You have probably heard me many times saying that sales is one of the most crucial aspects of a small business operation and every company should look into ways to make more sales.
You can do as much marketing as you can or have the resources for, promote your business using every medium possible but if you miss that final step where you sell yourself to your prospect, you simply won’t get much work in.
But it’s also easy to start running in circles in sales. You try very hard but don’t make more sales. The phone doesn’t ring and even if it does not much business comes out of it. You promote the business with double force yet still nothing. You have rang every single person that has ever been in touch with you and still no sign of a job.
Luckily there are some tricks that pro salesmen use to make more sales when things get slow and here are four of my favorite ones:
Visit your clients in their offices
Don’t make appointments, simply show up. You don’t need a reason, you might just want to check out how they are doing or if everything is OK with that last project you did for them.
PRO TIP: Don’t try doing this over the phone. Always visit your client in person. What I usually do is call in to 2-3 clients on my way to a meeting or any appointment. I ring them 5 minutes before I show up saying that i am near their office and can pop in.
Try it and you will be surprised how many times you will leave with a sale or a quote request at least.
Ask your best client out for lunch
Get even more personal with your clients. Don’t talk work, make it a casual meeting but I can assure you that you will walk away with a new job or at least a prospect of one.
Get everyone on your team into sales mood
It is a typical situation in every company that everyone looks after their piece of work. However, when things get slow and you want to boost your sales you need every person you have available out there selling for you. Get your people their business cards and start going to business functions together. You can network only with so many people alone, if you go in team, you have a greater chance to initiate a sales process with more prospects.
Form strategic partnerships
Your sales might be slow because the market is filled with what you’re offering. Expand your offer by partnering with other companies in your field and go after clients together. This can result in winning much bigger project but also smaller jobs from your partners directly.
Some companies fail, others seem to grow no matter what economic climate we’re currently in. I personally attribute that to the way they conduct their sales and promotion. And both work in a simple manner, the more effort you put in into them, the greater chance to make more sales. By increasing your sales efforts you can create only one result, more orders.
Here is a little secret though, when things are slow your main focus should go to your existing clients. They will be the ones who will get you out of a sales dip. If you are wondering how to increase sales, this is your answer.
If, however you will neglect sales, you might be preventing your company from growing and expanding.
About Pawel