Five Ways To Boost Sales In a Recovering Economy

A recovering economy demands that our sales skills be in top form. Here are five tips that can help you boost your sales immediately.

1. Replace Promotions with Solutions

We push our products and services harder when sales are down. This makes sense, but sometimes we end up promoting our brand rather than solving client's problems. When your house is on fire you probably don't care about the colour or pumping capacity of the attending fire trucks - you want the fire out!

Take a look at your current marketing message; is it focused on service promotion, or on solving customer's problems? Remember, your customers only want their needs met or their problems solved. How are you helping them do that?

2. Stop Devaluing Your Product And Start Communicating Value

Do lower prices lead to greater sales during a recession, and if so, does discounting really offset the increase in volume? Don't engage your competitors in a race for the bottom. Volume can be the enemy of quality; after all, who dilutes expensive wine?

Become the expert at communicating value. Communicate value by demonstrating how your product or service will help meet the specific needs of your clients. Stay away from abstract concepts, and speak in tangible, results-oriented language. The better you become at communicating value, the less you have to worry about lowering your prices.

3. Stop Widening Your Market And Excel In A Smaller Niche

How can one explain the longevity of so many boutique stores against the backdrop of big-box store expansion? The sacrifices that the customer makes in choosing the big-box or large-volume supplier over the small niche operator are quality and personalized service. As an example, independent bookstores still do surprisingly well not because they sell as many books as their big-box competitors, but because they offer their customers an experience.

We are creatures of novelty. We desire a unique experience where our needs and interests are embraced by an engaged provider. A common reaction when we want to boost our sales is to try to appeal to a larger audience. This strategy usually backfires as it dilutes our product. People want to feel that your solution has been customized just for them - you acknowledge their uniqueness. Identify a narrower market and then adjust your sales and marketing message.

4. Educate a Prospect to save them money.

It has been said "Give a man a fish, feed him for a day; Teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime." Education is powerful. It can also put more money in your pockets. Education can position you as an expert, and people love to by from a guru. Lets say you sell computer software to wedding planners. Instead of cold calling them to arrange a meeting to demonstrate your software, you instead put on a 90-minute free seminar for wedding professionals. Maybe you call it the Six Dangerous Trends Regarding Next Year's Wedding Industry. The seminar is filled with useful information on things like trends, statistics, demographics, and ends with your translation of what it all means. You want to pass along great information that is going to help them. Now instead of begging wedding planners for a meeting, you have suddenly become known to them as an expert in the wedding industry and are seen as a valuable resource, not just another salesperson.

5. Solve A Problem For A Previous Client

It is 7 to 8 times harder to sell to a new customer than it is to a previous one. Contact 10 past or current customers this week and see what challenges and issues they are facing that you might be able to help them with. If your product is not what they need, then point them in the right direction. The goodwill you create will be waiting there the next time you call. Another bonus by helping them is it makes it easier to ask for referrals. Of course you don't want to call it a referral, you want to know if anyone else has the problem that you're fixing. Chances are they know of someone and they can pass on some leads to you. This way you both win.