7 Most Effective Ways to Increase Sales

The business world is becoming competitive every day, and setting up your business for profitability is a significant obstacle you have to face. This post will show you the 7 most effective ways to increase sales.

Even though it is difficult to know the numbers precisely, it is estimated that there are around 400 million small businesses worldwide. With the increasing numbers in business creation, there is an increase in competition. As a result, selling becomes even more complicated, and the cash inflow to your company begins to reduce.

However, there is always a way to get ahead of your competition and increase sales. I will tell you everything you have to know in this post, but before then: Are you a business owner finding it hard to increase sales? Do you believe you have the best products but still make low sales? 

Year in and year out, you wonder how the top guys in your industry continue to make massive sales even though they sell at ridiculously high prices. Why aren't people buying your products even though you have the best ones at the lowest prices? Relax. This is the reason why I created this post. To answer all your questions and provide tips to sell out more of your products and increase your sales. 

Before I tell you these tips, let me tell you a secret. The dirty little secret these top guys don't want you to know. They are masters of persuasion. They understand how human psychology works. They define their systems in a way to convince their customers that their product is the best. With their crazy offers and persuasion skills, prospects find it hard to say no to them. 

Every expert salesperson knows that mastering persuasion is vital to the growth of your business. To outsmart them, master persuasion skills or hire a copywriter, then focus on the #7 skill in the tips next. That's done. 

Let's dive into the crux of the matter. What you have to do to increase sales. 

The 7 most effective ways to increase sales

1. Increase lead generation

The more people see your product, the more you sell. 

A lead is a person that is interested in your product or your services. 

Generation is the process of bringing them in and attracting them to know more about you and your business. 

Thus, lead generation is attracting prospects to your business and then nurturing them to build their interests to convert them into loyal customers. 

Now, you understand what that is. When you start to notice a gradual reduction in sales, it may be an indication to generate new leads. You can run paid ads or attract them with a gift called a lead magnet.

2. Build relationships with your customers

A sale occurs only once. However, a relationship is a lifetime. So rather than make a single sale, why not build a relationship with your prospects? And set the foundation for more future sales? 

As a business owner, you know that closing a sale is crucial to your growth and success. 

But selling directly to a lead immediately after joining your list is the wrong approach. Unless a lead knew about you before, you wouldn't be able to convert most of them. 

This is where the KLT formula of audience nurturing comes in. 

Get your prospects to Know, Like, and Trust you. 

You won't give your hard-earned money to someone you don't trust. It's the same for your prospects. 

Building relationships enables you to convert your leads to customers

3. Upsell & cross-sell

What do both terms mean? Imagine the scenes below:

You own a phone station, and Mr Ali wants to buy a new phone. Before getting to your station, he had budgeted #70,000 to buy a Samsung Galaxy A41.

While communicating with him on his preferences, you discovered that he needed a phone with a long-lasting battery. Unfortunately, Samsung Galaxy A41 is only 3500mah.

So you suggested he buys Samsung Galaxy M21 at #75,000 with 6000mah. This is upselling  

Before he leaves, you told him about the Samsung 10,000mah powerbank for #20,000. And convinced him to buy, telling him about the benefits and how it would make life easier for him. This is cross-selling.

For easy reference, let's define:

Upselling is persuading customers to buy a higher-end product compared to what they initially wanted to buy. This product is usually more expensive and much more beneficial. 

Cross-selling identifies a product that serves as additional value to what the customer intends to buy. Just like the powerbank in the example above. 

When you do this, not only will you leave your customers satisfied by helping them make better choices, you will as well earn more. 

In the example given above, if you had just given Mr Ali what he asked for, you'd have made Only #70,000, and Mr Ali would have gotten a phone that didn't fulfil his needs.

But because you upsold and cross-sold, you made #95,000. And Mr Ali as well got his needs fulfilled, leaving him satisfied and having his problem completely solved.

4. Create irresistible offers

Generating new leads isn't enough. Do you have an irresistible offer for your prospects?

An offer is the core of your business. The additional information you add to your products makes your prospect feel stupid for saying no. 

Without an offer, your product is like a naked cake without frosting. And even though the cake is delicious, it is not appealing to the eyes. 

When you add frosting to it, it becomes prettier, more visually appealing and even more delicious 

Imagine this:

You walk into a fast-food restaurant to buy a cupcake. 

And then the waiter asks you. Cupcake and smoothie? 

Even though you initially wanted a cupcake, you will start giving the smoothie a chance.

Now, a cupcake is $25, and a smoothie bottle is $30.

You changed your mind after hearing the price and said only cupcake, please. But the waiter proceeds to say; you can get both at $50 instead of $55. That is irresistible because you can get both and still save $5. 

Selling either of them is an offer but selling both at a discounted price is an irresistible offer.

5. Focus on growth activities

To succeed in your business, you have to forgo all activities that do not contribute to its success.

A lot at a time, you spend money on unnecessary things. To increase sales, you have to eliminate these things. 

Learn about the best way to increase business productivity here.

6. Expand your market

To sell more, you have to give out more. Create new products, explore successful marketing strategies, and partner with successful companies on projects. Whatever you do, expand your market. 

Expansion not only creates opportunities for you but also raises the barrier of limitations. 

It creates more awareness for your business, and the more people know you, the more you drive in sales.

7. Identify your USP

Remember I told you this is my favourite? Here's why:

Your USP (Unique Selling Point) sets you apart from your competition. It's what makes you unique, what differentiates you from them. 

How can you increase your sales by identifying your USP? 

Here's how to do it:

1. Find an apparent reason why your product is better than your competitors' products.

2. Then find a reason your customer cares about. What does your customer want that your competition left out? Find this through market research.

3. Proceed to find solid evidence that this feature is true. Use this evidence to back up your claims. Show your customers that you're not lying and that this new reason works.

4. Make sure none of your competitors has this feature. This is very important, so you have to study your competitors.

You're going to add everything your competitors add and the newly discovered reason they left out. Make sure this reason is unique to you, and they cannot get it from anywhere else.

5. Communicate this feature or reason in the language your audience speaks.

You have to clearly and easily express this feature or reason in words that your customers instantly understand.

On a final note, these tips will help you increase your sales because they have been working over the years. But if you do not take action towards achieving the profitability you want, your sales game will remain the same.

If you find this helpful or have any questions, drop them in the comment section. I will attend to them.

You might also be interested in How to Set Sales Targets and Achieve Them.