“If you’ve ever complained that you love what you do and the business you created, but you hate the end-of-quarter sales push, this blog post will hopefully make it easier.”
Finishing the quarter strong or closing your sales gap is within reach. The only thing you need to do is keep reading, zone in on the strategies that are right for you _____and shift into action.
The Top 5 Actions You Should Take:
- Reverse engineer your remaining goal or the gap (e.g. the number to hit, the ideas to leverage, the actions to take).
- You need high-return ideas. Prioritize and focus your efforts on the highest-leverage ideas, products, or services. For example, your best-selling products/services, your highest-converting marketing executions, your repeat buyers, your warm leads, etc.
- Leverage the channels and platforms that deliver the highest return and engagement for your target audience.
- Leverage your network and determine how you can create a win-win proposition to increase sales
- Map out the next 3-5 actions you need to take (every day for the next 15 days) to hit your targets. Your ability to make an impact is directly linked to how specific and granular you can get on follow-up actions.
The Top 5 Things To Avoid:
- Avoid complex sales funnels & plans
- Avoid long lead times or overcomplicated executions
- Launching an unproven launch model (ie. we’re looking for speed & certainty)
- Focusing 100% on cold audiences (ie. a warm audience increases the chances of success)
- Taking too long to decide a course of action (ie. think & act decisively)
Here Are a Few Proven Strategies to Get You Started:
New Customers
- Follow up with prospective buyers who’ve shown interest but have not purchased. Make a list and follow up with a few people each day. Fun fact: 80% of sales require 5 follow-ups. There are more people who are willing to buy from you. They just need to hear from you.
- Follow up on any “abandoned cart” subscribers. I know it’s hard to believe, but prospective buyers appreciate a follow-up reminder email. The average open rate for an “abandoned cart email” is almost 2X the average open email rate. The key to making this work _______send at least 2 follow-up emails and keep them “short & sweet”.
- Promote your highest converting traffic driver or lead magnet and link an entry point offer to it to increase conversions and sales.
Existing Customers
- Target your repeat buyers and loyal customers by offering a limited-time promotion on your best-selling products/services to incentivize purchases. Use your segmentation data or past sales history to identify those buyers.
- Reward those who make a purchase with a “preview or early bird offer” on your next launch for supporting your business. This is a great way to create a domino effect in terms of sales.
- Provide a volume incentive for a limited time. For example, 1 product purchase=X%, 2 product purchases=Y%, and so on. The result is a higher transaction size, higher volume, and expanding usage of your other products/services.
- Identify upsell and cross-selling opportunities within your existing customer base.
- Promote a “next step” product to your loyal buyers. Showcase the products that your buyers typically purchase, then recommend the “next step” product or service in your portfolio that will help them get the next win. Build on their success.
- Create a “word of mouth” campaign and incentivize with a referral code or link. Make it meaningful, specific, and time-bound.
It’s not impossible. You can make your quarterly targets. Understand the power of focus and intensity in achieving your goals, and how channeling your efforts can lead to remarkable results.
Remember that success favors those who take action. Let’s finish strong!
