So, you’ve got your business set up (Congratulations, btw!), but now what? Well, you need customers and sales obviously, that’s what you’re here for, right? Learning how to gain new customers and generate sales and leads is an essential skill for any entrepreneur, such as you, to grow their business and make it sustainable. Now, not everyone is born with the skill and it’s okay, that’s why this article is in existence! Let’s see how it can help you!
First thing’s first, identify your target audience! We cannot stress this point enough! Identifying your target audience is the most important step which will determine the future of your business. What will happen if a Skateboard company spends thousands of dollars on advertising but on old people? Exactly. I don’t think I need to explain any further how big of a marketing disaster it’s going to be! No matter how good your marketing strategy is, if it’s not targeted well then it’s going to be fruitless.
Use information about your existing customers to have a better understanding of what type of audience you should be targeting. Once you have that locked in, then move on to the next thing, Generating leads!
Generating sales and leads is not a child’s play. In fact, it’s one of the most important and hardest aspects of a business. One wrong move and it could be plummeting down a bottomless hole. You don’t want that to happen right? Keep on reading to find out some of the best practices for generating sales leads!
- Cold Calling. This is basically reaching out to a potential customer who isn’t expecting your pitch. If you know there are potential leads somewhere, then go for it! You never know how many of them you could end up converting.
- SEO Optimised. One of the most effective ways to be discovered is through your website! For this, you need to make sure it is SEO optimized, meaning that you should know what keywords to target and how. If done right, you could be sitting at the top of the Google page! Search engines are always changing their algorithms, so make sure you keep track of them and keep updating your keywords!
- Affiliate Marketing! Another great way to interact with customers as well as businesses. Reach out to a non-competitive business that has the same customer base as you for collaboration opportunities. Collaboration between businesses always seems to perk up customer’s interests, generating more leads for both the parties! It’s a two-way street!
- Email Marketing. It is probably one of the most effective ways to reach out to potential customers and convert them into a lead. It not only engages your audience but also builds a direct relationship with them which is otherwise hard to achieve. Once the nurturing starts, the customer’s trust increases gradually until they finally cave in and buy your product or service, increasing your customer base as well as sales.
These are just some of the staple techniques that are going to help you own your marketing game! Whatever we have discussed until now has been more focused on generating new leads. What about sales? Let’s look into this!
You have successfully converted a lead, congrats! But how do you sustain it? To keep it coming back for more? Here is where you can play with your opportunities to keep the sales piling up! After all, isn’t it much easier to convince an old customer to buy from you rather than a new customer? Here’s how you can increase sales with your current customers:
- Loyalty Programs. There are many ways you can execute loyalty programs but not everything will work for your business. One example is offering a client 15% on their birthday or offering them a free purchase after every purchase 10 or so. Not only does this make the customer feel special but the sales and discounts also prompt the customer to use your service again!
- Free Samples/Consultations. By doing this, you’re giving the customer a little taste of what they should be expecting should they be getting on board with your brand!
- Discounts On Bundles. By bundling a few of your products and offering a discount on them, not only are you getting more sales, but the client also gets to try some of your other products. What if they fall in love with it and order a whole lot of them?
If you think this is all to generating leads and sales, then let me tell you that this is just a compressed version of it! Look out for more of our articles to gain in-depth knowledge on how to perfect the formula of gaining new customers and leads, so you can finally say goodbye to all the hassle and headache that accompanies it!
