Tag: increasing sales

Recognizing A Yes

I asked my Mom
if she wanted me
to call her on a certain date
or would she be receiving
too many calls
that day.

She told me
she didn’t think
she’d be very busy.

That’s a yes.
She wants me to call her.

My Mom NEVER gives me
a clear yes.

Some of our prospects
are like this also.
They will never say
yes, they want our products.
They’ll say things
like
‘That would be useful’
or
‘That is lovely.’

I do the presumptive close
with these prospects.
I’ll tell them
I’ll add the product to their bill
or I’ll write up the contract
or I’ll place it in their shopping basket.

If I misread the situation,
they’ll tell me.
But usually I haven’t misread it.

Some prospects will never
give you an outright yes.
If they don’t give you
an outright no,
assume they want your product/service.

Bring In Treats

If you’re building
a holiday-gift-feasible
retail business,
you are likely
extremely busy right now.

Your employees
and other partners
are tired.
Yet there are still
sales to be made.

Bring in a treat
for them.

This could be special coffees
or beautiful gift bags
to make their own holiday shopping
easier
or an extra ten minutes of paid lunch.

You know your employees.
Bring them something
THEY would like.

Give them the energy
and enthusiasm
they need
to make your customers
happy.

The Little Actions Count

“Masks only make a tiny difference,”
a friend told me yesterday.

They might only make a tiny difference
but that tiny difference
taken every day
multiplied by three years
has resulted in me
only having had COVID once
while my friend, a non-mask-wearer,
has had it three times.

Those multiple infections
means he can no longer walk
around the block
without needing a rest.

(And yet he still mocks people
who wear masks.)

Small actions make a difference
over time.

I pick up a bit of garbage
every day.
Our neighborhood,
years later,
is now quite a bit cleaner
than neighborhoods located
close to ours.

I post an extra promo
on social media
every day.
My sales have stayed level
while the sales
of many writing buddies
have dropped.

Little actions matter.

Expectations

I gave away
more beefsteak tomatoes
than heirloom tomatoes
this summer.

The heirloom tomatoes
are tastier
than the beefsteak tomatoes.
I also had more of them.

But I gave away
more beefsteak tomatoes
because…

They look like
the tomatoes we buy
in the grocery stores.

They aren’t unique
or ‘deformed’
as one loved one called
the heirloom tomatoes.

Beefsteak tomatoes
are round
with no wrinkles
and no varied coloring.

They are the tomatoes
the average person expects
to see.

I receive fewer complaints
when I give someone
a beefsteak tomato.
And I can keep
the tastier heirloom tomatoes
for myself.

When the decision doesn’t matter
to you,
give people
what they expect.

A Promotion’s Job

I participated
recently
in an awesome
newsletter building promotion.

The organizer was asked
how many books
the participants
would likely sell
due to the promotion.

He answered
that his job
isn’t to sell our books.

His job is to ensure
the right readers
join our newsletters.

Then it is our job
as writers
to sell our books
to those right readers.

Promotions don’t often
bring sales.
Promotions usually
bring prospects to us.
Then WE make the sale.

Ensure you’ve planned
for the necessary next steps
AFTER
the promotion.

The Next Purchase

My latest book release
garnered fewer than 100 ratings
on release day.

Those ratings tended to be
5 stars
and
1 stars.

Pre-orders for the next book
in the series,
however,
were amazingly strong.

THAT is the true
ratings for the current release.
Readers liked it so much
they immediately pre-ordered
the next story.

Reviews and ratings
are often left by
customers who absolutely love the product
or absolutely hate the product.

I use pre-orders
or additional sales
to judge how the product really performed.

Sales matter more
than ratings.

Awareness Vs Sales

A newer writer posted that
she had participated in a blog tour
last week
and received no sales.
She felt it was a waste of money.

If immediate sales was her goal,
she is absolutely right.
It WAS a waste of money.
Blog tours tend to increase awareness,
not sales.

Those blog hosts are likely to be influentials.
These influentials now know
the newer writer exists.
When she publishes her next book.
these blog hosts are more likely
to read that book’s blurb.
They are more likely to buy the book.
If they like the book,
they are more likely
to tell others about it
…for free.

The blog tour isn’t about sales today.
They are about sales tomorrow.

Align your goals
with the purpose of the promo vehicle.
Some promo vehicles increase sales.
Some increase awareness.

If you want sales,
engage a promo vehicle
that increases sales.

One Tactic Isn’t Enough

One thing we all should have learned
from COVID
is…
one tactic isn’t enough
to achieve our goals.

To stop COVID,
we need vaccines, masks,
social distancing,
sick days,
and more.

To sell our products/services,
we likely need great pricing,
marketing on a number
of platforms,
awesome salespeople,
wonderful customer service,
and more.

It is tempting
to focus on one area
– on Facebook advertising,
for example.
That’s easier.

But it likely won’t
give us the results we need.

Employ more than one tactic
and do that consistently.

Reheating A Now Cold Call

A writer friend and I
hadn’t communicated
for a couple years.

She had to ask another friend
for my email.
That was how long it had been.

Then she contacted me,
asking for help
promoting her new book.

There was no “How have you been?”
or
“What have you been doing?”
or
“I’ve missed talking with you.”

It was direct to the ask.

If she had done this
a couple years ago,
that would have been okay.
I would have been a warm lead.

But I was now a cold lead
and I said no without hesitation.

If it has been
more than a year
since we’ve interacted
with a prospect or former customer,
that first renewed contact
is a cold call.

The relationship should
warm up quicker
than a brand new contact
but we still have
to do that intro work.

Treat it like a cold call.

Are You Proud Of Your Products?

I’ve written stories
I wasn’t proud to claim as mine.
I did that
because my publisher requested the stories
or
because I thought
those stories were what readers wanted.

The stories sold terribly.

Why?

Because I didn’t promote them
with enthusiasm.
I held back.
I didn’t care as much.

And it showed.
Readers (targets) felt
my misgivings.
Plus one less promotion push a day
adds up.
It makes a difference
over time.

Craft products and services
you are proud
of producing.
It will greatly increase
your chances of success.