Ten Hints for Increasing Sales
10 easy and affordable ways to increase traffic and boost sales at your small business.
In these busy times, the customer’s choice to purchase may be based on how easy it is to make the purchase rather than on price! Here are a 10 ideas to make your product or service easy for customers to purchase:
- Accept credit cards for payment. This is mandatory. The majority of small purchases is by credit card. However, be careful in choosing your credit card merchant provider. There are agents that are charging excessive rates and fees. As always, caveat emptor.
- Provide a money-back, no-questions-asked return policy.
- Distribute free catalogs. But include a “price” on the cover, say, $5.00. The recipient then feels good about getting your “$5.00” catalog for free!
- Get an 800 number for sales and service. Ensure that the number is well attended. Answer it yourself if possible! Again, as with the credit card merchant account warning above, choose your provider with care. It is now very easy and inexpensive to maintain an 800 number. The 800 number may simply “piggy back” on your existing business line, if desired. Very handy.
- Provide a strong guarantee for your product or service. If possible, offer “lifetime” guarantees. This is a very strong selling point, but statistics show that very, very few customers ever take advantage of such a guarantee.
- Give away something free (possibly in conjunction with a purchase) from time to time.
- If you’re in the retail business, maintain store hours in evenings and on weekends.
- Provide a delivery service (or service at the customer’s location).
- Follow up sales to the extent possible. Personal calls for big-ticket sales or a returnable post card for higher volume sales can make a lasting impression. . .and a return customer!
- Have a “preferred customer” sale.
Category : Advertising & PR