If you want to increase your sales quota dramatically, then you should shift your sales focus from attracting new customers to enticing your proven patrons to buy again. The best sales prospect is a prospect that is already converted.
This means that you already have loyal patrons, so sell them more stuff. If you start focusing your sales efforts on your proven patrons, you will be able to increase your sales without spending more money on marketing efforts to attract new shoppers.
Selling to your loyal following will also help you build stronger customer loyalty by offering them more products. Selling more products and spending less on trying to get a new following will not only drive sales, but reduce out-of-pocket expenses.
As a business owner, you should realize that employees need incentives. This means you need to give your sales staff a reason to get out there and sell.
By offering the sales staff the trips or television sets if they meet a certain number of sales, you will get more work out of them at the same cost. Up-selling involves adding related products and/or services to your line and making it convenient and necessary for shopper to buy them.
Just placing more products near your usual products is not going to increase your sales much. To up-sell successfully, the consumer has to be persuaded of the benefit.
This means salespeople need to answer the question “What’s in it for me?” Just as employees need incentives, customers need to feel like they are being benefited as well.
Business owners should also tell their patrons about promotions. Everyone loves a discount – no matter how expensive or inexpensive the product.
Do not try to hide discounts thinking you will get less commission; broadcast your promotions and draw in more shoppers because of it. If you tell customers about an upcoming sale, they will not only come back, they will tell others about it too.
There should be a clear and obvious difference between regular patrons and other customers. You regular patrons need to feel special and appreciated – like they are in an elite club.
This means they should be getting special membership deals, and receiving newsletter about upcoming events, sales, and company information. Return shoppers need to feel special so they keep coming back.
There are many different kinds of ways that you can show your regular patrons that you value them. This can be from small things such as greeting them by name, or even giving them larger benefits such as giving regulars extended credit or discounts.
Big businesses offer customer loyalty programs and incentives, and so should small companies. It can be as simple as a discount on a customer’s birthday or as complex as a points system that earns various rewards such as discounts on merchandise.
Done right, rewards programs can really help build customer loyalty and increase sales. Free samples are also a great promotion to try out every once in a while.
This is especially true for food and drink vendors, but really everyone likes free stuff; no matter what it is. And for businesses, free promotions increase sales because you are drawing more people into your store.
The customer who bought the original product might try and like the sample of the new product and buy some of it too. That person may also mention the product to a friend, who will try it for free as well, like it, buy it; and the cycle starts all over again.
At the very least, the original customer will be thinking warm thoughts about your company, and hopefully telling other people about your products. Attracting new shoppers is a good thing, but attracting new consumers is not the only way to increase your sales.
Attracting new consumers is not only more difficult, but it is more expensive and time consuming. Shifting your sales focus to enticing your current patrons can make increasing your sales easier and help build the customer loyalty that result in repeat sales.
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