Let’s first look at why we don’t like selling. Since our childhood we are afraid of people saying No to us. We feel it’s reflective of what we do, of how good we are, how competitive the business proposition is. Obviously it’s not the case. On many occasions that No would mean “not now” rather than “never again”.  Some people go to great length to avoid selling however if you are in business you will have to sell at some point even if you hire a sales team and recruit a dozen of telemarketers.

Our behaviours are partly inherited and partly based on past experiences. We can’t change the past but we can change our attitude towards it. Successful people change their behaviour more often than those around then – and that what makes them outstanding. It’s especially important in the current climate to ensure that you change your attitude towards selling to gain more business. According to the recent statistics 95% of new businesses, set up this year, will fail before the end of the recession. And 30,000 closed down last year. If we fail to change and to adapt we could follow their fate.

You also need to account for the natural annual client loss which is estimated to be at 10-15%. So to ensure your income stays the same every year you need to find 10-15% new clients. Calculate yourself how many that would be for your business.

Here are simple ways to increase sales without selling:

• You can increase the number of your customers by asking your existing customers for introductions or referrals. You already know them and they know you. They do business with you and they think you are great. Why don’t they recommend you then to their friends and business colleagues? Following up on such “warm leads” is so much easier!
• You can increase the average invoice value. First you need to work out your current average invoice value. To do this divide your gross profit for the last 6-12 months by the total number of invoices issued. You can break it down even further by client and see who is your most profitable client. To increase the average value you can try bulk sales (3 for the price of X), special offers if buying extra products, small price increase for the most popular products.
• Small price increase for the most popular products. You may say that during the recession you can’t afford to increase prices as you will lose customers. That’s not entirely true. You may not be able to increase prices by more than 25% however small increase of 5-10% would be acceptable. Your customers understand what the cost of living and running the business increases even during the recession. It’s better to do a number of small price changes rather than one large one.  Even if it’s only £1 but you sell 1000 of those items per month – you will get £1000 extra without any extra selling.
• Increase the frequency of re-purchasing. Look at your business statistics – which of your customers haven’t purchased from you recently (the meaning of recently could vary depending on your business)? Are they still in business? When did you last speak to them? It’s time to follow up! They are already your customers, so when you are calling – you are not selling. You just want to find out how they are, what they are up to, if anything’s changed as you haven’t heard from them for a while. Would they be able to recommend you? Or maybe provide a written testimonial? Is there anything you can adjust in your sales process to have them on board again?

It’s very important that you have your management statistics available and up to date in order to take such steps. If you don’t know how to produce the reports you need using your book-keeping system or if you would like to put a better system in place contact TJConsulting Virtual PA for a free consultation.

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Good luck!

Tamara Baranova
TJConsulting – Your Virtual PA
www.tjconsulting.co.uk