Posted on: 02 December, 2001
Author: Kahlia Hannah
Times have been a little lean for many ... You may needto generate cash ... are simple ... ways to multiply sales quickly ... more than the ... and your smiling face. Times have been a little lean for many businesses. You may needto generate cash fast.Here are simple effective ways to multiply sales quickly withnothing more than the telephone and your smiling face.I'm not talking about canvassing from one neighborhood to thenext getting the door slammed in your face. These techniqueswork best to get sales from:* Customers who have bought from you recently.* Old customers who haven't purchased in a while.* Prospects who have shown an interest, but never bought.* People who have a good reason to buy from you, but haven'theard about you yet.You can already see you are in pretty friendly territory.Seventy-five percent of the people in this list are VERY likelyto buy. So why not get in touch? Give them the opportunity tolet you help them.Start by making a list of customers and prospects you willcontact. Unless you have a team of helpers, keep your list smallenough to service over the course of the next few weeks.When working alone, I usually make my list no longer than 10customers per week with a maximum of 50 to reach in five to sixweeks. This is fairly lesurely. If you have the desire or needthe money, you might go for 30 to 50 per week.Start with a phone call. It can sound like this:"Hello John! This is Melinda Smith at Smith Technology. Wetalked last month when our guy was out to fix your computer. Howare you?.......John, if you have just a moment---This month we'reoffering a PC tune-up that increases your computer's speed andeliminates all those crashes."If John is interested, you are off and running toward a sale.But what if John is a bit hesitant? Tell him you have severaldifferent things that can save him time, hassles, and money.Offer to stop by and show him in a face-to-face visit."John, this will only take a few minutes and it could save you agreat deal of grief for months. Would Monday at 2 or Wednesdayat 10 work for you?"I like to give customers a choice of two appointment times. Youare giving them a choice while using a firm hand to get acommitment.What happens if you can't reach the customer? You will have thisproblem with half or more of the people you call. Be sure toleave a message on their answering machine or voice mail.Then follow up with a letter. Mention the time or two you triedto call, then lay out your offer and give the customer severalways to contact you. It's a good idea these days to include anemail address. Many customers will send you a note after hourswhen they have more time to consider your offer.These techniques work great for current and previous customersand prospects who have shown interest but haven't bought. It isa little trickier reaching people who should want to buy fromyou, but don't know about you yet. For that you need directmarketing.Direct marketing comes in many forms ranging from simplepostcards, to sales letters, to radio spots, to magazine ads. Tryto target your direct marketing to a group of people who are mostlikely to want what you sell.Here's an example Roy paints cars. He provides a high-end paintjob with a specialty in restoring the paint on old cars. Royknows he can get a lot of great customers fast and cheap if hecould find a big bunch of people who collect classic cars fromthe 50's and 60's.First Roy contacts several classic car clubs in his area. Hediscovers one has 300 members while another claims 700 members.Roy calls and explains to the club presidents how his servicecould be a big help to their members. Then he drops by withphotos of past jobs and a collection of recommendation lettersfrom previous customers.In no time, Roy gets the list of mailing addresses for all themembers in both clubs. He prints up a brochure with some of hisphotos, an explanation of how he restores paint jobs, andcomments from past customers. He also has a freelance writercreate a sales letter for him. The letter offers the member aspecial, limited-time discount for club members. Then he mailsthe brochure and letter to 50 members per week.Will this get results? You bet! Even though none of the 1,000classic car owners has ever heard of Roy, he offers just the kindof service a great many of them need. If he provides a goodvalue, Roy will be swimming in customers for months and years tocome.Use these simple steps to quickly build leads and turn them intobuying customers. There is no faster way to improve profits NOW! Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com