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Whether you have a small team or a multi-national business, boosting sales is most likely one of your goals each month. If you are looking for fresh ideas to increase sales without a blowing your budget, consider these strategies.
Get Your Name in Front of People
There is an undeniable link between brand recognition and increased sales, as people will frequently choose the brand that they are familiar with rather than purchasing an unknown brand. This is a phenomenon that you may have observed in your own behavior in the supermarket – most people are more likely to buy the brand they recognize than one that is new to them.
This makes brand awareness essential to driving sales, particularly with new customers. Your strategic and integrated marketing plan to increase brand awareness should focus on using a variety of channels to convey your key message. Some examples include social media, promotional products, and advertising campaigns.
Leverage Your Current Customers
Most businesses know their core client base very well. Use this knowledge to figure out how you can add value to these customers. They already know and trust your brand, and have a pre-existing relationship with you, so they are more likely to be responsive to any suggestions, ideas or new products you introduce them to.
For example, if you are a brand design agency that has worked with a company to update their logo, you might approach them to suggest updates to their business cards, website, or signage that are consistent with their new logo.
Bundle Your Products
Another way to boost sales is to bundle your products to offer increased value to customers. This may encourage people to consider products or services that they hadn’t had on their list, even if the savings are not enormous. Try to offer some flexibility within each bundle so that customers can customize them and find something that suits their needs.
Follow-Up Your Leads
This sounds like an obvious one, but it is surprising the number of businesses that fail to follow up every lead. Excuses may range from “I was too busy” to “they didn’t seem that serious about it” but whatever the reason, following up leads is essential both to convert those leads and to protect your business reputation. Not getting in touch with a potential customer who has reached out to you can make your company look sloppy, disorganized and arrogant. Make sure that you have a robust process in place to follow up leads in a timely fashion, and consider integrating this into your staff KPIs.
Use Word-of-Mouth and Referrals
Word-of-mouth is still the strongest and more trusted form of promotion for a good reason. We rely on the people we know to give us good advice and know they aren’t just trying to sell something.
There are lots of ways that you can encourage word-of-mouth and referrals. One method is to go above and beyond with your customer service. If people are blown away by how helpful a company is, they are much more likely to tell their friends about it. Another option is to encourage online reviews via social media or your website. Integrate requests for feedback into your website, your emails and your invoices. Lastly, you could consider launching a referral program9, where you incentivize people to refer others to use your services. This has two advantages, as it brings in new customers and cements ongoing loyalty with your current customer base.
These strategies can be implemented by almost any organization to give you the sales lift you need to hit your goals.
