Ways to Increase Sales

No matter what you do, your company cannot survive if your sales figures are not good.

You know the state of the economy in recent years, unfortunately, small businesses have suffered the most from this. Maybe your small-scale company was also affected by this bad trend, maybe you just want to increase your sales a little bit. We have developed strategies that will work for you in both cases and increase your sales. But let's just say it, before you implement any or more of the strategies we've covered throughout our article, you should also consider these factors:

Your strategy should align with the products you offer. 

You should analyze the reasons why your customers buy your products. 

You must have the capacity to properly implement the strategy you choose, and you must work diligently throughout the process. 

You should not forget that your competitors are also likely to implement the same strategies by imitating you, and you should keep in mind that such a situation may adversely affect your company. 

You should know well what you expect from the economy in the future and direct your company in this direction.

Now, without further ado, let's move on to our basic strategies. You can use each of these strategies alone, or you can increase your income even more by applying several of them together. Here are 18 ways and techniques to increase sales.

How to Increase Sales in a Short Time?

1- Expand your market

Diversify your product range to expand your existing customer base, do business with different countries by sailing to new geographical regions and always try to create sales opportunities.

2. Offer additional services alongside your existing products

By offering additional services or products, you will not only please your existing customers, but also increase your chances of gaining new customers. For example, you have a company that offers lawn mowing or landscape design services and you organize the gardens of luxury houses. Then you can also provide pool maintenance services for a small fee. None of these services we mentioned are technically difficult things. But think about it, why would someone who lives in a villa waste time working with two different companies to have their garden arranged and their pool cleaned? That's why offering two different services together will make you attractive.

Similarly, a company engaged in repair work can provide services in more than one area by training its existing personnel. You can even guarantee your business by offering long-term warranty opportunities to your customers or by offering advantageous price tariffs for the future. Also, be sure to review the services your competitors offer or the products they sell. If your competitors offer opportunities that may be attractive to customers, take action immediately and do not miss them.

3. Operate in a wider geography

Most small businesses do not sail geographically far, but do business with nearby locations, so sales activities are limited to a small area.

By the way, let's talk about a company in Istanbul that sells playground equipment. This company realized that no competitor companies were operating in the surrounding areas; moreover, there was no other company selling playground equipment in these regions. The company in question immediately got to work, and after doing market research, it found that the cost of providing services in the surrounding areas was extremely low. Subsequently, it started to operate in these regions as well, and after a while, its sales doubled.

The lesson we should take from here is this: "There are people who do business in this market, I can't make any bread here." It is one of the biggest mistakes we can make.

4. Make sales agreements with other companies

Contact companies that market by-products in addition to their main products, then ask them, “Would you like to sell our products too?” ask. For example, many of the companies that specialize in computer hardware also sell software, thereby increasing sales of their core products. Likewise, pet food distributors market vitamins and pet items produced by different brands as supplement products. Firms specializing in home decoration also offer landscape design services as a side job.

As you can see from the examples we have given, providing such additional services is not very costly for companies, so expanding the product and service range is a profitable move for most companies. What you need to do to achieve this is to find the right partner for you. Afterwards, you can officially market your products without taking a penny out of your pocket, so your sales will skyrocket!

5. Keep on good terms with your old customers

Selling to your old customers is undoubtedly easier and 80% less costly than finding new customers.

The products that customers buy from you naturally wear out, deteriorate or become outdated over time. So keep in touch with your old customers, inform them about your company and new products at regular intervals. Ask your past customers to recommend you to others or write testimonials about your company. While doing these, make sure to make your customers feel that you value them, “The customer is the benefactor.” Show that you don't compromise.

6. Give Guarantee

Did you know that you can increase sales by up to 3 times just by offering a guarantee?

When you offer a guarantee for the service you provide or the products you sell, your customers will say, "If I don't like it, or if it doesn't come out as I expected, or if it doesn't meet my needs, or if it breaks down in a short time, etc." You get them to get rid of their worries.

7. Benefit from scientifically proven methods

Learning what drives people to buy and how you can persuade them is vital for every company and seller. When you see how easily you can increase sales using these methods, you may feel like you have found a magic wand.

8. Use Upselling Technique

The upselling technique is simply to persuade the customer to buy a more expensive product. In this way, you can significantly increase your profit rate.

9. Increase the Value You Offer

Perhaps the best way to increase sales is to increase the value you offer. For this, try to constantly improve your services and products. In this way, your retention rate will increase and it will be easier for you to gain new customers.

10. Choose the most accurate pricing strategy

The most important factor when buying a good or service is undoubtedly the price. When some customers see a low-priced product, they say, “Hurray, how cheap!” while others rejoiced, "There is definitely a bit of lice in something that is sold so cheaply!" he thinks.

Therefore, before adopting any pricing strategy, be sure to find out what your customers think about your products. In this way, when you change your prices, you will have the opportunity to predict how customers will react to this situation. Also, always treat your prices as "temporary", so never set a firm price. Adjust your prices according to the situation when market and competition conditions change.

11. Raise or lower your prices

As you know, product prices go up and down all the time. Therefore, do not hesitate to make the necessary changes to achieve your goals or cope with the market. If the increase you make will not affect your sales negatively, your income and profit will increase in an instant.

Similarly, if you analyze the market well and lower your prices when necessary, your sales will revive and you will have a more advantageous position in the market compared to your competitors. We can briefly give you the following suggestions for price increase and decrease: First put yourself in the customers' shoes and ask, "I wonder how much the products we sell are in terms of price and quality compared to the goods of other brands?" ask. After doing the necessary research and getting the answer to this question, make the most accurate price positioning for your company.

Remember that price changes can cause market fluctuations, so never ignore the reactions of your current and potential customers to new prices. If you do not get a positive response from the customer side, make the necessary adjustments without wasting much time, and even go back to your old prices if the situation requires it.

You can also choose to increase your prices at regular intervals, taking into account the results of your market research. At this point, it should be noted that consumers often do not react to small price increases, that is, they ignore increases that do not hurt their pockets. Let's face it, maybe the increase you will make will be a big deal compared to the price of your product. However, when we consider the amount and profit that even a small increase will bring you in your total sales, we understand that this is not an unreasonable move.

12. Sell ​​your products in bundles

Let me tell you about the store where a friend of mine works. This friend of mine was selling women's shoes in a store at the time. The shoes appealed to the mass market, that is, to a large segment of female consumers in general. Prices were arranged in accordance with those who value quality rather than brand. The store also sold bags and hats that could be combined with shoes. In fact, store managers often combined shoes, bags and hats and offered them for sale as a package, and they applied discounts of up to 25% compared to the single prices of these products.

So, what do you think the store achieved as a result of these campaigns? More than half of the shoes offered for sale, along with hats and bags, were more profitable than the average.

13. Make shipping charges obvious, price them in, or remove them entirely

At this point, you can use many different tactics. For example, instead of increasing the price of your product, you can request the shipping fee from the customer and clearly indicate this next to the price tag. In this way, sometimes you only pass on the extra shipping costs to the customer without increasing the price, and the customers at least know that you did not raise the price and you only asked them for the transportation fee.

In such a case, you are less likely to get extremely negative reactions from customers. You can also follow the opposite path, depending on the situation. Do you have a product that you want to increase sales of? Then squint a bit and reduce shipping costs or remove them altogether for a while, putting that in the customer's eye, so to speak. Such a tactic can please your customer, that is, “At least I don't pay for shipping.” consumers can flock to your products.

14. Get special discounts

If you make the right discounts at the right time, you will attract consumers, thus gaining new customers. Of course, it is difficult to discount all of your products at the same time, but you can apply discounts to products from a single brand, to certain segments such as school supplies, or to all products of a store in your chain.

In fact, you can discount for any reason you can think of: For example, you can apply a quantity-based discount, that is, you can discount if two or more of the same product is purchased.

Similarly, by applying the package sales method, you can apply a discount if two or more different products are sold together. You can choose to make seasonal discounts and try to gain customers during certain periods of the year. 

Apart from these, you can consider giving discounts only to customers who meet certain conditions. 

Finally, you can apply the tactic of making extra discounts for products that lack some qualifications, so that you can dispose of such products that are not normally very likely to be sold.

15. Add dynamism to your sales channels

You want to increase your sales, right? Then you should add enthusiasm to your work and tell the customer, “This product is for me!” you should be able to say. Let's take a look at a few strategies to reshape the market dynamics and make your products attractive:

15.1. Redesign your product promotion materials

Unfortunately, the number of employers who know how important promotional materials such as brochures, presentations, product data sheets, and photographs are, unfortunately, are very few. Such materials actually help a lot in marketing efforts and increase sales both directly and indirectly.

However, as we mentioned, if the necessary importance is not given to the promotional activities, the brochures, presentations, photographs, etc. remains outdated, cannot properly introduce the products you just launched to the market, and may mislead customers. Websites suffer from the same situation if they are not well-managed, so the number of visitors gradually decreases.

That's why never forget that product promotional materials represent your company. In this direction, prepare brochures with eye-catching colors and plenty of visual content, stay away from tones that darken the soul and complex information that can bore the customer. Review all of your promotional materials one by one and determine if they convey the message you want to convey to the customer

 Are all your products and innovations accurately described in promotional materials? Is sufficient information given about the advantages of your products? So, do your promotional materials contain easy-to-understand explanations that prompt the customer to buy your product immediately?

If your brochures, presentations, product data sheets, photos, and website don't clearly lay out the essentials to attract customers, you're ringing alarm bells. If you are in such a situation, do not waste any time, act immediately.

15.2. Incentivize your sales partners

Review your commission system to improve the performance of your sales team. Today, according to most commission systems, as the amount of product sold by the salesperson increases, the commission he receives decreases. If you are doing the same, we recommend that you change your approach. For example, you can give more commission to whoever sells more.

Instead of giving the highest commission to those who sell a small amount, look at the personal performance of the salespeople and give more commission to those who are the most resourceful and sell the most. By establishing such a system, you can increase the loyalty of your salespeople to the company and enable them to act in line with the interests of the company. As a result, the person who knows that he will earn more income as his performance increases will work hard.

You can even organize a sales contest apart from what we have said. As part of such a competition, you set a number of goals that each of your salespeople must achieve. You can also offer cash, luxury vacations or other rewards to those who reach these goals. You see, such competitions motivate your sales team, so you can organize new competitions by offering different prizes each time.

16. Accept payment by credit card

Paying by credit card is an extremely effective way to gain customers and increase sales. If you do not currently accept credit cards, go to your bank and open an account without wasting any time. “Is it worth the expense?” Don't say that, because no matter how much money you spend on this job in the beginning, you will soon make up for it.

17. Sell ​​in installments

Provide your customers with ease of payment without taking financial risks by selling in installments. As you know, it may not be easy for everyone to buy an expensive product and pay the full price at once. In such cases, you can take advantage of the benefits of credit cards.

18. Offer subscription services

Many people pay in bulk for newspapers, magazines, and other items purchased at regular intervals, then get the item for a specified period of time without ever having to pay again. This type of subscription service also benefits the sellers, because the money is received in cash, and the revenue is generated before the production costs come out of the company's coffers. If you sell the kind of products that people buy regularly, you may want to consider implementing subscription programs.

Final word

According to many academics who develop theories in the field of business, a company either grows or shrinks. Successful companies closely follow the expectations of their customers, adjust their products, sales strategies and business processes correctly, and then make the most logical moves. Each of the strategies we have presented above will definitely help you increase your sales and income if applied in the right place and time.

However, do not forget this: If you do not thoroughly know the customer base you are addressing, and if you do not internalize their expectations, you cannot adopt the right strategy for your company.

Well, what other methods are there that we did not mention above but that you apply? If there are strategies to help your sales skyrocket, we'd be happy to hear about them!