Easiest Way to Increase Your Sales for Small and Growing Businesses

You’re a savvy business owner - most of the businesses I work with are too. And yet, most small and growing businesses are overlooking this simple strategy to increase their sales. Using this one concept, I have been able to find success for my marketing clients and it is usually the very first strategy we implement because it typically has immediate results.

The concept is simple: Stop seeking new customers and sell to the ones you already have.

This is usually called re-marketing or re-targeting. The reason it is so effective is because these people have already been converted. You have already sold to them once or they have already indicated interest in what you have to offer. The process of lead generation and nurturing customers to a sale is a time-consuming and costly process. Even if you have a low-budget product or service, you are likely asking potential customers to change their already established purchasing behaviors. This can take months and months to happen.

So here are the quick and easy ways you can sell to your current customers.

Upsell by Serving More Value

Ask yourself how you can uplevel the service you offer. This doesn’t mean you have to go above and beyond for every client - that probably won’t cash flow very well. But it does mean you can offer VIP experiences or totally hands-off, done for you to the extreme services. Think about it this way - if you sell furniture, an easy way to provide additional service is by offering delivery, in-home setup, or some kind of repair or replacement warranty. This means you can better serve your customer, while also making additional income. Offering these kinds of add-on service options provide you the opportunity to increase your sales.

Resell by Staying Top of Mind

You probably have some kind of a customer list. Use this to get back in touch with them again and provide them with new information about your products or services, remind them they haven’t purchased for awhile and may need to re-stock an item, or provide them with an opportunity to work with you again. This one is super simple because it might just be sending out a monthly newsletter or adding a new topic to your social media content. The goal is to stay top of mind and provide lots of education and value about how your products and services solve your customers’ problems.

Offer Discounts for Loyalty

Another one is to offer a small discount for past customers to encourage them to come back again. A lot of people question this one because offering a discount means less income! But the truth is you can afford to do it because you don’t have to spend the money and time to discover these leads and nurture them to a sale. You already have them. The added bonus here is that loyalty discounts are viewed very highly in customers’ eyes. Many customers feel short-changed when they see discounts and promotions for new customers when they have been shopping with you for a long time and haven’t received any benefits from that. This is a great way to build a community of very loyal customers who will buy from you again and again and will recommend you to their friends.

Sell Companion Products of Services

Adding additional items to your business that go well together is a great way to get more revenue coming in. I like to put it this way - if you’re already selling peanut butter, you might as well sell jelly too! You might be thinking that adding another product or service to your lineup is not an easy task. And it’s true, this is a heavier lift as far as increasing sales goes. The good part is you can offer products or services that you don’t necessarily create. Many businesses choose to partner with another business to make this a mutually beneficial system. For example, you may sell peanut butter and jelly, but this doesn’t mean you have to manufacture both products. You can buy the jelly from another business and sell it alongside your products. This is similarly true for service businesses. You may not offer the service, but you can offer a referral price on a partner business’s service if they are booked together. This might look like offering a photography session for your client and then also offering a styling session with a local boutique at a discounted rate if they book both. You can work with your partner business to negotiate referral rates that are beneficial to you both while also providing extra value to your clients.

Many businesses use some form of remarketing, but usually don’t fully utilize this marketing technique to their advantage. Take a look at your own marketing and identify which opportunity you are missing.

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