If your sales are a little on the slow side, you need to polish your promotional skills and fire up the marketing machine. This is the first of a two part article with a total of 30 tried, tested and proven techniques to kick your sales into high gear! Here are the first 15 techniques.
1. Use a PS and PSS after your signature. In the PS, summarize the key benefit. In the PSS restate the bonus or reason for ordering right now. Only your subject line is more important than your PS!
2. Vary your subject and medium. If you send out a monthly email promotion, vary the subject line. One month, your subject line could read 'Hi! It's Jake.' The next month it could read $1.99 special for the first hundred responses. With your 'Hi! It's Jake' subject line you could send an article with tips that will help your customers with common problems. Your '$1.99 special' could be a direct ad. By altering the format that you send, (article one time, ad the next) you will get more prospects past the subject line and into your email.
3. Mail your customers on a more frequent basis. If you send your customers a promotion once a month, double it. Send them a promotion every two weeks.
4. Use add-on sales. The best place to get an add-on sale is just before your prospect places their order. Include two buttons or links at the bottom of your order form, one for ordering just the product and one for ordering your product with an add-on. Here's a quick example. You are selling an ebook you have written called Marketing. Your add-on is a Lifetime upgrade.
a. At the bottom of the order form you include a text link that says 'Click here to order Marketing for only $19.95.'
b. Directly underneath, you place a second text link that says 'Click here to order Marketing, including your Lifetime Upgrades for only $29.95.
c. Place a short paragraph after the button, explaining all the benefits of ordering the Lifetime upgrades as well. After the paragraph, place the Lifetime Upgrades order link again.
5. Upsell to a better product. If you are offering free autoresponders, upsell your customers to a better version of your product. Quick example. You offer a free, quality autoresponder which sends a single message. If your customer upgrades to a 'Gold' autoresponder for only $2.95 per month, they get an autoresponder which can send up to ten, time delayed messages.
6. Use current events to propel your sales. If the inflation figures have just risen again, offer an 'Inflation Buster' promo.
7. Offer additional products. After you have sold your main product (with an add-on) keep in contact with the customer and offer additional products. You can sell more add-ons or upgrades that compliment the original purchase, or completely new products.
8. Offer a payment plan. If you are selling a big ticket item, offer to split the payments into three or four easy installments. Installments can be spread over weeks or months, depending on the size of the purchase.
9. Offer special promotions. Holidays like Christmas, Easter, and Valentine's Day are perfect for special promotions. Anniversaries and birthdays also give you a perfect excuse to contact your customers and offer them a special promotional deal.
10. Include a deadline. By including a deadline, customers are more inclined to make a purchase sooner. It is human nature to leave things to the last moment, so make sure your deadline falls within a short period of time after you send your offer.
11. Use incremental deadlines. If you run a monthly special, offer to include an extra bonus, plus a FREE gizmo and a lifetime upgrade if they order before the end of the first week. In the second week of the campaign, offer an extra bonus, plus a FREE gizmo, only if they order by the end of the week. In the third week, they get an extra bonus if they order by the end of the week. And the fourth week, they get the product with no bonuses.
12. Use the take away approach. This works well in conjunction with the incremental deadline approach. Tell your customer that if they don't order today, they will miss out on the fabulous lifetime upgrade offer.
13. Make the purchase easy. Make it easy for customers to purchase from you by offering alternative methods of payment. Some people don't feel comfortable placing their credit card number online. Make sure you offer the option to pay by check. Include a printable fax/mail order form that they can print out and send to you by snail mail or fax.
14. Give guarantees. Make sure your product comes with a 100%, no questions asked, lifetime, guarantee. People love to feel secure when ordering. If you stand behind your product 100%, you give your customers the security they need.
15. Sell to categories. If your product is selling well with work at home moms, try selling to Small Office Home Office (SOHO) owners. If you find that your product is popular with accountants, try a promotional campaign directed to this category of customers.
There are an unlimited number of techniques and tactics that you can experiment with to drive your sales through the roof. When you have success with a particular promotion, keep polishing and experimenting until it is worn out and then experiment with something new.
In the second segment of this report we will look at another 15 ways to kick your sales into high gear.
Good luck and God Bless.
About the Author
Terry Telford is the author of the popular ebook, Website Ladder, and the founder of bpc publishing, where you can pick up your FREE and almost FREE website marketing and traffic tools. Visit http://www.bpcpublishing.com today!
Written by: Terry Telford
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