by If one of your New Year’s resolutions is to increase your sales, here are ten specific actions you can take right away to make that happen. Whether you’re a salesperson, professional, sales manager or CEO, each of these tactics can be implemented quickly and easily.
1. Start a blog
Being perceived as an expert can help you make the sale over your competitors. And one of the fastest, easiest ways to increase your perceived expertise is have your own blog. You can share tips, resources, case studies and more, while also mentioning new products, services and special offers. Not sure where to begin? Read Top Ten Easy Steps to Starting a Business Blog by Denise Wakeman and check out this fantastic step-by-step video tutorial at becomeablogger.com.
2. Join LinkedIn groups
One of the most powerful features of LinkedIn is the ability to join groups. There are more than 100,000 groups, some with thousands of members. You can join up to 50 groups. Once you’re a group member, you can start and participate in discussions, submit news articles (including your blog posts) and post job openings. There are three types of groups you should join first: sales-related groups, groups related to your industry and the groups your target prospects belong to.
3. Go network
Social media hasn’t replaced traditional networking. Meeting people face-to-face is still—and always will be—important. So get out there and meet some people! Figure out where your best prospects go and attend those events. Regularly. Want some great networking tactics? Take a look at this article: Networking: Your Most Valuable Prospecting Tool.
4. Create a Facebook fan page
You can create a fan page for yourself, your company or for any individual product or service in your line. The bonus is, once your “friends” become “fans”, Facebook will automatically suggest to their friends that they become a fan of your page.
5. Ask for referrals
Too many salespeople never even ask for referrals. They’re afraid of rejection or they don’t want to be perceived as intrusive. But if you’ve taken good care of your customers and they’re happy with your product or service, they want to refer you. You just have to ask.
6. Create a new product or service
Innovation drives sales. What else might your customers want? How else could you serve them? How could you improve, upgrade, shrink, expand, combine or repackage your existing offerings?
7. Leverage Twitter
More people are getting on Twitter every day. If you’re not using it—or not using it effectively—now’s the time to start. There are tons of Twitter tutorials, tips and tricks online. Do a Google search and go from there.
8. Attend a sales training seminar
If you truly want to sell more, you need to be better at selling. Which means you need to learn new skills, approaches and tactics, as well as refresh yourself on those you used to know but have forgotten about. Investing in some current, relevant sales training will pay you massive dividends immediately.
9. Post a video on YouTube
Shoot a video of your product or service in action. Or make a short how-to video. It doesn’t need to be professionally shot, produced or edited. These days, raw, unedited video actually carries more credibility with viewers than professional efforts.
10. Join a leads group
Can you imagine if 20 to 30 people were out there looking for new prospects for you every week? That’s essentially what a leads group does. The members prospect for each other and share leads once a week. Want more details? Check out this article: Should You Use a Leads Group for Prospecting?
Here’s to a wildly successful year!
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