Business review

Unless you’ve been sleeping, you’ll know that we could be on the age of a recession.  There’s no doubt it’s a difficult time for everyone.  People and businesses are worried about their finances. Look at the headlines and you’ll read stories of falling sales in every paper. All this doom and gloom can create a psychological barrier to enthusiastically chasing sales.  However, by putting these Top 10 Tips into practice, you break through this barrier and start increasing sales again.

TIP 1:  PERSPECTIVE –People see things from a perspective.  But perspectives are not realities; they are an invented and shaped view of a situation based on opinion.  That opinion is based on a combination of belief, knowledge and rumour. Opinions can be swayed and so perspectives can be changed, shifted, altered and augmented.  Your customers or clients have a perspective on the effects of the Credit Crunch on their business or their personal finances, but it can be changed.

Whatever the truth, their perspective is built on opinion and you and your staff can influence opinions.  If you want to increase sales during the Credit Crunch introduce a new and appealing slant that offers superb benefits.

TIP 2: A LIDL GOES A LONG WAY – Take your example from the low-cost supermarket chain LIDL.  Whilst sales have dropped at the other major supermarkets, LIDL dropped their prices up.  The other supermarkets raised their prices under the pretext of the Credit Crunch Crisis – so instead, LIDL boasted about their low prices and encouraged customers to change their supermarket and enjoy shopping for less.  As customers become more concerned with saving money, offer them savings, give them an incentive to try you. Be the company that saves people money. Build customer loyalty and see small benefits now but bigger benefits as the economy improves.

TIP 3:  BUSINESS IS BUSINESS – If you’re selling B2B, this is the time to make sales with your business clients.  All businesses are trying to make money, so anything that you can offer that will assist them to increase productivity, cut costs or improve performance will be attractive.  Business wants to do more business, business wants to increase profits, if you can offer a new way for that business to get the edge on its competition, they will have a unique reason to buy from you.

TIP 4: INCREASE SALES ACTIVITY – Now’s the best time to increase your sales activity.  Work up a cost effective telemarketing campaign, save yourself some money by outsourcing your campaign, save the cost of recruiting and hiring staff, and the costs of equipment to increase sales without the cost of long term investment.  Bring in short-term highly trained external sales staff to make the most of any new promotions, or capture leads for turning into sales as things begin to improve.

TIP 5:  CONSUMERISM – People hunger to buy things - that’s why they call it consumerism. People have the urge to consume and although there may be a general trend for decreasing sales, people are still hungry, they still want to buy; they’re compelled to it.  Help them to act on this by appealing to their urge to consume and you won’t find a problem making a sale. 

TIP 6: TRAINING IS THE KEY – An experienced sales force is confident but a well trained and informed sales force can enthuse about your product or service with natural ease.  The better trained, the better the sales team knows their stuff, the more comfortable they will be selling it and the more infectious their positive feelings about the product or service will be.  Make it easy for the potential customer to want to buy into that good feeling.

TIP 7:  BE PREPARED – Research the potential concerns of your customers.  Look at the logic behind their reasons for not buying and find strong and convincing ways to smash their perspective.  Give them many reasons to buy, lay out the benefits and show how you can deliver and help them forget their own initial concerns.  Spend time researching the Credit Crunch so you can hold a good conversation with any potential customer.  Credibility sells.

TIP 8:  LOOK TO THE INTERNET – One of the most cost effective ways to increase sales and decrease costs is looking to the Internet as a major store front for your products and services.  Increasing the range of your sales across the globe could increase your costs, but the Internet provides a simpler way to reach customers anywhere you may have a potential market.  Link that expansion into effective and well-trained telesales staff and you’ll start increasing your sales and meeting your targets.  The Internet allows you to take your product away outside the traditional boundaries without investing in infrastructure or staffing in those countries.

TIP 9:  DON’T BELIEVE THE HYPE – Don’t buy into the media headlines yourself.  There is a general decline in the economy and that will affect sales BUT did you know that retail sales have INCREASED month on month this year and are actually UP from last year?  If you’re going to change customer perspectives, you’ve got to leave the hype to the headlines.

TIP 10:  RESEARCH THE COMPETITION – Take a look at your competition.  What are they doing during this tough time?  How have they reacted to lower sales figures or cropped budgets.  Copy and improve on their best ideas, exploit their weaknesses and learn how to turn them into your advantage.  If your competitor drops prices, promote value and quality, if your customer hikes prices, demonstrate your cost effectiveness.

Don’t let sales drop during this period of economic difficulty.  No matter how tough the market, there are strategies that can be employed to generate leads, increase sales and build a customer loyalty that will see you through to brighter days.  If you could benefit from expertise in the field of sales during difficult times, contract   at Virtual Sales for expert advice and exceptional solutions.

Andy Dickens CEO of VSL(http://www.virtual-sales.com) is a veteran of sales with over 20 years experience. Over the years helped companies of all shapes and sizes to grow their businesses successfully.

www.virtual-sales.com

andy@virtual-sales.com

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - Top Ten Tips for Increasing the Sales Crunch During the Credit Crunch