Ten Ways to Super Charge Your Sales

By Catherine Franz
Posted Wednesday, February 2, 2005

1. Add a no-fee interactive game to your web site. You could hire someone to create it. You want to make the game related to the theme of your web site. In the case of our web site -- the Abundance Center -- the theme, abundance, could be a game on how to find abundance.

2. Everyone is training their employees to be good team members and have lost sight that each of them are individuals as well. The team will not work well unless each individual is doing his or her job and then come together. Not the reverse as so many trainers are trying to sell you on.

Make sure each of your sales team members have individual training as well, so that they can do their job well. It reduces the time it takes for them to work as a team.

3. Make people feel like it is their idea to buy, they will be less hesitant. Use language like, "You're making a smart decision for buying our product" in your ads, in direct mail material, in phone conversations -- everywhere.

4. Promote yourself, your products, and increase your visibility by writing Internet articles, magazine articles, ebooks, white papers, special reports, and booklets. You also want to endorse products written by others when you believe in a product or service.

In fact, an unknown freelance writer client of mine started three years ago of writing book reviews on (http://www.amazon.com). She read a book, wrote the review, posted it, along with her signature line. Her goal was to complete several a week. Because of the bulk, she checked out most of the books from the library. She created a following and began receiving invitations to speak to groups all over the United States.

Send in regular feedback to your local papers. Speak up whether it's positive or negative. Keep it clean, honest, and not nasty or mean and it will most likely be printed in the paper.

5. Show your prospects a group of testimonials from users of your product. Divide them into groups for a particular product or service speciality. They are easier to read and increase credibility.

I was reading a brochure the other day that had five testimonials listed and none of them had anything to do with the service he was offering in the brochure. Most people that are not interested will not notice but the prospects that are will.

6. Maximize your advertising budget, in fact, I recommend stop advertising unless it is paying for itself or better. Most advertisers say you need to advertise 6 times before seeing feedback. That is bull-malarkey.

If you are going to advertise at all, you need to make an impact immediately otherwise your ad is not good enough. Go ahead, shock readers. They actually like it and you need to do it if you are going to stand out in today’s hazy-eyed crowd. Otherwise, don't put ads out.

There are many other ways to get clients that will deliver better results for most businesses. And remember, if you do advertise, don't take lots of dollars and spread yourself thin. Find an area and dominate it (as preached by Seth Godin). Even the smallest places have enough business for most small businesses for at least a year.

7. Do you have an affiliate program? Then are you selling to those people that join the program or are you just giving them the opportunity to sell for you. Don't miss out on the middleman dollars. They are more likely to buy because of the incentive (commission).

8. Offer a deluxe product or expensive service as an up sell. Don't create a new product or service just add on to your existing ones. Remember the "3 rule" of retailing, it works in service businesses as well. Offer three offers/options and most people choose the middle one. Make the middle offer the one that you want to sell. Offer a bronze, silver and gold service -- just like the Olympics. People are trained by the Olympic terms, so use them.

What other terms are people accustomed to hearing in your industry for sales? Look around they are everywhere. Go ahead and use them. You might think they are overused and be tired of them, however, your buyers probably are not. The terms are easy for them to understand and they a psychologically trained/tuned into them already.

Don't recreate the wheel, use the one that’s already there and use your time for something else.

9. Tell people what they are thinking and feeling as they read your ad. Most people will actually think and feel that way just because you asked them to. (Don't laugh, it works.) Your statements will and do sell your product/service.

10. Make your product offer very rare. Make it so others can't compare what you are offering with anything else anywhere. It makes it an offer they can't refuse.

People perceive things that are rare as being more valuable. You could use a limited time offer or free bonuses like everyone else or come up with unusual and rare offers that are so much more effective.

About the Author
Catherine Franz, a Business Coach, specialized in writing, marketing and product development. Newsletters and additional articles: (http://www.abundancecenter.com) blog: (http://abundance.blogs.com)