Building a Profit Machine: 6 Ways to Increase Sales

By Seth Coyne

What's your real job title? President? CEO? Owner?

That might be what you write in your LinkedIn profile. But if you're running a business, then the title that most accurately describes your most important role is salesman or saleswoman.

No matter how clean or organized your office building is, no matter how efficient your system for inventory delivery is, no matter how effectively your seminars boost employee morale -- without sales your business does not exist.

So, answer this: How much time and energy do you devote to your most important duty (increasing sales)? Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying you have to be out on sales calls or on the phone making cold calls, but if you are running a business, then you need to make absolutely certain that sales are strong and that profits are at least steady, or are preferably steadily growing.

I've included a list of six strategies that can help you increase sales so you can grow profits, expand your company, and dominate your market.

1. Create a Unique Selling Proposition

If you're interested in increasing sales, then your prospects need to know why they should buy from you instead of your competitors. A unique selling proposition (USP) provides them with the proof they need; it's something that sets you apart from the competition and positions you as the superior choice. Your USP can ideally be summed up in one or two phrases.

For many years, Domino's Pizza built its success on the following USP: "Fresh, hot pizza delivered in 30 minutes or less, guaranteed.” Notice that it says nothing about the pizza being good -- it just claims that the pizza is fresh, hot, and delivered quickly. It's a clear, benefit-driven statement. If you want hot pizza quick and don't really care about quality, then you know this is the best choice.

Let's see if you recognize this USP: "1,000 songs in your pocket." That's the USP that took Apple, a company that many people had long forgotten, and put it on the fast track to a following of absolutely rabid fans, to meteoric success and to world domination, or something like that anyways. And the product they were selling: The iPod.

Something important to note: Apple would not have needed to be the only company offering that kind of product in order for this USP to be successful. Sometimes all you need is to be able to explain the benefits you offer better than your competitor does.

Honestly, back in 2001 which would have made you more likely to buy an iPod? Would it be 5 GB of storage space for your digital music library, or 1,000 songs in your pocket? You get the idea.

So what can your USP be based on? Some good possibilities are:

• Superior quality
• Ease of purchase
• Better customer service
• Faster delivery time
• Best guarantee

2. The Acquisition Offer

In business today we have this great new thing. Maybe you've heard of it -- it's called "The Internet." Ring any bells?

Joking aside, the internet has completely transformed our lives, including the way we do business. And this is great news if you're a consumer. You're able to compare features and price, research customer feedback, and choose the best offer.

However, if you run a business, the internet can be a mixed blessing. It allows you to sell to many, many more people, but it also places you next to many, many more sellers. With so much competition, you need a way to stand out.

I just talked about creating a unique selling proposition. Want to know of a USP that can work in just about every business? Enter: The Acquisition Offer.

If you want to increase sales, then you need to consistently acquire new customers. An acquisition offer is an offer that your ideal customer/client/patient just can't say no to. It's a product or service with a high perceived value that is offered at little to no markup.

The goal isn't to make a profit. (If you do that's a bonus.) The goal is to acquire customers to whom you can sell to again and again.

The buyers of today are more skeptical than ever before; they're very hesitant to open their wallets for the first time. Your acquisition offer gives you an excellent opportunity to gain your ideal customers' trust. Because buyers are so skeptical, you will very possibly be the only one who has their trust, which means they'll probably keep buying from you.

Here are a few good examples of acquisition offers:

• A realtor who offers a low-cost book/course with tricks that help you sell your home for a higher price. People who'll buy the book are probably people who are looking to sell and possibly also buy a house --great potential clients, who are now already customers.
• A hunting store that offers a box of ammunition at zero profit margin. People who buy that ammunition are going to want all kinds of hunting and camping gear -- things like rifles, shotguns, tents, sleeping bags, fire starters, camo outfits, bows, arrows, knives, traps, hatchets, slingshots, and so on.
• A massage therapist who offers an introductory session or bundle of sessions at a steep discount. She can then use some of the time she spends with her new clients to teach them about how important it is to periodically receive a good massage on an ongoing basis.
• An office supply company that offers paper to other businesses at a very low cost but also sells printers, copier machines, and/or fax machines. Chances are, at some point, it will have a chance to sell printers/copier machines/fax machines to the customers that bought paper.

So, what could you use as a low-priced, high-value acquisition offer in your business?

3. Would You Like Fries With That?

You may already be aware of this, but McDonald's does not make a lot of money on the sale of its burgers. It does, however, make plenty of money on the sale of side dishes and especially on the sale of soft drinks. By offering value meals, the company has mastered the art of maximizing profit.

Another industry that relies heavily on up-sells is the video game industry. Sony and Microsoft are not getting rich off the sales of PlayStation and Xbox consoles; they're getting rich off the small, cheap DVDs on which their games are saved and that are sold at a huge markup.

Want to increase sales? What upsells could you offer your existing customers? If you offer more products and services than you sell, then this question is a no-brainer. On the other hand, if your customers are already buying everything you offer, then the easiest thing to do is to become a wholesaler or affiliate to a company that offers something that your ideal customer would want.

Just remember, the best customer is the one who has already bought.

4. Inject Scarcity

Let's face it, nobody likes to miss out. Injecting scarcity into your offer is one of the best ways to increase sales fast.

One of the greatest masters of scarcity is a fairly successful company called Disney. Ever wonder why they "open up their vault" every 10 years? Why not leave their products available all the time? Wouldn't they increase sales if they made their movies available to all those people who want to replace their copies of Cinderella today instead of waiting another five years?

Surprisingly, that's very unlikely.

By keeping movies available for only a short time, it creates a sense of urgency. In essence Disney's saying, "If you want to buy this, you better buy it now or you'll miss out." This urgency helps ensure that the company doesn't miss out on sales from potential customers who are interested in buying, but who procrastinate and simply never get around to it.

There is a saying that I once heard from internet marketing expert Ryan Deiss, "Later means never." In essence, "I'll buy it later" means "I'll buy it never." Obviously that's a generalization, but one that is often true. Injecting scarcity helps you to not miss out on sales from customers who are going to buy "later."

The other advantage Disney gains by creating a "movie vault" is that it is able to market old movies as new products over and over and over again.

If you'd like to rapidly increase sales, convince your customers that they need to buy now, and turn old products into fresh, hot offers over and over again; then try to figure out ways to inject scarcity into your sales and into your business.

Some basic ways to do this are to:

• Offer limited-time discounts.
• Offer an extra bonus with each purchase for a limited time.
• Offer a bonus or group of bonuses to one or more randomly selected customers who buy within a certain amount of time.
• Preorder inventory that is slightly less than enough to satisfy the demand that you are expecting. (This can allow you to charge a higher price.)
• Offer certain products/services seasonally only.

5. Ask for Referrals

One of the absolute most brain-dead easy ways to increase sales is to ask your current customers/clients/patients for referrals. If the products and services you offer satisfy them, then they will probably be very willing to refer some of their colleagues, friends, or family members to you.

Unfortunately, being willing to do something and actually doing it are not always the same. It's entirely possible that they would be perfectly happy to help support your business by offering referrals, but that doesn't mean that it's occurred to them to offer this.

Some people will gladly help out, but need to be reminded or asked. Others may already want to refer other people to you, but are simply too shy to ask if you have more availability.

There's no need to be pushy, but there's no need to be timid either. Just asking a few simple questions might be enough to dramatically increase sales. "Do you know anyone else who might benefit from [Your Product or Service]? Would it be okay if I contacted him and told him that you thought we should talk?"

Note: A great way to increase referrals is to offer some type of incentive to your customers/clients for referring other people. (e.g., discounts, bonuses, etc.)

6. Make Them Come to You

It may actually be a universal truth: nobody likes cold calling. Yet, for some reason this seems to be the primary method of customer acquisition for many companies.

Do you want a strategy that:

• Increases sales?
• Allows you to focus your company's energy on people who are most likely to buy?
• Keeps your sales team happier?
• Makes your prospects like you more?

If that sounds interesting to you, then you need to come up with a way to stop relying on cold calling. Instead, you need a system that draws your ideal customers to you. One of the best ways to do this is to become a networking grand master.

The bad news is that you've probably been going about networking in the wrong way; the good news is that pretty much everyone else is also going about networking in the wrong way. As a result, you have a chance to succeed where others are failing.

Entire books could be devoted to the art of effective networking; in fact entire books have been devoted to it.

But a large part of effective networking can be summed up in three sentences:

• Get out and build sincere relationships with lots of people.
• Be unfailingly generous and constantly try to add value to the lives of others.
• Do your best to become a celebrity.

The first two sentences are pretty straightforward. Build up strong connections with people, especially people who would be good potential customers/clients. As you do so, always do your best to be a genuine person and a good friend. Create goodwill as you provide real value to their lives.

As far as becoming a celebrity goes, it's more possible than you think. Don't worry, I'm not talking about LeBron James or Tom Cruise type of fame. I'm talking about establishing yourself and your company as the authority in your field.

There are three great ways to do this:

Writing: Start a blog, guest post on high authority websites, contribute articles to magazines or newspapers, or if you're daring, try writing a short book (Provide information that relates to, but doesn't aggressively promote, your products/services, and that is useful whether people buy from you or not.)

Public speaking: Hold seminars or workshops at your public library or local community college, volunteer to speak at industry conferences or civic events; or see if you can present a speech to your local Chamber of Commerce.

Get involved in leadership: Don't just use industry organizations, trade associations, charity organizations, etc. to meet people and build relationships; use them to build authority and build relationships with group leaders of those groups. Eventually try to assume some type of leadership role.

By developing meaningful relationships (especially with your ideal prospects) and building celebrity authority you will likely see sales increase. New customers will be drawn to you, and your team will be able to spend a lot more time with follow-up calls instead of cold calls.

Note: Want a way to make this strategy work even better? Don't be the only one who does this networking. Have part, or maybe even all, of your sales team do it as well.

Conclusion

Sales are the lifeblood of any business. Ready to give your company a massive blood transfusion? Maybe your company is already doing okay. But why settle for okay when you could be doing great?

These six strategies are effective tools you can use to help your company go from okay to good, from good to great, and from great to darn near invincible. Which of these strategies are you going to try first?