The core of every business is sales. Many of the strategies to increase sales offline are applicable online, but not all of them. On the Internet, everybody can effort to fail fast and learn from it. Better still, after years of testing and tracking what works online, people can just learn from other people’s experience and cut the learning curve tremendously.

Here are 5 of the surefire ways to increase sales:

1. Establish a sound affiliate program

If it is just another affiliate program, then don’t expect to have different results. Focus on building a sound affiliate program, with the tools and materials to support affiliates to promote a program easily. After all, affiliates work like clockwork and should be seen as a team. Provide them with the right promotion tools and they will more likely promote the program.

Give the customers an option to join the affiliate program after purchase. Satisfied customers are one of the best marketing for any business. Spread the good words through word of mouth. Best of all, they are paid just for doing that.

2. Follow-up after first purchase

The hardest task in any business is acquiring the first sale. Make sure that capturing customers’ name and email addresses are the least information gathered from a sale. With that information in hand, follow-up with existing customers, probably through an automated mechanism like timely autoresponder.

This effort has been proven to decrease refund on products and increase customers’ satisfaction. Every once in a while, mention a related product that might be of interest to the customers. Write a review and provide real results. Such promotion is extremely inexpensive, but very effective in practice. The product can be anything, including an affiliate program.

3. Use up-sell technique

Just before a customer check out to the payment gateway, prompt for optional upgrade to the better, bigger, or nicer product for a fairly steep discount, preferably not available elsewhere.

A certain number of customers will choose the option, which translates into additional sales, almost without additional effort.

4. Provide discount coupons

Coupons urge customers to come back and shop. Promotional coupons work for both advertising and some forms of joint venture. Customers love to know that they get lower price for what they buy. Coupons make it so real and tangible.

5. Cross-promote with other related products

There is no limit as to how this could be accomplished. Joint venture with other business or even competitors is feasible as long as it brings a win-win situation.

One example would be to give away sample of other product or service as part of the whole package. As long as the sample is relevant to the customer, this promotion could only be seen as an added value instead of pure advertising.

There are many other tactics to increase sales but above tips have been proven to work again and again. Choose one at a time and take action. Good luck.

Jeff Casmer is an award winning entrepreneur, keynote speaker, and internet marketing consultant with online sales over $25 million dollars. His “Top Ranked” Work At Home Directory gives you all the information you need to start, maintain, and prosper to create wealth at home in the 21st century.
“Top Ranked” Work at Home Directory

Micro Niche Finder information will also let you know how many searches each keyword or phrase gets, the exact number of competing internet sites, and details on the competition as well. Ultimately, the data generated can identify appropriate domains, subject matter for your web site, and even point out suitable goods for you to sell. Putting together a internet site is next; however you still have a few essential tasks to complete. Having the best placing on the search engines involves the optimization of your site. Products such as SEO Elite can make this easy. Competing websites are examined by the software package which then offers advice on how to better search results. With SEO Elite the data generated by the application suggests where you should find relevant links, what words and phrases to focus on, and even information on where to upload articles. In a nutshell, the results obtained are much like to the information you would receive from an experienced SEO specialist.

When you have decided on your target market segmant, have your product ads, and your internet site is ready to go, it is time to get your website up in the search results. You’ll pick up a regular paycheck and you will question why you doubted that this style of marketing would work for you!

When you are in tune with your buyer everything you say or do seems to be right on the mark. The buyer gets the feeling that you really understand them and the road to a successful sale lights up like an airport runway. The opposite is also true. When you are not in tune with your buyer nothing you can do or say will seem to be right. When you push they pull and vice versa.

Master salespeople know the importance of empathy and tune in to their buyers as quickly as possible. Novice salespeople on the other hand, rarely make the effort. This lack of empathy between buyer and seller accounts for much of the negative experiences many consumers experience.

This kind of selling requires a genuine desire on the part of the salesperson to try and be of service. It is pretty easy to spot the salesperson with this kind of desire. These salespeople take an interest in the buyer on a more personal level. The empathetic salesperson asks more questions and better questions. They ask the type of questions that get the buyer to open up and talk about their situation.

Buyers like salespeople that reach them on a personal level. Everyone likes to be listened to and understood. When you demonstrate to your buyer that you are interested and paying attention they will open up to you and tell you what it will take to make a sale. Here are a few reminders to help you focus on your buyers;

• Focus your attention on your buyer. Do not allow yourself to become distracted.
• Look for something you like in the other person. What do you think their friends like about them?
• Get your buyer to tell you their situation, hopes and fears with well prepared questions.

Sell with empathy and increase your productivity immediately!

Jeff Blackwell is the founder of SALESPRACTICE.COM, an online Sales and Marketing Community where members from around the world can discuss all issues related to sales, marketing and sales training.

People will find your eagerness a definite turn-off, or so we’re told.

So, what works? Instead of eagerness, you should play hard to get.

Can the same type of reverse psychology be effective in selling?

According to some contemporary sellers, negativity may be just the tonic for soothing your ailing sales numbers. But, how does it work?

Using a conventional, positive approach, we’d start a call this way:

“Hello, I’m Shirley with Wehavetheanswerpublishing and we’ve been able to help companies like yours to build sales and cut costs, and I’m confident we can be of assistance to you.”

Nice and upbeat, right?

Wrong, too upbeat, according to followers of the Dark Side in selling. They would have us do it this way:

“Hello, I’m Shirley with Wehavetheanswerpublishing and we’ve been able to help companies like yours to build sales and cut costs, and I’m not sure we can do the same for you, but it might be worth looking into.”

You have to admit, it has some offbeat appeal. There’s a realistic tone to it.

Who knows if we can help you? I don’t have a crystal ball! But we can give it a shot. No harm in trying, right?

I remember using a similar angle in college to snare reluctant dates.

“Let’s say we get together–what’s the worst thing that can happen? We like it, and we can’t stay away from each other, we just can’t leave each other alone. Then we’ll have a real problem, won’t we?”

It worked like a charm.

Dr. Gary S. Goodman, President of http://www.Customersatisfaction.com, is a popular keynote speaker, management consultant, and seminar leader and the best-selling author of 12 books, including Reach Out & Sell Someone® and Monitoring, Measuring & Managing Customer Service. A frequent guest on radio and television, worldwide, Gary’s programs are offered by UCLA Extension and by numerous universities, trade associations, and other organizations in the United States and abroad. Gary is headquartered in Glendale, California. He can be reached at (818) 243-7338 or at: gary@customersatisfaction.com

But – to a great deal – within the first two minutes of any meeting, your prospect has already formed a bias. Either he wants to be working with you to reach a common goal, or he’s simply getting as much information as he can to share with your competitor for a better deal. You can be prepared to wow your prospects when you pay close attention to how your prospect ’senses’ that he should do business with you.

Think of every sensory interaction that your prospect has with you from the first meeting until the first time they buy from you. Each of those interactions will build the prospect’s vision of you.

What are some of the sensory (See, Hear, Smell, Feel?) experiences your prospect has that reflect who you are before he says ‘Yes’? You may not be conscious of these interactions, but your prospect is. DO NOT leave any of these interactions to chance.

• Your in-person ‘introductory commercial’. If you are networking or being introduced to someone, this is the first chance they have to make an impression of you. Don’t blow it by ‘winging’ this. Develop a scripted two-sentence commercial for your business and be able to deliver it with ease.

• Your outbound voice mail messages. You can bet that you will get placed into more voice mail boxes than you will get people live. Again, don’t let this opportunity to shine embarrass you because you’re not prepared. You called them – how could you not know what you are going to say?

• Your inbound voice mail messages. Change your voice mail message daily, if possible. Set expectations for when you’ll be unavailable during the day and when you’ll be returning calls. Suggest an alternate number for an emergency if you are not immediately available.

• Your car. Yes – from time to time, clients walk you to your car – meet you in the lot when they are arriving at the same time as you. Throw away the hamburger wrappers and the pop cans off the floorboards. Can this win accounts for you? It can lose them! Do it today.

• Your business cards. Have plenty of them. Know where they are. Carry them in such a way as to guarantee that they won’t be dog-eared when you present them. This is a production. Don’t hand someone your business card, present them with it! Be excellent on purpose.

• Your in-person voice. Pace your client. Don’t talk too fast (He won’t trust you) or too slow (He’ll think you are talking down to him). For both sexes, the lower you make your voice naturally, the more respect you command.

• Your handshake. Match to slightly lead your client in firmness when you shake hands. Don’t make them call 911 because you are trying to exude confidence.

• Your clothes. Dress a little above the expectation of your clients that you call on. Show them that you respect them by what you wear. The best outfit to wear is one that draws no attention to itself. You’re going to dress differently to visit a Fortune 50 CFO than you will to visit the manager of a Landscape Company.

• Your Accessories and grooming. For men, your shoes, watch and grooming should be impeccable. For women, nails, shoes, and accessories are always on display.

• Your smell. Very light scents are the key here. Don’t overpower, but be impeccably fresh. Whatever you do – don’t miss out on the chance to make a first impression by offering anything less than perfect breath. A moment or two with a mint in the car will help you avoid having your client so distracted that she can’t focus on your presentation.

When you master the above, you will establish trust much more quickly and help your client come to a decision for your service with less internal conflict. They are all easy to excel in. If you’re not careful, they are also easy to overlook. Make a personal checklist to start your work day and one before each call. Ensure that you make the best impression possible and watch your sales respond.

About the Author:

Kevin Nations, the Six Figure Sales Coach, helps sales professionals and small business owners develop multiple Six Figure income streams within their business.

To get a FREE audio course, “5 Steps to Six Figures in 7 Days Guaranteed”, visit http://www.kevinnations.com, request via email or call Toll Free 888-SIX-FIGURES.

Please note where you saw this article when you contact us.

Try this: Go back to your customer rank report from 1996, just ten years ago, and take a look at your top ten customers. How much does this top ten list differ from your top ten list in 2006? Odds are, few of these high volume customers are still on your top ten list, or for that matter, still doing business with your company. What happened to those that left? Where are they doing business now? If they left you for a competitor, do you know precisely why?

Here are 15 ideas for improving your customer retention rate:

• Measure customer retention by salesperson. This will give you a good idea of which salespeople are losing the most customers.

• Hire a professional to train not just your salespeople, but all customer contact personnel on how to deliver Level III customer care. Drivers, customer service personnel in the yard, credit personnel and inside salespeople interact with customers sometimes more often than outside salespeople do.

• Teach all employees how to most effectively deal with an irate customer.

• Set a standard within your company for customer response time and monitor how well your people are doing against these standards.

• Make it a policy to answer all phone calls by the third ring.

• Install a policy to under promise and over deliver when making promises to customers. Without training, conscientious employees who are trying to please the customer will often do just the reverse.

• When a customer complaint is unresolved, keep the customer informed. Call customers before they call you  even if you have nothing to report ― giving them an update on the status of the complaint.

• Give your people the flexibility to change the rules to serve the specific needs of individual customers.

• Measure service! Measure on time delivery, backorders/fill rate, accuracy of deliveries, accuracy of billing, etc. Improve your company’s credibility by using these numbers to support your service claims.

• Follow up with customers to check their satisfaction level, especially when a customer is new to your company. Ask customers questions. Don’t assume that they are happy with your quality and service.

• Invest in quality people. When it comes to people, you get what you pay for. Don’t pinch pennies when hiring customer contact personnel. The quality of your people equals the quality of your company.

• Empower your people to take whatever action is necessary to take care of a customer. If you are going to spend money, spend it to improve your rate of customer retention.

• Don’t solicit business from a customer until you are convinced that your company can meet his or her stated customer service expectations.

• Make a list of each of the value-added services your company offers. Ask each employee to commit it to memory.

• Show your customers that you care. Ideas: Incentive travel programs, educational contractor newsletters, thank-you notes, open house events, educational contractor seminars, etc.

It costs far more in marketing costs to have to replace customers you have lost, so it’s my suggestion that you invest heavily in training your people how to hold onto the customers you have NOW.

Bill Lee is author of 30 Ways Managers Shoot Themselves in the Foot. $21.95 + $6 S&H. http://www.BillLeeOnLine.com

Yeah, the products and marketing methods are changing constantly, but the driving force that motivates sales remains unchanged… so do the 4 things that steal sales right out from under your nose.

1. The “I don’t need it” attitude.
Let’s face it… need has little to do with what people buy or don’t buy in the American culture. Want has everything to do with whether they do or don’t buy. The most crucial aspect of getting a high number of sales is targeting the right market. It does little good to advertise to people who really aren’t interested.

What are you advertising? Where are you advertising? These two questions go hand in hand. If you’re trying to sell hunting gear, it would make little sense to target mothers with small children. Sure a FEW of them hunt, but your return for the cost of advertising is going to be pretty low. Pay attention to what your target audience reads, and invest your advertising bucks wisely.

2. The “I can’t afford it” attitude.
In a few rare cases, that may be true, but usually “I can’t afford it” can be interpreted as, It’s not high on my list of priorities.” We can usually find the money for the things we really want.

Go ahead and MAKE your product or service a priority. Dramatize the benefits they’ll experience, sweeten the deal until it’s irresistible, and put a deadline on it. Make it “too good to pass up!”

3. The “I’m in no hurry” attitude.
Procrastination is criminal in the marketing world. Yeah, procrastination steals money right out of our pockets! The customer comes… he sees… he wants… but when he puts it off, he never does get around to buying!

What happens in the short time after he walks out without the purchase? Time quietly fades the emotions that were driving the sale, and the desire to shell out the dinero for your product soon fades away entirely.

Don’t let them leave without making the purchase. Now you can’t put a gun to their head and force them to buy, but you can make a deadline on the special. A “take it or leave it” offer just might inspire the procrastinator to act now.

4. The “I don’t trust you” attitude.
Buying is risky business, and most people fear making a foolish investment more than they fear never getting the product. You can allay those fears simply by implementing a few tactics that evoke trust and confidence for the buyer.

Offer an unconditional money back guarantee. You’ll effectively eliminated the risk factor that holds many consumers back.

Use testimonials to let prospective customers know that you do deliver, and a satisfied customer can say it way better than you ever could.

Be open to communication. Hey, when they know someone is willing to answer any question they have, the uncertainty evaporates.

Don’t let these four thieves steal any more of your profits. Deal with them effectively… get them out of the way!

Copyright 2006 Cutts Group, llc

Who is Allyn Cutts, and why should you care?
Allyn has spent over 24 years helping businesses like yours find new customers and increase sales to current customers. Allyn is a marketing and sales fanatic, providing measurable marketing solutions that drive huge results for small-to mid-size business clients. Allyn works personally with clients to design and deliver off-line and on-line direct marketing strategies that focus on metrics and measurable results. You can learn more about Allyn Cutts at http://www.AllynCutts.com and you can call 610.437.4106 between 10 AM and 4 PM Eastern Time Tuesdays and Thursdays.