Sales are the heart of your business. It doesn’t matter how good your product, marketing and service are – if you can’t sell, your business is doomed to failure. On the bright side, this also means that one of the fastest ways to take your business to the next level is finding the right sales strategy.
When you implement a new sales strategy, you can reach more customers and increase profits, which you can then reinvest to drive your company’s growth. Looking for new sales strategies to consider? Here are four excellent options that help with business growth.
Business-to-Business Sales
If you’ve only been focusing on business-to-customer (B2C) sales, then you could be missing out on a huge potential market. Business-to-business (B2B) sales are an option with almost all products, and there are several advantages B2B sales have over B2C sales.
Sales volume is the most significant advantage. Businesses tend to need more of a product than your typical customer would. You’re also more likely to get consistent orders with B2B sales. Let’s say that you sell plastic utensils. A customer may order some every so often for barbecues. A business may order from you every month to keep its break room stocked up, with larger orders around its holiday parties and other events.
International Expansion
Many American businesses would be making more money if they were willing to export their products. Sure, the shipping costs will be higher than they would be for domestic product sales, and the shipping process will be a bit more complicated. But the United States only makes up a small percentage of the world’s population. There is a massive international market out there.
That international market also loves American products. In quite a few countries, just the fact that a brand is American increases its value. The fact that your business is American won’t offer an advantage in the States, but it will if you expand internationally.
Direct Sales
The direct sales model is a cost-effective way to get your products in front of potential customers. Instead of spending money getting your products on retailer shelves or trying to get people to come to your website, you can put together a sales team who talks about your products and demonstrates them to people. They could set up public demonstrations at stores, host parties or get in touch with their personal contacts any way they want to pitch what you’re selling.
The great thing about direct sales is that it’s much easier to get each customer’s attention this way, because it’s a person doing the selling. You’re not just making ads that customers could ignore. The downside is that lots of people don’t understand it, which can shed doubt on your credibility. This can happen even to large and reputable companies, like during the supposed ACN scam.
New Distribution Channels
You should always be thinking about how you distribute your products and how you can get them in front of more people. Let’s say that your business sells protein bars, and you start by distributing them in specialty health food stores.
After that, you could see about getting them sold in grocery stores and convenient stores. Next could be gyms and smaller fitness studios. There could be an opportunity to get them sold in snack vending machines as a healthy alternative to the typical junk food options. Brainstorm ideas to find new channels where you can sell your products.
If you have a small business, it’s typically best to start with one new sales strategy at a time, see how it works, and then proceed from there. Once you’ve decided whether it’s worth continuing that sales strategy or not, you can consider adding new strategies to the mix for additional g
