When you are making a sale to a new customer, offer additional, complimentary products.
Keep in mind these tactics work very well in an ecommerce situation (Amazon has mastered this), but they also work well in a brick and mortar, in-person retail environment. They work whether your business focus is B2B or B2C.
A Sales “Paradigm Shift”
Don’t be afraid to do this! Don’t worry that your customers will get upset with you. They trust you. You’ve won their business. They are in buying mode. Think about this: if you are offering products or services that help them solve a problem and add value to their lives, don’t you owe it to them to help them take ownership of what it is you sell?
“The difference between helping and selling is just two letters. But those two letters are critically important to the success of business today.” Jay Baer
If you approach your business this way, you are helping your customers.
Selling. Done Right!
Many people whose job it is to sell, whose livelihoods depend on selling (this includes you) are afraid to sell. They need to “flip their mental switch” when it comes to effective selling. They need to understand that selling done right isn’t sleazy or slimy, it’s not “icky”, it’s not pressuring someone to buy something he doesn’t need or want. It’s not talking 90 miles an hour non-stop about your product and how wonderful it is.
Selling done right involves listening after you ask the prospect questions about his needs and wants. It requires discovering how you can help him solve a pressing problem or reach a cherished goal. It means, to paraphrase Stephen Covey, following the concept of “win-win or no deal”. In other words, if after listening to him state his needs, you can’t help him, you don’t sell him.
As the above quote from Jay Baer implies, great selling is about helping the customer solve a problem. It is not pushing products he doesn’t need or want just so you can make a fast buck.
A Moral Obligation?
I mentioned this a moment ago. It bears repeating. Maybe you have a moral obligation to sell. If you have a product or service that can solve pressing problems and make peoples’ lives better, don’t you owe it to them to try and sell them?
Another illustration for you: Let’s say you own an outdoor sporting goods and recreation store. You have a customer who wants to take up camping and backpacking. They come to you and buy a tent. They want to purchase much more, but for some reason, they don’t. Who knows, maybe they are shy. You don’t want to be pushy, so you only sell them the tent. They end up going to your competitor to buy backpacks, hiking shoes, jackets, etc.
Guess what? You lose. The customer loses. You lost because you didn’t make the additional sales (You probably lost out on many future sales also). The customer lost because they ended up spending time and money and effort to visit your competitor.
Who wins? Your competitor!
If you had just asked in a low-key, suggestive, non-pushy way if they would like to make these additional purchases from you, chances are their answer would have been a resounding, enthusiastic “YES!”
They trust you enough to buy the tent from you. They are in “buying mode”. They are going to buy from someone. Why not you?
The Importance Of Great Copywriting
“The difference between the almost right word & the right word...it's the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning” Mark Twain
Whether you do your selling in person, or online, you need the right web presence. You need the right words, words that persuade readers to take action. A lot of business owners harm their sales efforts by getting this part of their marketing wrong. Very wrong! They often spend a lot of money, time and effort developing a beautiful website with beautiful graphics and then throw the words onto the site as an afterthought.
Bad idea!
If you aren’t skilled at writing words that sell (a skill called copywriting), hire a professional to take care of this critical need for you. The other option is to learn copywriting (at least the basics) yourself. This is a valuable skill. It will make you more persuasive in your writing and speaking. It will make you better at selling.
Here are a few things to keep in mind when writing your marketing content:
- Make the main focus of your message about the reader, not about your company
- Write at a basic level (about 8th-9th grade)
- Learn to write “conversationally” to an “audience of one”
Copywriting is an in-depth subject that goes way beyond the scope of this article. Here’s a useful resource that can help you learn more about this important topic:
https://www.copyblogger.com/copywriting-101
In your enthusiasm to succeed with your business, don’t get so caught up in secondary details you neglect selling, the single most important aspect of your business success. Ignoring proper sales techniques, both offline and online, is like leaving money on the table. It can cost you big time! It might even put you out of business.
Make add-on sales, repeat sales to your current customer base and effective, persuasive copywriting top priorities. When you do these, you can expect to see your business’ income soar!
So what are your thoughts on how to sell more effectively? I look forward to your feedback in the comments section!