We wouldn’t do anything to prevent an increase in sales – Would we? What is stopping you increasing your sales? A good thing to do during your daily 5 minute focus on your business is to review if anything is STOPPING you doing business. What barriers are in the way that are preventing your customers buying your products or services? What can you do to remove them? Take a step back and look hard at all areas of your business – what is stopping you getting an increase in sales? Here are some areas that you might want to consider:
- Take a good look at your website/Facebook Fan Page: Is it clear to potential customers what it is that you do? Does it provide a call to action to purchase your products/services? Does it show them the benefits of purchasing the product/service? Is your website easy to navigate, and does it flow through the sales process? Can you make payment with a minimum number of clicks? If you get all of these things right, it makes it much easier for our customers to do business with us via our website/Facebook fan page. You may be too close to your website, so get one of your team to take a look at it, or ask someone you know and trust from network meetings that you attend. Your website/Facebook Fan page can do a lot of selling for you, so it makes sense to get it right to see an increase in sales.
- Change is scary – but is IS a good thing – honestly! The world around us is changing rapidly, what worked last year, 5 years ago, 10 years ago may not work now. Do not be afraid to try new methods or techniques. Never stop learning during your career, changes in technology, systems and even ways of selling and marketing are happening all around you – stay informed, and try new things out. If your competitors are stealing a march on you in any area of change, then they WILL have competitive advantage, and will leave you behind in their dust. If you’re unsure or lack confidence in new technology or methods, try one small thing at a time and then measure the increase in sales.
- Have you thought about the best case scenario instead of the worst, and are you prepared for that too? So often we think of the worst possible thing that could happen in business, and we form strategy to ensure that we can deal with that. However, if we focus on the bad too often, can we actually make it happen? What about if we focus on the BEST thing that can happen? What would that look like? Could you cope with a massive increase in sales? If not, then why not get prepared now. What strategy can you formulate for when your business starts to fly? Consider how you would ensure that you have enough stock (you don’t have to go and buy it right now but how would you cope if your sales soared overnight), what about your services – if you had overwhelming demand, how could you satisfy as many customers as possible – would you need to outsource? Be prepared for success and ensure that you have a strategy in place so that when an increase in sales happens, you can fulfil expectations and demands.
- Think about how customers can pay for your products/services: Most people tend to want to pay by BACS or debit/credit cards/paypal these days. So often I hear about only accepting cheques or cash. I for one couldn’t even tell you where my cheque book is as it’s that long since I’ve used it. I don’t like to carry cash around with me. Sure accepting credit and debit cards in your store/business/website does cost a little extra, but if it means that a lot more people want to do business with you, as they can pay you more easily, surely that has to be the way to go right?
- Consider a social media marketing plan: I’ve heard that Facebook is evil, that Twitter is a waste of time, and that LinkedIn cannot possibly work for a clients business – sure, everyone is entitled to their opinions. However, consider that there are over 600 million people on Facebook, Twitter has over 175 million users and LinkedIn grows bigger and bigger each day PLUS the fact that most people in the UK spend on average an hour a day on social media sites, and then think if you put your business where people are spending an hour a day, you can start to imagine the traffic and visibility that you can get for your business. Social Media Marketing can work for ALL businesses, no matter what your niche. It may be new to you, but why not take the time to look at the potential for social media marketing to see an increase in sales.
