What most small business don’t do well…

Sell, Sell, Sell!

As someone once said, if your business isn’t growing, it’s dieing. Sales are the lifeblood of any business and you should always be concentrating on increasing your sales. But how do you do this?

A significant proportion of businesses attempt to compete with their competitors using price as one of the main weapons. This should only be done for a defined time and for a specific reason. Other key sales factors and tools are:

WIIFT – What’s in it for them?

Always look at your sales and marketing from your customers point of view. What’s your point of difference? What’s your reputation in the market place? Would you buy from you?

Customer Service is Everything

As the saying goes, under promise and over deliver. If you can exceed the customers expectations with your finished product then you will have a long term customer who will also continue to recommend you to other potential customers.

Largely, there is an inherent assumption, on behalf of most normal customers nowadays, that your price will be fairly close to the accepted market price and therefor what drives customers decision is their perception on how easy it is to do business with you and key things like:

• The additional fees some businesses try to add – extended warranties, shipping etc
• After sales service – The call the next day or week to check if all it ok
• Warranty quality – ever experienced Fisher & Pykel back up service? – now there’s an example of a great customer focused business!
• Returns policy if something goes wrong
• Do yourself and your business a huge favour – review your customer service policy and your customer service program… it will pay huge dividends!

Emphasise the Benefits, Not the Price

Highlight your products benefits over your competitors products without mentioning the competitors. More often than not customers will purchase from the sales person they feel they have struck up a good relationship with. If you can portray yourself and your business as a reputable, quality business who deliver nothing less and nothing more than what you say you will deliver then you are well on your way to selling to that customer without price even coming into it.

Marketing and ultimately selling is key to surviving during bad times and even good.

If you are unsure as to how to grow your sales, we recommend you seek professional business advice.

For furthter information pleaase refer to our website www.avegna.com.au

Previous blog entries in this series:

Part One:

Part Two:

Part Three: