Three Ways To Increase Sales

There are three ways to increase your sales. We\’ve talked about them before. They never change.

First Way. The first way to increase your sales is to increase the number of individual sales. Companies that sell products or services that are only needed every few years or once in a lifetime, like a new furnace, have to concentrate all their business activities on increasing the number of sales. This is true of homes, cars, motorhomes, life insurance policies, wedding rings, and even appliances. Once a person has purchased one of these items, he or she is not going to be a customer in that market again for a long time. If doubling your profitability requires that you double the number of sales of your product or service, then this becomes the central focus of your marketing, advertising, and sales strategy.

Second Way. The second way to increase your sales is by making larger sales to each customer. Once the customer has decided to buy from you, you must think of ways to increase the sale size and, therefore, profitability. The good news is that once a customer has reached the point of liking you and trusting you enough to buy from you, he or she will be open to suggestions for increasing the size of his or her purchase. Sometimes you can upsell the customer to a more expensive item. On other occasions, you can cross-sell the customer by offering additional products or services that go along with the product or service that he or she has purchased. Because acquiring customers can be so expensive, you can give deep discounts and bonuses to get the customer to buy something else before he or she leaves. To capture the add-on sale, you can cut the price on additional items by 10 percent, 25 percent, or even 50 percent. The extra profit you earn is money that you would not have and will not have if you let the customer depart.

Third Way. The third way to increase sales is by getting the customer to buy more frequently. If you sell a product or service used and consumed regularly, such as food business services, automobile maintenance, barber and beauty services, or office stationery and supplies. The key to business growth is to capture more of the customer\’s business. You aim for depth of wallet rather than for breadth of the market. It\’s much easier to sell to a satisfied customer than it is to advertise, promote and sell to a new customer. So once you have created the customer, you must move heaven and earth to ensure that this customer buys from you again and again. Often all it is necessary to increase the frequency of purchase is for you to add something extra that costs you nothing but that customers buying from you perceive as being of high value.

• You can follow up with a thank you note or a telephone call.
• You can offer the customers a special status with your company that gives them discounts or better service whenever they call or visit.
• What you can do to attract repeat business is limited only by your imagination.
• You can increase the frequency they buy from you by offering another product or service that your customers regularly purchase from someone else.

Once you have captured the customer, you should make every effort to sell the customer as many different products and services as possible. Consistent with your business model and your area of specialization, you can increase your sales by entering into joint ventures and strategic alliances with companies that sell non-competing products and services to the kind of customers who buy what you sell.