Increase Sales With These Proven Tactics

How to increase sales with current customers

Your current customers are your best bet to increase sales. After all, they’ve already used your products or services at least once before. So, it stands to reason they may need them again. If you stay in touch with these customers and provide the right incentives, it’s likely they’ll come back to buy from you in the future. 

Consider the following tactics to turn previous customers into repeat business.

Evaluate your leads

If you’re generating a lot of leads but not closing a lot of deals, the problem may not be needing to increase sales leads, instead, it could be the types of leads you’re generating. If you’re attracting interest from people who ultimately decide your products and services don’t fit their needs, you may be speaking to the wrong audience.

“First, determine if you’re attracting the right leads or if the problem lies in closing them. It’s crucial to ask this before making changes to the sales process,” said Shannon Godfrey, founder and CEO of RevUp. 

Making changes to your sales process won’t have much of an impact if you’re still attracting leads that, ultimately, don’t have a need for your products and services. Make sure there isn’t a disconnect between the way you’re marketing your business — or who you’re marketing it to — and the actual value proposition you provide. 

Examine your sales funnel

If, when evaluating the quality of your leads, you decide you’re indeed attracting the right types of potential customers, move on to examining how you treat them once they enter your sales funnel. 

“If you’re working with the right leads, evaluate how you’re handling them,” Godfrey told us. “Are you asking the right questions to understand their needs and challenges truly? Are you following up quickly and consistently? Focus on addressing each lead’s specific problems instead of simply pitching features.”

Ideally, the messaging your sales team is providing leads, lines up with the marketing materials that attracted them in the first place. Regular follow-up and helpful interactions are also key as the process of lead nurturing is a marathon and not a sprint — just because you don’t close a deal on the first interaction doesn’t mean you shouldn’t continue building a relationship. 

Cross-sell and upsell to existing customers

Many of your existing customers might benefit from some of your other products and services but not realize it. That’s where cross-selling and upselling comes in. These tactics present existing customers with additional options that complement what they’ve already bought or improve upon it.

For example, if a customer purchases web development services from a marketing agency, they’ll probably also need website copy, so it would make sense to pitch them on content writing services as well. That’s cross-selling. If they’re already on board for a website, the marketing agency might also ask them if they want an e-commerce capable site for selling online; that would be upselling. 

“Small businesses often focus on chasing new leads while ignoring opportunities to upsell, cross-sell or referrals from current satisfied customers,” said Marty Bauer, director of sales and partnerships at Omnisend. “Yet, they’re some of the easiest and most cost-effective to generate.”

Be careful not to be too pushy when cross-selling and upselling, though. If a customer doesn’t want additional services or doesn’t have the budget to spend more money, respect their answer. Let them know the additional products and services will be available should they need them in and leave it at that; don’t risk losing a satisfied customer by trying to squeeze extra dollars from someone who has no interest in additional products and services. 

Request customer feedback

Ask current customers for feedback on your products and services and how they feel about your customer service. Customer feedback can help you identify opportunities you hadn’t considered, which can turn into new sales. Consider using customer surveys to gather feedback — you might even choose to offer an incentive, such as a small discount, for customers who complete the survey.

“Actively engaging with your customers is a good start; think surveys, one-on-ones and analyzing behavior through social channels,” Bauer said. “Website analytics — Google Analytics, Hotjar and others — can also provide good insights into how customers interact with your site.”

Armed with this feedback and new insights about how your customers experience your products and services, you can fine-tune the way you communicate with them. For example, if you realize most of your customers are raving about one particular feature, you might want to emphasize that feature in your marketing materials and build a sales strategy around it. Similarly, if the same complaint is coming up over and over again, you can zero in on the problem area and work to fix it.

Personalize your approach to suit customer behavior

Customers expect the companies they buy from to understand their preferences and behaviors. Research from Epsilon Marketing found that 80 percent of customers are more likely to do business with a company that provides personalized experiences. 

“I think the issue for many small businesses is that they …  send very generic, untargeted messages,” Bauer said. “Leads are human and they’re all different, so initial interactions have to address their specific challenges.”

Consider providing customers with personalized training or customer service. Use this opportunity to strengthen the customer relationship and demonstrate where you can add value. The key is to show the opportunities available to the customer instead of trying to hard-sell services they might not want. Similarly, your communications with customers should be as personalized as possible, bringing in key information you already know about their circumstances and their needs.

Run promotions for current customers

Running sales and marketing promotions isn’t just for attracting new customers — it’s also an excellent way to reward existing customers for their loyalty and business. 

Run special promotions for your customers, such as birthday discounts or gifts, sneak peeks, free trials of new products and services and invitations to company-sponsored events. You can also let customers earn discounts and freebies on their own time with a customer loyalty program. Encourage customers to refer new business your way with discounts and other incentives. 

“Consider your customers’ buying seasons and offer a free trial or a discount when you know they’ll be primed to buy,” said Meagan Sweigart, principal and fractional marketing consultant at Kinetic Marketing Communications. “If you’re worried about customers taking the discount or trial and canceling right away, remember that even if they churn, you have their data and you can always retarget them when the time is right.”

Provide excellent customer service

Instead of always trying to sell to your customers, work on serving them. Consider their needs and how to make things better for them. Providing excellent customer service means going beyond the sales experience to show how much you appreciate them. This helps to grow customer loyalty, which will increase sales.

Here are some examples of excellent customer service:

• Offering free consultations, guides and helpful information on various products and services.
• Assigning dedicated account managers to help customers, especially during the onboarding stages when they may need extensive support. 
• Making exceptions to company rules for existing customers who want to use your products or services.
• Curating informative and educational content on your website and social media pages based on customer questions and comments.

How to increase sales with prospects

Prospects are a potential source of new sales who are aware of your business and its offerings but haven’t yet made the leap. Every customer was once a prospect and you had to spend resources to convert those leads into paying customers. 

Here are some ways to increase sales with prospects.

Create packages, deals and free trials.

Provide prospects with discounted bundles or special deals to convince them to buy. Once they begin using your product or service, they may find they can’t live without it — the trick is convincing them to give it a try. 

Consider the following tactics to persuade prospects to become customers:

• Offer free trials: Another option is to provide free trials and demonstrations of your products or services. This helps prospects see how the product or service will address their specific needs and situation without spending money.
• Create bundled packages: Combine similar products or services into one package. Optionally, combine different products or services that share a theme or address a related issue. Price bundles so they’re more cost-effective than purchasing products individually.
• Create a sense of urgency: Put a time limit on a package or an offering’s availability to create a sense of urgency. State a reason for the limitations, such as stock availability or the arrival of new inventory and product lines.

Conduct a content audit.

How effective is your content at promoting your products and services? You might have to conduct a content audit and make some significant changes to how you talk about your business.

“If leads aren’t converting, the problem could be misaligned marketing or a weak qualification process. Focus on lead quality and tailor your sales approach to their specific needs,” said Ryan Jones, marketing manager at SEOTesting.com.

Examine all your content, including your website, blog and marketing materials. Ask yourself, “Does this content focus on features or benefits?” The answer should be benefits; if not, it’s time for a rewrite. 

Benefits focus on what your customers will get from your products or services while features describe what your products and services do. The goal is to show how your products or services will improve your customers’ businesses or lives.

For example, this is a feature: “This electric shaver runs on rechargeable batteries.” This is a benefit: “In a hurry? Grab a shave while you take an Uber to your next meeting.”

Optimize your social media profiles to increase sales with prospects.

Social media is important for businesses because that’s where your customers and prospects hang out. However, your social media marketing strategy will only be effective if your social accounts are optimized. That doesn’t just mean making sure your profile is filled out completely and accurately but also that the content is on brand and the aesthetic is coherent with your website and other marketing channels.

It’s also important to consider the content you post on social media. You should create a blend of consistent, organic content, such as posts, stories and reels on Instagram, for example, and paid advertisements. Organic content keeps your followers engaged and helps attract people who are already interested in what your brand offers, while advertising reaches a wider audience and helps put your brand and its offerings on people’s radars.

“Make sure that you are combining your social media when it comes to paid ads and the organic [content],” said Arias WebsterBerry, CEO of WebsterBerry Marketing. “That’ll allow you to amplify your reach and attract high-intent leads.”

Every social media platform is different, so your profiles should be different. Each should maintain your branding but be suitable for its particular platform. Explore each platform and see how your target audience is using it to tweak your messaging in a way that will resonate.

Generate word-of-mouth referrals.

Word-of-mouth referrals are a powerful source of new business and they come at a low customer acquisition cost to your business. Organic word-of-mouth referrals happen when you provide valuable products and services that are coupled with excellent customer service. However, there’s plenty you can do to incentivize these referrals too. For example, consider offering customers a discount for each new customer they refer your way.

“Strategies like customer referral programs and strategic partnerships can take your lead generation to the next level,” said Amanda Rabideau, founder and fractional chief marketing officer at Arch Collective. “I always remind clients that focusing on customer churn is just as important as new lead generation — after all, they’re two sides of the same coin. Happy customers become your best advocates and when you incentivize referrals, you not only bring in high-quality leads but also reduce acquisition costs.”

Put a call to action (CTA) on your website.

Every website — and every page on your website — should have a CTA. This directs the visitor to do something, such as contact you for more information, sign up for a free newsletter, download a report or set up a discovery call. E-commerce websites even have “Shop” CTAs which enable customers to buy directly on the site. 

“Have a mega call to action. So many businesses let themselves down by offering ‘Call us’ or ‘Get in touch’ type calls to action,” said Ali Newton-Temperley, founder and consultant at The Agency Growth Pad. “To help them out, you can offer calls to action that help them evaluate their problem and lead them to seeing how your solution fits.”

For example, Newton-Temperley said, if you run a marketing agency you can offer prospects a free marketing assessment or website audit, which provides them with real value. At the same time, it helps you identify areas where your services would be helpful to them, making it easy for them to see how they’d benefit from hiring you. 

When deciding on a CTA, determine what you want your visitor to do. The goal is to convert visitors into prospects and prospects into customers, so put some thought into the CTA. It also depends on what page they’re on; make sure the instructions are clear and your CTA stands out. A compelling CTA can bring in many prospects and increase your sales.

Stay in touch with email marketing to increase sales with prospects.

The path from prospect to sale is rarely short and direct. It could take several touchpoints and interactions with prospects to turn them into customers and generate sales. One effective way to lead prospects along the path to purchasing your product or service is email marketing. Using one of the best email marketing services can make this process seamless and effortless. 

Email marketing involves growing an email list by collecting prospects’ emails (with their permission) and staying in touch with them. Communication can involve sending automated email messages, email newsletters and other correspondence. 

“Email marketing is one of the highest ROI [return on investment] channels going, but to be done well it has to use proper segmentation that understands how a prospect or customer is feeling as well as what they are doing,” Newton-Temperley said. “My recommendation for powerful nurturing is to start pain first and understand what the customer is in need of. By starting there, you can write the prescription that matches your diagnosis and do that in a way that takes them on that journey with you collaboratively.”

From there, you can educate prospects about your products and services, offer special deals and discounts, provide links to case studies and testimonials and notify them of new products and other news about your company. Staying in touch will keep you top of mind when the prospect seeks a solution to their needs.

David Gargaro and Jacob Bierer-Nielsen contributed to this article.