Ten Important Hints for Increasing Sales
In these busy times, the customer’s choice to purchase may be based on how easy it is to make the purchase rather than price! Here are a ten ideas to make your product or service easy for customers to purchase:
1. Accept credit cards for payment. This is mandatory. The majority of small purchases is by credit card. However, be careful in choosing your credit card merchant provider. There are agents that are charging excessive rates and fees. As always, caveat emptor.
2. Provide a money-back, no-questions asked return policy.
3. Distribute free catalogs. (… but include a “price” on the cover, say $5.00.) The recipient then feels good about getting your “$5.00″ catalog free!
4. Get an 800 number for sales and service. Ensure the number is well attended. Do it yourself if possible! Again, as with the credit card merchant account warning above, choose your provider with care. It is now very easy and inexpensive to maintain an 800 number. The 800 number may simply “piggy back” on your existing business line, if desired. Very handy.
5. Provide a strong guarantee for your product or service. If possible, offer “lifetime” guarantees. This is a very strong selling point but statistics show very, very few customers ever take advantage of such a guarantee.
6. Give away something free (possibly in conjunction with a purchase) from time to time.
7. If you’re in the retail business, maintain store hours in evenings and on weekends.
8. Provide a delivery service (or service at the customer’s location).
9. Follow up sales to the extent possible. Personal calls for big ticket sales or a returnable post card for higher volume sales can make a lasting impression … and a return customer!
10. Have a “preferred customer” sale.
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Robert Sullivan is the author of The Small Business Start-Up Guide, and United States Government - New Customer!. He frequently lectures on starting small businesses and appears on CNBC’s “Minding Your Business” as a small business expert. His books may be ordered toll-free by calling 1 800 375 8439.
Robert also developed and maintains an extensive award-winning Internet website, “The Small Business Advisor,” at http://www.isquare.com
Why Do People Buy?
When you’re marketing your business, you need to know two things: who bought your product, and why they bought your product.
Every marketing advice, revolves around the knowing your target market. Without knowing and understanding your target market, it would be very difficult for you, as a business owner, to be successful in your industry.
Marketing tips and techniques would always tell you that you need to know your market so that you can mold your marketing campaign to what would be attractive to your clients. Your clients are actually the heroes in your business story. Whatever success you have depends on how your market would appreciate and respond to your marketing campaign, be it catalogs, posters, flyers, brochures, and even your postcard printing pieces.
In fact, marketing your business is not about you or your company; but more than anything else, marketing your business is all about your target clients and what you can do for them. It’s the benefits to be had from your product or service, rather than the features.
And it’s not just actually knowing who your target clients are. You also need to know who in fact bought your products and why they bought them in the first place. Again, this is the reason why targeting is so important - not only should you target those who are in need of your services, but most importantly, those who really acted on an offer and bought a product.
Some questions most likely to be running in your mind would be who actually purchased your product? What made them do so? Why did they choose you over your competition? What makes you different? And what can you do to encourage them to do a repeat purchase?
It is no secret that one of the primary factors people look at when deciding on what product to purchase is the cost that the transaction would incur. People are prone to purchase things they need given it’s at an agreeable price. Seldom do they acquire a need or a want without having to consider the money involved, or even the time it takes to buy such things.
Money and Time.
The economical use of these two resources is the utmost priority of your clients. If you can take into account how much of your customers’ money can your business help save and how easy and fast the process is to acquire it, your clients would more than gladly shell out their hard-earned bucks for you in no time.
Lynne Saarte is a writer that hails from Texas. She has been in the Internet business for some years now, specializing in Internet marketing and other online business strategies.
For comments and inquiries about the article visit: [http://camouflagepink.squarespace.com]Marketing Tips
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