Every business wants to grow sales. The problem is that most of the quick wins tend to be a little unprofessional at times.
We’ve all received the phone call from the FSB only for them to try and sell you a new bank business account, when you say no to this they try and get you to complete a survey for the Chamber of Commerce.
I’m no expert but I’m pretty sure the FSB won’t be completing a survey on behalf of the Chamber of Commerce, so why lie? Desperate to get the sale!
We wanted to focus in this article on 3 ways to improve business sales but in a more professional manner than some of the mainstream techniques being used at present.
Tendering and Bid Writing
What could be more professional than writing a bid for a tender? The company or organisation has put together a list of specifications, requirements and even tell you how they will measure and grant the award of the contract.
If you have a professional service and a good track record why would you not look to utilise this opportunity? There are many companies out there who specialise in bid writing, for example Thornton & Lowe who work in a range of sectors and can provide you with tender writing examples too.
And you don’t need to worry sometimes about the size of your business. At times there is a real need for a specialist service. There is always a way for a company to do business when it comes to bid writing. Sometimes business owners worry this is not for them and too much hassle.
Inbound lead generation
The holy grail of most companies. It’s well known, if you can get a prospect to pick up the phone or request further information you’re in a better position than if they come from a cold call or another intrusive type of marketing.
Inbound marketing was a term coined a number of years ago now, but the principal of this has been around for a lot longer.
The theory is that you’ve already built a level of trust with the prospect before they make contact, as they will have spent time researching their specific requirements and you have been selected as one of the companies to deliver the solution to their problem.
Probably one of the best and most well known inbound marketing companies on the planet is Hubspot. They’re literally that good at getting prospects to contact them they have one of the biggest inbound marketing companies in the world.
They also own a number of other publications that provide content to their target audience, this allows them to keep a finger on the pulse of issues being faced and therefore creates a ready stream of information that can be turned into future content, produced to fix those issues.
Direct Mail
Yes, okay, I know what you’re thinking. That’s old school! But the pure fact that it is old school means it’s a great time to be doing it.
Done right it can produce a massive amount of prospects for your company or product. Think about it, years ago, all companies used to send direct mail out to anyone. By done right, we mean that you need to target down as much as possible on the audience you are looking to gain new business from. Produce the highest quality advert you can and then follow up on everyone you send.
Don’t believe us? Just take a look at this blog here, some great Direct mail ideas that have done really well for their respective companies.
In summary
Bid writing, Inbound lead generation and Direct Mail are great ways to build more sales. Not only that but they won’t end up creating a PR nightmare for your brand or leave people falling out with your business.
Go on, try one of the techniques above and see how it goes. What’s the worst that could happen?