Slow Sales? Why Not Market Yourself?

local business marketing va I was talking to an old customer today that I haven’t spoken to in quite some time. I asked how business was. They said it was slow (the obvious answer for most businesses). I then proceeded to ask him what he was doing to increase leads. He then explained to me that they didn’t really have a plan for generating new leads.

So let me get this right, you are in a sales slump, you need new leads, you are not cold calling and you are not marketing your services? Is this correct? he responded with “that sums it up”. I then asked him what he was going to do to change this? Again his response was obvious “I have no idea what to do, just hope the economy gets better”.

After I dusted myself off from falling on the floor, I then proceeded to tell him that he needs to take charge of his sales and start promoting his business. There are a lot of inexpensive ways to reach out to prospects and existing customers. I immediately recommended to him the following strategies:

1. Cold Call (you should be doing this every day)

2. Email marketing (best ROI out of all of the marketing strategies offered today)

3. Google Local Business Ads

4. Google Adwords / Yahoo / Microsoft PPC

5. Offer loyalty programs for existing customers

6. Perform competitive analysis to see what your competitors are doing

7. Use a Customer Relationship Management tool to manage your sales contacts.

8. Attend networking events

9. Talk to friends and family about referrals

10. Offer discounts on services/products for new customers

The bottom line is, you need to take control of your destiny. Don’t wait for the economy to pick up. Don’t wait for small business tax credits to hit. Start thinking about your marketing plan/sales strategy. If you need help or don’t know where to start, contact us at Conversion Pipeline and we can create a custom tailored plan just for your business. Its time to take control of your sales.