Monday, April 30, 2012

How to Increase Your Business Sales

Through trial and error, I have come up with suggestions on how to increase sales at your business. My restaurant business has steadily shown increases in sales, as I have employed these tips and techniques. During my career as a business owner, I have tried many methods of marketing and advertising in trying to increase business sales. Some worked and some were just a plain waste of time and money.

The most important suggestion I can offer when trying to increase your business sales, is always give your customers stellar customer services. Remember, the customer is always right. If you live by that mentality, you will begin to make a name for yourself. Believe me, good customer service, or for that matter, bad customer service spreads like wildfire. As an example, our restaurant also has a little store inside it. As a customer service perk, we always carry out the customer's food items. This might not seem like a big deal, but it is to an elderly or infirm customer and they appreciate it. Word will get around eventually how customer friendly your business is and you will begin to increase your business sales.

Another important tip in increasing sales for your business is to develop an effective marketing plan. Never think that your business is so great or so established that you do not need to advertise or market it anymore. You need to market your business every day. Even a simple gesture such as giving each of your customers a business card, is a good marketing technique.

Joining your local chamber of commerce can be priceless means of increasing sales at your business. Network marketing is a technique that I use extensively in my own business. By networking you will meet people in the same industry as you are in. This allows you to exchange tips and suggestions on how to increase sales at your business. Community involvement is very important in increasing business sales. In my experience, people who live in same community as your business are more likely to patronize your business instead of going elsewhere. They will however go elsewhere if you do not provide them with exceptional customer service and products.

Online marketing can also increase your business sales. Our website has attracted many new and loyal customers. Make sure your website is clean and pleasant looking, explains exactly what you are trying to sell, and most importantly, if you really want to increase your business sales, don't forget to add a strong call to action on your website. Tell your customers what you want them to do. This holds true for any marketing piece. If you are sending out promotional postcards or on your website, make sure you add "call now" or 'order now". To increase business sales, always include your website address on all of your promotional materials.

On one occasion, after printing up 1000 marketing postcards, I realized that I had forgotten to include our website address. I sent the postcards out anyway, and just as I expected the response was very low. Including your website address will increase response rate of your promotional material and probably increase sales as well.

Another technique I employ, is giving my customers a freebie. This promotes good will and always increases business sales. A "Buy One Get One Free" will garner sales, as will a coupon for money off.

Business ownership can be a great challenge, but with the right tools and guidance you can increase your business sales.



 Increase Sales Productivity




Here are 20 quick tips to help you increase your sales productivity. Keep in mind, not every tip will be useful for every person. Just pick the tips that are helpful for you and integrate them into your routine.

Here are a few suggestions when reading through all of these tips:

-Don’t do them all at once. Focus on one at a time.

-Experiment with different tips.

-These are not in any particular order, so browse through them all.

So, here they are, 20 tips to increase your sales productivity:

1. Less is more. Focus on your most essential tasks each day. Eliminate or delegate as much as you can.

2. Exercise. Make this a habit if it is not already. For me, exercising is the key to my energy, health, and productivity. It also greatly reduces stress and can be a form of meditation. Here are some tips on how to make exercise a daily habit.

3. Stop rushing. Focus on what you are doing in the moment and don’t rush through it. It will be much more relaxing for you and in the end, your quality of work will be improved.

4. Fail. Don’t be afraid to fall flat on your face and fail. If you are afraid of failing, you will never take important first steps. Without failure there would be no success.

5. Find what you love to do. Find something you love to do, and your quality of life and work will improve. If you love your work you will become more productive and less stressed.

6. Wake up early. This is not for everyone, but it can make a huge impact on your life and what you get done in a given day. Here are some tips on how to wake up early.

7. Eat clean. Don’t buy junk and don’t bring it into your house. That will instantly help you stay lean and trim. Be aware of what you are eating, your mouth is not a garbage disposal.

8. Get organized. The more organized you are, the less time you will waste finding things and the more productive you will be.

9. Review goals. Don’t just set goals, but take a look at them each month to see what is working and what is not working. It is ok to change your goals.

10. Be positive. Focus on the positive. Focus on what you have, not on what you don’t have. Surround yourself with people who have positive energy. Here are some tips on how to stay positive.

11. Practice being compassionate. “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.” – Plato.

12. Visualize. Envision your most positive future self. What would life be like for her or him? Where would you live and what would you be doing? Let that vision pull you into the future you want to have.

13. Set goals. Long-term goals are important to set, but also be sure you are setting daily and weekly goals as well. Here are some tips on how to set goals.

14. Get the toughest things done first. Aim to accomplish the 3 most important things of your day before 12noon. Give them top priority.

15. Be focused. Work on one goal and one task at a time. Don’t spread yourself too thin.

16. Enjoy the ride. Don’t just focus on the end goal, but enjoy the process and learning that takes place as you strive to achieve them.

17. Enjoy the little things. A joyful and happy person is a more productive person. Editors Note: I used to walk my grandma on long walks in her wheelchair and the little things gave her the most joy. Seeing a Cardinal bird, a beautiful flower, or simply getting some fresh air, made her day and taught me a lot about what really matters.

18. Single-task. Stop multi-tasking and this will instantly increase your productivity. Here are some tips on how to minimize distractions to focus on one task.

19. Be in the now. Be present and focus on being in the now more than the past or future.

20. Volunteer and help others. Just one hour a week of volunteering can make a huge impact on the world and on yourself. I find volunteering to be one of the most fulfilling things I do. Try it out, and you just might become hooked too! When you volunteer you will not only be helping others, but you will provide yourself with many health benefits that will increase your energy and productivity.


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4 comments:

  1. really good informative article...
    thanks for you share this

    Mark Wilison
    Senior Editor

    ReplyDelete
  2. i want more traffic on my website.
    what should i do.
    any suggestion
    reply me.

    ReplyDelete
  3. It's nice posting for the particular topic, thanks for it I always search such topics, everything connected to that. I really appreciate it.

    Thanks &
    Regards

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    ReplyDelete