Even when times are good, it makes sense to get the most out of what you are spending on marketing and advertising. In more challenging times, extra sales can make the difference between prospering and struggling…even going under.
In this article, you’ll discover 5 proven and straightforward ways to boost your sales…without having to spend a single extra cent on advertising…or having to make radical changes to what you are already doing.
Here’s the first one…
Sales Results Booster #1 – Sharpen Up Your Copy…
“No matter what you sell – or what business you’re in – nothing drives sales through the roof more than top-notch sales copy”
– Rich Schefren, author of the “Internet Business Manifesto”
Unless you have been extremely fortunate…or you’ve already invested considerable time and effort in testing and tweaking your sales letters, landing pages and other copy…then it’s almost certain you can get better results with improved copy.
There are two areas that will have the highest impact…the headline and your offer. Here we will concentrate on the headline as that’s the easiest of the two areas to make and test changes.
To illustrate what’s possible, here are some examples…
Headline Test Example #1
The first example comes from the book “Making Ads Pay” by advertising legend John Caples. Chapter 8 of the book looks at a number of headline tests and why one headline performed better than another.
One of the tests was for an air conditioning unit with these different headlines…
Headline #1: How to Have a Cool, Quiet Bedroom, Even on Hot Nights
Headline #2: Get Rid of That Humidity
Headline #1 was the clear winner…producing more than THREE TIMES the responses than the second headline.
Headline Test Example #2
This example is from master marketer Jay Abraham. Some years ago he was working with a precious metals dealer who was selling gold and silver to investors on a bank-financed purchase basis. The client was having reasonable success with this headline…
“Two-thirds bank financing on silver and gold”
Jay suggested testing 3 other headlines. Two of these produced some modest improvement to results but the third variation…
“If gold is selling for $300 an ounce, send us just $100 an ounce and we’ll buy you all the gold you like”
…and…
“If silver is selling for $6 an ounce, send us just $2 an ounce and we’ll buy you all the gold you like”
…delivered a staggering FIVE TIMES (500%) more sales from the same ad.
Headline Test Example #3
Another example is from internet marketer Jim Edwards. This headline for his book on how to sell property without using an agent…
“How to avoid paying $6,823…$9,128…$12,913 or more in real estate commission by selling without an Agent!”
…outperformed headlines like this one…
“How to Sell Your House Yourself and Save the Real Estate Commission”
…by as much or more than 250%.
Now, these kind of results might be exceptional (although they are not isolated cases) but even more modest results are well worth having. So take a fresh look at the headlines on test out some alternatives.
Sales Results Booster #2 – Run a Promotion
For a fast cash surge, few things beat a well-crafted special promotion to your existing customers. Few businesses take advantage of every opportunity to promote.
There is an understandable reluctance to bombard customers with offers. Indeed, there is a danger in doing so, especially if the promotions simply involve price reductions. Regular and indiscriminate discounting simply trains your customers to avoid paying full price and wait for the next sale.
With that said, most businesses could easily benefit from more sales promotions. Here’s how I suggest you go about that…
1. Select a reason for the promotion. Every single month of the year, you’ll find multiple events, occasions or anniversaries you can use.
2. Craft your promotion. Rather than simply offer a discount, add value with a special bonus or a package deal. If possible, link the offer to the reason for the promotion.
3. Make the promotion time-limited, perhaps even limited to a certain number of sales as well.
Unless you already have a full calendar of promotions, it’s well worth testing for yourself a special promotion.
Very early on in my marketing career, we decided to test out what we had been learning from a marketing coach. We selected a product that had been making steady, but unspectacular sales, added a relevant bonus and then ran an email campaign for a limited-time offer.
We were thrilled with the results, bringing in more sales in just under a week than we typically were making each month!
Sales Results Booster #3 – Upsells
When you make a sale, that’s a great time to make a further sale – especially if there is a good reason and clear benefit for your customer to make that extra purchase. Studies indicate that up to sixty percent of clients will increase their initial purchase, provided there is clear value in doing so.
One classic example of this idea in action comes from fast food giant McDonalds. When serving, staff were trained to ask…
“Would you like fries with that?”
…if a customer had not already ordered fries. This technique then evolved to offering customers the “Meal” option (usually adding fries and a drink).
Amazon is another master of this technique, presenting customers with all sorts of related items when making a purchase.
Here are three simple ways to increase the size of the sale, deliver greater benefits to your clients and boost your cash flow and bottom line.
1. Adding products and services. Offer clients the chance to add related items to the basic purchase – items that when added will increase the level of customer satisfaction. A man buying a new suit, for example, will enhance the look with a new shirt, maybe new shoes and ties.
2. Adding volume or time options. Help customers decide the best quantity and quality grades in which they want to purchase your goods and services. Or how long they want a service to automatically continue.
3. Adding combinations. Provide clients the opportunity to purchase combinations or packages of goods and services that help better achieve the end result they are looking for.
Remember, your clients want the end results your product or service delivers. Help them achieve that more completely and they will be open to increasing their purchase from you.
Sales Results Booster #4 – Affiliate Promotion
A simple way to boost your sales and profits that is often overlooked is…to sell someone else’s product!
Crazy? Not if it’s a product or service that complements what you are selling and delivers value to your customers.
What’s generally known as “Affiliate Marketing” is where you promote and sell a product or service from someone else. In return, you get paid a commission or receive compensation in some other form.
There are established Affiliate Marketing networks where the process is formalised or you could set up your own deals directly.
The key to success is…
1. Have a clear idea of what your customers want and are looking for. Be realistic about what you can do for them with your own products or services and where there are gaps in what you can deliver.
2. Find a product or service that meets those gaps. Make sure, of course, that it is a quality product that you are prepared to stand behind and that you are dealing with someone reputable.
3. Properly promote the product or service to your customers. Make sure you do your homework and thoroughly explain what the product or service can do for your clients and why you are happy to recommend it to them.
One other potential benefit of this strategy is that it can open the doors to a joint venture arrangement with the owner of the affiliate product. If there is a good fit, then this type of deal can be a great way to quickly boost customer numbers and revenue.
Results Booster #5 – Return of the (Lost) Customer
Pretty much every business suffers from losing customers. It’s going to happen and usually for one of these three reasons…
1. The customer simply “forgets” about you for some reason. Let’s face it, people are busy and subject to all kinds of demands and distractions. You might simply have dropped off their personal radar.
2. There’s been a genuine problem and they are mad at you.
3. There is genuinely no longer any reason for them to do business with you. Either they no longer need your product or service, or you can no longer meet their needs (for example, they have moved out of the area and you have a location-based product or service).
In this article, we will concentrate on how to get back the first group as customers, although the other two groups are in no way a completely lost cause either.
It makes sense to attempt to reactivate previous customers. After all, they are already familiar with you and have done business with you in the past. So, it should be easier to get them to deal with you again than it is to find completely new customers.
Remember as well, that the regular loss of customers means that you continually need to find new customers simply to stand still in your business. Anything to reduce customer attrition is more than worthwhile.
Now, the simplest thing to do to reactivate “lost” customers is to run a promotion specifically for them. Here’s what I suggest…
1. First get in touch. Regular mail is probably best, but email will do if that’s the only option.
2. Acknowledge that they haven’t done business with you for a while and that you are concerned. Is there a problem? If so, let them know that you want to make things right (and be prepared to do so, of course!).
3. Make them a special offer, with as few strings attached as possible. You might even offer something completely free.
It might sound crazy to give away something completely free. However, the principle of reciprocity, meaning that if you give someone something, they will often feel obliged to give something back, means that you will often pick up some immediate revenue, as well as regaining a customer.
In this article, you’ve discovered 5 ways to increase your sales without having to spend more on advertising or having to make drastic changes to what you are already doing. You can put any of these ideas into action straight away…the first time I ran a special promotion, we launched in under a week and were making extra sales straight from that launch.
Although you won’t need to spend more money on advertising, you will need effective sales copy to get the most from these strategies. If you need some help with that or more detail about how to apply these ideas in your business, then simply get in touch with me through the “Contact Kevin Francis” page on this site. Put “5 Ways to Increase Sales” in the subject line and let me know which of the strategies you are planning to use.
Here’s to your success and increased sales!