As a business owner, your goal is to make money. But what activities to increase sales do we put our focus into? Your time is valuable and learning how to delegate will help you to only focus on what you do best and what makes you the most money. Here’s our top 3:
Top 3 Activities To Increase Sales For Local Businesses Owners:
- Do more of and get better at your 15-minute sales calls
- Do a weekly live show
- Be a podcast guest
I believe in having teamwork as a business owner but if sales are down you’ve got to strap up your boots and talk to more human beings.
1. Do More Of And Get Better At Your 15-minute Sales Calls
If there’s one thing I know, it’s that the worst use of time is spending an exorbitant amount of it on an unqualified candidate. I hate to admit, I’ve done this more than once. I did my share (by that I mean about 30 days), of telemarketing in the 90s. It didn’t last long for me and for good reason. It doesn’t work. This is why you have to make grand offers of big-screen TVs and weekend getaways just so people will spend time talking on the phone with you. It’s basically verbal prostitution.
Over time, and with experience in different industries, I learned some strategies to help avoid this. The fact is that getting better at sales calls is one of the best activities to increase sales for your company.
The following tactic happens to be my favorite and it works for both cold calls and hot leads. It is simply an introduction. It is NOT a sales call and your goal is not to sell. It is only to introduce yourself. You can make it your own, but it should go like this:
Introduction
Hi, ________ , I’m happy to have the opportunity to speak with you today. I have set aside about 15 minutes for this call, does that work for you?
Start the conversation
I don’t have any kind of sales pitch for you today, I would just like to get to know you and tell you some things about me to see if it would make sense for us to move forward. I know your time as a business owner is valuable and I want to respect that. I love this because it takes the pressure off of both of you. I do not like feeling pressured and I’m sure you don’t either.
Continue the conversation
Do you mind if I ask you some questions? I’m also happy to answer any questions you may have for me.
The previous questions will establish a dialogue and will help you take control from the beginning and will help you determine if this will be a good fit for both of you. That’s what you should be walking away with after the first conversation.
If it does seem like a good fit, be sure you schedule another call for a time that works well for both of you. Schedule a specific amount of time. This way you are setting up an expectation from the get-go. This always helps to alleviate any pressure. Again, I’m a fan!
The following questions will continue the dialogue and create some guidance.
Find out what they know about you
May I ask you what you know about me/us?
Get to know their situation
Is there anything that I mentioned about my company and what we do that resonates with you?
If they answer with a yes, ask them to elaborate for you.
Ask them what their goals are & why those goals are important to them
Ask them what their goals are. Ask them specifically how they arrived at those goals and numbers (if applicable). Also, find out what the time limit (if any) is that they’ve given themselves to accomplish these goals.
Schedule a follow-up call
This call should have a time limit (again, no pressure). This would also be a great time to send them any helpful information or actions for them to complete (that would further aid in your assessment), prior to the call.
2. Do A Weekly Live Show
There is a good reason business owners (and humans in general) shy away from this kind of thing. There is a reason for the delay in network news and other types of live shows. It’s unpredictable. People are unpredictable.
Let’s be honest. Whether we’re tired or just too busy, we tend to want things to be easy and predictable. We don’t want to deal with the consequences of being ill-prepared but we’re also not always willing to put in the time to prepare ourselves properly (and for the inevitable unpredictability).
I saw something recently that I’ll never forget. It made such a positive impression on me. California’s current governor is facing a possible recall and while there are several candidates interested in running to replace him, there is one who has stood out to me. His name is Major Williams.
He was backstage with the personality & host of a social media account. She’s an influencer. Here’s her link FacetedWoman. I watched as she asked him a question about how she should conduct the interview. His response solidified my trust in him. He said, “Here’s the thing, this is YOUR show.” He gave her the authority and permission (which she had not expected), to proceed with the interview in whatever way SHE thought was important and necessary.
This tells me two things: One, he is prepared. Two, he is willing to let people see what it looks like when he is not perfectly prepared. I knew I could trust this man because he was willing to go into a live situation unscripted and allow the host of the show to ask whatever she wanted.
I commented on the post that showed the above-mentioned clip. I recapped what I saw happen in that clip and the host replied with, “that’s exactly what happened.”
Convinceandconvert reminds us of the 2016 Buzzfeed interview with President Obama. In their article, they mention how important and useful these live shows can be:
“People tend to pay more attention to things like interviews or Q&A sessions if they are happening live. This lends an additional layer of authenticity to the proceedings. In other words, it can’t be scripted. Of course, this also lends itself to possible mistakes or glitches.”
I want to take a second to highlight this point. That it lends authenticity to whatever it is you’re trying to convey. To me, authenticity is everything!
It goes on to say, “This {Obama interview} was one of the biggest uses of Facebook Live for a live interview. An unfortunate glitch killed the feed, but up until that point, over 35,000 people were watching. That number dropped to half when they were forced to finish the interview on YouTube’s live platform.”
Maybe for audiences, it’s the excitement of the unpredictability. It’s the same as why we don’t like watching recordings of someone crossing a tightrope thousands of feet above the ground. We’d rather see them plummet live. It’s awful but it’s true. The fact is, you can’t ignore those numbers. Half of 35k may still be a large number, but it’s not one hundred percent of the original number which is what it could have been.
The cold reality of ‘could have been’ are not the terms you want to think about when it comes to your bottom line.
So, how do you use this option to your best advantage? Here are some ideas:
- Show your audience the experience of your brand. Try to immerse them in what their experience will be should they decide to partner with you.
- Interview a current client or customer who is happy. Don’t just tell. Show people what you’ve done for them and how it worked.
- Introduce them to and highlight your associates. Show them who will be working side-by-side with them. Be sure your associates are comfortable and willing to do this with you. Some people are not comfortable with this kind of thing and that’s okay. No judgment.
Be sure to use the tools that Facebook Live offers. You’ll find them useful.
3. Be A Podcast Guest
Take some time to do research in order to find some Podcasts that align with your brand and products. It doesn’t make much sense to collaborate with those outside your space. Make the list and start to reach out. Make sure you’ve spent some time on your pitch and that you have something to offer them for collaboration. It’s always nice to have a reciprocal relationship.
The main goal is to do more revenue producing activities instead of getting distracted on things that don’t grow your business. Make sure your business listings are all up to date and correct. Here’s a resource article from RebelFish with more information on that.
You Are Losing Money by Not Doing These 3 Daily
Download our free PDF, “You’re Losing Money By Not Doing These 3 Daily Activities” to get more ideas for Daily Activities PDF.