How to sell retail. How to increase sales in a retail store

04May

Hello! In this article we will talk about ways to increase retail sales.

Today you will learn:

What features are typical for retail trade;
What are the ways to increase sales in a retail store?
: step by step instructions.

Retail Features

Retail sales – sale of goods individually to the end consumer for his personal use. This short definition perfectly characterizes retail.

Retailers sell goods to ordinary consumers, individuals who use it for their own needs. To understand what product the end consumer market needs in at the moment, it is necessary to carry out a complete .

However, it is worth noting that retail covers almost all areas of business: from consulting services and food industry to mechanical engineering and construction.

Retail trade requires less capital investment compared to wholesale. This makes entering the market accessible to almost everyone. However, not everyone should rush to retail because of its affordability.

First, you need to familiarize yourself with the features of this type of trade to understand whether it is right for your company:

If you produce or purchase goods in large quantities, and you do not have several hundred square meters or a developed distribution system in several geographic regions, then retail is not for you. The end-consumer market will not be able to accommodate a very large volume of products. There are exceptions: for example, branded goods. They are bought up on the first day they hit the market. Remember the line on Red Square for brand new Apple smartphones. However, this is the exception, not the rule. If your product is not yet very popular, then your offer must match the demand.
If you are not ready to spend your money on, then retail is not for you. Emotions play an important role in the retail market; they influence purchasing decisions. Vivid advertising campaign. In addition, retail is characterized by a large number of consumers who buy goods in small quantities. This means that to ensure sufficient sales volume, the company needs to notify a large number of consumers about the product. This can be done with the help of marketing communications. We will definitely talk about them later.
If you are not sure of the “firmness” of your final price, then retail is not for you. Demand in the end-consumer market is quite elastic. There are exception goods - these are essential products, for example, bread, matches or salt.
There is a need for constant marketing research. Otherwise, you will miss the moment when your company’s sales volumes began to decline and will not have time to eliminate the negative factors in time, which we will talk about now.

Why are sales declining?

There are many factors that can influence negative impact to the sales level. Moreover, sometimes these may be circumstances that we cannot influence in any way. These include economic, political, technological, sociocultural, legal and environmental factors external environment.

To determine the strength of influence of these factors on your business, you need to conduct a PESTEL analysis. If the influence of these parameters on the market is too great, then it is better not to take risks and refuse to enter. This will save you from financial losses.

But there are negative factors for which the company itself is to blame. We can influence these parameters, so it will be useful to consider each of them in more detail.

Poor location of the retail outlet.

This is the most common mistake of new entrepreneurs. Before or stall, do a little research. Find out in what places your company visits and in what cases your product is purchased. If you can answer these two questions, you can save big on marketing.

Example. We want an economy format. Our target audience is students and working women aged 18 to 35 years. It is not practical to open a salon near a university, since we will only reach female students. Choosing a residential area to open is also unprofitable, since we will cover only one geographical region. But opening a retail outlet near a shopping center near the university and not far from a residential area would be a good decision. It will be visited by both of your segments.

Decoration.

We opened and decorated the storefront. But clients don't come to us. What is the reason? Walk up to your point of sale and look at it through the eyes of the consumer. Perhaps it looks unattractive or does not represent your product, and consumers simply do not understand why they should come to you.

When registering a retail outlet, follow the following rules:

The showcase should reflect your product and be associated with it;
Give examples of prices. This attracts consumers, especially if these prices are low. But don't be deceived, they must correspond to reality;
Duplicate information about your promotions on the display window;
Use current topics for registration.

Assortment.

There can be many options here, let's look at each:

Insufficient range of products. Your customers don't return to you after their first visit. This is one of the signs of this problem. Compare your assortment with the assortment of your closest competitors, ask consumers what your outlet is missing. This will allow you to eliminate the problem and attract visitors;
Too wide range. In this case, the consumer simply cannot choose one product and leaves without purchasing. One of the marketing agencies conducted interesting research. First, the client was asked to choose one of three jars of jam of different flavors. The consumer made his choice. The same client was then asked to choose from 24 different jars of jam. In the second case, the consumer either chose the flavor he chose the first time or left without purchasing. The researchers concluded that an assortment containing more than eight items has a negative impact on sales volumes;
The assortment does not correspond to the location of the outlet. For example, our nail salon is located next door to the bridal salon. Good decision To increase sales, we will include wedding manicure in our assortment.

Low quality of service.

The modern consumer is very demanding. He wants to enjoy the purchasing process. Boorish behavior Even the highest quality product cannot save the staff. , conduct trainings, . A good retail salesperson is 90% successful.

Ways to increase sales in a retail store

In fact, there are only two ways to increase sales - increasing the consumption of products by existing consumers or.

Attracting new clients

This method can be implemented by luring customers away from competitors or by entering new segments.

In both cases, you will have to resort to marketing tricks. Tools for implementing each of these methods are given in the table. Some methods are universal.

Poaching customers from competitors	Entering new segments
Accompany your potential client on the way to the store. This method is especially effective if you are in shopping center. In this case, the consumer who went to your competitor will be interested in your product, because he needs the product, not a specific company. But be careful, excessive advertising can scare away the client and cause irritation
Use discounts, bonuses and gifts. Passing by your outlet, the consumer will see a tempting offer. Even if he passes by at first, then, not seeing any benefit from his “favorite,” he will most likely return to you. But this technique will only lead to a short-term increase in sales.
Show that your product is better. This can only be done by improving product quality and improving service.	Cross-events. Agree on joint promotion with an enterprise. This could be an event (for example, a product tasting in a supermarket), or a gift for a purchase from a partner (remember the joint promotion of the Perekrestok supermarket and the Sunlight jewelry salon). The main thing is that your target audience and your partner’s target audience coincide

Increasing sales volume through existing customers

It also has two implementation options: increasing consumption and increasing sales conversion.

Increased sales conversion.

Sales Conversion – the ratio of the number of store visitors to the number of customers.

From the definition we can conclude that conversion is mainly influenced by the parameters of the outlet itself. Therefore, we will work with them.

We improve the quality of service. A good salesman will be able to sell any product. The bad one won't sell even the best one. There is such a thing as intra-company marketing, which is determined by the company’s attitude towards its staff. How better conditions labor, the more sales you will get. Also, don't forget about training and motivation;
Merchandising. has a direct impact on sales of your products. There is a rule in marketing arm's length. According to this rule, in 80% of cases the client takes a product that he can reach without much effort. If your product is above or below this zone, sales will be low;
Promotions, sales, bonuses. This method will allow you to increase conversion, but only for the duration of the promotional events.

Increased consumption.

In this case, all our actions will be aimed at increasing the average check.

You can do this in the following ways:

Price increases. By increasing the price of products, you will increase the average purchase amount, but may reduce conversion. This way you won't get any increase in sales. To prevent this from happening, remember a simple rule: any price change must be justified. The client must understand that you increased the price for a reason, but because you changed the packaging to a more convenient one (in fact, the price and packaging may not be related to each other).
Additional services or products. Once your consumer has chosen a core product, offer to complement it with a service or other product. For example, you sold a necklace, offer the buyer gift wrapping. This addition will not be a significant expense for the client, but in total it will bring you a good additional sales volume in monetary terms.
Loyalty program. Map regular customer will not increase the average check, but will lead to an increase in the number of consumer purchases in your store. There are several types of discount cards: bonus, savings, privileged. Each of them has its own tasks, but unites them common goal– increase in sales volume.

How does the loyalty program work? For example, we own a grocery store and we have a loyalty card, which is provided free of charge when purchasing over 1000 rubles. There is another grocery store opposite us, but it does not have its own loyalty program. Customers who have a card from our store will come to us to receive a discount, bonuses or gifts (depending on the type of card). Thus, we “bind” consumers to the card, forcing them to buy only from us, increasing sales volumes.

Step-by-step instructions for increasing sales

Each business is unique, but there is a certain sequence of steps that will increase sales for both a furniture store and a consulting company.

Step 1. We determine the specifics of our outlet.

There are a huge number of different forms of retail stores.

They may differ in the following parameters:

Form of service: self-service, online trading, trading by catalogs, through vending machines and self-service stalls, traditional service, by pre-order;
Form of organization: individual outlet, network, small retail trade, mobile trade;
By type of goods: food and non-food.

The shape of the store determines the range of problems that can affect the decline in sales. For example, in a retail clothing store, the main reason for a decrease in sales may be the low qualifications of contact personnel, but such a reason is unlikely.

Step 2. Looking for weaknesses.

The main weaknesses of retail stores are:

Small volumes of one-time purchase by one client;
The price is too high. Large margins are good. But don’t go too far, otherwise you will lose clients;
Too wide target audience. You want to sell everything to everyone, but it is very difficult to do this. A much more effective solution would be to focus efforts on one segment.

Separately, I would like to highlight the problems of online trading:

Inconvenient location of active buttons. These include the “buy”, “pay”, “place an order” button and others. If the client has to look for such a button for a long time, he will simply leave without purchasing;
The site is not adapted for mobile devices. According to statistics, about 40% of sales are made with mobile devices, therefore, displaying the site from a phone should be as convenient, understandable and informative as from a computer;
Overly complex and lengthy ordering and registration forms. The client will not have enough nerve cells to fill out your form and place an order. Don't test his patience;
There is not enough information about the product, low quality photos. The consumer must know what he is buying.

Step 3. Select methods to solve the problem.

Let’s scroll above and see which method and tool for increasing sales can increase sales in your store.

For example, if your customers make small purchases, then you should use the method of increasing consumption. Offer additional products at the checkout, enter a cumulative bonus card.

In the 21st century, the profession of sales consultant remains one of the most in demand in the labor market. Salespeople or sales managers are always needed, and good sales specialists are worth their weight in gold. There is very high competition for such personnel, and once you master sales techniques, you will definitely not be left without a job. But getting a job as a salesperson is not difficult, but learning how to sell and, accordingly, earning a lot is much more difficult. Let's look at it: how to increase personal sales for a seller.

Knowledge, skills, skill

To increase personal sales to the seller you need to understand that in any case you must be able to sell. In order to be able you need to know, and over time the skills will develop into a skill and sales will come on their own. On the one hand, there is nothing complicated here, but if you look at it, it’s a whole science. Here you have the stages of sales, and, and and. You can sell, etc. What should a competent seller know?

. You should start learning about sales with the 5 stages of sales. This is the basis of any sales and you cannot do without this knowledge.
Knowledge of the product you are going to sell. The better your knowledge about the product, the more competent advice you can give the buyer.
Knowledge of competitors and customers. It’s no wonder that now all companies are investing a lot of money in marketing research market. Knowing your competitor and especially your buyer is your responsibility.
Nonverbal communication is a very powerful tool, you at least need to understand the basics nonverbal communication to avoid classic seller mistakes.

Most large companies do this, but what if no one trains you or doesn’t give you enough knowledge? To begin with, I would advise reading books for sellers, you can learn a lot from them useful information. First, read “” and the book. In addition, you can find out a lot of useful information on our website - you can also ask your questions on.

Motivation and sales funnel

Any leader knows. But ordinary sellers, as a rule, do not delve into such terms. But the sales funnel makes it clear what to do to increase sales results. Without going into depth, the sales funnel shows at what stages of interaction with the client we lose sales. To create a sales funnel, an ordinary seller needs to count how many contacts he had with clients, how many of them refused to communicate immediately, how many after the presentation of the product, how many decided to think about it, how many agreed to purchase. This is a simple example as these items will vary depending on the type of sale. First of all, it is important for you to understand:

At what stages does it refuse? greatest number clients? For example, if when establishing contact with a buyer, then you need to somehow change this stage, etc.
Understand how the result will change if you increase the number of contacts.

Increasing the number of clients is the easiest way to increase sales; the downside is that it is not available to all sellers. But as a rule, sellers don’t even think that if they spend less time on each client and try to serve as many customers as possible, this will quickly lead to an increase in sales. Or you can simply devote more time to work. One way or another, it all depends on the motivation of the seller; as a rule, the most active managers sell a lot.

The very motivation of sellers

If a salesperson wants to increase his results, he must work on his personal motivation. You should set yourself a goal, such as buying a car or an apartment. Calculate how much money you need for this and how much you need to sell daily. Draw yourself a poster, print out a photo of your goal - visualize and view it before you go selling. This will help you be more focused on the result rather than the process.

The seller sells himself from the beginning!

The salesperson first sells himself, then the company and then the product. This phrase is taken from, but nevertheless it is also suitable for sales to individuals. You need to understand that people don’t like to be sold to, but they love to buy, and the role of the seller here is not to impose or sell the product, but to establish confidential contact and charge the client with positive emotions. The seller should be an advisor to the buyer, a friend and partner in a common business. For many buyers, visiting a store or communicating with a seller is a certain stress; the client is afraid of being deceived and wasting money and time. The seller must create an atmosphere of ease and trust, only then the client will truly open up to you and you will be able to sell anything.

It is very important for the seller to be in good location spirit and be customer focused. There are a number of simple rules that need to be followed for a good mood:

Get enough sleep. Always get as much sleep as you need to feel good.
Deal with personal problems. Very often I meet sellers who are focused on personal problems. This greatly distracts from work and customers feel it.
Don't work with a hangover.
Maintain your hygiene and be neat.

Pareto principle

The Pareto principle (often called the 80/20 rule) states:

80% of the profit comes from 20% of customers.
20% of labor costs bring 80% of profits

This means that your main profit comes from minor labor costs. And most of your time and effort is wasted on insignificant actions that do not bring you the expected income. The main thing is to understand what is included in this 20% of effort, clients, time and work to improve the processes associated with these costs. Since the remaining 80% is not given significant result. Let me give you a few examples from life:

Example No. 1

In the store household appliances In addition to sales, each seller’s responsibilities include putting things in order in the department. Sellers with best results, spend less time putting things in order, do it faster and in the morning, when there are few buyers, while they are customer-oriented and when a buyer appears, they immediately go to him. In addition, more successful sellers try to take days off during weekdays since there are fewer clients on these days, have lunch in the morning, and do not take smoking breaks in the evening. Sellers with lower results become immersed in the process, take longer to clean up, and as a result lose sales. That is, more successful salespeople understand that they need to focus on customers who bring in money, and everything else can wait.

Example No. 2

Active sales agents sell Internet provider services using a door-to-door approach. Bypass is carried out in evening time. The most successful managers put in the most effort between 7:00 pm and 10:00 pm because at this time there are more people at home and they are more inclined to communicate. Whereas less successful agents at this time may spend a lot of time on smoke breaks or communicating with clients, and who are not going to buy today.

These examples show that it is important to focus your efforts on those things that bring you maximum profit. This is exactly what successful salespeople do.

Analyze your sales

Sellers have a very bad habit: to justify their poor results by blaming the responsibility on the buyer, seasonality, competitors, etc. The vast majority of people feel sorry for themselves and do not want to change anything in themselves, looking for problems in others. It’s important to decide what you want: to relieve yourself of responsibility or to earn money. If the latter, then when faced with difficulties you need to look for a solution, and not blame the injustice of the world. There is a good story among sellers about this:

One shoe company sent its salesman to Africa, a week later the salesman sent a telegram: take me away from here, there is nothing to do here, all people walk barefoot.

After some time, another merchant was sent there, after a while he reported: “This great luck! - the second one wrote with delight, - Send everything you have, the market is practically unlimited! Everyone walks around barefoot here!”

There's another one good proverb– the weak is looking for a reason, the strong is looking for opportunities. It’s much easier to justify your failures than to analyze the situation and look for ways to sell more.

A good salesperson always analyzes his work and looks for areas of growth. Any seller always has something to improve, but not everyone can see what exactly. In order to understand, you need to start every day and if something goes wrong, look for ways to do it differently.

Hello, dear readers project "Anatomy of Business"! Webmaster Alexander is with you. What is your company's monthly turnover? It doesn’t matter whether it’s 1 million or 30 thousand per month - in any case, you will be interested in increasing sales.

What ways to increase sales currently exist?

There are two main ways to increase company profits:

increasing the number of clients (lead generation);
an increase in the average bill, i.e. either an increase in the cost of services or the development of a system of additional sales.

Let's now look at each of them in more detail.

How to increase the number of clients?

All currently existing methods for increasing the number of clients can be divided into two large subcategories:

increasing the number of clients due to manpower (increasing the number of managers);
increasing the number of clients through the introduction of new marketing technologies and advertising.

As for increasing the number of managers, everything is clear: the more managers we hire, the more “cold” calls they make and the more sales our company will have. Let's talk about methods from the second category.

What technologies to use to increase profits?

We use the following powerful tools for ourselves and our clients:

Landing Page;
SEO optimization.

Let's talk about each of them in more detail.

SMM - promoting your product on social networks

SMM is an abbreviation for English. SocialMediaMarketing means promoting a product through social networks. At successful combination social networks and selling sites can get good results. In the article, I told how my student managed to receive orders worth 200,000 rubles. in the first 10 days after the launch of her project.

Skillful management of a project based on social networks allows you to make sales with a large average check. In my experience, there are projects whose average bill is 100,000 rubles. At the same time, you need to clearly understand what kind of product you want to sell, and build your positioning on social networks based on this.

If you are just starting to look closely at social networks, I recommend reading these two articles: and.

LandingPage - selling your product through one-page sites

Literally translated from English, this phrase means “landing page.” This is what one-page sites are called. I have already talked about their potential in the article. In general, I can safely say that a competent launch advertising campaign in Yandex-Direct works wonders and brings impressive profits. I will show this with a “live” example.

Let's take a company that produces built-in wardrobes. Her average bill is 45,000 rubles, of which 22,500 rubles. – net profit. The conversion of incoming calls into orders is 50%.

Promotion stages

1) We create a landing page with a conversion of calls to orders of at least 5%.

So for $250–400 we get about 100 clicks. 5 of them are converted into orders. With a conversion of 50%, we get 2.5 orders for $250–400. Considering that the profit from these orders will be 22,500 × 2.5 = 56,250 rubles, this direction can be considered very promising for business development.

The main problem at this stage is that creating a landing page and setting up Yandex-Direct yourself is almost impossible, and the cost of such services is quite high: on average 100,000 rubles. for setting up. You can, of course, find cheaper options, but you need to understand that professionals with smaller budgets simply do not work and you risk running into scammers. Nevertheless, this technology has one big “plus”: traffic from Yandex-Direct is quite stable, and by setting everything up once, you will receive a continuous flow of clients for several years!

SEO - increasing sales through SEO optimization.

Many people believe that after they create a website and fill out a couple of pages on it, clients will pour in to them in an endless stream. This is far from true! In online entrepreneurship, a webmaster (website creator) and an SEO specialist (promotion specialist) are two completely different specialties. It often happens that the customer first goes not to the SEO specialist, but to the webmaster, which is fundamentally wrong! The fact is that the features of website promotion differ significantly from the webmaster’s ideas about website building. And the work of a professional SEO specialist costs significantly more. For example, if the design and layout of a website together cost 100,000 rubles, then SEO optimization of the website may require from 200,000 to 1,000,000 rubles; it all depends on the complexity of the requests being promoted.

You can carry out SEO optimization yourself (how to do this is described in a series of articles) or turn to professionals.

Why do you need to do SEO optimization of a resource?

The main reason is that proper website optimization allows you to generate the most stable traffic. If the site is well optimized, it will provide customers for many years. At the same time, large optimization costs are required only for initial stage. As a rule, during the first year the resource gains popularity and in the future it is only necessary to maintain the project at the proper level.

Now imagine that 1000, 2000 or perhaps even 3000 target customers visit your website. What turnover will your company receive with a conversion of at least 3–4%? The answer to this question explains why companies invest such serious resources into the development of their websites. Perhaps you will start thinking about attracting new clients through the website.

If you have any questions, you can ask me in the section or write me a message "VKontakte".

With a high degree of probability, it can be argued that by introducing these three components into your business, you will significantly increase the profit of your company.

As a nice addition, I have prepared for you the 10 most effective psychological techniques that can be successfully used in Internet marketing and sales. I would like to immediately draw your attention to the fact that using these chips I was able to increase the sales of one of my clients several times. Namely, from zero to 53,000 baht per day. (The work was carried out in Taillad). For more details, watch this video:

How to increase sales: 10 psychological secrets

1. We overcome "barrier to entry"

Very often people feel some doubts; they don’t know whether a given product or service is right for them, or whether they need to pay money for it. And if it doesn’t work, what should I do? There are many doubts and even more questions that fuel these doubts.
Therefore, many companies offer their customers to use a product or service for free, but only for a limited period. If we talk about the IT sector, then there are various demo and light versions that have reduced functionality, but can show what the program is capable of.
By giving a person the opportunity to use a product or service for free, you thereby dispel his doubts and increase the chances of making a purchase. full version. As a rule, after using the program for a month, a person understands that without it it will no longer be so convenient, not so comfortable, so he decides to purchase.
The presentation of your proposal also plays a huge role here. Create a tasty phrase, an enticement that will be hard to refuse. Something like this: “the first 30 days of using the program are absolutely free. Feel all the privileges of our service and, in the future, you will ask yourself the question why you didn’t use it before.” Of course this is the text on quick hand and you should create something more catchy, something that will force a potential buyer to take advantage of your free offer.

2. Strength beliefs

Scientists regularly conduct various studies that are based on the influence of beliefs on people's behavior and decisions. Not long ago, an experiment was conducted in which people were told that, according to all tests and studies, they were among the “politically active voters.” And, strange as it may seem, more than 20% of those who received such an instruction increased their activity during the elections.
I would like to note that the volunteers for the study were selected completely randomly, but their decisions and actions were influenced by this setting, the fact that they are part of the group of “active voters.”
This psychological factor can also be used in sales. You need to convince your customers that they are unique, that the product you offer is intended exclusively for a limited number of consumers, and it is “he”, your buyer, who is among this lucky number.

3. Understand the types of buyers

Neuroeconomics experts identify three main types of buyers:
- Economical;
— Spenders;
- Moderate spenders.

Everything is clear with spenders and moderate spenders; they already love to buy, not always paying attention to the need for a given product and its price. But in order to force the “frugal” ones, who are just over a quarter of all buyers, to fork out money, there are several methods of influence.

Price change. Essentially, the price remains the same, but is broken down into parts that are easier to understand. This is what household appliance supermarkets are doing in Ukraine now. If a plasma TV costs 12,000 hryvnia (48 thousand rubles), then they offer to split the payment into 24 equal parts and pay a small amount every month. The truth is more attractive than shelling out a lot of money at once. This method works, and is very effective.

All at once. Here you need to offer the client to pay a little more, but get maximum comfort and a package of services. This is what tour operators do when they offer all-inclusive tours. A person feels that this type of vacation will be more comfortable, safe and convenient, and therefore may overpay for the services provided.

And the third technique is very often used by paid online cinemas abroad. You can choose to pay for each movie, or you can sign up for a monthly subscription, which will give you the opportunity to save. As a rule, people sign up for a month and it’s not a fact that this subscription pays off.
Of course, there are many more methods, but the essence of all is the same - to influence the perception of price.

4. Become stronger called upon her flaws

Very often, large companies are afraid to admit their problems and shortcomings, which causes a storm of negativity and a flurry of emotions from users. Well, there is another side to the coin. Companies do not notice their shortcomings until “the thunder strikes,” and when it does, it may be too late.
Therefore, learn not just to recognize shortcomings, but to use them for your own commercial purposes. to you at email Have you ever received responses to comments about the operation of a particular service? If yes, then be sure that such a company works in the right way, cares not only about its services and clients, but also about its reputation.
A large printing company in Ukraine also chose a very interesting move. On the main page of their website it is written that they are the No. 2 company in Ukraine, and this fact haunts them. Therefore, they work 24 hours a day, seven days a week, have the most low prices and optimal quality. And all for the sake of being appreciated by customers and being able to call them the best company in the country.

5. Tell me how act further

Scientists have already emphasized more than once that a person perceives even the most relevant information worse if it is not followed by clear instructions for action. This effect is observed very clearly in sales. If you don’t tell the client why he needs this or that product, he’s unlikely to buy it.
And if, when choosing a blender, you show what wonderful cocktails he can make, that he will pamper himself and his family with fresh smoothies and delicious creamy soups every day, then the desire to buy this blender will increase significantly.

6. Nobody doesn't like to wait

A very important factor when shopping online is the delivery time of goods. Therefore, you must clearly outline when and at what time the buyer will be able to receive the product he has chosen. This is very important on the eve of major holidays, when a delay of even one day means that you will not receive money for the goods.
The largest online store of household appliances in Ukraine, when ordering goods, always calls the buyer back, confirms the delivery day, address and even time. The courier arrives within an hour of the appointed time. Clarity and responsibility are what can set you apart from many competitors.

7. Find a competitor

Try to create a competitor for yourself, even if it is virtual. Your proposals, against the background of your opponent, should look more attractive and impressive. This will allow the buyer to understand that you care about your pricing policy, always try to make more profitable and relevant offers, and always go one step ahead.
In the world of big brands, there are a lot of such confrontations - Apple and Samsung, which are fighting in the smartphone market. And what about the well-known couple Pepsi and Coca Cola? You can watch their “battles” forever. These posters, videos, billboards with jokes on each other attract the attention of millions of buyers around the world. Surprisingly, both win in such a war, because attention is focused on both brands.

8. Engage like-minded people

Very often, companies use this psychological move. They claim that when you purchase a product, part of the money will go to charity. According to surveys conducted in the USA, more than 60% of buyers were motivated to make a purchase in this store precisely by the fact that the proceeds from sales will go to those in need.
Such charity events McDonald's often holds promotions, but the most striking and spectacular promotion was from the TOMS Shoes company. The point of the promotion was that when you buy any pair of shoes, another pair will go to the children. As a result, the company sold millions of pairs of shoes around the world, and another million went to kids.
Such promotions are also highlighted in the media, which will be additional good advertising for your business.

9. Proof

You must have reviews about a particular product on your website. Research shows that buyers are more willing to make a choice when they see hard facts. If 500 people bought this product, left a bunch of comments and gave good ratings, then the probability of purchase will be much higher than for a cheaper product with the same characteristics, but without reviews.
Motivate users to leave their reviews, and over time this will significantly increase sales and improve conversion.

10. Surprise their clients

Don't be a standard, cookie-cutter business. Try to constantly surprise and delight your customers. A striking example is household appliance stores, which add a small bonus to a standard order in the form of some small equipment: speakers, headphones, a computer mouse, etc. The user does not expect this, and such a gift will be very pleasant. Believe me, he will tell dozens of friends about it, leave a flattering comment, and will also order from you more than once.

Paradoxical as it may seem, even the crisis plays its part positive role in trade. It lies in increasing competition in the market, from which the buyer benefits.

How to make sure that the one who trades does not lose out? The conversation in the article will be about how to increase sales of a retail store.

Smart marketing is everything

Today, to attract customers it is no longer enough to open, put goods on the shelves and decorate the store entrance with balloons. In conditions modern city a person will always find a point closer to home, work, or bus stop. But this is not enough for him.

The buyer will want to go where the sales methods are thought out taking into account his needs, where the goods are located conveniently and aesthetically, where, finally, there is a sufficient assortment.

It’s interesting, but such increased requirements for trade are imposed even by those who traditionally stop by only for a bun and milk.

The manager’s task is precisely to force the buyer, in addition to that very bun, to buy a whole basket of other products in the store and thereby increase the total volume of purchases.

Planning other people's purchases

There is such a thing as guerrilla marketing. retail trade. Speaking in simple language, these are ways of influencing the buyer, the goal of which is to increase sales and the amount of the average check for each client.

And here other mechanisms are already at work, in addition to assortment and convenience. Proper distribution of assortment and turnover come to the fore.

And the same buyer who visits the store every day should not be able to grab a loaf of bread and a carton of milk on the go. Before reaching these shelves, he must walk past the display cases and, unnoticed, buy a whole basket of other goods.

Plus beautifully designed display windows, attractive display of goods and other stages of psychological influence on the buyer. The overall program is completed by background accompaniment: voiced announcements about certain products, promotions, and so on.

And at this stage of sales planning, the question arises: what is more important - increasing the number of new customers or retaining old ones? Perhaps the second one should be given priority: stimulating repeat visitors should be a top priority. For this, all known methods are used.

Monetary interest

In the first place in increasing sales, of course, is price incentives. This is not about winning the reputation of being the cheapest store at the expense of profitability. Today, such a cunning move as discounts is very popular in retail trade.

They come in two types. The first is the retail purchase and sale of goods of a seasonal nature or with an expiring shelf life. They require mandatory discounts in order to prevent large financial losses.

And secondly, to increase demand and increase the volume of purchased goods. Ultimately, losses from discounts become proportional to losses from long-term sales or loss of relevance of the product.

Another popular and attractive tool for increasing sales in retail stores is bonuses. Bonus programs can be different: two for the price of one, a discount when purchasing a certain amount, and so on.

There are other techniques for increasing sales in retail trade, for example, all kinds of promotions. And all these tools must be skillfully used by store personnel. And for this, employees must themselves be motivated: motivating staff depending on sales volume is of great importance.

Bonus cards

Incentive Methods retail sales products always operate flawlessly. These include the technique of attracting customers using bonus cards.

First of all, this is a tool that “fixes” the buyer in a given store: after all, he needs to quickly gain a certain number of points. He will monitor promotions and try to make purchases in this particular place.

In addition, people with experience in retail trade successfully use the gift system, when a client receives gifts for a purchase of a certain amount or for long-term use of the store’s services.

Another marketing technique in the same gift series is holiday promotions, special discounts and birthday gifts. IN in this case The so-called “word of mouth” works great, and the interest of potential buyers of a store or retail chain naturally increases.

The same line includes such types of retail purchase and sale as “two goods - the third as a gift” and gift certificates. According to statistics, today many buyers, finding it difficult to choose a gift, prefer to give a certificate to a certain retail network for a fixed amount.

Upsale

The principle of upselling in retail marketing rests entirely on the shoulders of store personnel. The question “anything else?” works not only in counter stores, but also in self-service supermarkets.

Methods of retail sales of goods in open display cases and independent selection do not exclude direct communication with the buyer. The responsibilities of sales consultants include stimulating the buyer so that he pays attention to other products.

Particularly advantageous in this regard are when related groups of products are displayed on the counter. They allow you to remind the client that, for example, it is better to take a balm of the same series along with the shampoo, and a hair mask to accompany the balm.

The hob contains both dishes and household appliance care products. The planning of the assortment and the placement of goods in the hall should be carried out precisely taking into account these features - the possibility of offering additional goods.

Trifles in trading

Bright price tags with the inscriptions “Best Seller”, “Two for the Price of One” and the like look attractive in a retail store. When a person sees them, he doesn’t think that he doesn’t need this product. And usually profitability takes over, increasing sales in a retail store. Cashiers are also responsible for their sales stage and often offer small “penny” goods instead of change.

As a result, you can increase sales in retail with the help of many existing ones. And every trading business owner always has his own methods of planning and stimulating sales.

Flexibility in choosing strategies is the main tool for success in retail.

What else can you do? There is one more unobvious thing:

For the last six years I have been selling myself and teaching others how to sell.

At one time, I was lucky to develop the sales department at IPS (Isaac Pintosevich Systems), close space checks at the Amazon Chamber of Commerce, and now I am building sales in the LABA educational platform.

We sell our products in Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Germany and the Baltic countries. This is a rather complex process that requires coordinated work the entire team.

What happened during these six years?

In the first week of working as a sales manager, I signed 3 contracts totaling $23,000

For a year he held first place in sales among thirty people

Personal record - 372% of plan

Over the course of a year of work, I went from trainee to acting. head of the sales department of the IPS company with thirty sales managers subordinate to him

In one day of the conference I signed contracts with thirty unfamiliar clients

Doubled the turnover of the LABA educational platform in the first month of operation

I am constantly learning, I have completed trainings with the best specialists: Belfort, Adizes, Cialdini, Ferrazi, Gandapas etc

Another personal record - sales of a budget product price category for $62,000 per month

I sold a lot, experimented with various schemes and made enough mistakes until I came up with a formula for perfect sales. This formula can be used to increase the turnover of the ENTIRE sales department, not an individual manager.

Myths that are often found among novice sales managers.

You have to be born a salesman

Most people think so people, especially those who are just starting their journey in this direction. In fact, selling is an accessible formula that anyone can master.

If you start juggling or driving a car for the first time, you will most likely make mistakes at first.

But if you have good teachers, over time, you will learn to do this easily and with minimal errors. Sales is no exception!

Sales is a ploy

You can hardly tell 97% of sales people apart from each other. From the very beginning of the conversation, these inept managers try to tell as quickly as possible that they are the best, they have the best company, the best delivery, conditions, etc.

They don’t know and don’t try to find out what the client actually needs. With this approach, it really is a gamble. What benefit does such a salesperson bring to the client and what is the likelihood that the client will buy the product from you and be satisfied?

Selling is bad

Every day we all sell something. A trip to the cinema, what dish to eat for dinner, an idea for clients or management, services, etc.

When selling a quality service or product that can help the client, this cannot be a bad thing. If you help a person, then what's wrong with that?

In fact, selling a high-quality, in-demand product is prestigious, and most importantly, they pay very well for it.

Myths of sales managers or business owners

A good sales manager is easy to find

Now I will probably upset you. Good sales managers don't look for work - work finds them. There are practically no good sales managers on the market. It’s not enough to just post a job and sales geniuses will come to you.

A good sales manager has long sold his competence and, of course, has highly paid commissions. Not in your company.

Practice has shown that you need to look for potential employees who are ready to learn and develop real “sales wolves” out of them. This is difficult and requires certain knowledge and effort. But it definitely works.

Sales managers will actively sell themselves because they want to earn more

Alas, no matter how well-thought-out system of material motivation you have, it is not enough to keep your employee’s passion at the highest level.

A sales manager is a person with his own inner beliefs, fears, interests and priorities. Only through the right approach to the management of each employee will you be able to keep your sales department at a high motivational level.

The Worst Myth That Can Destroy Your Sales Team

Once I set everything up, everything works great and it will always be like that.

I think each of you has thought this at least once or hopes that this is possible.

The sales department is a link that should bring most of finances to the company. And it should be constantly worked on and improved.

Every three months it is necessary to improve and review the strategy in the sales department.

Establish new bonuses for individual indicators, change teams or projects they worked on, set plans for a month, three and six months.

Sales managers are stormtroopers by nature, and the usual routine has a negative effect on them - motivation is lost, performance begins to fall, and there are fewer satisfied customers.

Therefore, you must constantly keep your finger on the pulse of your sales team and, if it begins to weaken, take prompt action.

7 tips to increase your sales department's turnover

RIGHT PEOPLE

The right people are the backbone of any sales team.

How often do you conduct interviews? How often do you manage to find a good sales manager?

Most companies conduct personal interviews. This approach works when selecting top management, but not for the sales department.

Competitive interviews must be conducted. This way you can save your time and, no less important, emphasize the value of the vacancy in the eyes of the applicant.

If your new employee Not only did he pass the interview, but openly competed for his position with competitors, he will value it much more.

One of essential skills“sales person” - determination. Make the competition such that he can demonstrate this quality. The selection process must take place in several stages.

It is important that each stage is much more complex - this way you can understand how purposeful a potential employee is.

ADAPTATION SYSTEM

In many companies, in the first days of work, an employee in the sales department encounters the following problems:

they don’t know what or how to do, so they walk around, drink coffee and disturb other employees;
they try to sell without having all the tools yet and simply burn leads or, even worse, ruin your reputation.

You must have a clear adaptation system. It is necessary to equip the employee with all the knowledge about the product and scripts for working with the client. This will allow you to get rid of turnover and get a manager into position as quickly as possible.

NEW TECHNOLOGIES

Surprisingly, most companies don't use essential tools for the work of the sales department, even though they are quite simple to master - CRM, IP telephony, speech recording system, etc.

The implementation of a CRM system (customer relationship management system) will help you see the picture of how your relationship with each client is managed. Here you can enter the client’s phone number, full name, position, city and many other data into the database.

With the help of such a system, it is convenient to monitor issued invoices, prepayments and completed transactions - this will allow you to quickly respond to any changes in sales.

The implementation of such a system usually increases turnover by at least 15%. And cloud solutions do not require large budgets.

In the educational platform LABA, we write our own software product that meets all our sales analytics needs. We will definitely devote a separate article to this product, it’s worth it).

SALES TOOLS

Many people know what scripts are (algorithms for talking with a client), but few people use them. Managers understand that such tools increase sales in the company, but for some reason they give their managers the opportunity to improvise in a conversation with a client.

Improvisation is the worst scenario in a conversation when the manager needs to understand the client’s needs and correctly explain all the benefits of the product.

The script needs to be developed, and believe me, this is not the easiest task you have encountered. It constantly needs to be tweaked and tested in conversations - this is a permanent process.

However, the game is worth the candle - the introduction of such a tool can increase a manager’s sales volume by 30% after the first month.

Don't forget about the product book. This is your company's product catalog, which every manager should know by heart. Every detail and little thing, every characteristic of your product. Customers consider a salesperson who knows his product well as a professional - this is an axiom.

AUTOMATION

At this point, it is important to note that your sales department should work automatically. Like a Swiss watch - without interruption.

To do this you need a technical specialist - an administrator. This employee will monitor overdue tasks for managers and unloading of potential clients. His tasks are also to ensure that telephone accounts do not run out of money.

It is very important to constantly work with your customer base. The sales department administrator will be able to control clients who take a lot of time. At the same time, the result from such clients is zero.

Create a black pool where you will add clients who have not bought anything for a long time or many contacts with them.