I remember selling our first website (HTML) for $300 and feeling as though I had just hit the lottery. Skip ahead 15 years and we've had projects in the $30K range. How do you do that? How do you drive sales up in less than 15 years? Here are 3 ways to increase your sales today.
#1 Review Your Sales Process
Take a look at how your sales process even works – are you being proactive or reactive? Most of us build a great-looking website and sit back hoping for Google to rank us and then hoping that the leads pour in. That's reactive. Being proactive means that you're working to sale consistently. This is a little tough in our field considering that cold calls and direct mail really isn't a successful approach – at least in our experience. So how would one go about being proactive in sales?
You could look at your own website and see if there's a call to action? Are you asking people to call you? Are you asking people directly to email for a free quote? What trigger words on your website pulls a person into action and causes a conversion?
Another simple task is to get out in the community more. Last month I wrote How to Conquer You Local Market – This will give you some insight on how to be seen more in your immediate neighborhoods and set yourself apart. Trying to be more proactive instead of just reactive will be one way to project your sales forward.
#2 Revisit Your Existing Client List
Sometimes it's not a matter of finding new clients, but revisiting your existing client list and asking if you can help them more this month with their Social Media. Or perhaps you've seen some areas on their website that are already out-of-date and needing an update. Take time to work up a new mockup of what their website could look like and sell them a new design.
Analyze your clients' industries and figure out who has the money to spend monthly and how can you offer services to them so that they spend that budget with you.
This past April when Google announced their deadline for responsive websites – we sent out an email alert to all of our clients who were not already mobile-friendly. That sent them flooding in and just now this fall we're finishing up all of those projects that were rebuilds. Clients are happy and our sales are increased. Score!
#3 Improve Your Offerings
If while you're reviewing your current client list you feel as though you've basically offered them everything you can, it's time to diversify. How can you improve your offerings? Can you add some SEO help on their blogs? Can you help rebrand their social media accounts? What about offering corporate training? You can offer to go to their location and train their staff on how to maintain their business website. Offer to train on Social Media or SEO. There's always some company looking to have their writing team brought up to speed on the latest Google search changes.
Maybe you don't even need to add a totally different service. What if you just added better security for their websites? Charge a flat fee to install Sucuri into their websites and to monitor it for them monthly. Or install Akismet for spam control.
Don't overlook your current clients while trying to find new ones. Keep them happy and ask them to refer their friends to you. Offer their next month's hosting for free if they refer a new client to you. There's all sorts of ways you can drive sales.
Read through more articles here on the blog and find inspiration on how to improve your sales, marketing and overall business approach. Before you know it, you'll start to see your pricing increase and your business become the successful vision you've always dreamed of.
