Editor’s note: This article was first published in June 2011, in the context of the Spanish economic crisis. The El Corte Ingles-Repsol joint offer described as ‘a few weeks ago’ and the social media advice are of that time.
Let’s set the scene. Our business has seen its sales fall. The first thing to do, above all, is to work out why sales have dropped. Is it specifically because of the crisis? Is it because of stronger competition? Before taking any new measures, we need to analyse the reasons for the loss of profitability, since the symptoms of an ailing business may have been showing for some time.
Or perhaps our business is new and hasn’t managed to grow, so the bills pile up while the customers don’t come. Let’s say that, as of today, our business isn’t profitable and we need to make it grow. The measures and steps we’re going to take to increase sales are pure common sense, although sometimes, from the bottom of the well, we can’t see the light clearly.
1. Make the most of current customers and look for new ones
We need to become “partners” to our customers, the ones who have been buying our products for a while. If we help our customers grow, they will place more orders with our company. See how to attract more customers to our business.
We also need to go out and look for new customers and new markets. When sales in our area fall short, we have to move into other areas. In times of crisis, you have to grow. Winning over customers who have been buying from another company for a long time is no easy task, so you need to put in good legwork and sales effort, even offering bigger discounts and cutting the profit margin on some of your products or services. At first it’s about winning customers; there will be time to make more profit later (think of it as an investment, but never lose money).
2. Renegotiate with suppliers
Meet your current suppliers to negotiate new price terms. Explain your new project to them. The best way to be competitive in the market is to lower prices, so you’ll need to lean on your suppliers to be able to offer better prices to your customers.
If they aren’t willing, it may be time to look for new suppliers who offer similar quality at a better price.
3. Invest in advertising
Getting your product or service in front of more potential customers translates into a greater chance of sales, so it’s time to stop seeing advertising as an expense and start seeing it as an investment. See ways to advertise a business.
4. New business models
When we talk about new business models, we mean both new products and new ways of selling your product. It may sound repetitive, but nowadays your business must have an online presence and sell on the internet.
The internet is a shop that’s open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, so it’s a salesperson who works for you at a very low price. Companies that moved online say that today, in some cases, the internet accounts for 70% of their total revenue, so we absolutely have to be there.
We can also look for new products that complement our business and appeal to our current and future customers. The more variety a business offers, the more it sells.
5. Refresh your company’s image
In the eyes of our future customers, the company’s image counts, and a lot. We’re in a crisis, so this isn’t the time to move premises (or maybe it is, depending on the analysis), but it is time to make the most of what we have.
Our premises may be small, but let’s try to keep them clean and well decorated. Fix anything that’s broken, such as shutters, signs and awnings. It might be worth giving the place a fresh coat of paint, or swapping our logo for a more eye-catching one. Just as a person who isn’t born attractive has to take more care of themselves to improve their image, if our business isn’t the size of Google, we should at least try to look after its image. See these tips to improve your business’s image in a few simple steps.
6. Get the most out of the internet
Earlier we talked about the importance of being online. Now it’s about exploiting it to the full, so we need to do a good job of marketing across online networks. Use social networks, create a blog to tell readers about new offers and products, and interact with social media users.
In short, build an online image or brand. The value of your company is now linked to the number of followers or fans your online brand has on social networks. The more followers, the more trust in your business. See these tips to improve your business’s sales using the internet.
7. Use smart market strategies
I’ve never understood why, in some countries, companies can’t collaborate with one another on joint offers. A few weeks ago we saw how El Corte Inglés teamed up with Repsol (a Spanish department store chain and a Spanish energy company) to launch a joint offer that would bring more customers to both.
Look for businesses or companies whose services or products complement yours and design a joint sales strategy. This was one of the methods Charles Denney used to increase a business’s sales.
There are many other strategies, like the ones we explained in this other article: 5 ways to grow your business.
The basic point to understand is that when sales fall or your business stops growing, you have to take steps to fix it; otherwise, the business slowly dies.
“In a crisis, anything goes except doing nothing. If you don’t move, you expire.”
Try these simple steps, and if they don’t work, we promise to leave your business exactly as it was before you tried them.
Further reading
- How to start a business with no money
- The mindset of an entrepreneur: Donald Trump
- Business ideas to get started this year
- Why new businesses fail
- The advantages of starting a business in times of crisis
Featured image: Michael Coghlan from Adelaide, Australia, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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