As a venture capitalist, I have had the opportunity to help shape the success of more than 100 startups, and I have learned many lessons along the way. If you want to increase your sales and set your business up for success, there are 10 steps that can help you get there.
First and foremost, identify your target customers and create a plan to reach them. Develop an effective and efficient sales process that allows you to track and measure sales performance. Create a pricing strategy that provides value to the customer and incentivizes them to buy your products. Utilize the latest technology and tools to improve the customer experience and make it easier for them to buy from you. Invest in marketing efforts to ensure you’re reaching the right people and...
Step 1: Prospect - Source leads to contact or ather leads from marketing.
Step 2: Qualify - Compare the lead to ideal customer persona.
Step 3: Connect - Call, email, or meet with the prospect.
Step 4: Identify Pain an Needs - Ask the prospect questions to understand their issue.
Step 5: Present - Present or demo your product/service to stakeholders.
Step 6: Handle objectives - Address any doubts the prospect might have.
Step 7: Issue proposal - Draw up a proposal and present to stakeholders.
Step 8: Close - Ask for the business and close the deal.
Step 9: Deliver product or service - See your new customer through fulfillment.
Step 10: Upsell/Cross-Sell - Follow up with your customer and expand the account over time.
In conclusion, I have found that following the 10 steps I have outlined above is a surefire way to increase sales and set your business up for success. I have personally seen them work in my own ventures and those of my portfolio companies. While this is not a one-size-fits-all solution, I hope that my experience will provide you with the confidence and guidance needed to achieve success in your entrepreneurial endeavors.
Analytics is a powerful tool that helps you better understand what is going on in your website.
Essentially, the more you know what is going on inside and around your business, the better and swifter your decisions for change will be.
‘Business intelligence’ tools are the ones that can identify customer or product segments that are giving you maximum sales when you sell items online.
Revisit your website periodically and try looking for areas that you think is performing below par.
Usually traffic is categorized into four groups – Search (from search engines like Google), Referral (from another website via links on another webpage), Campaign (marketing activity mostly created by your own company) and Direct (from unknown source eg a bookmark or a PDF document).
Tagging each post can help split the results and give you indications on the best areas to focus your energy and resources on.
Affiliate marketing is a performance oriented in which a person is rewarded by a business for each customer/ member that joins the business by the marketing efforts of that person.
Any business that has an affiliate program must use some sort of affiliate marketing software to keep track of affiliates, links, click stats, sales, commissions, etc.
Affiliates use internet marketing to a great extent to bring in new members.
You can strike gold by being a part of an affiliate marketing network.
At the same time, he/she should also focus on boosting the sales by going ahead with advertisement campaigns.
If the business owner would go for an affiliate marketing program, he can garner exceptional sales opportunity with the affiliates.
