NOTE: This is for you even if you’re a start-up Business Owner, also a special gift awaits you at the end of this content

Making sales is the most important activity in Business because every Business on Earth today exists to make profits which only comes from sales.

Sales are the livewire of any business and it is a game of numbers, that is, how profitable your Business is depends solely on the number of sales you’re able to close.

There are several reasons why several Businesses do not make enough sales no matter how good their product is, these reasons range from poor marketing strategy, not knowing your target audience, lack of connection between yourself and target audience and a host of others.

One of these or something else is probably the reason you complain of ‘NO SALES’ in Business, notwistanding, I want to reveal to you three Strategies to put an end to the dreaded ‘NO SALES’ in Business.

The first on this list is this, sell the destination not the vehicle.

This is one terrible mistake a lot of Business Owners and Entrepreneurs make, while trying to sell their product (vehicle) they talk so much about the product, all that it is and contains rather than talking about the results or solution (destination), what the product can do and what problem it is going to solve.

It is very important to note, whenever you’re selling, don’t focus on all that your product is, i.e its features.

Sell the solution your product is offering, tell your audience all they’ll get if they buy your product. Don’t forget to be as expressive as possible.

Secondly, sell yourself first before selling your product.

Do you know that your target audience buy you first before they buy your product or service?

If you’re able to sell yourself well, selling your product will be as easy as ABC. The bottom line is this, make your target audience believe that you’re credible and they can trust you enough to do business with you.

If your target audience do not perceive you to be an expert in your field of Business, then convincing them to buy from you would be much harder.

How do you do this?

By setting yourself as an Expert in your field and building a formidable and credible brand for yourself first before your business.

Lastly, stop selling and start helping.

This might sound absurd to you and you might have even gone as far as asking yourself how it’s possible to sell without selling.

The key to growing sales in Business is in this quote by Zig Ziglar – ‘Stop selling.  Start helping’

When you focus on selling your product, you’re focusing on yourself which is a selfish thing to do and would only chase your prospects away. This is why you should focus on helping your prospects by adding value to their lives.

Help them move from point A to point C for free and they’ll pay you any amount to move up to the last letter with your product or service. You can do this through content marketing and value based marketing.

Individuals are constantly searching for solutions, grant them some of these solutions for free and they’ll be willing to pay for your product or service.

That brings us to the end of this content. I believe you learnt something new.

As promised, here’s what I have for you.

Are you a business owner or a personal brand?

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Are you looking to get ahead of your competition and understand the steps you must take in this new era?

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Tagged: ‘Re-strategizing your Business for the new Economy’

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To increase your sales tremendously

Sales is the lifeblood of any Business and no Business on Earth can exist without sales. One of the best ways to make more money in your business is by selling more of your product or service.

There are many ways to increase sales, depending on your industry, market and business goals. But there’s a single tip that can help you increase sales in your Business, no matter the industry or niche.

And that single tip is Upselling and Cross-selling

What is Upselling?

According to Wikipedia, Upselling is a sales technique where a seller induces the customer to purchase more expensive items, upgrades or other add-ons in an attempt to make a more profitable sale.

While it usually involves marketing more profitable services or products, it can be simply exposing the customer to other options that were perhaps not considered.

For example, you run a Writing Business and you’re an author of several books. If a customer indicates interest in one of your books and decides to buy it, after having bought it, you decide to introduce a private one on one mentorship training with him/her.

That is Upselling

Then What is Cross-selling?

Cross-selling is a sales technique used to get a customer to spend more by purchasing a product that’s related to what’s being bought already.

Cross-selling involves offering the customer a related product or service, while upselling typically involves trading up to a better version of what’s being purchased.

Using the same example, As an Author, If another customer indicates interest in one of your books and decides to buy it, after having bought it, you introduce another complementing book, maybe a Workbook, to aid the effectiveness of the Book.

This is the number one tip to increase sales and keep your customers coming back and many businesses usually combine upselling and cross-selling to maximize profit.

That is Cross-selling.

The success, the profitability and growth are among the goals that young Business owners are fixed at the launch of their Businesses.

Of course, these results are not instantaneous. They cannot be obtained with the wave of a magic wand and nothing is guaranteed.

However, there are steps you can take to lead your business to success. To successfully manage the different facets of your life as a business owner and to set aside time for your privacy, you must be organized and methodical.

Because you have to spend a lot of time there, especially the early years. So to succeed in your entrepreneurial project , you must passionately love what you do, but also:

Organize yourself and prioritize your priorities

Too much time is often spent tweaking details that are actually unimportant, to the detriment of activities that are more urgent.

Before you start your day or when planning your activities, make a priority list of tasks. Assess the urgency and importance of each task, then: start by dealing with urgent and important tasks yourself, then deal with those that are important but not urgent, delegate those that are urgent but not important, and leave the remaining ones for the end.

Organizing your work also means defining the deadlines to be respected in the same way as you did in your former life as an employee.

Manage your emails: they can quickly waste your precious time, especially in the times of the day when you are most productive. Don’t waste your time checking your emails every five minutes. Reserve one or two times during the day to answer them (for example, in the middle of the day or at the end of the day), and answer the most urgent ones as a priority.

Optimize your time and become more productiveIt can be learnt. To optimize your time , use business management tools, you will be more efficient! Automate or delegate the aspect of your Business that make 20% impact.

You can FINALLY spend more time on activities that generate revenue

2. Set clear goals

Defining goals for you and your team is a strong management act. It allows the you to: express their will to their team and strengthen their leadership to orient the action in line with the strategic and operational axes of the company, to put its employees in motion by stimulating action.

Set SMART goals to make sure they’re relevant. The setting of objectives has a driving role for employees by promoting their personal commitment to action. They become more involved and deliver the best of themselves. It also helps to empower them.

State your goals and explain your business strategy so your team can help you implement it.

3. Assemble a great team and help them shine

Before you even think about your business’s growth path, you need to make sure that you have a strong staff who can help you achieve it.

You must have a clear idea of what you are looking for: above all, be as specific as possible in defining the requirements of each position. It is true that hiring the right people will make your business grow, but that is not enough.

You will have to make sure that you maintain the motivation of your team : for example, invest in their training, remain attentive to the needs, … In short, try to retain them as long as possible to ensure continuity in key positions, in order to have experienced employees who know your business inside and out.

And if you have a talented team, make sure you show them they’re appreciated. The happy and motivated employees lead to successful businesses. Assemble a great team and help them shine.

4. Never neglect your confirmed customers

No one is telling you not to spend time and money finding new customers. But before going into new business, ask yourself: “Is it worth bringing in new customers if I can’t keep the ones I have?”Emphasize v bone existing customers : they will have chosen from your competitors!

So learn how to retain your customers!, the loyalty of your customers is essential to the sustainability of your business. Make an effort to satisfy them, and never let them regret their choice.

After all, they’ll advertise you well, and it’s often through a loyal and satisfied customer base that you’ll acquire new customers .

5. Identify your risks

Client risk, too rapid growth, risk of insolvency, management problems, poor marketing target… Risk is inevitable and is part of business management. Impossible to control everything!

Entrepreneurs, find out about the most common causes of business failure . Indeed, most setbacks can be avoided, if we recognize them early enough.

Fortunately, there are many ways to limit internal and external threats. Think of :Identify all of your risks in a detailed SWOT analysis,Imagine the risk scenarios, including the causes and consequences.

Identify the constraints of the project.

Implement models for estimating the severity of consequences.

Implement probability of occurrence estimation models.

Have a detailed policy in terms of project risk management.

6. Be flexible

One trait that successful startups often have in common is the ability to change direction quickly , in response to market changes.

A fluid approach to development, both in terms of your product and your business, will help you move forward faster. It allows you to fail, to get up and to continue .”Be flexible Be flexible

7. Maintain your networks

You might feel like you know your business and your industry. You have reports that tell you what’s going on. You read your customers’ comments. You talk to your managers. You are convinced that you have a very good idea of ​​reality. The truth is, you might be missing things!

Attend meetings you don’t normally go to, answer the phone, get to know your employees and customers, be present in business operations.

And above all, plan and participate in all the networking events that concern your activity from near or far! You will always find opportunities to learn from the experience of other people, discover new business solutions or reach potential customers!

You can’t grow your business if you don’t grow your network at the same time.

These are only a few ways to grow & scale your Business.

But if you commit to them, you’ll record a huge growth in your Business.

One of the news that broke the internet early this year is the emergence of Elon Musk as the world’s richest man.

The Tesla and SpaceX entrepreneur was catapulted into the highest slot after Tesla’s share price increased tremendously.

Musk displaced Jeff Bezos, the Amazon founder who has been on the spot since 2017.

The Africa social media platform was filled with diverse congratulatory messages as well as motivational quotes to keep everyone abreast with his or her hustle.

In fact, I have seen young folks invest in diverse schemes and investment platform. Elon having an African origin has broken the glass ceiling of mediocrity in the continent and everyone just want to be rich.

The truth is that, beyond your present situation, within a twinkle of an eye, anyone can become the world’s richest. Let’s be more realistic, you can become very rich in a jiffy maybe not the richest but very rich.

The rationale behind this is that all humans have money. The money we all have is in a currency that is not acceptable as item of value unless refined.

Let’s take a look at Ezra and Shola – founders of Paystack – the ‘bhad’ guys who cashed out over 200 million dollar when they sold the company out.

Instant millionaires right ?

But as at 2015, Shola and Ezra both had this millions of dollar but in a different currency, a currency that is valued until it is refined and acted upon.

This currency is IDEA.

You will agree with me that every great businesses you see today are a product of an idea that was worked on. Just name them, Apple, Google, Facebook, Dangote etc were all a product idea worked on.

In the world of idea, only the action takers take the crown. No matter how wonderful your idea is, you need to act on it.

At Citraks, our idea is to create a unique visibility for African businesses without losing the African context. We have acted on this idea and that is why you could read this.

You’ve got an idea? Isn’t now the right time to act on them?

Remember, IDEAS are the money we all have. Act on it, refine it and become the next millionaire/billionaire the world is waiting for. So many futures hang on it.

Do not let them down!

If there’s one thing that you must do before achieving anything at all, it’s that you must set goals.

It is nearly impossible to overstate the importance of setting goals especially in Business.

And one of the most common reasons that many small businesses fail is because they don’t set clear goals, or they don’t even set goals at all.

Whatever your Business Goals might be, if you don’t know how to crush those goals, it would be as bad as you not setting any goals at all.

The first thing you must do in bringing your Business goals into reality is, Take the first step.
It isn’t always about planning or setting goals but it’s about taking the required action which would lead to your desired outcome.
You need to take the first step, no matter how small.

Also, you must be flexible with your goals.
As it is popularly known, be dogged with your destination but flexible with the route.
Most times, it is not always the exact routes you’ve set to take, that you would eventually take in achieving those goals.

In addition, you need to be passionate about your goals.
If you’re not passionate about achieving a certain milestone in your Business, then you would most definitely not go beyond dreaming it.

Break down your goals.
You’ve probably heard this many times.
In order to eat up a large chunk of meat (or a whole cow), you need to start by eating it bit by bit, that’s how to crush your goals.

Crush them bits by bits, divide your yearly goal into monthly goal, weekly goal and then daily goal.

Follow these steps judiciously and your 2021 goals would become reality just before you.
Learnt something new? Don’t forget to hit the comment box.