How to increase retail sales. How to increase sales in retail: expert recommendations Increase sales at the point of sale

Most entrepreneurs who started their business from scratch, and even experienced businessmen, are concerned about the question: how to increase sales in a store?

This article will look at 9 effective ways that can increase profits.

A big plus: they will not require additional substantial investment in implementation.

How to increase sales in a store: determine the main factors

Before moving on to the main topic of how to increase sales, it is necessary to determine what their level depends on:

The arrangement of products on shelves, racks or hangers plays a huge role in sales.

There is even a special “science” - merchandising.

It is also important what the product looks like.

For example, it will be difficult to persuade a client that this meat is worth buying if it looks like it has been sitting on the display case for a week.

Products must be intact, clean, and look presentable.

1. Also, of course, the level of sales depends on the ratio of price and quality.

Now let's move on to learning the basic tricks that will help increase sales.

9 working ways to increase store sales

Rule No. 1. The more expensive the better.

The sales assistant must closely monitor every visitor in the store.

And not because the buyer can appropriate something for himself and not pay for it at the checkout, but in order to offer the product at a higher price in time and thereby increase the number of sales.

Sounds absurd?

For example, a sales consultant noticed that a visitor was already ready to buy a hat.

At this moment he comes up and, without any intrusiveness or trembling in his voice, offers a similar product, only 15-20% more expensive.

Of course, for a reason.

At the same time, he refers to the fact that the hat he proposed:

• several orders of magnitude better quality than the previous hat;
• produced by a well-known company;
• this brand will be popular in the coming season;
• be in the status of exclusive accessories, etc.

No fashionista can resist such a list of advantages.

In addition, psychology comes into play here: most people cannot utter the phrases “this is expensive for me,” “I want something cheaper.”

This move allows you to increase the number of products sold, despite the fact that “misfires” in this scheme, of course, happen quite often.

But even if 30–45% of all visitors fall for this trick, then this method will increase conversion by 22%!

Rule No. 2. The more the merrier.

For a consumer to buy not one, but several products, he needs a compelling reason.

Let's return, again, to the example with the hat.

Only in this case should the seller increase sales by offering to additionally buy another item at the point of sale, and not a similar product.

For example, buy matching gloves or an elegant scarf to go with your new hat.

In no case should an employee force you to try on the product on offer and be intrusive!

This will have the opposite effect.

The buyer can even henceforth take the tenth route around the store to avoid this “pesky character.”

The seller must demonstrate the second item, describing its advantages.

It is important to explain to the person why he should leave with two purchases at all.

For example, noticing that the proposed scarf is in harmony with the chosen hat, while creating a full-fledged fashionable look.

This is a good trick to increase sales in the store.

Rule No. 3. How to increase sales in the store with the help of a related offer?

This rule is in some sense “consonant” with the previous one.

Every clothing store contains products that can additionally increase sales, but are usually not offered to customers when choosing the main item.

These are the so-called small items, which are usually displayed in the checkout area or on small racks around the sales floor.

Such related products may be:

• scarves;
• hairpins;
• umbrellas;
• bijouterie;
• various cases, wallets.

How it works?

For example, a man buys jeans.

At the checkout he is offered to purchase an additional pair of men's socks.

This is argued by the fact that then the purchase amount will reach the required minimum in order to open a discount card.

Few buyers will refuse: socks will always come in handy, and participation in the savings system is an opportunity to save on future purchases.

The consumer thinks this is a good investment and agrees.

Even if the entrepreneur’s benefit from one such sale is small, but if you sum up the results of the month, the increase in sales using this method becomes obvious.

Therefore, store owners should not refuse to use such zones, and they also need to motivate sellers and cashiers to mention the existence of such goods to customers.

Rule #4: Don't forget about your customers

Use methods that will allow you to find out the buyer’s contact number at the time of sale of any product.

The easiest way is to ask to fill out a small form, for which the client can receive a discount card.

In this way you can create a database of store visitors.

How will this help increase sales at the point of sale?

The collected contact numbers of consumers are used for calling.

Here's how consultants can justify calling a buyer:

1. Information about new deliveries to the store.
2. Messages about profitable offers.
   For example, “buy one razor as a gift for a man on February 14, receive the second as a gift” or “we will pack it in beautiful gift paper for free.”
3. To find out why the client has not visited the store for a long time, and whether he has any wishes regarding service or product.

The ability to work correctly with such a tool is a real art.

Only those employees who have good diction and know how to work with objections should do this.

They also give a good response rate and will also increase sales in the store.

The effectiveness of this method is confirmed by statistics:

Rule No. 5. Enter your discount card

To increase store sales in this way, you need to become familiar with the two sides of the coin in this process.

The positive side of the coin

How to increase sales in a store?

Mainly by increasing the number of consumers. And a discount card allows you to “get” them.

Buyers will always be attracted by the opportunity to save money.

For example, a girl wants to buy herself a handbag. This model is in two nearby stores. Only in one she has a discount card, and in the other she does not. Of course, she will go to buy goods where at least a small saving awaits her. Reasonable, isn't it?

With the help of discounts, we can increase sales by attracting more customers rather than increasing prices.

Negative side

When issuing such cards to regular customers, the store loses the lion's share of profit.

Whatever one may say, the amount “underpaid” by the buyer is the lost profit of the outlet.

Therefore, the feasibility of using cards must be calculated in each specific case separately.

Each owner will determine for himself whether it is worth using this method of attracting visitors.

But its effectiveness cannot be denied. Moreover, the efficiency gradually increases.

Pay attention to the comparative statistics of whether the presence of a discount card affects attendance:

Rule No. 6. Bonus program to increase sales

This is another move that is aimed at increasing sales in the store.

Calculate the average enterprise and add approximately 25-35% to it.

This amount will be the control minimum for the bonus program.

For example, the average store receipt was about 2,000 rubles. Then, to receive bonuses, the buyer will need to cross the threshold of 2,500 rubles (2,000 + 25% = 2,500).

Come up with some gifts as encouragement.

This can be either store products or any products from partner companies.

This method can increase sales in the store.

In addition, teach your employees to say the following words: “You made a purchase in the amount of 2,320 rubles.

If you purchase another 180 rubles worth of goods, we will give you one of the gifts to choose from:

• plush toy;
• flashlight;
• keychain;
• handle;
• fridge magnet".

It can be anything! The main thing is to interest the buyer and make him pay even more.

Also, instead of gifts, according to the terms of the bonus program, you can award points that customers can spend on future purchases.

This kills two birds with one stone: it attracts people and makes them become regular customers.

The scheme is like this:

Rule No. 7. How to increase sales in a store with the help of promotions?

This list of the top 10 ways to increase in-store sales wouldn't be complete if you consider promotions.

Promotions will always exist, because this is the easiest way to increase the volume of goods sold.

They allow you to motivate a person and persuade him to spend more than he originally planned.

The most effective scheme that will help increase sales is 2+1 or 3+1 (buy three things and get the fourth as a gift).

This method not only allows you to increase sales in the store, but will also help when changing products to a new collection or switching to another season.

The store sells several items at once that might otherwise sit unsold, instead of writing them off and sending them to stock centers.

In addition, this method will help increase the number of customers in the store.

It is noted that information about such actions is disseminated through word of mouth especially actively.

Rule No. 8. “Book of complaints and suggestions”

According to the law, every business must have such a book and issue it upon the client’s first request.

But often the owners completely ignore their presence: the document is sent “to the table”, and is issued only upon urgent requests (“otherwise you never know what kind of nasty things they’ll write to us”).

Meanwhile, this may be one of the reasons why it is not possible to increase sales in the store.

Surprised?

The fact is that based on complaints and suggestions, self-respecting boutiques or retail outlets determine what exactly customers are missing!

Of course, you shouldn’t invite every visitor to leave a note there.

Instead, you can introduce short surveys.

They can be carried out by cashiers when selling goods, and you can also place a box for requests and wishes on the sales floor.

You can ask buyers how they feel about:

• price level in the store,
• variety of assortment,
• service personnel,
• atmosphere in the store (music playing, decor, product location).

In addition, you can unobtrusively ask to leave a comment about the operation of the outlet on the site.

This will not only give feedback, but will also attract new people to visit you.

Sheets with answers need to be USED, improving the operation of the outlet, and not being sent to a distant drawer.

Then you can increase sales by correcting possible problems.

The video provides practical tips on increasing sales from an experienced entrepreneur:

Rule No. 9. Communication with the client

To increase sales in a store, you need to think not only about selling “here and now.”

Work for the future too.

For example, a person bought an expensive tablet, phone, laptop in your store.

And suddenly, a day or two later, store representatives call the buyer and ask:

1. Is the consumer satisfied with the purchase?
2. How quickly did you manage to set up an expensive purchase?
3. Do you need help mastering technology?
4. Do you have any suggestions for improving the store?

Agree, this gesture is very pleasant.

Every person will appreciate such care.

In addition, you will definitely want to tell your friends and acquaintances about this step of the store.

And word of mouth is an effective method of free advertising.

The methods listed above will help you decide how to increase sales in a store.

But we can’t forget about the main thing behind the “tinsel”: the key to the success of a retail outlet is customer care, quality products and highly qualified sales consultants.

If everything is in order with this “base,” the methods described in the article will help increase sales in the store in a short time.

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10.06.2017 1 617 1 Reading time: 16 min.

Let's continue the topic of increasing sales in business and consider one of the most pressing issues in this area: how to increase sales in a retail store. After reading this article, you will learn which four areas you should work in to increase retail sales, and what methods you can use to increase sales in each of these areas.

What determines sales volume?

Retailing is the most common type of business that most people start with. Naturally, each of them always thinks about how to increase sales in the store, but does not always know how to competently approach this issue. Today we will close this gap.

So, in one of the previous articles I wrote that it depends on four components. You can read all the details by following the link, but here I will repeat briefly:

1. Client traffic(the number of potential customers who have/may enter the store).
2. Conversion(conversion of potential buyers into real ones - the number of people who actually make purchases).
3. Average bill(the total amount of a purchase in a store that the average buyer leaves).
4. Repeat sales(transforming one-time customers into store loyalists who will shop there regularly).

Thus, when thinking about how to increase retail sales, it is best to simultaneously work on increasing each of these four indicators. And how this can be achieved will be discussed separately later.

Client traffic

First of all, to increase sales in a retail store, you need to get more people to come there. This can be achieved primarily through two strategies:

1. Focus on branding. Turn the store into a recognizable brand, make sure that people go there, simply knowing that “it’s good there”, “they always have the right product”, “they have good prices”, “they have excellent service”, etc.
2. Focus on individual products. Make sure that people go to the store for certain goods or a certain group of goods, because they are the cheapest and/or the highest quality, the most delicious, etc.

The implementation of the first strategy is significantly more expensive (you can read more in the article), but you should expect a much greater economic effect from it than from the second option. The second strategy is easier to implement - it is enough, for example, to sell several “hot” goods (for example, for a grocery store - sugar, eggs, flour, cereals, etc.) actually at cost, with a minimal markup. Then people will quickly notice this and will often go into the store for a certain product, but many of them will also buy other products at a more significant markup along the way.

The methods and tools by which these strategies can be implemented are quite well known: these are advertising campaigns, holding promotions, sales, discounts.

High level of service. Beautiful and polite salespeople, smiles, great attention to each client, competent, professional advice - these are all the things that form in the client the psychological attitude “they treat me so well here, I simply have to buy something.”

Average bill

When thinking about how to increase sales in a store, you need to take care not just that visitors make some kind of purchase, but that they make the most expensive purchase possible, thereby increasing the so-called “average check”. What actions can be taken in this direction?

Attracting customers with cheap goods and selling expensive ones. A good option for those who have chosen the second option of the sales increase strategy. Roughly speaking, you can set the cheapest prices for flour and sugar in your store, and sell, say, sausages and meat products nearby with a more significant markup.

Selling cheap goods with a large markup. Setting a large markup (100%, 200% or more) on the cheapest product (chewing gum, coffee bags, lighters, etc.) is a good way to increase the average bill, because these goods are usually bought “at the same time” and at any price.

Cross-selling. To increase the average check, you need to train sellers to competently perform cross-selling. For example, a person who buys a fishing rod can also sell a reel, fishing line, hooks, sinkers, float, bait, bait, fish tank and even a boat.

I wrote more about this area of ​​increasing sales in a retail store in a separate article, so I won’t dwell on it any longer and will move on to the last component.

Repeat sales

And finally, in order to increase retail sales, you need to make sure that as many of your current customers as possible return to the store more than once, and become its adherents, and ideally, they would also recommend it to their relatives, friends, and acquaintances.

How to achieve this? Of course, a lot depends on the specifics and specialization of the store, but all methods come down to personalizing customers: meeting the needs of each customer individually. In everyday life this is known under the expression “individual approach to each client.” Let's look at the most common of these methods.

Personalized communications. When communicating with a visitor, the seller can introduce himself (say his name) and ask what the client’s name is, and then address him by name. This psychologically immediately emphasizes individuality and encourages the desire to return to this store again, because it has individual service.

Identifying personal needs. Again, when communicating with the buyer, the seller must find out exactly what goods he is interested in and for what purposes. Based on this, offer what is presented in the store.

Information about new products, promotions, discounts. To increase repeat sales in a retail store, it makes sense to collect a database of customer contact information (phone numbers, emails, etc.) and send out some new offers that might interest them. A certain number of such customers will be interested in the offer, return to the store and make a new purchase.

Maintaining groups on social networks. Many stores open their own groups or public pages on popular social networks (primarily VKontakte), where they inform subscribers about new products, discounts, promotions, and answer questions. This is also a good way to communicate and expand the number of store followers. Moreover, there you can hold various sweepstakes for subscribers and further expand the target audience.

Personalized infrastructure. Finally, you might consider targeting different customer groups individually. For example, if you equip a bike rack at the entrance to a store, this will significantly increase the likelihood that cyclists will visit your store more often than competitors who do not have such a rack.

In this rather lengthy article, I only briefly described how to increase sales in a retail store: I showed you the necessary courses of action and some popular techniques in each of these directions. Of course, you need to experiment, try, introduce something new, analyze and draw conclusions.

I wish you successful business development and a stable increase in sales! Stay tuned: there is a lot of other important and useful information that will come in handy more than once!

Estimate:

Why do entrepreneurs engage in retail trade? With rare exceptions, such activities pursue one goal - obtaining maximum profit. At the same time, you don’t need to carry out complex calculations to understand: the income of any retail outlet most directly depends on the volume of sales of goods.

It is quite difficult to develop a universal recipe for increasing sales in a retail store: in each specific case, the specifics of the business, the characteristics of the local market and the habits of the audience should be considered. However, there are four ways to get a positive result in any situation:

1. Increase the total number of visitors to the outlet. Obviously, the number of buyers will increase proportionally;
2. Increase store conversion. This coefficient allows you to understand how many guests are simply looking at products, and how many are making real purchases;
3. Increase the average check amount. If each customer starts spending more money in the store, the entrepreneur’s profit will increase;
4. Increase the number of repeat sales. If a person has become a regular customer, then advertising is no longer needed to attract him.

Why are sales declining?

Quite often you can hear from beginning entrepreneurs: “We want to increase sales, but we can’t do anything.” Sometimes failures are caused by external factors that the business owner cannot influence - the state of the economy, the legislative framework, the mentality of people, the political situation, the level of technology development. But often sales decline for reasons arising from erroneous actions or inaction of the businessman himself:

1. Uncomfortable atmosphere. Buyers may simply not like the atmosphere in the hall - weak flickering lighting, unpleasant odors, cramped aisles;
2. Modest assortment. If a person enters the store for the first time and does not find the right product here, then he is unlikely to return again;
3. Wrong assortment. Perhaps the presented product is not in demand in the area. In a neighborhood populated by pensioners, you can’t sell red caviar;
4. Excessive assortment. If there are more than eight brands for each product item, the client may simply get confused;
5. Incorrect layout. No one likes a store where you have to spend hours wandering between shelves looking for the little things you need;
6. Overcharge. With active competition in trade, even a price increase of 2–5% compared to other points must be justified by something;
7. Bad looking product. There's no point in thinking about how to increase sales in a clothing retail store if all the products are wrinkled or piled up;
8. Poor location of a popular product. If a person, entering the hall, immediately sees everything he needs, then he will not notice other products and will not buy anything else;
9. Incorrect advertising or lack thereof. Don’t think that a store will attract customers just by existing. Any business needs to be promoted;
10. Poor quality of service. The modern consumer respects himself too much to tolerate the arrogant or indifferent attitude of salespeople.

Increasing the client base

It is not without reason that entrepreneurs are looking for a place with maximum traffic to locate a store. The mathematics is simple: if twenty out of a thousand visitors become clients, then two thousand people will already bring forty transactions. There are many ways to attract people to a retail outlet, but all of them, one way or another, come down to advertising. How to increase your sales:

• Determine the portrait of the target consumer;
• Make the store visible to passersby;
• Conduct an advertising campaign;
• Present your business on the Internet.

Determining the target audience

It is difficult to determine if you do not know who exactly the product is intended for. Isolating an interested group of potential clients from the general mass of citizens allows an entrepreneur to:

• Select a product of the required quality and set the right price for it;
• Increase the effectiveness of marketing activities;
• Identify ways to increase customer loyalty;
• Save money on attracting new consumers;
• Develop an offer that meets customer expectations.

Audience segmentation is carried out according to characteristics characteristic of the average image of an ideal client. When sampling, the key ones are:

• Gender and age group;
• Interests, hobbies, hobbies;
• The ways in which the product solves customer problems;
• The emotions that the product evokes in the consumer;
• Reasons why a person chooses this store over another.

Exterior design

By designing the exterior of a retail outlet, an entrepreneur solves two problems: firstly, he helps passers-by understand what exactly is being sold here, and secondly, he makes the establishment stand out from the rest. How to increase sales in your store:

• The outlet cannot be nameless. The name must be sonorous, otherwise how will customers remember it and tell their friends about the store?
• The sign must look perfect. If it is faded or outdated, a new one should be made. The scoreboard must be equipped with backlighting;
• A sign is a tool for attracting the attention of passers-by who do not look up at the signs. It should stand close to the porch;
• If the budget allows, it is worth installing an installation at the entrance - an inflatable figure, a product model. One coffee shop hung colorful birdhouses on a nearby tree;
• It is not necessary to design a bright and colorful showcase. The main condition is that it should stand out against the background of the facades of nearby retail outlets.

Regular advertising

If the store does not sell a unique product for which people will travel across the city, then you should not buy expensive TV commercials and strips in glossy magazines. It is better to focus on the main zone of influence of the point, which is determined by walking distance and is a circle with a radius of 1.0–1.3 km. How to increase retail sales using traditional advertising:

• Flyers should be placed in the mailboxes of surrounding homes. To prevent advertising from being thrown away, you need to offer its bearer some kind of bonus;
• Leaflets with short text indicating some benefit for the client can be distributed at intersections or near shopping centers;
• For radio advertising, they create a short and energetic message that motivates the listener to visit the store;
• There are two types of advertisements posted on billboards: the first simply reminds people about the store, and the second informs about some kind of promotion;
• The shortest text is used for banners. The message should be read in seconds, while a person is standing at a traffic light or passing by.

Internet advertising

Of course, regular advertising works well. However, if an entrepreneur wants more, then he must present his business where the target audience is. For a store whose clients are not only people of retirement age, this environment is the virtual space. How to increase sales online:

1. The website of a store selling piece goods must contain price lists. With a wide assortment, it is enough to write about promotions and new products, indicate opening hours;
2. Information about the outlet must be indicated on electronic maps and entered into various databases such as 2GIS;
3. You can periodically remind people about the store using email newsletters and Viber, WhatsApp, Skype, Telegram applications;
4. Leading a group on a social network is difficult: here you can encounter negativity. But if you learn how to manage your reputation, this tool will be useful;
5. For a store selling a specific product (wedding dresses, furniture, household appliances), it is worth attracting consumers through contextual advertising.

Increased conversion

Of course, successful advertising can attract a huge audience to a retail outlet. People will start to come into the store in a continuous stream, but if they don’t find anything interesting here or feel unwelcome guests, they will simply leave. Therefore, you need to work to ensure that every visitor feels the desire to make a purchase. There are several ways to increase sales:

• Create comfortable conditions for visitors;
• Train staff in sales techniques;
• Create an assortment that is interesting to the audience;
• Set your store apart from competitors.

Store interior

The visitor will spend more time in the sales area and purchase more goods if he feels comfortable and confident here. But at the same time, nothing should distract him from the main task - shopping. So how can you increase sales by creating the appropriate environment? You need to do the following:

1. The room should be maintained at a temperature that is pleasant for visitors. This is especially true in winter: warmly dressed people quickly become hot;
2. Stale and musty odors in the store are unacceptable. At the same time, the aromas of coffee, fresh baked goods or vanilla lead to an increase in sales by 20%;
3. Too energetic music makes people fill their baskets faster and leave, while slow music slows them down. You need to look for a middle ground;
4. You should not use cold light lamps in the store, which distort the gamma. In addition, all lighting devices must be in working order;
5. A thoughtful layout will force the guest to walk through the entire store and see more products. To do this, popular products are often laid out at the back of the room;
6. Access to the goods should be limited by fences, counters, and pallets. In cramped aisles, people often interfere with each other's exploration of products.

Personnel training

It is clear that an entrepreneur’s profit directly depends on how quickly and successfully his sellers close deals. However, some businessmen do not understand that an employee will not be able to sell more if he does not know how to do it correctly. Therefore, the issue of personnel training must be taken seriously:

• The appearance and behavior of the employee must correspond to the image of the establishment and the product offered. Men are perceived poorly in lingerie stores;
• The seller should under no circumstances impose himself. Each visiting guest should be given time to familiarize themselves with the assortment;
• The main goal of communicating with a client is to identify his needs, learn about the problem, and then offer an appropriate product;
• Despite the negative attitude of most sellers, scripts should still be implemented. This way, the employee will not forget to tell you about the promotion or offer a new product;
• The employee must perfectly know the presented assortment in order to answer any customer questions regarding the products without hesitation;
• How to increase sales in a retail store of building materials or spare parts? The seller must be able to talk about how to use the product.

It is not surprising that employees at headquarters do not want to try. To motivate them, you need to tie their salary to sales volume. For this use:

• Bonus for fulfilling the plan;
• Individual rewards for achievements;
• Progressive accrual of bonuses in the form of a percentage of sales.

Store assortment

When compiling a store’s assortment, an entrepreneur most often proceeds from a personal understanding of the situation. As a result, shelves often end up with products that are of no interest to the target group at all and only take up space. Therefore, when developing a product matrix, you need to take into account the age, social status and income level of potential customers. Here are some examples of how to increase sales in a grocery retail store:

1. The point must have a product for advertising, showing its price category for citizens. They set a minimum markup on it and promote it as the main one;
2. If there are educational institutions nearby, the emphasis is on products that children love. These are chocolates, chips, carbonated drinks, sweets;
3. Counting on higher educational institutions, you need to include in the assortment beer and low-alcohol drinks, as well as pies, shawarma, pastries, pasties;
4. Workers in offices and institutions will enjoy ready-to-eat products - packaged coffee and tea, cold cuts, confectionery, noodles and cereals;
5. A store located in an elite area should sell healthy food and good semi-finished products that do not require time to prepare;
6. Pensioners, on the contrary, will be interested in budget products - inexpensive milk, eggs, soup sets, regular bread, chicken legs.

Unique selling proposition

The product presented in the store may be much better and of higher quality than that of competitors, but this will not help the entrepreneur make a profit if the consumer does not understand his benefit. Therefore, the point needs a unique selling proposition - some interesting feature for the audience that will distinguish the store from the general background. How to increase product sales and attract customers:

• You need to understand what characteristics set the store apart from its competitors. This could be a special product, a special service, the availability of delivery or returns;
• Often, what can be offered as a USP is not even a product, but the ability of a retail outlet to solve customer problems;
• The average viewing time for an advertisement is ten seconds. This means that the USP should be simple and understandable so that the client has time to understand it;
• A good sentence focuses on something specific and evokes emotion. You also cannot promise something that the store cannot deliver.

Increase in average check amount

When thinking about how to increase sales in a business, it is not enough to simply increase the number of visitors to the store. The number of customers may increase a hundred times, but if each of them buys some little thing, then the efforts invested in attracting them simply will not be worth it. Therefore, it is so important to work to ensure that each person purchases as many goods as possible and leaves more money in the cash register. How to do it:

• Conduct merchandising activities;
• Offer more expensive products;
• Sell ​​cheaper products;
• Sell ​​related products.

Merchandising

Merchandising is the art of laying out a product so that a visitor who was not initially going to buy it becomes interested and thinks about the need to buy. This stimulation of purchasing activity is achieved in many ways:

1. Advertising should be placed not only outside, but also inside the store. Stickers, posters, signs and stands will indicate new products and help the client navigate;
2. Placing impulse items in the checkout area increases sales by 10%. Here you can put chocolates, cigarettes, sweets for children;
3. Products should be laid out taking into account their compatibility. For example, in a hardware store, brushes and solvents can be displayed next to paints;
4. People often look at the shelves to their right as they walk around the room counterclockwise. Here you should place the goods that give the greatest profit;
5. Products of the same category are located in one place. Even if there is water or juice in the refrigerator, they are duplicated on the shelves in the main department;
6. The most successful shelves are at levels from the chest to the eyes of a person. In some cases, sales for a product located here can be doubled;
7. Large packages and cheap goods are displayed on the lower shelves. People usually look for them purposefully, and therefore find them regardless of location;
8. Products on the top shelves sell poorly. It is better to lay out piece goods on them, which have little effect on the opposite point;
9. The shelves must be filled to capacity with goods. Empties on them are unacceptable: in place of the dropped item, you need to duplicate the neighboring product;
10. Price tags should be clearly readable and facing the buyer. They also cannot cover the packaging: people often search for a product based on its appearance.

Selling more expensive goods

When making a purchase, each person sets a certain upper price limit for himself: more expensive offers, as a rule, remain outside his area of ​​attention. However, practice shows that the seller can successfully try to convince him if he offers fairly compelling arguments about the benefits of purchasing a product located above the designated price category. A similar sales promotion technique is called Up-Selling. Its meaning is to sell:

• Additional units of the same product;
• Products in larger packaging;
• Extended warranty or service period;
• Additional functions or services;
• More expensive analogues of the product.

Selling cheaper goods

The opposite situation is also possible: the visitor wants an expensive product, for which he does not have enough money. In most cases, he simply turns around and leaves if the seller does not offer him a cheaper analogue at that moment.

This may seem like it's not profitable for the store. But what is better: to sell at least something, or not to sell anything at all? If the shopping experience is positive, then the person will probably return to the outlet more than once and become a regular customer. Finally, Down-Selling is a good opportunity to add an accessory to your purchase that is sold at a huge markup.

However, you should be careful when offering a cheaper product after the client has studied the range and realizes that the prices are too high for him. If you rush with the presentation of a simplified analogue, the visitor may think that the seller:

• Doubts his solvency;
• Tries to sell him a cheap, low-quality counterfeit or faulty product;
• Offers a different model because the one initially considered is bad.

Cross selling

Cross-Selling is a technology for increasing the average bill by adding related accessories or options to the order. For example, they offer cases or settings for smartphones, a set of tires for cars, gloves or a handbag for a dress. How you can increase sales:

• It is permissible to offer a related product if the client has already chosen the main one and made a purchase decision. Doubters may be put off by this;
• Two or three options should be shown. One leaves the buyer no choice, but four or five can confuse him;
• In order to more accurately select a related product, it is necessary to ask the client clarifying questions and find out his needs;
• An additional product cannot be more expensive than the main one. For example, how to increase clothing sales? A tie or belt should be offered with a suit, and not vice versa.

Increasing repeat sales

Why is repeat sales important for an entrepreneur? The fact is that selling something to a client who is already familiar with the store is much cheaper than selling something to a new one: in this case, you don’t need to spend money on advertising. In addition, citizens with a positive shopping experience at a given point feel more confident and have a better idea of ​​what exactly they need. There are several ways to increase sales of services and goods by stimulating repeat business:

• Organize work with the customer base;
• Offer discounts regularly;
• Carry out various promotions;
• Implement a loyalty program.

Working with the client base

Unfortunately, most clients have short memories. If they haven't bought anything from a store for several months, they will probably start exploring all the offers available on the market all over again. However, there is no guarantee that they will not go to competitors. Therefore, consumers should be regularly reminded of the benefits and advantages of working with this particular point. How to increase trade sales:

1. You need to come up with an unobtrusive way to receive client contacts. A person can indicate this data to participate in a promotion, issue a guarantee or discount;
2. Based on the collected database, it is necessary to conduct mailings at least once every couple of months, informing about new products, promotions or discounts;
3. If a person buys an expensive item or equipment, you need to call him after a while and find out whether you managed to connect the equipment, whether there are any comments on its operation;
4. You definitely need to look through the database to see which customers haven’t been to the store for a long time. You should contact such people to remind them of yourself and inform them about the promotion;
5. If a store has a group on social networks, it should be used to conduct a dialogue with customers and answer their questions.

Discount system

Most stores operating in the same niche sell approximately the same range of products. Therefore, when choosing a place to buy a specific product, the main criterion for a person is the price. But you need to reduce the price correctly: the result of such an action should be an increase in turnover, compensating for the lost profit. In practice, the following methods of sales promotion are used:

1. Regular discounts are established on any category of goods for up to two weeks. Then they stimulate sales of related products;
2. An interesting idea is to provide a special price to a certain category of customers: for example, students, drivers, pet owners;
3. Here's another option: reducing the price in the evening. For example, after 21:00 all culinary products become cheaper by 20%;
4. A discount “for a friend” can be provided in clothing, footwear, and equipment stores. It is clear that both buyers should receive the product at a reduced price;
5. It is necessary to conduct seasonal sales to get rid of stuck goods. For example, in winter you should give away autumn shoes at a discount;
6. Discounts will help sell a product that is outdated or going out of fashion. In the same supermarkets, goods with expiring dates are sold cheaper;
7. To increase wholesale sales, as a rule, special prices are set, which decrease as the order volume increases.

Price and product promotions

Despite its importance, money in any case remains an abstract concept. It is much more pleasant for the client to receive something free of charge, a gift. But here, too, the entrepreneur must think about his own benefit: he should not give out prizes without a good reason. How to increase sales in trade:

1. For a purchase for a specified amount, you can give a souvenir or a product sample. This amount should be 25–30% more than the average check;
2. In supermarkets, to stimulate customers, maybe a daily or weekly lottery with a fairly valuable prize;
3. You can organize a marketing campaign. For example, the bearer of 20 stickers or checks for a total amount of 5,000 rubles receives a set of knives as a gift;
4. To increase turnover, promotions using the “2+1” or “3+1” schemes work well. If the client takes the specified quantity of goods, then he receives one more piece for free;
5. Products can be combined with each other or with services. For example, when buying trousers, you get a belt as a gift. Or to a washing machine - free connection;
6. When thinking about how to increase product sales, you should conduct a tasting. Customers usually buy not only the product being presented, but also something additional;
7. Household appliances and furniture stores often practice installment plans for products. True, the price increases by the amount of bank interest.

Video on the topic

Loyalty program

According to the well-known rule, 20% of customers bring 80% of the profit to a retail outlet. These consumers need to be retained, encouraged and encouraged by any means to visit the store more often. As a rule, for this purpose they use a price incentive system expressed in the form of discounts and bonuses:

1. A discount card significantly influences customer loyalty. The amount of the discount can be constant or depend on the amount of purchases for the previous period;
2. When making a purchase, a well-known bonus of 1-2% is credited to the buyer’s membership card, which can be used to pay for future orders;
3. Bonuses and discounts can be given to customers on a specific date - for example, a birthday or some holiday;
4. Merchant gift certificates can also be used as a payment method. Clients often give them to friends and acquaintances;
5. Some stores and banks practice cashback when paying with cards - returning a certain percentage of the purchase amount to the buyer’s account.

Non-standard methods

There are many recommendations on how to increase sales in manufacturing or retail. Typically, most trading enterprises follow them, which somewhat reduces the effect of using these techniques. It is quite difficult to stand out against this background: to do this, a businessman has to show creative thinking and look for non-standard ways to stimulate sales. Here are some tricks that work:

• The customer should be provided with service that exceeds their expectations. For example, with a stated delivery time of a week, deliver the order in three days;
• You can increase the convenience of the buyer’s stay in the hall. Some install chairs for visitors, place water coolers, open children's areas;
• Buyers like it if the product can be tried in use. Equipment stores, for example, leave tablets and TVs turned on in their windows;
• The price can be limited by time. If the offer only lasts for a short period of time, it will motivate people to make a purchase. A famous example is Black Friday;
• The possibility of a return is in any case stipulated by law, but with the right emphasis it turns into a bonus;
• A clothing store was giving away free socks in exchange for a questionnaire. The trick here is that getting contacts any other way would cost twice as much;
• To attract the attention of your audience, you can organize a themed sale. One gas station filled up gasoline free of charge for women who arrived in swimsuits;
• Charity makes a great impression on the conscious audience. You can announce that from each purchase a certain amount will go to help children.

What business owner doesn't dream of increasing sales? Whatever you have - a manufacturing plant, a service, or an online store, you want to sell more. This way you will earn more and there will be opportunities to expand your business. You will be able to increase your staff, open new sales points, new workshops.

In practice, however, not everything is always so rosy. The company may encounter unexpected difficulties. After all, when sales increase, more products need to be produced. As a result, the enterprise simply does not have time to produce enough. Yes, we need to expand, but it takes some time. As a result, they either work in two shifts, or have to refuse orders, or the quality of the goods decreases, since they have to produce a lot of it and quickly.

An online store may encounter insufficient quantities of goods in stock, and as a result, it needs to increase purchases.

As a result, it turns out that an increase in sales leads to an increase in costs: salaries, logistics, purchase of raw materials and new equipment. Therefore, if you are focused on increasing sales, you need to be prepared for the possible chaos and changes that any growth entails.

Main factors influencing sales

Three groups of factors influence the growth or decline of sales:

1. External: seasonality, competition, laws, general market dynamics, customer purchasing power.
2. Domestic: advertising, price, product, discounts, promotions, loyalty programs, etc.
3. Personal contribution- this is everything that every sales manager brings: his ability to handle calls, present a product or service.

You cannot influence external factors in any way. It doesn't depend on you what legislation will be passed or whether your customers will be able to buy more. But two other groups of factors depend entirely on you.

This is how you can make a good product that will be in demand.It is within your power to create a well-thought-out advertising campaign to attract the attention of even more people to your product. INYou can hire and train sales managers, develop sales scripts that will help them sell even more of your products or services.

To increase sales, you must direct your actions in several directions:

1. increase the volume and quality of advertising;
2. increase the conversion from an interested person to a buyer (for a website these are applications and leads);
3. increase the frequency of purchases by regular customers and the lifespan of the customer;

We will tell you what exactly you can do and what tactics to use.

Important: tactics by themselves will not bear any fruit if they do not become part of a well-thought-out strategy for your promotion in the market, and the development of the company as a whole.

50 ways to increase sales of goods and services

For convenience, we have divided them into several categories.

Marketing

1. Develop a promotion strategy. Very often you can find entrepreneurs who rush between different tools, not knowing which one to use. Develop a clear strategy - what you want to achieve and how it can be done. Then the tools will select themselves.

2. Choose the right advertising channels. Think about where your target audience might live and how you can “hook” them. For example, outdoor advertising and a well-designed sign are suitable for a small confectionery shop. An online hardware store can use contextual advertising and SEO.

3. Use content marketing. In 2017, 39% of companies in the world increased investments in this area of ​​​​internet marketing, which proves its effectiveness. Content marketing is work for the future. It does not increase sales immediately, but over time you will notice the effect.

4. Approach SMM wisely. It's not all jokes and cats. Social networks have long turned into a good advertising channel; with their help, you can create demand for new products, find buyers for already known ones, promote your brand and maintain relationships with existing customers.

5. “Catch the Wave”: Stay up to date with the latest trends, events, viral memes and jokes. Especially if you have a young target audience who actively uses social networks. Having successfully played the next event, you can get new fans, who can then become your clients.

6. Use retargeting and remarketing: return to the site those who were interested in a product or service, but for some reason did not complete the purchase or order.

9. Analyze all advertising activities. See which channel brings in the most sales and disable unprofitable ones. This way, you can not only focus on what works the most, but also allocate your advertising budget correctly and avoid unnecessary expenses.

10. Use landing pages and promotional pages for new products and special offers. Such pages have higher conversion rates. It’s easier to promote them, and then you can turn them off as unnecessary. It's easier than adding new pages to the site.

Website

11. Describe in the site header, under the logo, what you do. Usually they put a slogan here, which doesn’t tell new clients anything about you. Write who you are - a sausage factory or legal advice.

12. Indicate on the site all possible means of communication with you: telephone number, address, location on the map, email address. Phone number and address can be indicated in the header of the site. Be sure to make a separate page “Contacts».

36. Delegate. In the initial stages, you will do a lot of things yourself. But you won’t be able to grow your business if you constantly drag everything on yourself. Learn to delegate routine tasks to someone else. In this case, when the question arises of changing the structure of your enterprise, expanding, opening branches, it will be much easier for you.

37. Organize an affiliate network. Connect to the sale of your goods, to attract traffic to the dealers’ website. They will find new channels to sell your products.

38. Open branches in other regions. Gradually expand into new territories. This way you will be able to cover more regions, new markets, and accordingly sales will go up.

48. Offer free services or products that arouse interest and encourage the purchase of a paid product. For example, in the information business, a free webinar is held in order to lure as many people as possible to a paid one.

49. Apply an individual approach to each client. Everyone is different, and you can learn your customer's preferences simply by making the right notes in your CRM.

50. Use expiring discounts that decrease over time. This technique “urges” buyers to buy more and quickly.

You can use one technique from this list, or weave several of them into your marketing strategy and business processes.

Let your sales grow!

Recently, due to the crisis, as a business consultant, many clients have been asking me questions related to increasing sales. Businessmen have almost no questions related to the search and purchase of materials or finished goods, as well as the organization of production. It's no secret that today half of Russia is engaged in resale, and the other half dreams of doing it. That’s why, first of all, everyone is concerned with the question: how to increase sales.

In addition, when I lead projects related to the organization of an accounting system, the implementation of CRM and other software products, I also encounter these issues. While working on the project, I constantly communicate with business owners, managers, and heads of sales departments. I get a lot of information about how different companies sell, how different groups of products are sold, what sales methods are used in this or that case, what ideas lead to success, and what decisions turn out to be unsuccessful.

When I was faced with the problem of increasing sales, I realized that these issues were poorly covered on the Internet. There are no normal sales materials. On the Internet you will find either fantasies on the topic: how to increase sales in 14 days, sales scripts and other similar information, or various books on marketing and pricing, but they are not relevant for small and medium-sized businesses (how can a book on how to increase your Coca-Cola sales?)

In this article, I decided to talk about tools that lead to increased sales. My advice is practical in nature and requires organizational rather than financial costs, which is very important when revenue is falling.

I will talk, first of all, about increasing the efficiency of working with the existing client base. Finding and attracting new clients, promoting the company on the Internet and offline will be the topic of a separate article.

Some of the solutions discussed below will work in a comprehensive manner, i.e. will not only increase sales, but also attract new customers. But still this will not be the main focus of the article. Here and now I will talk about increasing sales volumes.

All the ideas and solutions that I will talk about have been tested in practice by my clients. However, I recommend that you take any advice carefully and implement it based on the realities of your business. Some solutions are intended only for manufacturers, others are suitable for almost everyone.

Increase the value of the product.

If your company produces a product, then one of the solutions that has a positive effect on sales is to increase the value of the product. In many cases, you can change the appearance of a product, such as its packaging, to increase sales. And, as a result, the value of the product in the eyes of buyers will change.

Example of solution implementation

My client's company produced cheap clothes that were sold in markets and cheap shops. As a result of the analysis, it turned out that the main competitor of this company was China. The goods that the company produced were perceived by consumers as Chinese, and the price of the products was slightly higher.

It is clear that clothes created in Russia cannot compete with Chinese ones in price. Even the fact that the quality of the products was higher did not help in the current situation, since the nondescript appearance of the product, together with the relatively high price, reduced the interest of buyers.

We analyzed the product and its perception by customers. We consulted with dealers and sellers. And they came to a rather risky decision: they changed the packaging to a better and more modern one.

What we did:

• We changed the logo, fonts, and design. We made it bright, stylish, attractive.
• We chose a different material. Instead of cheap plastic bags, we used high-quality cardboard packaging.
• The packaging contains as much information as possible about the product.

As a result, the product, in the perception of buyers, “fell out” of its usual price category. Thanks to the packaging, it began to be perceived by customers as more expensive and of higher quality. At the same time, at first the price was not raised at all, and the real cost increased quite a bit.

Thus, in the perception of buyers, the product has “gone” from the niche filled with Chinese goods, and the real price has not increased much, since the cost of cardboard packaging per unit of product turned out to be very small. Of course, we had to tinker with the introduction of new packaging; in production, any changes are associated with certain difficulties. But that's a different story.

But thanks to the new packaging, there was a transition of the product from one value category to another in the perception of buyers, which became a real “springboard” to increasing sales volumes.

High-quality work with the order.

For some reason, many companies still neglect to process customer orders. Of course, certain actions are being taken. The manager accepts the order, processes it, issues an invoice, then ships it, etc. At the same time, most small and medium-sized businesses, and let me remind you, I work specifically with these segments, do not work to order.

Sales departments of companies are somewhat reminiscent of stalls: they sell what they have in stock. And if the requested product is not in stock, the manager does not even offer to place the required item “to order”. Most often, this happens because the system does not have the necessary tools, and the manager simply does not know how to place such an order.

It would seem that the solution lies on the surface. Don't refuse customers! Offer not only analogues, but also “custom-made” design of the desired product. Those. your client orders everything he needs. And the manager accepts the order and notifies the buyer about the delivery time, taking into account the deadline for receiving items missing from the remaining balances. All companies that implemented this system received a noticeable increase in sales.

In this case, I’m not talking about online stores that operate without a warehouse at all, i.e. only to order, regardless of whether they inform their customers about this fact or not. I'm talking about companies that have their own warehouse, but at the same time they can order goods from a supplier.

What is the problem with implementing such a work scheme? The problem is that companies do not know how to technically implement it. Now I will give an example of how such a scheme was implemented with my client, who is engaged in the wholesale sale of ceramic tiles.

All products are divided into two groups:

• The first is goods in our own warehouse, i.e. those goods that you yourself ordered from your main supplier.
• The second is “foreign” goods, i.e. those that can be quickly ordered from another supplier or competitor. This “Alien” attribute was filled in in the product card to indicate goods ordered from competitors. The product card also indicated the supplier (competitor) from whom this product was purchased.

In this company, which sells imported goods with a long delivery period (about two months or more pass from the moment of order to receipt at the warehouse), a special system was developed when, when accepting a buyer’s order, if there is no product in the warehouse, but until the next delivery another month, the manager can find out whether a competitor has this product and order it. The manager includes this product (Someone else's product) in the customer order with the designation To order (To be supplied), and when the customer order is posted in the system, an order/orders are automatically created for the supplier/suppliers (data about suppliers is taken from the product card).

As a result, the client receives all the assortment he needs and continues to actively work with your company. He will not go to a competitor in search of the position he needs, because you have everything he needs.

This approach significantly increases sales volume, while in many cases profits increase slightly, because you buy goods in small quantities, perhaps even from competitors, and therefore sell some items with almost no markup. What's the point?

You gain customer loyalty. Your customer does not leave, fills out an application with you, and buys other goods along with the unprofitable “alien” position. And you will notice an increase in profits from such a work scheme at the end of the month, quarter or any other reporting period. By increasing customer loyalty, sales volume and profits will increase significantly.

Sale of related (additional) services.

Many companies sell only products without any additional services. But often it is the service that helps customers make a choice in your favor.

For example, among my clients there was a company specializing in the sale of cable products. At some point in time, they decided to introduce an additional service - cable laying. Those. In addition to the delivery available to everyone, they began to offer on-site cable cutting, as well as installation at the customer’s location. As a result, not only the profit increased due to payment for additional services, but also the volume of sales of goods.

What is the reason for this increase in sales? Some customers of such products consider it a big plus to be able to order everything in one place: both goods and services. They don’t want to waste time searching for contractors and cannot install (lay) the cable they need on their own. Those. in this case, clients reason like private buyers: “if I bought a sofa, then I need to assemble it right away, albeit for an additional fee.”

For some reason, many companies neglect this opportunity to increase customer loyalty, the attractiveness of products for new customers, as well as profits. In fact, selling services is a great method to increase sales. Don't forget about him.

Make the terms of cooperation easier.

Many companies work with their clients under very strict conditions. This is especially common among those who have been working in the market for a long time, often since the 90s, working with imported goods, with products that have no analogues on the market, and so on.

For example, I had a client who sold imported professional cosmetics for beauty salons. Despite the fact that one jar of the product can cost from 17 euros and more, in order for the dealer to receive a 5% discount it was necessary to complete a purchase volume of 2500 euros, and to get a 20% discount - 7500 euros. In addition, dealers took it upon themselves to buy and distribute magazines that no one wanted. There were other requirements, often inconvenient and unfriendly towards clients.

What has been done to increase sales in this company?

The company has reduced the threshold for receiving a discount. They did not make a one-time total discount or promotion; they made the conditions more lenient, which ensured not only sales growth, but also customer loyalty.

Those. To increase sales, you can simply soften the terms of cooperation. This is very important for your clients. The market is constantly evolving, competition is growing in all areas. Even if you are selling something exclusive and special, sooner or later some analogues will appear on the market.

For example, the client discussed above sells products for beauty industry professionals. The end consumers of his products were and remain private craftsmen and beauty salons. On the one hand, professionals get used to the quality and features of a certain brand. On the other hand, if the price becomes too high or an analogue appears that is more profitable to buy, they may reconsider their preferences.

Typically, clients who do not want to soften the terms of cooperation give the following arguments:

• We sell the best product, we are the best and they will work with us on any terms.
• If conditions soften, we may lose margin, resulting in lower profits.

But! It is better to lose 10 kopecks on a discount, but earn 2 rubles, than not to lose these 10 kopecks, but not earn anything.

Synergy.

Synergy is the summative effect of the interaction of two or more factors, characterized by the fact that their effect significantly exceeds the effect of each individual component in the form of their simple sum. Wikipedia

What is synergy from a business perspective and what do I mean when I talk about synergy?

Many companies that work simultaneously in several directions, for example, sell goods and services that are in no way related to each other or are only weakly related, completely separate these directions, even to the point of creating different websites and different legal entities for each direction. Also, the sales departments do not interact with each other in any way, which is a noticeable disadvantage. What can be done in this case? Unite different areas under one brand.

Let me again give the example of a company whose activities are related to beauty salons. This example is very convenient and visual, and therefore I often use it. This company has beauty salons, a training department, and a wholesale sales department for hair care products. And they all work independently of each other.

Yes, they work under the same brand, but in essence they are not united: they have different unlinked sites, the culture or business process for transmitting information about the company as a whole and its divisions is not developed. It is almost impossible for a salon client to find out that the company has training, just as a wholesale buyer will only be able to find out about the salon and its services by accident.

What have I done for this company?

The first and simplest thing was to combine all three divisions into one website. Those. a person who visits the site sees all three areas of the company’s activities. This increases credibility, the level of trust, and also informs people about certain additional capabilities of the company.

If, for example, a specialist comes to the site in search of a product, then in addition to the assortment, he will learn that he can always get training in working with these products, as well as evaluate their effectiveness by visiting a beauty salon. Similarly, combining directions has a positive effect in other cases.

Moreover, such an association increases the level of trust in the company as a whole, since people see that the company is large, reputable, engaged in several areas, etc. Also, specialists from different fields began to recommend each other. Thus, a synergistic effect manifested itself, i.e. The joint work of different areas led to increased efficiency in each of them.

Start selling through the website.

Until now, many wholesalers and product manufacturers do not use their websites for direct sales. As a result, some potential customers are lost.

Even if you beautifully presented all your products on the site, but there is no price next to the product, the person who found you through search engines or followed an advertising link will most likely leave without making a purchase or calling. There is a rule: a product without a price is not a product. As long as a person does not see the cost figure, he can think whatever he wants. But not everyone agrees to call or send requests, especially since nearby (in the search engine on adjacent lines) there are most likely competitors’ websites with prices and convenient order buttons.

Now I’m not talking about sales to the end consumer, where the need for an online store is obvious, I’m talking about sales in the B2B sector, where representatives of the commercial sector are looking for materials and goods for their own business, and therefore look mainly at the websites of manufacturers, dealers, regional representatives, etc. d.

What do they write on such sites? “Call us during business hours,” “Send a request for a price list.” But a visitor may end up on the site after hours or on a weekend. Not everyone leaves a request and not always. In general, many people, in the absence of a price, subconsciously begin to suspect that they may be deceived here, and therefore try not to leave any contact information. Or they suspect that the price is not shown on the site because it is too high. In any case, potential buyers leave the site without making a purchase or application. Therefore, show your prices!

The question often arises: if we, distributors, start selling products through the website to clients of our own dealers, won’t this interfere with business?

No, it will not. First, you, as distributors, can set a single price. The main thing is that it is not lower than that of your dealers. And secondly, you can add a page with a list of your dealers so that the client can decide whether to buy from you and wait for delivery from another city or choose a supplier in his region.

This solution will even help increase sales. For example, if a buyer from Murmansk comes to your website, he will in any case not order the product from you in Moscow; the product will have to wait too long and delivery will be expensive. Moreover, if he finds on your website contacts of a dealer in his region, then the sale will take place, albeit from the dealer, who, in turn, will order more goods from you.

If you promptly inform your partners that you are posting prices on the site, and also promptly inform them of any changes in pricing policy, this will not harm their business in any way. And if you invite your partners to post their data on your website, they will gratefully provide all the necessary information.

Don’t forget that your customers and partners are, most often, small regional companies that have little presence on the Internet. And your website, most likely, occupies a leading position in search results, since you are a distributor. So, such interaction will benefit both you and your partners.

Post prices on the website, develop your project, and based on the brand name, it should be among the first in search results. Make sales through the website. And post the contacts of your partners. As a result, the number of sales will increase significantly, customers will find your website and order goods either from you or from your dealers.

Another common concern is that dealers will be against you displaying prices because buyers on your site may, after viewing the prices, express a desire to become a dealer themselves.

What can we say here? These concerns are dealers' problems. For you, such interest from new potential partners is only a plus. Any business must grow and develop. And the potential threat that you can change a dealer in a particular region will stimulate your dealers to work better, develop more actively, and sell more. The dealer will not go to another supplier, even if you have a buyer, and he has a competitor in his own region. And your business must develop.

Discounts for volume of production.

Many companies assign discounts for one or another order, announce various promotions, but very rarely use discounts on product volume. Or they set a very high, one might say, unattainable threshold for receiving such a discount.

Most likely, you yourself know this marketing law: with each unit of product purchased, the customer’s desire to buy decreases.

Accordingly, the more he has already bought, the less desire he has to buy more. And a volume discount helps overcome this psychological factor.

And here again objections arise: due to discounts, part of the profit from the sale of goods is lost.

Let me remind you: in a falling market, losing a small part of the profit from the sale of a unit of goods is not the biggest loss. It is much worse if this product ceases to be sold at all or its sales volumes decrease.

And the volume discount encourages the buyer to order more. As a result, you will fully compensate for the loss of profit due to a reduction in price by increasing sales volume and will receive a loyal customer, which from the point of view of business development is much more important than short-term profit.

A smart move is to hire a “star”.

Today, sales managers are in great demand. The number of vacancies in this specialty is huge. At the same time, very often businessmen offer their future managers a very low salary and a more than modest percentage of sales. Who will they be able to hire under such conditions? How successful will this specialist be?

In a falling market, when sales skills are incredibly highly valued, companies are trying to save money on sales managers.

This is such a paradox. And the reason for this paradox is simple greed. But do you understand that momentary greed does no good to anyone?

It is worth understanding that in most successful companies, a significant part of sales rests on one or two specialists who know everything about the products, know how to find a common language with any client, and are able to sell at a “star” level. But these specialists also cost much more than a regular sales manager.

Don’t skimp, hire such a “star” for your sales department. Believe me, the quality and sales volumes will recoup all your costs for purchasing the “star” a hundredfold. You should not bet on a large number of cheap and weak sellers. It is better to spend the same funds on one really cool manager.

Yes, the “star” will have to pay a lot more. Yes, you will have to check its level in practice. Yes, there is always a risk of running into a scammer. But all these costs and difficulties will be fully paid off when a real “star” appears in your sales department.

If you study the work of companies that have a strong sales department, then in almost every case you will see one or two cool “star” level specialists in this department. These “stars” can always suggest a good solution to their colleagues; they pull others along with them, help and teach along the way. As a result, the entire sales department works much more efficiently.

As Elon Musk said: “Quantity never compensates for talent, and two people who don’t know something are no better than one.”

Therefore, you should not buy a lot of cheap employees, look for talent!

Accepting money through cards, online wallets, etc.

Oddly enough, such an obvious advantage as expanding the list of payment methods is overlooked by most businessmen. I would like to remind all businessmen: we live in the 21st century, and cash along with bank or postal transfer are far from the most popular payment methods.

Today, Internet wallets, credit and debit cards are actively used in all areas, and in some cases even mobile phone accounts act as a source of funds. And the more payment methods available to your customers, the higher the likelihood that the purchase will go through.

Often, when refusing to connect payment via the Internet, the argument is heard: “Why should I lose money (3-4%) when cashing out funds?”

It's simple: in cases where a person, for one reason or another, cannot pay your invoice within the period of time specified by you, does not consider it possible to spend time and effort on finding a form of payment convenient for you, or does not want to pay for the goods in cash, the sale will not take place at all. And then you will lose not 3-4%, but all possible profit from the sale.

For example, when placing an order through a website or by telephone, some customers strive to pay immediately simply to be sure that the goods are reserved and will be delivered within the specified time frame. And if you cannot offer him a suitable payment method, the customer may go to your competitors.

One more example. Small companies often do not have terminals for paying with bank cards or card accounts for direct transfers from card to card. They work as they did many years ago: they issue invoices that can be paid at the bank, or offer to pay for goods in cash.

I personally observed the work of one of these companies in the process. And what I noticed: some of the customers came to them with credit cards. They were all sent to an ATM located nearby. But not everyone returned. The reason turned out to be that when cashing out funds, these clients lost 2% of the amount. Their discount did not exceed 5%. And paying in cash presupposed the absence of documents. As a result, the discount no longer looked so attractive, and buyers left to look for a more profitable solution.

Accept as many types of payment as possible! Your clients should feel comfortable. Remember: it is better to lose 2 rubles by cashing out 100 rubles than not to make any profit at all. Yes, you won’t lose anything, but you won’t earn anything either.

Increased conversion.

In this case, conversion is the conversion of your visitors in the office, store or website into buyers, i.e. to the people who placed the order and made the payment. And if you have a question about increasing sales, then you also need to increase conversion.

Have you ever wondered why so many people show interest in your company, read information on your website, ask questions in the office or store, and leave without purchasing?

But in addition to the objective reasons for this behavior, there are also your mistakes and shortcomings. For example, lack of prices on the website. I have already talked about this above. There are other mistakes that negatively affect the conversion of a visitor into a buyer.

I had a client who collected a record number of such errors on his website:

• He had as many as 7 phone numbers on his website. And none of them were multi-channel. Therefore, all of them could be busy at one time or another. As a result, some potential clients left simply because they couldn’t get through.
• Some goods did not have a final price. Those. the price for the product item was indicated, but it was constantly changing, and on the website it was written: “due to fluctuations in the euro exchange rate, this price may not be relevant, call and check the cost of the product.” From my point of view, there is nothing worse than telling a client that we are selling you something unknown for what money, and let’s call us back. To increase sales, it is very important to sell at the price that was first announced to the client. Otherwise, the level of trust in you will fall catastrophically, followed by sales.
• Long application processing period. In some cases, from the call to the answer to the client - when and how much he will receive the ordered goods - it could take up to 2 weeks! Naturally, during this time some clients were also lost.

What did I do to increase conversions for this client?

First of all, I introduced electronic document management. Now, when an application was received from the site, it immediately entered the general database, and a responsible manager was appointed for it, who was obliged to work with this application in a short time.

I also improved the quality of interaction between employees. There were many moments here, a lot had to be changed, in fact, the entire structure of the company underwent changes to one degree or another. I also put things in order on the site, helped correct errors and make it easier for customers to access information.

As a result of the transformations, the number of requests from the site, and also, more importantly, the number of purchases that took place, increased significantly with the same number of visitors to the web resource.

I recommend that you analyze and identify points where your client may fail: a “falling off phone”, poorly speaking managers, an inconvenient or uninformative website, high prices or strict terms of cooperation. Carefully work through these points, think over the loyalty program - and then the conversion will certainly increase.

Use all channels of interaction with customers.

Quite often, companies use only some of the possible channels to interact with customers and find new clients. For example, some work only through the website, others use ads in Yandex.Direct and nothing more, others work at exhibitions, and others use SMS newsletters. In fact, they, like the drunk man in the old and well-known joke, are looking not where they lost, but where there is light, i.e. They use only those methods that once showed good results.

Use all the channels available to you. Inform your customers that you are running this or that promotion, prices have been reduced, new products have appeared, and anything else that you consider important. Apply all methods at once to do this. Let it be news on the website, email and SMS mailings, leaflets and letters on paper, advertisements on the Internet, meetings, seminars, calls to clients, etc. Do not neglect any of the possible channels of information. This way you will be able to reach the maximum audience.

Take orders online.

When I talk about the need to accept orders online, I mean the B2B business segment. Until now, many companies ignore the opportunity to receive orders via the Internet. At best, some forms in Excel and email are used. And most often, all orders are accepted by telephone.

The arguments of those who refuse to work online are quite similar: “they won’t understand, they won’t want to study, we’ll just waste time,” etc.

In fact, today Russia ranks 6th in terms of availability and prevalence of broadband Internet in the world. Most of your clients now have very good Internet. And the ability to use online order forms is also very well developed. Therefore, do not underestimate your customers. Those of them who do not like the online order option will say so themselves and can always continue to dictate orders over the phone in the traditional way. And the rest will be able to submit an application online, at a convenient time, calmly and thoughtfully. At the same time, processing applications from your managers will take a minimum of time, which will allow you to devote more effort and time to new clients.

Moreover, the ability to work online increases the loyalty of your customers. They will see your balances and the entire list of your goods. They will be able to order more and view the full list of products. While when ordering by phone, much depends on the manager, on his knowledge of the assortment, on whether he will be able to offer the goods the client needs. And when ordering online, the client himself sees everything that you can offer him, sees prices, the cost of the order. Don’t deprive your clients of such a convenient tool, check it in practice: introducing online ordering very often increases the average bill.

Always be available.

Your availability at any time is an important factor in increasing sales. I had clients whose phone was periodically unavailable, who did not always respond promptly by email, in some cases even the website was turned off for a while.
Your availability is a guarantee that you will not miss a single order. May you not have missed calls on your phone or unanswered letters from customers in your mailbox.

Another important point: sort your mail wisely! For example, my client had only one mailbox, which received all mail without exception. The post office was in charge of the secretary. And she simply did not understand anything about the range of goods; applications could lie in the box for several days without a response.

After I studied the situation, we transferred access to the mail to the head of the sales department and turned off spam filters. On the one hand, the amount of spam in mail has increased slightly. On the other hand, the sales department can always recognize a letter from a customer or potential partner and promptly respond to it. And disabling the spam filter ensures that no important email ends up in the Spam folder.

Another client, whom I already cited as an example, had about 7 phone numbers listed on the website. It looked something like this:

Wholesale sales department:
Tel.: +7 (495) xxx-xx-xx
Tel.: +7 (495) xxx-xx-01/02/03/04/05
mob. +7 (495) xxx-xx-xx (open on Saturdays)

All these numbers are working numbers of managers who constantly serve wholesale clients, that is, at some point in time all the numbers can be occupied. And which of us will dial all 7 numbers without getting through to two, maximum three numbers?

Always be available and be sure to correctly set up your email, phone and other options for customers to access you! Don't miss anything important.

Remove insider.

Today, many companies exist at the expense of another, larger company for which an insider works. Those. There is an employee in the sales department who regularly “leaks” orders and clients from another company. This usually happens unnoticed; an insider can be very difficult to catch, and even more difficult to blame.

For example, his reaction to a client’s call could be: “At the moment, unfortunately, we don’t have the product you need, but you can contact this company, they are our partners, and they definitely have everything.”

Another option is that the insider names a deliberately high price, or simply reports that this product is not in stock, despite the fact that it is in stock. At the same time, the manager remains with the customer’s contact information: his mobile phone, which was displayed on the screen, other information received during this call or earlier.

All this information is transferred to a competitor, who calls the client and offers him exactly what he needs, and is always ready to offer terms of cooperation that are more attractive than your company. Naturally, the client makes a purchase from where they called him and offered him the necessary goods at a favorable price. As a result, you invested in promotion, worked with the client, spent time and effort, while your competitor receives the profit.

How to identify an insider?

• The simplest method is to ask friends you trust to call them themselves from a number unfamiliar to your employees and make a test order. You will have to call every manager. And determine after which of your calls your competitors called you back.
• If you have phone calls recorded, listen to recordings of conversations between different employees. But as a rule, when telephone conversations are recorded, the insider acts very carefully.
• Guard your database. Carefully distribute customer data among your managers and limit their access to information that they do not need in their work.

It is possible that there is no insider in your company, and your sales problems lie in a completely different area. On the one hand, you should not organize massive and regular checks with the persistence of a paranoid person. This will only encourage previously loyal employees to quit and, perhaps, become insiders. But you shouldn’t lose your vigilance either.

Conclusion.

In conclusion, I would like to say what you should never do: you should not have sales of goods. What is beneficial in the retail sector is seen as a weakness in the B2B sector.

The retail client needs to consume now, so any promotions and sales attract his favorable attention. And the wholesale buyer is counting on the long term. And stability is more important to this client than immediate benefit. Having learned that you are selling out goods or giving inadequate discounts, the client comes to the conclusion that your company is “drowning” and will soon leave the market, accordingly, long-term cooperation with it will not work.

The situation turns out to be the opposite: you want to sell more through discounts and attract new customers, but as a result, on the contrary, you scare away your regular customers, who bring you the main income. The announcement of a total price cut is seen as throwing out a white flag.

In this article, I have, of course, not listed all the ways to increase sales. Here I have chosen the most common and simplest ones, which do not require special expenses. These methods are more organizational than financial. Therefore, they can be implemented in conditions of a financial crisis and falling sales.