Eight Quick Ways To Stimulate Sales

Every successful business, large or small, has one thing in common. They want to book more business … especially during slow times. So let’s look at proven methods that will likely give your business a shot in the revenue arm. These certainly aren’t new ideas, but they’ve been road tested in countless applications and have proved to have lasting appeal.

1. The Gift Voucher

   The aim of this strategy is to add to your customer base by getting existing customers to introduce new ones to you. It’s especially useful in the lead up to a gift giving time, such as Christmas. Offer existing customers the chance to buy a gift voucher at a discounted rate. For example, “Give your friends a $50 gift voucher for Christmas Ð yours for just $40.” It means giving a bigger discount, but it also gets new customers into your business. For business-to-business sales, make it a “refer a new customer to us and get 40% off your next order,” or something similar.

2. The Market Research Survey

   You can never know too much about your customers, so work up a questionnaire that will give you information you can use for future marketing. Ask for details that will help you fulfill their needs more effectively. To encourage their responses and maybe make some sales, send it to your customer base with an accompanying certificate, product list and a discount offer. Everyone completing the questionnaire and returning it with an order will receive a discount (the value on the certificate) off the usual price of the products ordered.

3. The “10% Off Everything” Sale

   Offer your customers a flat percentage discount on everything they buy for a limited time only. Make it a condition that they bring the communications piece with them when they make their purchase. Don’t promote the discount at the point of sale; this is a restricted offer and you want it to be seen that way.

4. The Package Deal

   This is a simple one. Take product A and product B and offer them together for a price that is less than if the two were purchased separately. The real genius comes when you’re selecting the products. If you have a slow mover, combine it with something that’s “hot” and offer the two as a package deal. Promote it by stressing the savings. It’s even better if the two are related – a pen and box of fancy paper, for example. Give it a name like “Our Desktop Special”.

5. The Bonus Offer

   Package an expensive item with a bonus lower priced item and promote them for the usual price of the expensive item. This is a good way to get rid of slow moving items. Once again, look for a relationship between the two products and try to find a catchy name for the bonus deal. Your creativity will go a long way in the “Package deal” or the “Bonus offer.” Instead of simply listing two existing benefits, brainstorm for benefits that only exist by owning the package.

6. The “Off Of Hours” Sale

   “By Invitation Only” reads the promotional piece and it’s announcing a sale for regular customers only, outside of normal trading hours. If you deal in seasonal stock this is a good way to move it out at the end of the season. You can offer a flat discount on everything, plus a special discount on “selected” items that you’re especially anxious to move.

7. Advise Customers on How to Use Your Products

   Many products have more than one use. Kleenex tissues can be found in almost every home today and they’re the first thing you think of when you have a head cold. But, they were first marketed only as a way to remove makeup. It wasn’t until a market research survey found that, people were buying them to blow their noses into that manufacturer Kimberly-Clark woke up to how they should really be promoted.

   Whenever you market the products you sell, be sure to tell prospects about all the ways they can be used. There are over 2,000 uses for WD-40, for example. Do a bit of investigation into the products you are marketing and you could find that sales can be increased simply by telling customers about all the possible ways to use them. It’s a great idea for point of sale promotions.

8. Call Former Prospects and Customers

   This is the “no-brainer” of “no-brainers,” especially for business-to-business or professional sales. Contact the prospects that inquired but never did buy six months, a year or two years ago. You are bound to get a few that say “I can’t believe your timing!” Also, call some of the customers that have not bought from you in a while. If they left you for another, it is likely that by now they’ve realized that the grass is not always greener. Call and invite them back.

This article was adapted from one that appeared in the Wanatchee Business Journal by a Rene Zamora, a business consultant for McQuaig and Welk, PC.