Eight Smart Ways New Business Owners Can Quickly Increase Sales
One of the most difficult parts of starting a new business is getting sales. When you first start out, you’re still trying to find customers to purchase your product or service, so sales can often take a while to really ramp up — even if you’ve found a few repeat customers. But such a slow start can be frustrating, especially when you’re not yet making a profit or breaking even.
While growing a business is often a test of patience, there are ways you can speed up the process and increase your sales at a quicker pace. According to the business and culture leaders of Rolling Stone Culture Council, implementing any of the following eight tips can give your business the major boost it needs to attract more customers, quickly increase sales and really get your budding business off the ground.
Tell Your Story and Hustle
Your story is your reason for being, but it can’t just be product benefits. It has to inspire and draw everyone in — customers, employees, vendors, investors. Then, hustle. Just get the story out there in every way possible. Tell friends, family and your network first, and then go broad. But don’t just publish a post on social media; reach out directly to get the village moving. – John Tabis, M13
Focus on Social Media Engagement
Through strategic content creation, targeted advertising and active interaction, new business owners can effectively reach their target audience and drive traffic to their products or services. Consistent and authentic engagement on social platforms enhances brand visibility, fosters customer relationships and ultimately translates into increased sales. – Sonia Singh, Center of Inner Transformations
Work on Building Trust
It really all depends on the product at hand. Discover where the strongest target market might already be happening and then find ways that are creative, yet fast, to dive in and begin connecting with said audience. Once you’ve gained some trust, then you offer a product. There should be some sort of proof or trust to grow your connection with customers. – Chris Bianchi, CB Entertainment
The Rolling Stone Culture Council is an invitation-only community for Influencers, Innovators and Creatives. Do I qualify?
Personalize Your Pitch
Aside from having a world-class product or service, make sure your salespeople (and you) know more about your target clients so you can personalize your sales pitch with them. Nothing turns clients off more than a generic pitch that doesn’t bother to take into account their needs. – Zain Jaffer, Zain Jaffer Foundation
Collaborate With Influencers
Collaboration is a highly effective way to kick-start any new business. The largest global brands collaborate with celebrities, athletes and influencers. That is how they continue to build like rock stars! Find a few influencers in your niche and send them free products with zero expectations. They may love your product, use it, wear it and, more importantly, talk about it within their community. – Adrianne Fekete, I Am Unbreakable™ Global Media
Start Speaking
As a service-based business owner, I found that the fastest way to grow my business in the beginning was speaking. I found it terrifying but also exhilarating. People told me I had some ability, so I kept speaking. Then I learned to sell without selling by sharing my enthusiasm for transformation and making a simple offer. I’ll never forget the gig where I sold $175,000 in 90 minutes. I still speak. It works. – Baeth Davis, YourPurpose.com
Become the Best at Your Specialty
Don’t overdo it with your offerings. Pick three things and do them really, really well. In this market, agencies and people are trying to be a quick, “one-stop shop” solution, but doing that often dilutes the output. This, in turn, screws the person paying for the service, and that’s bad business long term. So, become a specialist and become the best specialist in your niche out there. – Sarah Jenkins, The Romans New York
Raise Awareness
Take advantage of your status as a new small business and your ability to engage directly more often, attracting an audience to your service or product on a personal level. Connect to consumers through outreach that offers consults instead of discounts, prioritizes social media engagement instead of email marketing, and gets the consumer involved by analyzing surveys and feedback. – Magen Baker, Bell + Ivy