This article is contributed by Jason Dirkham.
As a business, you want nothing more than to be attractive to customers, to enable them to deal with your business and to place orders for the products or the services that you provide. However, nowadays it can be a lot harder to attract the customers in. Sure you have all of the options at your fingertips, and you also have the tools to attract customers in, but the issue you have is that customers now have much more choice. So how can you still bring in the big bucks? Here are some suggestions to consider to help you do that in your business.
Online marketing and advertising
As a business you need to bring in customers in order to keep on going. That means that you need to be able to attract them in some way, make them aware of who you are and what your business is about. This is when online marketing and advertising can be a huge asset to your business. But what options are out there? Here are just a few to consider trying to see if it can expand your business in some way.
Social media strategy
Social media is one of those things that can be so effective when done right. It is your chance to reach out and engage to your customers in many different ways, however, if you don’t have some sort of strategy in place, then you are going to struggle. This is when you need to think about how you approach the social media updates you do. It might be time to mix sales-focused posts with more informative ones that will be of interest to your audience. Things like blog posts or news articles that are relevant to your business but are able to be geared towards engagement with your audience. Further to that, don’t be afraid to use tools on social media that give a different approach to content. Video elements, Instagram Stories, Live video feeds, they can all help.
SEO and your website
You may already have a website, but is it doing all that it can to attract customers and keep them interested. Often you need to go back to basics to ensure that your website is up to scratch. Think about things such as how quick it loads up, the images, the branding and also whether the information on there is correct. Further ton that, make sure that you consider incorporating SEO into the content. Search engine optimization is based on relevant keywords that could be used in search engines. This enables search engines to bring up your website in search results, helping your reach to grow even bigger.
Influencer marketing
Influencer marketing is a fairly new thing to consider, but it can be extremely beneficial. The rise of the blogger and brand enthusiast on social media platforms is huge, and they have managed to generate an engaged audience. So you may want to look at options where they can help spread the word of your business, your products and services to their audience. They can do this through reviews or blog posts, and it can be very effective.
Contacting customers directly
You may already have a huge database of customers that have already used your business in the past. Or you might find that you have a list of people that have expressed interest in your business but are yet to commit to the next step. This is when you may want to think about contacting those customers directly and doing what you can to turn those leads into sales. It might be worth making more focus on the customer experience, and here is how you can do it.
Calling customers that are considered hot prospects
There may be customers that have expressed an interest, filled out the contact from, but are yet to make the sale. There could be customers that haven’t been dealt with by your business for some time, but have had dealings in the past. These could be considered hot prospects, and are definitely worth a focus. You can use a dialer system that will enable these prospects to be contacted. It could be hugely successful and enable you to turn some customer inquiries into actual sales.
Mailers and email marketing to entice a conversation
Sometimes a different approach is a great option to consider, and often some customers may have expressed an interest but may have not gone as far in the process to be considered a hot prospect. Rather than contact them directly over the phone, you could try alternative methods to entice them to your business and brand. Email marketing and mailers are a less direct and intrusive way of offering up your services and products, and it could be the nudge that is needed to entice the conversation that could eventually turn into a sale.
CRM systems to keep notes and stay up to date
It might be time to start thinking about the CRM systems you have in place and whether these are up to date. If you don’t have one in place right now, it could be worth including them into your sales process. This enables you to keep decent records on customers, and notes that allows your business to remember key facts about the customer, when they were last spoken to and a general gist of the conversation. It shows fluidity and consistency with your business and brand.
Real-time support through online chats
A lot of the time, customers thrive on real-time support, and with busy lifestyles that can mean needing help and guidance at night or on the weekends. This sin when implementing chat bots and AI integration into your business can help. They can work with messenger services, they can help with frequently asked questions, and they can respond to general inquiries.
Making it impossible for a customer to say no
Sometimes as a business owner you have to get to the stage where it is impossible for the customer to say no. They should want to deal with your business, they should want to buy your products and invest in your services, and as a business, there are ways that you can do that to keep the sales coming in. Here are a few suggestions.
The ease of dealing with your business
Often the general consensus of dealing with a business is to ensure that it is easy and hassle free. As a customer, you don’t want any stress in the process, you want to be able to be kept informed with all aspects of it, from the sale to the logistics and delivery process. As a business owner, it is down to you to make these transactions as simple and as painless as possible. Doing so means that there will not be hesitation when it comes to using your business again in the future.
The best range and looking at expansion options
You might also want to look at the range you have on offer and what options that you might have in terms of expansion. It could be that it is worth looking at different ways for the future to see if you can meet the needs of expanding the products and the services that you offer.
The customer experience
Finally, the customer experience is the overall deciding factor on whether or not someone will either continue with a purchase or decide to make that purchase from you again. So you may want to look at the princess you have from start to finish.
From the start
From the start you will need to make sure that you do all that you can to entice the customer in. From ensuring that advertisements and products displays are correct, that you have the right level of stock on offer, and that it is easy for a customer to place an order and deal with your business. Some of the suggestions above will help you do that.
The packaging and delivering on time
Once the sale is complete the expectation doesn’t depreciate, and you will need to ensure that you deliver in all aspects. From the way you package up any items bought or the delivery of the services that you provide, to things such as adhering to the time frame that you have set. Keeping customer informed throughout is a great tip to handle the expectations that they may have.
Gain feedback to help in the future
Finally, feedback is a great thing to have. So it is worth it to ask your customers for it at any opportunity. You could do that verbally, or you could ask them to fill out a survey when the sale is complete. You can take on board any criticisms and make the changes, and also proudly display any positive feedback that you get. This can also be a great sales tool to include on your social media platforms or on your website.
Let’s hope these tips help your business to bring in the big bucks.