Get more sales in 7 easy steps

This is a recent post I wrote on getting more sale in business for Flying Solo, of which I am a regular contributor. It’s a great place to find information on how to run a better business as a solopreneur. There are a lot of really talented business people and writers over there and I’m blessed to be in such esteemed company. Let me know what you think!

Sales … it’s not a word you would generally associate with fun

But when it comes to bread and butter, we need them to survive in business – and everything is better when it’s fun, right?

Recently I’ve been hanging with some really cool business owners who are dreaming big. It’s both refreshing and inspiring. We were speaking about sales the other day when one mentioned she writes the figure she wants to make that month on each page of her diary and she usually achieves it because she can see and focus on it. When she doesn’t do this… she doesn’t achieve her goal.

So I decided to test her theory.

I wanted an extra $2000 in my kitty by the end of March. The thing was, there were only a few days to go before we rolled over into a new month.

That’s OK, I thought, I like having competitions with myself and healthy pressure is good. I wrote down the figure…$2000…and stuck it on my wall right in front of my desk and put it on every page of my diary.

“It was so exciting and energising. A huge win, which I celebrated by dancing around the room.”

It was there in plain view and I saw it every time I got up from my desk and every time I flicked the pages on my diary. It was due to this focus that I every time I saw it, I made a call or a follow-up. I went back to people I hadn’t heard from in a while; both past clients and previous enquiries. I was determined to meet my challenge.

I got a few little sales through, but it wasn’t looking promising. Had I failed my own challenge? Then, the day before the end of the month arrived and, BOOM! I called one more person back, $1600 came in the door and I met my target. I actually made $2200 in total.

Want more articles like this? Check out the sales strategies section.

It was so exciting and energising. A huge win, which I celebrated by dancing around the room.

So here’s my hot sales tip:

Ask for the sale! It’s an oldie and a goodie but I know it’s hard when sales are not generally something that comes naturally to a lot of people, including myself.

This is advice my businesswoman Mum (and one of my mentors) has given me ever since I started out in my biz. She’s the “sales queen”.  She is very, very good at it.

In fact, I asked her if she would share her best tips with me for this story and here are some of the quick points she rattled off:

• Know your product like the back of your hand;
• Truthfulness is everything;
• Make sure the client gets your info (SMS or ring to check and never waste a quote);
• Pick up the phone – it won’t bite you;
• Be friendly and gracious;
• Follow up, follow up, follow up (your customers will love it);
• Make it easy for the customer to buy;
• Be elegant but ask for the sale: practise until you find a comfortable way to do that; and
• Get credit card details or some other form of commitment when they say yes.

The best bit of advice she gave me, however? It was to have fun.

When I’ve asked other business people what they do when it comes to sales, the majority of them all sing in unison: “Pick up the phone”.

So here’s what I did to get the sales through the door to meet my self-set target and win my individual challenge.

1. I wrote down my goal and stuck it on my wall in front of my desk – $2000.
2. Drew five boxes at the top of my to-do list for each day until the end of the month.
3. Completed five exposures … that is, sales calls, follow-ups, emails and social media messages to people who had expressed interest in an area of my business.

NOTE: In my sales conversation, I give all the info on how I can help, plus some suggestions on the work I would do for them and what it looks like to work with me. If they want to talk price first up, I don’t go there. It’s actually not a sales tactic, I just need to know what they want and how I can help before I can give a quote. I find sometimes what people want is actually not what they need. It’s only at the end that we talk price and I ask if there is anything else they need to know. At the end, I say: “So I’m going to send you an invoice now with the payment details for X amount, are you happy for me to do this?”.

4. Ticked the boxes for each exposure I make (I have competitions with myself so I did between 5-15 each day…more calls, more sales, right?).
5. Followed up again if I needed to.
6. Promoted my offerings and marketed how my business can help people across all my social platforms to build rapport and a connection (for next time!).
7. Hit my goal. Yippee!

One extra sales step that isn’t compulsory, but is one I recommend:

8. Did a happy dance and rang my accountability buddy to share my news!

I’m going for $10,000 this month. How about you? Read my other Flying Solo posts here.