The A to Z challenge and writing about woman entrepreneurs. You may read the previous posts here.
B is for Business Plan
S is for Selling
The process of making a sale is vital for the survival of your business. This means that you need to consistently take steps in order to sell to either existing or potential customers. Just making a fantastic product or offering an important service is not enough. Today there is a hugely competitive market and you need to have sales campaigns to ensure that your customers know about your existence.
Many women entrepreneurs do not know where to begin their sales. They may have great products or services on offer, but are not selling a thing. Typically, because they have told next to no-one about what they are offering. With the sheer amount of white noise bombarding most of us online and otherwise, it's possible that your half-hearted attempt at posting a social media message went unread by the majority of your ideal clients.
There is no need to sound pushy or act like a sleazy salesman when you bring your offer to your buyers. Don't make tall claims or offer false features. Stick with the truth of what your product or service can do for your customers. People do not want to be lied to. They simply want a solution to a problem that they are facing. It is perfectly possible to be authentic and still make great sales.
If you want to increase your sales, there are four ways to do so.
- Increase the number of people you sell to.
- Increase the size of your average sale.
- Make an established customer come back frequently for more purchases.
- Increase the price you charge your customers.
Do you know your ideal customer?
Your ideal customer is the person who buys from you early in your set up. They also keep coming back to purchase the product repeatedly, and are happy to spread the word about it to their friends. These ideal customers will not bat an eyelid when you charge premium prices, because they understand the true value of what they are buying.
The Exercise
What You Will Need: Parience and a Plan to find your ideal customer and keep selling
How do you get comfortable selling, when the thought of talking to a stranger is causing you major resistance? You put a process in place. To understand what you need to do, consider the questions below carefully.
Do you believe in what you are selling?
It's impossible to convince anyone else to buy something, when you are not convinced that it is worth the money you are asking for it. If the product or service is providing your ideal client with value, you will have no hesitation in selling it to them.
How well do you understand your customer's Pain Point?
Everything that is sold, is meeting a need. The Pain Point, is a need of your customer that your product or service helps to resolve. Depending on what your offering is, you will have to test run it to see if it truly helps your customer. Often the entrepreneuer runs with an idea that may not truly address the underlying Pain Point.
Are you comfortable with your prices?
A lot of this depends on what value you place on your product or service. If someone was to offer you the deal that you are offering your customers, would you take it up? If yes, why? If no, why not? This can help you come up with a price range that is economical for your customer, at the same time does not de-value the time and effort that you spend on making and delivering it.
Is it a Me-Too or are you offering something Unique?
Selling what a dozen other people are selling in the market, is a surefire recipe for disaster. There needs to be a unique selling point for what you offer to make it stand out in the memory of your potential customers.
Let's take an example of a common product here...soaps. Yes, a lot of companies sell soaps, and a number of people are selling handmade soaps as well. Does that mean you should not consider selling soap? No, it means that you should educate people about the difference between using a commercial soap full of chemicals and preservatives and a made from scratch, cold process soap that doesn't even use artificial colorants.
You know your ideal client. Now you need to make sure that they find you. Then buy from you, because they are aware that you are offering the best deal to address their Pain Point.
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