subject: 6 Tips To Improve Your Business Sales [print this page] A business lives and thrives on the sales revenue it creates. Unfortunately, there are many factors that can negatively affect your sales. These include consumer buying trends, local and online competition and overall economy. The first step to improving business sales is identifying the factors that are currently affecting your sales so that you can implement effective counter measures.
There are a number of measures you can take to improve sales. Here are the top 6 tips to improve your business sales.
Train your staff and set up a sales incentive program
Employees need to know that their performance on the job makes a difference. Rewarding your staff for outstanding work with incentives such as monetary awards or free merchandise gives them a reason to get out there and sell. Having said that, going out to sell is one thing, knowing how to sell is another. Thus, it pays to provide sales training to your staff. Contrary to popular belief, sales training is not exclusive to the corporate big wigs. Your staff ought to know how to up sell and cross-sell as well as negotiate.
Implement quality control
It is important to keep your customers happy. If your products are lacking, your customers will have no qualms about taking their business elsewhere. Create standard operating procedures and encourage your staff to report unsatisfactory inventory.
Advertise
Advertising increases awareness of your business as well as the products and services your business has to offer. Paid advertising is the most common type of advertising and you can look into print or broadcast advertising mediums such as a newspaper or TV station. Most companies employ an advertising agency to develop an advertisement. If you would like to start off on a smaller scale, do not underestimate the power of calendar printing. These calendars can be distributed far and wide and they will be used for an entire year!
Create an online presence
You do not want to be left behind in this digital age. Developing an online store and a website are important if not absolutely necessary in this day and age. A website provides relevant information about your business and increases sales at a minimal cost. To encourage return traffic to your website, keep content current. You can do this by updating and posting information weekly and by maintaining a blog.
Set up customer rewards programs
Many businesses have a customer rewards program in place. It can be as simple as a birthday discount or as complex as a points system that earns rewards such as discounts on merchandise or free gifts. Whatever program you choose to implement, know that it can help build customer loyalty and increase sales if done properly. These programs will also tier your customers. There should always be a clear difference between regular customers and other customers so that you can show your regular customers that you value them.
Distribute free samples
Distributing free samples can increase sales in many ways. By including a sample of a new product to one that is already in the market, the customer who bought the original product may like the sample and buy some of it too. He might even pass the sample on to a friend to try it. Offering samples helps you to up sell and even cross-sell a product. You can even print stickers or flyers and attach them to the product to advertise the other goods and services offered by your business.
by: Steve Roberts
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