Cardinal Consulting: Free Article - Strategies to Increase Sales in Any Economy by Chakisse Newton

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How to Hire Salespeople for Free: 9 Simple Strategies to Increase Sales in any Economy by Using the Resources You Already Have.

By Chakisse Newton, Principal, Cardinal Consulting, LLC

Are you looking for ways to consistently increase sales without breaking the bank? Lately, it seems that many organizations are turning to new technology, expensive advertising and costly discounting for answers while overlooking several simple, cost-effective and proven ways to dramatically increase sales.

Here are nine simple strategies that you can implement today to turn every employee into a sales person and multiply the size and effectiveness of your sales force.

1. Make Sure All Your Employees Know What You Do.

Before you say “My employees already know what we do”, go and ask a random employee to describe your services. Do they mention all your key services? Do they explain them the way you want them presented? This is especially important with “front-line” employees like receptionists, accounting, service technician or anyone who routinely spends time “in the field”. Every interaction is a sale waiting to happen. Are you missing out?

2. Provide employees with practical sales tools to make their jobs easier

Share your company value proposition with your employees in the exact language that you would like them to use. Also, empower them with resources like frequently asked questions and other tools that can help them effortlessly qualify leads. After all, if you’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the perfect way to explain your business, why leave it to chance by having employees say the first things that come to their minds?

3. Identify your “ideal customers” and discuss the characteristics with your team.

If you don’t already know who your “ideal customers” are, stop right now and figure it out. Then share that information with your employees and teach them how to identify prospects. Not only will this help them better sell your services while they are at work, but it will also keep them prospecting for you while they are out in the community.

4. Train employees to look for selling and up-selling opportunities.

Fast food employees are masterful at looking for sales opportunities. No matter what you order, they always seem to have a suggestion of another artery clogging item that you may also want to purchase. Sometimes, clients and prospects don’t know about other needs they have unless you mention it.

5. Ask for referrals.

When was the last time you asked your employees for leads? Make it a regular part of your corporate culture to ask employees if they know anyone who can benefit from your services. Why wouldn’t they just tell you? Most people feel an intense discomfort around the idea of “selling” and may not volunteer information they have. However, if you create a supportive atmosphere and your employees know that you will respect their referrals, they will be more likely to share information with you if you ask.

6. Ask employees “What are small, simple things we can do to increase sales”?

Create a relaxed, non-threatening environment to request ongoing employee feedback. According to Kaizen expert Dr. Robert Maurer, asking employees to come up with big, “transformational” ideas doesn’t work. However, by creating a culture that consistently asks for small ideas, people will provide countless potentially profitable ideas. Plus, Maurer states that employees will offer more ideas without promise of a reward than they will when large incentives are offered.

7. Ask employees to do short, informal client surveys.

If your employees routinely interact with clients, provide one or two qualifying questions to ask during every call. For example, if your ideal customer has 30 employees or more, encourage employees to end the call with a simple, “By the way, we’re updating our records. How many employees do you have?” That information can then be used to identify more sales opportunities.

9. Consider an employee recognition program.

While offering large incentives for a job well done may be counter-productive, offering praise is always effective. Look for opportunities to create a formal recognition program for “non-sales” employees who do a great job selling, up-selling and qualifying customers. Remember, whatever you reinforce is repeated.

Increasing sales by better utilizing existing resources isn’t rocket science…fortunately. While these methods are not as sexy as some of the newer ways to find clients, they are tried and true and can help you increase your sales today while you work on your business strategy for tomorrow.