The Fastest Way To Increase Small Business Sales!

There is a simple formula that you can use immediately to drastic increase your sales and income in any market and in any business without spending more on advertising. It's the fastest way to increase small business sales. There are only a few things that you have to do each day that account for 90% of your sales success. If you want to increase your business sales, then follow these specific sequence of steps for the fastest and most cost-effective way for increasing your small business sales.

We know that the 4 activities that account for 90% of sales success in any business or any market are:

1. The number of leads or prospects (Amount of Potential customers)
2. Converting these leads or prospect into customers (Conversion Ratio)
3. The amount of money they spend (Average Transaction value)
4. How frequently they spend money (Frequency of purchase)

LEAD GENERATING.

This is the number of potential customers you talk to. Prospects are suspects who show interest in your product or service by inquiring about it via telephone or pay a visit to your shop, office or website.

CONVERSION RATIO.

This refers to the number of potential prospects you convert into customers or sales, expressed as a percentage. If you are currently converting 3 of 10 leads into customers, your conversion ratio is 30%

NOTE: Increase that number to 4 of 10 – your revenues will increase by 33%!!!

AVERAGE TRANSACTION VALUE.

The average amount of money that customers spend every time they buy from you.

NOTE: It is six times easier to sell to an existing customer than to a new customer. A new customer costs 16 times more, than to maintain an existing customer. 

FREQUENCY OF REPURCHASE.

This refers to how often the same customer who bought from you once, buys again.

NOTE: Gartner Group statistics tell us that 80% of your company’s future revenue will come from just 20% of your existing customers. Just a 5% decrease in customer retention (existing customers or clients leaving) produces a 25% to 100% improvement in profit. To put it another way, it pays to look after your clients.

To radically increase your sales is simple: Step 1

To radically increase your sales is simple: Spend 50% or more of your time every day focused on the 4 activities. Take care of all other activities in the remaining 50% of time.

For the fastest way to increase small business sales, you have to consistently ask yourself during the day, “Is what I am doing right now leading to a sale?” If the answer is “no,” stop what you are doing and start focusing on doing something that will lead to a sale. Get back to prospecting, presenting and closing.

If you focus on the amount of time that you spend prospecting, closing, and increasing the transaction value, you will radically increase your sales and income in the next few weeks and months.

To radically increase your sales is simple: Step 2

As I mentioned earlier, there is a specific sequence of steps that you have to follow for the fastest and most cost-effective way for increasing your sales.

While it may seem obvious to start with Lead Generation and finding new clients first, it doesn't work. Increasing Inquiries, Prospects or Lead Generation, for many Business Owners, is the most common way of increasing sales. The reason we do Lead Generation last is that advertising can be one of the most expensive ways to market your business.

It's a common scenario that businesses spending thousands on advertising to find new clients while neglecting the ones they have. The hardest obstacle you have to overcome when making a sale is gaining the trust of a new customer. On the other hand, if you've already sold something and the customer likes your product, chances are they will want to buy more from you again.

NOTE: According to Marketing Metrics, the success rate of selling to an existing customer is 60-70%, while the success rate of selling to a new customer is only 5-20%!

Your odds of selling something else to them increase dramatically. After all, they ordered something and you delivered as promised. Your past customers trust you, you have a relationship, and they know that you are reliable, your products and services are good, and they are willing to do more business with you, lots more business. You are better off investing in your current customers and generating new business from them than you are, trying to find new clients.

Step by Step

That’s why it makes sense to work on increasing the average transaction value first and then on increasing the number of times a customer buy from you.  This is not only one of the fastest way to increase small business sales but also one of the lowest cost of marketing methods there is! Maximize what you already have first. Thirdly we will focus on conversion ratio, and lastly on new leads and customers.

Firstly, try to increase the amount of money every customer spends every time they buy from you. Remember that it takes fives times as much effort and money to generate sales from new customers than from existing ones..

Secondly, try to increase the frequency with which every customer purchase from you. This is all about customer service and delivering on your promise. Keeping them happy Your goal should be to create customers for life. You are better off investing in your current customers and generating new business from them than you are trying to find new clients.

Third, try to increase your conversion ratio. Let me explain. If you are currently converting 3 out of 10 leads into customers - your conversion ratio is 30%. But if you increase that number to 4 of 10 – your conversion ratio is 40%. If you can accomplish this, your revenues will increase by 33%

Now, after you have taken these steps first, you can begin to increase your leads (potential new customers) While it may seem obvious to start with Lead Generation and finding new clients first, it doesn't work. Increasing Inquiries, or Lead Generation, for many Business Owners, is the most common way of increasing sales. The reason for doing Lead Generation last is that marketing and advertising can be one of the most expensive ways to market your business. It can also be the most costly if you don’t have the right marketing strategy. 

To radically increase your sales is simple: Step 3

Within each of these 4 areas there are countless actions you can take. Regardless of which route works best for you, the important point is that a small increase in these 4 sales drivers will dramatic affect your sales results.

Focusing on one area alone may or may not generate enough sales for you. However, focusing on several areas, implementing new strategies and monitoring your results can have a HUGE impact on your sales.

Your goals should be to get a 10% increase in each of the 4 areas over the next 12 months. Choose at least five strategies under each area and measure the results. By the end of the next 12 months you should have five strategies in each of the 4 areas producing great result.  

NOTE: Remember to work on all 4 areas at the same time and not just one.

Strategies to radically increase your sales

The number of leads or prospects (Amount of leads)

There are probably thousand of online and offline tactics you can use to generate more leads effectively. But for all of them the next strategies is the fastest and most effective.

1. Create Joint ventures or Host/beneficiary  relationships: These all describe relationships where someone sends you clients or referrals. This is a great cost effective and fast way to get clients. Ideally, you want to form a powerful partnership with someone who regularly comes in contact with people in that perfectly match your business, based on your target market. 
2. Advertising: In advertising, target your customers better. Never try to appeal to everyone. Focus specifically on those who will benefit from your product/services most if you want to achieve significant sales.  Many companies fail because they are targeting the wrong market with the wrong product in the wrong way.
3. Consistency: Little word, big meaning. Ignore it and you may as well throw your marketing money out the window. Unless you market on some sort of ongoing schedule, you’re wasting time and money. The most effective element in marketing and advertising is consistency. If you reach 1000 of the right people ten times, rather than 10 000 people once, your return on your advertising investment will be mush higher.
4. Referral systems: In addition, advertising can be one of the most expensive marketing options. Always look at more cost effective marketing strategies before you get to advertising. For examples: By getting just 1 client as a referral from every existing client can double or triple you sales in one month. And best off all, it doesn’t have to cost you a sent. Powerful!!!
5. Testing and measuring: You can predict your business future profits and growth by testing and measuring the results from your marketing efforts. It’s very important to monitor the results from strategies and actions you are implementing. If you find that the results are not to your liking, there are only one place to look. Your actions, that's it

The amount of money they spend (Average Transaction value)

1. Increase your product or service prices: If you do this over a period of time, people will have less difficulty to adapt to it than a sudden price escalation. Nothing will increase your profits faster than this, and there are hundreds of easy ways to increase prices without losing customers and is one of the best way to boost your average sale. You can even let your customers know the price is going up on January the 2nd. If they want the product at this price, they need to order it now.
2. Sell value and not price: Think of your products or services as a bundle of features and benefits and convey the value to your customers.  People buy solutions to problems.  People buy benefits.  People buy value.  Become part of a solution to your customer’s problem or need.  People don’t buy products they buy benefits. They don’t buy a stereo; they buy ‘beautiful sound’.  If you can describe your product or service in terms that reveal a need that your customer can identify as important, your chances of making a sale go way up. The benefits of your products or services provide value and peace of mind to your customers.
3. Up-sell your products or services: Try to approach your sales from a different angle by moving the attention a bit away from your standard product or service. Try selling a different model if the current one is not selling so well.  Sell a higher priced quality item if the need is solely quality.  This means selling the more advanced version of your product or service to your customers, which is obvious more expensive than the original.  It's Important to focus on the features and benefits when selling the more advanced version.  If the need is tied to a budget, sell a less expensive product.  Give a choice of different colors and shapes.  You can also sell something on top of the original product. Remember 18% of MacDonald’s total Sales come from the simple question “Do you want fries with that”.  You need to look at all your major prime purchases, and develop a logical companion product to suggest. Display these reminders or make use of effective scripts to inform your customers.  Keep that in mind that it is also possible to include too many up sells where you may confuse your customers, and they don’t buy. Creative ways to do this can be with a thank-you note, catalog, telephone call or a one-time offer.
4. Cross selling or add on sales:  Cross selling is the promotion of other items that consumers are likely to want based on the initial products in which they have shown interest. It can be displaying items along with related goods or images of impulse items at the pay point or shopping page to tempt buyers before they leave your store. If you decide to go for cross sales you have to think a little out of the box.  Sell the customer something else that promotes or compliments the product or service.  
5. Close joint ventures with other companies: Close joint ventures with other related companies by promoting and selling their products or services. Join other companies and promote each other’s products as long it’s related to each other in some way and complement each other. 

How frequently they spend money (Frequency of purchase)

1. Remind your customer: Constantly remind your customer of what’s happening. Hairdressers and optometrists very successfully use this method to remind their clients for their next appointments due.  You can send an SMS, an e-mail, mail a postcard or include this in the monthly invoice.
2. Deliver WOW customer service: Treat your customer like they have never been treated before. Take their breath away. Amaze them. Delight them…over and over again. It won’t be surprising if you can’t remember when a business really exceeded your service expectations over the last 90 days.  This is a massive opportunity if you want to offer a service higher than your industry norm. It will set you apart from your competitors, give the edge and enable you to outmaneuver, out sell and out market your competition. You must offer consistency both in service, quality and delivery every time they buy from you. Do what you promised. One of the reasons customers become clients is that you consistently do what you promised… and more.
3. Keep your customers inform: Keep your customers inform about products by sending them mail and summarize the special offers.  It may be a new product, a package deal or and old product for a special price.
4. Stop Customer complaints: Identify what are customers complaining about and set a plan in action to eliminate these factors. Complaints do tell us how we can improve. So motivate your customers to talk to you because customers do not complain – they just do not come back.  But these sorts of mistakes can cost you dearly. Most dissatisfied customers don’t take the time to complain. In fact 96% of dissatisfied customers don’t complain. On average one dissatisfied customer will tell 11 others who will tell 5 others. That's = 55 from one dissatisfied customer. By handling complaints correctly, 95% of your unhappy customers will return as your most loyal customers.
5. Stop customers from leaving: Contact inactive customers. Just a 5% increase in stopping existing customers leaving, produces a 25% to 100% increase in profit. To put it another way, it pays to look after your clients.

Thanks for reading the post and remember to leave a comment. I will love hearing from you.

Talk soon

Hans