Log InJoin 



Sales Techniques For Small Business Owners

Sales Techniques For Small Business Owners

The stereotypical picture of a small business owner is an aggressive go-getter working 20 hours a day who knows everyone in town and is constantly wheeling and dealing. While these individuals exist that doesn't limit anyone else from being successful small business owners. There are many different types of personalities and options available to acquire business and satisfy customers. Below are some ideas that may be helpful when implementing different sales techniques and strategies.

Advertising

Advertising is about the promotion of your brand and your product or service. How you do this will depend on what you're comfortable with and how much of a budget you have for promotional materials such as brochures, business cards and flyers. You never know where your next customer will come from so at a minimum always keep a fair amount of business cards on your person and even more in your vehicle.

Purchasing a good smart phone will be a wise buisiness investment since marketing and advertising primarily focuses on networking and word-of-mouth. Getting e-mails to approve print runs of brochures and scheduling appointments with a calendar are exactly what smart phones were built to do. Taking photos of different marketing ideas you come across and making voice annotations of ideas for promotions are also helpful.

Volunteering to provide your product or service during charity auctions or other nonprofit promotional events will help build your brand. Sponsoring a Little League team with your company's logo on their uniforms is good for local small businesses and will build goodwill in the community.

Organizing

Constantly promoting and advertising your small business will hopefully generate a significant number of leads and customer interactions. Staying organized is how you turn warm leads in to closed deals. But it will take tracking and follow-up with existing and potential clients to help your business grow financially. File cabinets, folders, whiteboards, CRM software and a spreadsheet are all traditional yet effective tools for tracking sales and turning leads into new business.

Organization is important to stay on top of customer interactions and prospective sales but it is also necessary to separate out what is important from background noise. Have a process in place to eliminate distractions such as filters on e-mail accounts and a big shredder for junk mail. Anything that impedes progress in obtaining new business such as a pen that won't write or sticky notes everywhere should be immediately dealt with to prevent obstacles.

Copywriting

While it is true that a picture is worth a thousand words it will still be necessary to write copy. Writing is one of the more important sales techniques for small business owners. Effective writing can produce a desire in consumers to purchase your product or retain your services. Don't underestimate the power of words and if necessary higher a professional advertising agency or part-time copywriter to develop ideas and attract new customers.

There are an unlimited number of resources available online and in bookstores which provide useful techniques for increasing sales with copywriting. Press releases, brochures and flyers and even a lowly business card can all benefit from enhanced copywriting techniques. Many publications and other resources will provide guidance on how to do more with less which is also applicable to copywriting. Getting your message across in as few words as possible while still being effective is one of the best ways to increase sales for small business owners.