As I’ve a said before bigger companies usually ask me how to get more sales.

They often expect me to say, “more sales staff” or “increase your marketing” or “increase your sales activity.”

The truth is, you need to really look at your whole business and view it as a sales and marketing machine. That way you can implement processes that will peg the sales you’re getting now and enable you to refine those processes to increase your sales.

There are at least 10 steps to increasing your sales.

The 10 Steps To More Sales

Obviously you can have as many steps as you like to get a sale. What I’ve done is try to summarise the key ways of making sure you’re maximising your business’s efforts to get sales.

• 1) Create a business marketing strategy which covers the products you sell and the people you want to sell them to
• 2) Decide which companies, people, markets you want to sell to
• 3) Make sure your personality, ability, uniqueness appears in every communication you have with your market
• 4) make sure your web site works for you and not against you
• 5) When asked to meet prospects listen, listen again and then decide whether you can help them – do not simply sell because you’re there
  6) Implement a sales process with stages that can be measured or estimated
• 7) Testimonials, testimonials – get lots, get good ones, get them published
  Continue to build relationships with current clients
  9) Find out why previous clients left and (depending) get them back
  10) Sack customers you don’t want

Is it that simple? Yes and no…

If you truly want a bigger business you just have to take a step back and see what you’re doing now.

If you’re not getting the business growth you want there’s a good reason for it. Go through the 10 steps, preferably with someone who’s been used to doing exactly that.

When I talk to businesses the number one reason why these steps are rarely addressed is often time management. People cram so much into their day they don’t leave anything for improving their business, and their life!

After I deliver training on time management (see working as a project director paid off) companies really start to focus on what needs to be done and not just fire fighting all the time.

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