Beat the Economy

Consumer spending rose for a fifth straight month in November of 2010  and incomes rose slightly more than expected, reinforcing views of a solid economic growth pace in the fourth quarter. In addition, retailers are announcing that 2010 has been the best season ever for sales.

With all eyes firmly on the recovery how are you capitalizing on this rebound?

Here is a list of all the ways I think you can increase sales while the economy is gaining speed: 

1. Make 5 more calls. Working a bit harder will improve results
2. Target your markets to those with money. Stop trying to sell to a market that’s broke
3. Revamp your products and offerings to match what clients want right now in your market
4. Have a referral blitz where you ask you best clients for referrals to your best prospects
5. Host seminars in your markets to attract new buyers in a non threatening environment
6. generate leads using targeted direct mail
7. Host a webinar or a series of webinars for an association whose members are your potential clients
8. Write articles for your association newsletters
9. Present a new way to engage with your products – bundles, smaller, or bigger packages that can attract different buyers
10. Have a sales contest focused on activities such as number of appointments, number of calls
11. Have an old client reactivation campaign. Call all the clients who you have not done business with in 122 months or older
12. Have an upgrade campaign. Allow your clients to upgrade to a newer version for a deeply discounted onetime offer
13. Follow up on last years tradeshow leads. With over 80% of leads still reported as not being followed up with there could be some serious gold in those leads….even if they are old
14. Take your manager out to sell with you for coaching ideas on where to improve
15. Aim to fill your sales funnel to 4X quota amount not just 3 times your quota
16. Use testimonials as proof – not just corporate marketing speak –  that you can do what you say you can
17. Hire a student or a telemarketing company to pre qualify all the old leads in your database 

This is certainly not an exhaustive list and perhaps one idea here has inspired you to implement something completely different. If that’s the case I would love to hear your ideas in the comments.

Regardless of whether your idea to beat the economy is one of the 17 above, or something different do yourself a profitable favor this week and implement it. You will prosper as a result.

Dedicated to increasing your sales,