Practical ways to increase business sales.
There’s actually a purposeful pun there in that title and we’ll get to that but – How does your business increase sales? Or more importantly how do people find out about your products? Did they stumble upon your ad while perusing Facebook? Did they see your billboard on their commute to work? Did someone refer you by word-of-mouth? Typically it’s a combination of all of these things. People say there’s a “hard way” and then there’s the “easy way”. I’ve discovered over the years that “the easy way” is based on knowing and experiencing the hard way.
I recently purchased an amazing yard tool. It’s a wire-like cage on the end of a stick that rolls on the ground and picks up apples. It’s as effortless as vacuuming (and not to mention: fun to use!) The day we bought them (we got 2) the kids were out under that apple tree rolling up apples in the RAIN! My daughter asked if she’d still be paid for picking up apples, lol.
Everyone who sees this thing (and has an apple tree) wants one. I feel like I should be earning commission for the number of people I’ve recommended this to. So why doesn’t everyone have one? Why does only one store in Canada carry them? I’ll tell you, because it’s called a nut harvester.
Two years ago I discovered the product. It was only available in the US, and to get it to Canada, it would cost around $120 – meh. Not worth it for me. I mean, how would I even know it worked? This year, after seeing the plethora of apples on my front lawn again — and feeling like I could never keep up — I researched it again.
This is was my process as a consumer:
- Search online for product (existence and name)
- Searched again with proper product name
- Read reviews on specific brands
- Researched retail stores for best pricing (still too expensive to ship to Canada)
- Watched YouTube video reviews (proof of efficacy) Will this solve my problem?
- Researched Canadian specific retail stores for stock
[ wait 2 years – repeat steps 1-6 ] - Called local hardware store for inventory
- Purchased product
Here’s the irony. It was literally on their shelf – in stock – 10 minutes from my house.
Guess what my friends and family’s process was?
- Talked to me (saw my kids using it)
- Went to correct hardware store to purchase product.
So maybe there is an easy way to get sales. It was only a 2 step process for the people I referred, right? But the reality here is you need both. We often think sales are an easy 2 step process to get someone to buy products:
- Talk to a customer about the product (once)
- They’ll go to the store and buy it.
But the truth is we need the 8 step process first to also get the 2 step.
The “Other” Way
So how do we reduce that 8 step process for our first set of customers? What may have happened for that business two years ago was, some smart business owner sat down with their web developer and discussed their analytics. The assessment showed an increased number of visits for this product from Canadian IP addresses, but saw that no one was checking out. As the demand for Canadian buyers rose they decided to take the product to the Canadian market.
That nut harvester was was the solution to my problem, but I didn’t know that it was there, or what it could do. Maybe there’s less of a demand for a nut harvester in Canada. So that local Canadian business still had to take that nut harvester and highlight it practically for its new local target market: apple tree owners. They strategized with their marketing consultant and likely added some effective (targeted) search engine keywords into the product’s page of their website. Targeted some Facebook ads for it’s revised use in the local area and demographic. Built a following on Facebook so the video they posted of that product in use became known. Had a graphic designer prepare some marketing materials to attract those customers. Designed ads to put the local newspaper. If the store had a lot of foot traffic, hung in-store posters highlighting the product’s benefits, and put up a billboard featuring the product is sold at that local store.
The pun here is Get Busy. In order to decrease the 8 or more step process for the customer, it takes several steps of work for the business to get it there. Before you know it, more of your customers will be finding you the “easy” way. To get busier as a business, you have to get busy!