Baltic business survival

Step Three: Pump up your sales

"Selling is asking for the order." Anonymous.

If you've worked to cut expenses and become a miser with your cash, great! Now you need a strategy to boost sales.

I don't know if you are selling a service or a product, if your business makes or distributes goods, or if you are a retailer or a dot com. I don't know how you sell your wares. Is it mail order, over the Internet, your own salespeople, or agents?

Regardless of your of business particulars and how you manage to peddle your goods, here are some common strategies that apply to all types of businesses that can help promote your dream.

First, I ask you to ask yourself: are you sales-minded? Your view of selling and salespeople can affect your attitude about your marketing and sales promotion efforts.

If you have any fears or phobias about promotion, get over them. And if you have a hang-up over "pushing" your offerings onto others, it is a childhood guilt complex that does not belong in your "entrepreneur's personality."

Force yourself to master the basic success tenet of presenting your product or service without hesitating to ask for the order. Most successful sales, marketing and promotional activities are based on the premise of "asking for the order."

Remember, nothing happens, in any business, until someone sells something.

Promotion is not always obvious. So don't hide your business. Potential customers must know you exist. You should have an understanding of who your customers are, where your customers are, and how many you can sell to.

I like what A.P. Giannini, the founder of Bank of America once said: "How can people know what a bank will do for them unless they are told."

A sales and promotion strategy is as important as a financial strategy is to your success. But remember, awareness takes time. It does not happen quickly. It requires a credible message repeated many times.

Don't assume a single ad, a single article, your business card, a small sign, or a listing in the yellow pages will do it for you. It won't.

Nearly everyone on this planet knows Coca-Cola, yet the company spends millions each year on advertising and promotion. Why? To protect their market.

They know that customers forget, that competitors tantalize customers, and that customers like to buy what they know.

There are many market studies that tell us consumers don't like change. There is evidence that buyers are more reluctant to change than they are willing to admit to. If this is so, how do new products and brands succeed? By enough sales and promotional activity to take the edge off the newness.

It is a paradox; we want new products and services, but we want someone else to try them first.

Just as your company's physical appearance is a statement about how you manage your business, your sales and promotional messages also create the image of your company.

Employees with attitude problems send strong negative messages to your customers. Customers do not like to do business with employees who are not courteous, knowledgeable and helpful.

Incompetent or rude employees can cause you to lose customers, even your business. Your employees are part of your sales activity. It is not only your salespeople who have contact with the public; eventually, every employee will in some manner.

If your business is in a community of modest size, your actions may be under the microscope. The public, which includes customers and employees, will quickly form an opinion of your business. The community must view your business as a benefit, not a problem.

Happy customers are great goodwill ambassadors. Their endorsements are invaluable and creditable.