Sales generation tops the list as one of the most integral parts of running a small business. The more sales, the more revenue is generated, and that results in increased expansion opportunities. It is therefore essential for small business owners to line their bait correctly and charge their hooks at the right moment to catch the right kind of buyers. Especially after the average patron’s buying power was lowered due to continuous pandemic-related sanctions and closures that saw a decline in non-essential goods demands, while supply remained on the rise. With things slowly moving as close to ‘normal’ as possible, small enterprise owners can reshuffle their decks and aim for winning deals.
In this blog, we highlight five touch points that small business owners can use to both increase the generation of their sales and retain their existing book of clients. Read on for some insights.
1. Study Your Customers
With large-scale change comes changed behavior, and that’s what two long years of commercial lockdown taught the masses. Thanks to a myriad of vendor alternatives, buyers find themselves in a position of great privilege and hold equally great power to negotiate. These changes aren’t always obvious to small business owners but are often felt in their pockets when sales drop. As such, it has become increasingly essential for businesses to study their customers to understand their buying behavior, analyze factors that contribute to their decisions to seek alternatives, and create a platform for open dialogue. This way, buyers express their grievances about said products, highlight how they fall short and fail to solve their problems, and possibly suggest ways to better the product.
“Oftentimes, your prospect will withhold information from you that they don’t think is pertinent to the conversation, but the more you know about your prospect and the intricacies of their company, the better chance you have of showing value.” – Josh Gillespie.
It’s important to remember that buyers aren’t just Dollar-holders, they’re emotional beings that seek continued gratification from the goods and services they purchase, so creating healthy communication channels allows you to modify your offers so that current clients feel heard prospects are motivated to buy. Remember the old saying, “make a customer, not a sale”?
2. Consider Digital Marketing Platforms to Generate Sales Leads
While traditional marketing methods have been around for decades and play an important role in developing your brand’s awareness, they do not provide marketers with the kind of insight and targeting that digital marketing platforms provide. In a world where ROI, conversions, lead generation, and data are integral to a business’s growth, traditional marketing platforms might fall a bit short. It is therefore essential to tap into digital tools and platforms that give you access to a bigger pool of buyers and better insight into your results.
Social media and Google targeted ads enable you to showcase your offerings to those close to you and those with a high probability of converting. Additionally, the retargeting options facilitate product upgrade communication and as a result, enable upselling. When bulletin printing machines are silent and billboards aren’t seen, social media remains active and engaging. Your prospects and clients hang out on social, so why not hang out with them?
3. Run Promotions to Engage Buyers
Promotions, specials, combos deals, and competitions create engagement possibilities for brands. These promotions can run on all your marketing platforms to create an integrated marketing strategy and to ensure that your brand has a consolidated message that is being sent out to the public.
When social media platforms, such as LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook are used as a channel to alert buyers and prospects of promotional campaigns, there’s often an exchange of information between the buyer and the seller, enabling the seller to curate more personalized offers based on interaction with buyers. Moreover, as the seller, you’re in the position to highlight your product’s value and offer deals beyond the promotion perimeters. A “this was a limited offer, but we can curate a bundle of options that suits your needs” approach.
Instead of leaning on mass clearance events such as Black Friday or market-wide seasonal sales, have regular promotions and alert your buyers beforehand. Everyone appreciates a good deal.
4. Provide Superior Customer Service
“Research shows that it costs about five times more to attract new customers than to retain existing business. Satisfied customers become devoted buyers when a business is trustworthy and provides good customer service.”
According to studies:
- 97% of customers will tell others about very good or excellent customer service experiences,
- Nearly 70% of people would spend more money with a company that offers excellent customer service.
- Approximately 24% of satisfied customers will return to a business two or more years after a good customer service experience.
- 59% of people would be willing to try a new company to receive better customer service.
The above is a numerical indication of how important it is for businesses of all sizes to invest their time and resources to ensure that their customers are treated with the utmost respect, are attended to promptly, are shown good value for their money, and most importantly, given reasons to return. When a customer trusts a brand’s intentions, they’re highly likely to both return and endorse the brand, consequently increasing sales.
5. Prompt Buyers To Leave Reviews
Customer reviews bridge the gap between businesses and potential buyers. Based on experience, prospects avoid engaging with businesses that either have bad reviews or none. So, prompting existing customers to leave good product reviews and offering them “percentage off” deals or gifts as an incentive will ensure that there is continuous feedback about your products. Here are a few sales-related benefits of customer reviews:
- Improves rankings
- Proof of credibility and authenticity
- Earns you a bigger share of the voice
- Opportunity to learn more about your buyers and what shapes their buying behavior
- Works as a marketing tool
Using a Gifting Platform to Add a Personal Touch
Generating sales isn’t an easy feat, especially given the highly competitive and recovering global economy, but when the right tools are used, small businesses can thrive.
Giftsenda offers businesses of all sizes a corporate gifting platform to help develop their relationships with existing customers, partners, and prospects. By adding gifts to your sales and marketing workflows, your business can strengthen your relationships by putting your recipients first and deviating from what is generally expected from companies, resulting in improved ROI and conversion rates. You can find out more about the benefits of using gifting platforms in this blog article.
Ready to get started with corporate gifting on a global scale? Book a 30-minute demo with one of our Gift Campaign Managers to see how our gifting platform works and to get access to Giftsenda so that you can start gifting.
