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12 Ways To Increase Sales For Your Small Business

May 11, 2021
Bill Kimball

how to increase sales in a small business

Try some or all of these ideas to grow your sales. Sell the product or service that you want to exist and do things your way. Be crazily helpful and make people’s lives either with your offering and you’ll have scored one of the best business strategies out there. Managing a small business can leave a lot on your plate, especially if you’re wearing most of the hats yourself. To free up more of your time, get to grips with sales and marketing automation technology as early on in your business journey as you can.

Then, describe it in the simplest words possible. As an even better business strategy to increase sales as a small business, speak to your target audience in their own language – use the words they use and respond to. When potential customers visit your website or pick up one of your marketing materials, do they know exactly what you do? The best way to communicate your product or service so customers listen – and buy – is with crystal clear messaging.

They’ll begin to regard you as the expert and come to you with similar issues in the future. They’ll also tell their friends, and both can increase your bottom line. One way to accomplish that is to look for creative ways to combine services into a package or multiple products into a bundle. Another proven way to support your bottom line is to focus on converting prospects into customers. Your audience is aware of you and your offerings, but they haven’t signed on yet. Right now, you’re probably looking for some ways your business can increase sales – and it doesn’t hurt if those options are low or zero cost, right? While a strong sales team can make a big difference in the bottom line, you don’t want to ignore how the rest of your business can increase sales as well.

Some sellers need to enhance efficiency in getting prospects to agree to receive a proposal. One of the best ways to help your sales process is to have a clear understanding of your target audience or niche customer. You should also develop your ideal customer profiles, also known as personas. You should also define your annual sales goal, your long-term vision for your business, your core solutions, and their value if you want to be successful with sales. A simple strategy combined with a well-developed sales process makes selling more straightforward. Here are a few tips on the various ways you can boost sales in your small business. This can be done the old-fashioned way, by getting involved in community organizations, such as the chamber of commerce, or attending business functions, such as trade shows.

The Sales Pitch And Process

If a lot of customers come from a particular business like a local factory or hospital, target people who work there. Facebook Ads Manageris one of the best places for a small business new to digital marketing to get started. There’s a good chance your target customers are there and active.

There are various strategies you could implement to help drive sales. When your customers require a good or service you provide, your business will be the first one they think of. Make your customers an offer they can’t refuse through coupons and discounts to encourage future business. Many businesses put all their energy into gaining new customers while neglecting to retain existing customers. Approach your marketing strategy from your customer’s perspective—emphasizing your product’s or service’s benefits. While features are important, benefits are the biggest factor in how to increase sales in your business, according to Harvard Business School. It’s unrealistic to think that you can measure all your marketing efforts.

Allow visitors to come back to their carts later, even on another device. Don’t expect mobile visitors to convert in a single session, because they probably won’t – but they might convert later, if you make it easy for them to do so. Push yourself to create more detailed buyer personas than you ever have before. To learn more about this process, check out my detailed guide to creating buyer personas.

Running sales and marketing promotions just for current customers is a great way to reward them for their loyalty and business. Some customers are disgruntled or disappointed when they see a company run offers just for prospects and new customers.

Pages should load near-instantaneously, and navigation should be logical. Don’t ask for too much information, only the bare minimum you need to either make the sale or market to prospects later.

how to increase sales in a small business

Finding a product or service to solve a problem or fill a need is easier than ever in today’s online world. You can simply search, ask a few friends or look on social media platforms that you trust for comments about the company or product. Because of this, it’s important that your message stands out from the rest so that your prospect is drawn to you to solve their needs. Getting your potential customers to choose you begins with a unique first impression. Your business needs to be on social media, because that’s where your customers and prospects hang out.

Set up two identical ad groups targeting the same keywords and going to the same landing page. Google gives you very insightful data to determine this. Before you scale up your budget, know what works. As you begin to see a return on your investment, re-invest a portion of that revenue to scale your campaigns and grow your business. But the JunkMyCar ad says “Sell Your Junk Car Instantly”. They note that you can have an offer in seconds, same day, and they will pick it up. This ad is more aligned with what the searcher wants.

A common mistake many businesses make is not working on business development daily. This leads to feast or famine cash flow, which is a great source of stress for any business owner. Use an affiliate program to get your existing customers to recommend your business to their circle of contacts. Like the airlines have done with frequent fliers, there is no reason a small business can’t reward good customers with a loyalty program.

Increasing Sales With Prospects

You’ll want to include online and offline contacts, and even friends or family in your outreach. Explain what you’re looking for, and see if anyone can send you a good referral. My salesperson is amazing, because people who knew us both thought we would work well together, and we are an amazing team. Sales are the key to keeping your business alive. But do you have an organized sales process that consistently generates leads in your business? Or are you chasing anyone whom you think has money to pay you?

  • And, offer solutions to the problems your existing customers are having.
  • Approach your marketing strategy from your customer’s perspective—emphasizing your product’s or service’s benefits.
  • You should also determine the needs of these ideal customers and the problems they may have.
  • You can’t make everyone happy, least of all in business.

Or you may have heard from others that they are a good place to sell your used car. You may have seen a video on Facebook that they shared about a customer. But to get profitable, really profitable, you have to maximize your ROI. That means cutting costs while increasing revenues at the same time.

Kristen is the Senior Managing Editor at WordStream where she helps businesses make sense of online marketing and advertising. She specializes in local SEO, copywriting, and conversion optimization, and finds life to be exponentially more delightful on a bicycle. Each of the tips above should help increase sales for your business, but don’t be overwhelmed by the list. Rather than trying to implement everything at once, choose one or two areas to improve on now. Once you start to see results, move on to another tip, and watch your sales figures grow. One of the most common objections is, “But will this work for me? ” While you should try to address that in your marketing materials and content, the easiest way to demonstrate the value of your service is to let customers see it for themselves.

How To Increase Revenue For Your Small Business

You may have heard this before, but when you talk to your potential customer, try the approach of asking questions as if they have already bought your product or service. Don’t ask them if they’d like to buy but how they will be paying. Ask whether they will use your product or service at home or in the office. David Gargaro is a content writer and copy editor with more than 20 years of experience in multiple industries, including publishing, advertising, marketing, finance, and small business. He has written on B2B-focused topics covering business technology, sales, marketing, and insurance. David has a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Actuarial Science from the University of Toronto.

You and the prospect may negotiate the price a few times before you can finally close the deal and make them a new customer. Once a company has acquired leads, customers will move into the middle of the funnel, into what’s known as the sales stage. This is the section where a great sales strategy will come into play. You’ll highlight your value propositions, otherwise known as the differentiators that set your company apart. By outsourcing your marketing to a professional, you will be able to give the other aspects of running your business the time and energy they deserve. Ecommerce is growing 23 percent each year, with 51 percent of Americans preferring to shop online.

This can include taking a look at your lead management system to ensure you have a process in place for following up with leads, offering a special incentive to close the deal, and more. Advertising and outreach can bring in more leads and transform them from cold to warm to hot. When it comes time for conversion, however, you still have to sell to your customers. Invest time to learn what motivates your customers . Take the time to know their needs, challenges, concerns, and fears.

Sales leaders who implement inbound strategies will add value to the buyer. Not only must you take the time to craft a customer profile and determine your ideal target market, you’ll also need to convert these leads.

connections with other providers in your industry. At the very least, you can refer business to one another, but you might also find ways to partner to offer unique package deals to your customers. By meeting them where they already hang out, you can find a place in their lives that doesn’t feel as “salesy.” Use social media to help your customers solve problems.

I once hired a sales rep who was referred to me by someone who was an expert sales trainer in my professional network. Because our relationship started outside of my formal hiring process, she had a better understanding of her personality than if she had been trying to impress me in an interview. If you don’t know of anyone who might be a good fit in your sales role, ask your network.

how to increase sales in a small business

Since you might not be on their radar for long, make sure you immediately resonate and connect with your ideal customer. As social media platforms continue to expand and multiply, they provide new avenues for reaching and nurturing your audience. And right now is a great time to focus on selling through social media when so many consumers are spending a ton of time on these channels. You’ve done all the work to get them ready to buy, but that isn’t the finish line. Revisit the sales essentials to make sure you don’t lose prospects in the final stages of the process.

One of the first steps after starting a new businessis to begin marketing online as well as offline. Often, however, business owners overlook the importance of straight sales strategy. Whether you have a unique product or are looking to break into an established idustry, the two must go hand-in-hand. As a small business owner, tight budgets means doing more with less. Find out 7 ways to increase sales without increasing your marketing spending. These two sales methods have helped us create long-lasting, successful businesses. But, remember, building customer relationships comes with a heavy price.

Small Business Strategies To Increase Sales

Here are a few ideas for driving more sales to help your business grow without breaking the bank. So whether you want to start simple or you’re ready for our most advanced edition, we offer a Keap product that will help you get organized, deliver great service, and grow your business. Keap helps serious entrepreneurs and small businesses get organized, follow up and automate to create peace of mind, grow sales, and free up time. When delivering great service to customers, don’t think of it as a short-term transaction. Instead, make a long-term investment in your customers, and build up the opportunity for repeat business. As you learn about your customers, you are also investing time to better educate your customers to help move them farther down the sales funnel at the same time.

Often, the journey is not straight from ad to sale. Instead, you find prospects and lead them along a path that eventually ends with them choosing your product or service. One of the most effective ways to nurture them through this process is email marketing.