If you own a business or are thinking of going into business, one of your greatest concerns will be the amount of money you’re bringing in. After all, most people are in business to make money. Unfortunately, there comes a time in many companies when sales are stagnant and the business doesn’t appear to be making significant financial gains. During those periods, it’s important to consider unexplored ways of increasing sales.
Increase Marketing Efforts
Advertising can never be underestimated when it comes to a company’s success. The formula is fairly simple: The more customers that know about you, the more opportunity to bring in new business. In addition to more traditional advertising routes, some marketing ideas you may want to explore are:
- Online ads. Facebook, Youtube, and a host of other social media sites provide opportunities to expand outreach well beyond the local community
- Promotional gift giveaways. Getting your name out to the community is a great way to build buzz around your company
- Local TV and radio ads. These are often associated with brick-and-mortar companies, but they can be highly effective
Leaflet and flyer distribution campaigns. These are effective ways to target local audiences directly and generate immediate interest in your products or services. This is especially true when strategically distributed in areas frequented by your target demographic, ensuring a cost-effective approach to increasing sales and brand awareness.
Check the Quality of Your Product or Service
Is the product or service you provide substandard or lacking in quality? If so, stagnant sales could be the result, especially in a world where options like the smiley face terminal for instant feedback are becoming increasingly popular. This trend towards immediate customer satisfaction measurement tools demonstrates the critical importance of maintaining high standards in your offerings. Customers will not spend their hard-earned money on a product that is faulty or poorly made no matter what a company does. So make sure that the products or services you provide are of high quality.
The hard truth is that once customers lose faith in a company, it’s hard to regain their trust. This being the case, you’ll want to make sure that quality standards remain top-notch. On the bright side, although it’s difficult to regain customer trust, it's not impossible.
Increase Customer Service and Outreach
A customer that is well taken care of is a happy customer and likely one that will do repeat business. This is why it’s so important for companies to pay attention to the type of customer service they provide and work to resolve customer issues. Companies may also want to employ outreach in the form of surveys and questionnaires to gauge customer satisfaction. Chances are your customers are willing to give you their opinions if you ask.
Companies may also ask customers to post reviews on Yelp and similar sites if they’ve had a good experience with them. Good company reviews can lead to increased sales.
Take Note of What the Competition Is Doing
Sometimes companies like to think that they’re the only game in town, not realizing that their competitors are actually taking their customers. Because many industries are highly competitive, companies should ask if the competition is simply doing a better job in terms of product quality, customer satisfaction, and marketing. If such is the case, those issues could be what’s causing the drag on sales.
It goes without saying that until those issues are addressed, the company will likely remain stagnant.
Introduce New Products or Services
Whether you make widgets or paint houses for a living, introducing a new product or service may be what’s necessary to boost sales. In presenting something new, there is always the possibility that the product will take off and become a sales winner. Of course, there may be costs associated with introducing a new product, but a successful product should make up for the cost of the project. Risk versus reward is a constant in business.
It should be noted that new products should only be considered if the company does not suffer from product quality issues. Still maintaining the status quo in a company that is stagnant could lead to the death of the business.
Final Thoughts
Stagnant or low sales can be the death of a company. But there are ways to increase sales if a company is willing to make the necessary changes. Strategies such as addressing quality issues, increasing marketing efforts, and strengthening customer service and outreach are important steps to boost sales. Once problem areas are addressed, a company stands a chance at recovery.