Article - 4 Ways to Increase Sales

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Summary: Is your marketing all activity and no results? Discover the 4 steps to take to increase s.ales. ========================================

4 WAYS TO INCREASE S.ALES - Is your marketing just pumping iron?

by Charlie Cook www.marketingforsuccess.com

At every gym there are the regulars in the w.eight room. These are the guys and, more and more, the women who work out 5 days a week, lifting heavier and heavier weights. You may have seen them. They're 'b.ulked up' and their muscles bulge. Are they as powerful as they look?

Body builders may look like towers of power but few, if any, can play a sport. All that pumping iron builds muscle, but only a few people, such as NFL football players, are able to put to use more than 25% of the muscle they have. All that muscle looks impressive, but if all you can do with it is lift weights at the gym, what good is it?

It's the same with your marketing. You may be spending a lot of time and m0ney b.ulking up your marketing and advertising or your website, but is there any correlation between marketing activity and results?

You could send out 20,000 brochures, spend $15,000 a month on advertising, or spend $250,000 on a web site, as one client did. You could b.ulk up your marketing with a lot of effort and big budgets without improving your marketing results.

You could be pumping iron with your marketing, lots of activity but not enough s.ales.

Take these five steps to make better use of the marketing muscle you have, attract new clients and increase your s.ales.

1. Set Goals for Your Business The first question I ask people who call me about growing their business is what their goals are. I ask them how much revenue they want to generate in the next twelve months. Few have a specific number in mind. They just know that they want to make more m0ney.

Of course you want to make more. Who doesn't? But in order to create a marketing plan that will get you where you want to go, you need a clear idea of your destination. Without a plan, you're planning to fail.

Set your revenue goals, for the year, the month and the week. Write these numbers down post them prominently so you see them every morning. With your destination in mind you can determine the best way to get there.

2. Set Lead Generation Goals To achieve your revenue goals you're going to need to attract prospects, lots of them. Most businesses convert 1% to 10% of their prospects to clients and customers, even with excellent salespeople. You'll need to attract 10 to 100 prospects for every sale you'd like to generate.

Based on your revenue goals, determine your monthly s.ales targets and, in turn, the number of qualified prospects you need to attract. That number is your monthly lead generation goal. Write this number down next to your revenue goals.

3. Create a Lead Generation System Imagine your prospect is Donald Trump or Meg Whitman, the CEO of eBay. What's your objective? You want these busy people who have a lot on their minds to contact you and buy from you.

It doesn't matter what you are selling or to whom you are selling. To attract prospects, they have to be motivated to contact you. You need a lead generation system that prompts them to call you, email you or stop by your showroom.

The lack of a simple and reliable lead generation system is the number one barrier to growing most small businesses.

4. Avoid Losing Potential S.ales On average, businesses of all sizes miss 80% of potential s.ales due to lack of follow-up. Most companies lack the simple marketing systems they need to capture these s.ales.

Once a prospect contacts you, you need a system for converting them to clients. And once you've closed the first sale, you need a system for getting your first-time customers to buy again.

And it doesn't stop there. People who have purchased your products and services are your best source for new clients. You also need a system for mining this resource to generate a flood of referrals.

Don't just "pump iron" with your marketing. Set your goals and establish marketing systems to generate more business than you can handle. When you have a reliable system for generating leads and converting prospects to clients, you'll develop muscle where you want it, in your bank account. - 2005 © In Mind Communications, LLC. All rights reserved. - The author, Charlie Cook, helps service professionals, small business owners and marketing professionals attract more clients and be more successful. Sign up to receive the F.ree Marketing Strategy eBook, '7 Steps to get more clients and grow your business' at www.marketingforsuccess.com