Monday 30 April 2007

Two Ways to Increase Sales and Profit

Business owners can often over complicate things. Here are two simple ways to maximise sales.

1. Be pleasant. This weeks New Stateman has an article about the local elections. A woman was comparing Tim Farron, current MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale, with the previous MP, Tim Collins. Without the article to hand I can't take a direct quote, but it went something like this:

"Tim [Farron] came round and kicked the ball around in the garden with my son for 45 minutes. Collins would come, give it a kick, and then head off again in five minutes."

You can see why Tim Farron won the election in 2005? Are you pleasant and easy going with your potential clients?

2. Give options. Successful companies sell more than one product, because there is no magic item or service that can meet the varied needs of all their customers.

People, when buying service orientated products, can be keen on bargaining. Yet I bet these same people wouldn't do that if they walked into a retail store. When working as sales assistant in a bike shop, if someone couldn't afford a bike, I would show them a cheaper one. The link between quality, value and price was clear.

Make that link in your products. Offer more products, and the value of each one becomes clear.

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