What you need to increase sales. Ways to increase sales in a wholesale business

Imagine company N., which is engaged in wholesale supplies of X components for Y enterprises. This company has been on the market for several years, there is a base of regular customers, profits, business is slowly going uphill... Well, everything, in general, is more or less normal.
Now imagine the sales department of this company. A large, bright room, tables, computers, telephones, printers... Managers, of course, in business suits, already grimy, sit, spit at the ceiling, tell jokes... Between passing a new level in a “standard” office toy, they process incoming applications from partners. The once former sales department has turned from a machine actively pushing the market into a perverted semblance of customer service. Yes, of course, they get new clients, but from where???! In this regard, the reputation and marketing policy of the company helps out, that is, our, so to speak, “merchants” work on the incoming flow and “don’t give a damn.” Moreover, they get pretty good money for all this.

What led the department to such a “collapse” decrease in the efficiency of the functions it performs?

And what to do to optimize its activities?

The reason is simple. Managers, in the process of “stuffing” the client base, constantly increased the number of incoming applications processed. Accordingly, the time for searching became less and less. And one day the number of clients reached the maximum that the manager can process. He works with them for a day, another, a month, six months and then BAM!!! “That’s it: I’m just sitting in the office, and the work goes on, the salary grows...” What happens next - and nothing: the businessman, step by step, begins to degrade... He becomes lazy: making a couple of calls is now a whole problem for him, but holding a meeting - WHAT ARE YOU, WHAT A MEETING: “the soldier is sleeping - the service is in progress”!! ! Such managers are dangerous because their IBD (imitation of vigorous activity) indicator is very high, this already works at a professional level. As soon as the boss enters the room, everyone immediately grabs their phones, starts counting something, writing, and even asking the head of the council: “Ivan Ivanovich, I just talked to the client, he’s asking for a deferment for two weeks, should I give it or not?” »
Department heads, intoxicated by the joy of reports arriving on time, do not even realize that every day they are missing out on a huge amount of money, that competitors have long been ahead and are dividing the market in their own way.

What is the best thing to do in such a situation!?

You will never be able to make them work as before, never and under any circumstances - this is 100%, if you want 1000%. Therefore, don’t even waste your energy and nerves. Because they will sabotage in such a way, even in a “technical” way, that it won’t seem like much!
And take note! They already have such friendly relations with clients that, if desired, they will take their entire accumulated base to competitors.
However (But fortunately), everything is not as bad as it seems at first glance! And the solution won’t take long to arrive!
Given this balance of power, it is necessary to build a new commercial service in parallel, while the old one will smoothly develop into a customer service department - customer service.
You have formed a new organizational structure of the sales department, which clearly separates new customers from those making systematic purchases. Some sell, others serve, the most logical sales model!
It is important to take into account that less qualified personnel are required for customer service. Minimum program: knowledge of the product, market specifics, plus a computer. This means that wages in this department will be significantly lower, so soon your obese “commercials” will be replaced by young, pleasant-looking girls.

2. Adjust the motivation system for your sellers.

A well-built motivation system is a very serious tool for increasing the efficiency of the sales department, and it doesn’t matter whether we’re talking about b2b or b2c sales.
In one of the companies, there was such a case. The managers of the commercial department, in addition to the bonus on the first sale, received a small percentage of current payments, i.e. from those clients whom they brought a long time ago and are now being served by the client department. So, after a couple of years, this small percentage was enough not to receive a salary. The manager found out by chance that employees could get money so easily. One day he overheard a conversation between an “experienced” businessman and a newcomer in the smoking room, who said: “You will work for two years, and then you will live on the interest from the current ones. The main thing is to behave quietly: don’t be late, submit reports on time, smile, there are “inboxes”, we will share...”
Can you imagine how much money was wasted, it’s terrible.
If the “dogs” are full, what kind of hunting can there be! (may the sellers forgive me for such a comparison).
The motivation system is a powerful management lever! The main thing is to use it wisely.
Reviewing ratios and percentages is as important as changing sales plans. Many companies work the “old fashioned way”: the standard scheme is salary +%. But it doesn't work anymore, forget it!
If you want to keep salespeople on their toes, if you want high intensity in their work, then take into account other indicators when calculating your salary: the number of calls (cold, repeat), the number of meetings, the number of contracts, conversions, average bill, average time “from call to contract”, carrying out assignments within the framework of the project (to improve the quality of service, to study consumer demand, etc.).
Of course, the main principle of any motivation system is its transparency and ease of perception. But fortunately, today's capabilities make it possible to make this calculation automatic and take into account dozens of employee performance indicators. For example, the easiest way is an Excel table. A manager, filling out a daily report, can immediately see his results in the context of one day or week, how much he has accomplished, from the sales plan, what needs to be improved, where standards have already been exceeded.

Check the relevance of your motivation system!

3. Set sales plans

Maybe someone will consider this method absurd, but believe me, there are many commercial organizations where there is no sales planning, and if they exist, it is only formally.
No sales plan = bankruptcy plan.
The planning process is nothing more than creating a virtual model of what should happen. If you do not have a sales plan, then it will be very difficult for you to evaluate the effectiveness of your work and measure the result, and without measurement, there is no management, in principle.

Let's look at the main stages of drawing up a sales plan:
1) Planning begins with an annual sales plan. Yes, yes, exactly since the year!
Without complicating things, you take the indicators for the past year (100 million rubles), add to them the percentage of growth in the industry (10% = 110 million rubles) and add the percentage of growth that you would like to receive (10% = 121 million rubles) .
2) Next, you break down the plan by sales channels, according to your specifics, example:

• Current dealers (40% = 48 million rubles)
• Newly attracted dealers (20% = 24 million rubles)
• Tenders and government procurement (10% = 12 million rubles)
• One-time corporate orders (10 = 12 million rubles)
• Own sales network (20% = 24 million rubles)
• Etc. (1 million rub.)

3) Next step: we break down these amounts by sales departments and by each manager personally. Current dealers are assigned to customer service, new dealers are assigned to the commercial department, then to the corporate orders department, store directors of the chain, etc.
4) After which you divide these figures into quarters and months, taking into account seasonality, the experience of the previous year, product range, and so on.
Using this simple method, you can set sales plans for all departments for the whole year.
It is important to note one trick!

Ideally, a sales plan is drawn up from two sides: from your employees, and directly from you. When they are agreed upon, something in between is born, and the manager perceives these numbers as a document developed by himself, and therefore thinks more about how to implement it, rather than how to explain why it cannot be fulfilled.
Everyone has their own idea of ​​the future and everyone will believe that their plan is “correct.” You, as a leader, will say that the market allows you to grow and you need to take advantage of it! And the managers, in turn, will fight back and say that their life is hard, the market is not rubber, there are a lot of competitors, and that Russia is not Europe.
Be prepared for this!

4. Provide “total” knowledge of the product.

In fact, not all sales managers know the product they sell well, no matter how strange it may sound. Every day, at meetings, a huge number of deals break down due to the incompetence of managers in matters of product specifics. This especially applies to technological products. I think: many people are familiar with the situation when, during negotiations, a client asks a question that you never expected to hear: “Please tell me the exact data on the heat transfer resistance coefficient of your concrete, since we will use it in the northern regions, for us this is extremely important… ". At this moment your eye twitches and your leg cramps - what did he say? YOU take out your phone, with the words: “Now I’ll clarify,” call the senior, and, not knowing how to formulate the question, you hand the phone to the client...
Any buyer wants to work with professionals! Such a desire is justified at the level of human psychology - they trust professionals, and if there is trust, then there is a purchase.
First of all, the client should see the seller as an expert, an expert in his field, capable of solving any problem and knowing the answers to all possible questions.

Ignorance, or superficial knowledge of information about the product, puts the manager in a stupid position. The client forms an opinion about the company by communicating with a specific person. You will never be able to explain to the client that “he was a beginner, forgive him, now we will send a pro, wait.” No one will wait for you! But you can definitely eliminate such situations in a simple way:

Firstly, collect all possible client questions related to the characteristics of the product;
Secondly, Naturally, write down the answers;
Third, carry out certification for knowledge of the product (those who do not pass are not allowed to negotiate);
Fourthly, supplement the list with new issues that managers face during negotiations;
And finally, fifthly, in case of the slightest change in any characteristics or properties of the product, when adding a new product to the line, add new questions.

Thus, you will constantly form an updated “knowledge base” on the technical characteristics and properties of the product.
Conduct training in the form of “question-answer” - this is the simplest and most effective model for memorizing such material.
Naturally, it is impossible to foresee everything. Therefore, to reduce the risk of deal failure, arm managers with tables, lists, photographs, and any materials that will allow the manager to get out of an awkward situation when selling your product.

Example:
You sell nails. Have your manager carry these nails with him to meetings, one of each type. I don’t know a table with the characteristics of the metal from which they are made: torsional stress, bending, tension, what else is there. And in the car, let him have a hammer, a board, and all the same notorious nails, but only from Chinese competitors. He doesn’t believe that you have the best nails, let him try (to pull it out of his hand).

But what to do if a situation arises when you don’t know what to answer?!

Firstly, Don't worry! Until you start to worry, you still have the status of an expert.
Secondly, clarify the question by repeating what your opponent said (writing it down). This way you will show that you are listening to him carefully and gently point out that you are not ready for such a question.
Third, say that you haven’t been asked such a question for a long time, always with a smile, and looking straight into his eyes until he looks away. (“To be honest, I don’t remember the last time I was asked about this...”)
Fourthly, turn your ignorance 180 degrees to your advantage: appeal to the client’s competence in this matter. Somehow: “...it’s rare to meet a true professional in our industry...”.
Fifthly, ask permission to clarify the information. It’s better to do it in this form: “...let me check this data with the brand manager, perhaps something has changed, it will take no more than a minute...”.
These recommendations will be enough so that “gaps” in product knowledge gradually disappear, and those that arise cannot negatively affect the outcome of the meeting.

5. Create a “sales book” for the department.

What is a “sales book”?
In any business, there is the difficulty of adapting newcomers to a new place. Now I’m not talking about “acclimatizing” a beginner in a new team, but about teaching him your technologies and operating principles. Of course, there are job descriptions, standards, regulations that fall on the head of an intern employee: “Study!!! I'll check!!!"
Do you think there is such a knowledge base that will allow you to integrate a new link into the sales process in a few days (3-4 days)? Which will allow you to test a newbie within a few days. Do you have time for “trial periods”? Can you wait for a newbie to “pass an internship”, after which there is a possibility of hearing: “Nah, this job is not for me”?
So there you go! This “litmus test” is the “sales book”.
Nothing stands still - everything develops! Our business is developing, our clients are developing, the products we offer are being modernized, and our approaches to work are changing. What was a unique selling proposition just yesterday is today considered the norm in the industry. How to manage to adjust all these standards and regulations, how to react to external changes with lightning speed?
The “sales book” will allow you to keep your business in shape!
Every day, our managers, fulfilling their professional duty, gain invaluable experience: they find new solutions for effective sales, initiate changes in the sales system, open up new opportunities for concluding deals... Where can we accumulate this knowledge and findings? That's right - in the “sales book”.

The main advantage of the “sales book” is that you get a tool for organizing a self-developing sales department.
About the principles:
There is no form or strict plan for creating this document. This is its essence. The main principle is that the document is “living”. It is constantly changing and supplemented both directly by the manager and by the sales department employees. This form of exchange of experience has a positive effect on the formation of team spirit in the company. All experience and knowledge are stored in one place: all the techniques, all the answers to questions, the best objections and effective speech modules - everything “acquired through back-breaking labor.”
About the structure:
The Sales Book is based on two sections:
1. Organization of the sales process
2. Sales principles and techniques
In the first part, you indicate all the schemes of interaction with the client: who is the client for you, what does he look like, how to work with him, the client’s path, what documents to fill out, where to place them, pricing principles, USP, customer loyalty incentive programs, etc. . In general, everything related to the sales process is contained in the first block.
The second block is devoted to the principles and technologies of sales used in your company. For example, “cold calling”. It describes in detail what they are and how to make them.
Example:
Section 3.14. "cold calls"
Description: “cold calling” is a tool for attracting new clients to our company. “Cold” because the potential client is not waiting for our call, and has not considered the possibility of cooperation with us. Blah blah blah…
Scheme:
1. Welcome – presentation
Script: Good afternoon, my name is….
2. Explanation of the purpose of the call
Script: Who can I discuss with...
3. …
4. …
In short - yes.

The main thing is that you describe in detail all the algorithms and specific scripts, preferably with an explanation: why we say this, what technology we use. So that the seller is aware of what he is doing.
Writing a sales book is a very creative process. I have come across “sales books” that contain the organizational structure of the department, a description of business processes, and standard reporting forms. This construction of a “sales book” is actually very convenient. I am sure that, after some time, commercial organizations will completely abandon standards, regulations, instructions and other bureaucratic “pornography”. Personally, in my business, I have already abolished many documents. The simpler the better and more effective. After all, it’s no secret that “everything ingenious is simple”! Is not it!?

6. Provide customer feedback.

How do you know what YOU are doing wrong? How can you improve your company’s performance so as to satisfy not only your own needs, but also take into account the wishes of your customers? How to find out: how can my company be better than others?
Ask your clients about this.
Many clients, in addition to working with your company, have one or more suppliers, that is, they work with your competitors.
Clients, like no one else, know the state of affairs on the market. Who offers what, in what time frame and how they deliver it, what’s new and when, and a lot of other information is floating around in the client environment.
“Feedback” is not only a way to find out how competitors behave, what they are doing and what they are planning, but also a way to get ahead of them, that is, to use the information received when developing a USP.
Naturally, you should not ask: “Well, what are our competitors doing?” " The “feedback” questionnaire should contain a question of the following nature: “What changes in the work of our company will allow us to count on an increase in the volume of purchases on your part? ", -something like this. You can use other words, but keeping the meaning - why do you work not only with us?
“Feedback” will also help you learn about matters within the company: about minor problems that are not so significant, but create certain inconveniences in work.
For example:
If your warehouse opens an hour earlier, it will be convenient for 5 of your clients. Agree: it’s worth paying the storekeeper extra for an hour of work if it’s important for so many clients.

So, create a “feedback” questionnaire. Construct the questions in such a way that the answer is detailed (open questions). Use assessment questions. The number of questions is not critical and depends on the number of points of contact between the client and your company.
Example:
1. What should be changed in the work of our company?
2. What additional products or services would you be comfortable purchasing from us?
3. Rate the professional training of the customer service on a 5-point scale.
4. Rate our work.
5. ….

If, when answering a question with an assessment, the client says: “Yes, everything is fine - a solid 4,” then clarify: why not five.
Also an important point when organizing “feedback” is a systematic approach. That is, it is not enough to call the client once a year with the question: “How are you?”

The effect of this tool will be noticeable only in two cases:
1. You will conduct customer loyalty audits constantly.
2. Based on the information received, decisions will be made and specific actions will be taken.
Appoint someone responsible for “feedback”, set aside a day to collect information and compile a report. You should not call too often, one call per month is enough. Conduct a quick survey (for example, questions regarding employee suitability and ease of work), and once a quarter do a detailed survey with suggestions and recommendations. Also take into account the seasonality of your business, if you sell diesel fuel for combines to farms, then in January, call with the question: “What will allow you to increase purchase volumes?” " - a little stupid.
Introduce feedback and use the information for its intended purpose.

7. Attract clients using cold calls

In b2b sales there is such a thing as “cold calling”. This is nothing more than the main active sales tool for attracting customers. Many companies neglect this way of increasing profits, and in vain. The skepticism is easily explained:
firstly, someone tried to introduce “cold calling” into their sales model, and without getting the desired effect, they abandoned them forever;
secondly, the marketing policy of some companies allows them to attract a certain number of customers solely through advertising, and in principle this is enough for them. But most likely, I would like more!
In the first case, everything is clear: if you don’t know how to fly an airplane, you shouldn’t take the helm. Illiterate cold calling can do more harm to a company than produce any positive results.
In the second case, the situation is more complicated: things seem to be going well, the number of clients is growing, what else is needed to develop the business, but... Imagine: managers of your closest competitor make 100 “cold calls” a day... And what do you think: in whose favor will the market percentage be? in another year?!

So, in order to attract clients using cold calls, you need to start making them! You ask how? In eight steps:
1. Divide the region in which you work into sectors: if you work for the whole of Russia, divide Russia; if you work for the whole world, cut the globe.
2. Assign a responsible manager to each sector (he may have several more managers subordinate to him, then they divide their sector into several more).
3. Each manager needs to collect all contacts of potential clients in his sector, and all the necessary information about them.
4. Collect all contacts of your competitors in this sector and information about them.
5. Make a SWOT market analysis based on the information received, and develop a commercial proposal for each sector.
6. Create a cold calling script.
7. Set a plan for the number of “cold calls” per month and per day.
8. Implement a daily report (Excel format is fine) based on the results of calls.
In principle, this will be enough for your “cold calls” to work and begin to produce positive results.
Please note that when using this tool, a systematic approach is essential. The first calls will not be as successful as we would like, but everything comes with experience.

8. Structure the negotiation process.

Your manager returned from negotiations, and to the question: “Well, who are they working with now?” “, - he answers guiltily: “I don’t know, I forgot to clarify.” How, in this case, can you build a profitable commercial offer - yes, no way. And calling back with the question: “I forgot to ask…” is stupid, to say the least.
In general, “forgot to ask”, “forgot to clarify” is a widespread phenomenon among active sales managers. This is due not only to the qualifications of employees and the lack of proper experience, but also to the notorious “human factor”. Heavy workload, irregular schedule, high intensity, sales plan - all this affects the quality of negotiations. Especially if the meeting with the client falls in the evening, when your head is no longer in your head and you really want to go home, turn off the phone and go to bed.
I will tell you about the easiest way to increase the effectiveness of negotiations!
To make negotiations easier, faster, and more effective, use a simple but extremely effective tool -
"questionnaire". What it is?
This is an A4 sheet with a list of questions to be asked at the meeting.
How to compose it?
To begin with, it is necessary to write down, in the form of questions, strategically important information that is necessary to draw up an effective commercial proposal:
What suppliers is it currently working with?
- what items does it purchase, and in what volumes?
- priority deadlines?

In general, all information that, one way or another, will influence the formation of a proposal must be indicated in the “questionnaire”:
1. Then these questions must be arranged in order “from simple to complex.” That is, at the beginning of negotiations, you should not ask what level of capitalization of your investments the client expects when signing the contract.
2. Start with simple questions, or better yet, abstract questions that are not related to the topic of negotiations. Place complex questions that require argumentation in the middle and towards the end of the list. Also end negotiations with simple questions that require a positive response.
3. Leave space between questions to write down the client's answers.
4. Try to make sure that your “questionnaire” contains at least 10 questions. If their number is smaller, then there is a risk of missing important details, and besides, such a document will not look serious. The point is that you need to use this tool openly. That is, during negotiations, you put a “questionnaire” on the table in a beautiful, branded folder, and, without hesitation, use it for its intended purpose, while writing down the client’s answers.
This tool will allow your managers to structure the negotiation process. The meetings will take place in the “channel” they set. This is why they will easily control the progress of negotiations and their duration. Such a “questionnaire” shows the client that your employee is not an ordinary manager, but a well-trained professional and he is here to resolve the client’s issues. A document lying on the table disciplines the opponent. The seller feels confident at any “cost” of negotiations.

9. Check what your salespeople do.

Take a close look at your sales team. Are all managers now at their jobs? Probably not. Someone is at a meeting, someone is on a business trip, someone is at lunch, and someone left on behalf of the accounting department... or went to the stationery store to get some paper... but you never know how many other things there are to do in the office that you can get lost in an hour, or even an hour and a half.
Perhaps some types of work indirectly affect the results of sellers: preparing a contract, sending correspondence, preliminary calculations, booking a hotel or tickets. But if all this takes away at least 20% of the seller’s time from his main work, then you will lose at least as much in profit.
You pay the manager a salary - this is the amount that is payment for daily mandatory operations. You also pay a percentage of sales - this is a bonus for its immediate results. But in practice, you pay for his trips to the store, and long calculations of the cost of the first batch, and the preparation of accompanying documents, and a lot of other things you pay for, without even suspecting how much money is passing by.
But the most interesting thing is that to the question: “Where have you been?” ”, - They will answer you, with complete confidence in their eyes and voice: “So the paper has run out, it’s a long wait for delivery, but I need it urgently - so I ran quickly...” (1 hour). The congruence of what is happening will confuse anyone, but...

Under any circumstances and under any circumstances, the SELLER MUST SELL!

If this is not the case, you are losing money. Even if the manager is the only one left who can go for the ill-fated paper, let the chief accountant go, Otherwise, he will not find work in the future. By the way, from an accountant, especially the chief one, you can hear the opposite: “This is not the task of the accounting department,” - remember, this is your accounting department, and YOU pay them, so what they will do is up to you to decide, this is so - by the way.
How to solve this problem?
First, you need to find out how much “working time” sellers spend “to the left.” This is done using working time tracking. Every day, managers must fill out a form in which they record everything, absolutely everything, the operations that they do during the day (the more detailed, the better). Opposite each operation they put the start and end time of work on it. This must be done within a week, no less. Most likely, you won’t receive applause from your employees when you tell them about the innovation, this is normal. Explain that this is being done for their own good, and you just need to understand: are they not overloaded, that the measure is forced and only for one week, after all: “I am the leader, and it’s up to me to decide whether this is necessary or not.” Yes, and also, data must be submitted daily. In the first days, literally stand over them, checking the filling.
This simple tool will allow you to seriously discipline managers - many unnecessary things will go away by themselves.
Secondly, according to the data obtained, it is necessary to divide the time spent directly on sales (cold calls, meetings, preparation for negotiations, follow-up calls, presentations, etc.) and on operations not inherent to the position. If you get more than 10% of your earnings, you need to take action. Which?
Everything that is not related to sales, and which has been discussed a lot above, does not require special qualifications or deep knowledge. Accordingly, such work can be performed by an additional employee with lower pay (usually a small salary).
For example, when calculating, one manager spends 25% of his working time “to the left.” On average, one salesperson sells 100,000 rubles per month, spending 75% of the allotted working time on this. So you don't get extra,
approximately 33,000 rubles per month. This 25% can be outsourced to a personal assistant. Hire the manager a secretary, or administrator, or whatever you call him, for a minimum salary (15,000 rubles, for example, not bad money for a correspondence student), and this secretary can work for two or even three managers: preparing documents, answering by email, making simple calculations, agreeing on the time and place of the meeting, booking tickets, hotels, etc. She will do everything that takes away the manager's precious capital - time for which you pay.
An assistant, for 15,000 rubles, will pay for itself in the first month, and your sellers will like this form of work when you can prepare papers for signing an agreement without waiting for the end of the meeting.
By the way, more about the benefits of timing working hours. Pay attention to the amount of time spent on reporting; it should be no more than 15 minutes a day (if reports are daily).

Business must make a profit. The main indicator of successful development is growing profitability. How to increase sales in a retail store when the market is oversaturated with products and competitors? These days, this question is relevant for both beginners and experienced entrepreneurs. There are many tools and ways to influence income growth; we will look at the most effective ones.

How to increase sales in retail

Each business is unique in its own way; the peculiarity of retail trade is the sale of goods by the piece. The clients of such stores are ordinary people. This is the only resource on which all attention should be focused. Based on the needs of an ordinary person, business strategies are built and events are organized to increase sales in retail trade. The seller’s task is to deliver the goods and sell them competently. Marketing technologies help to learn about the needs and preferences of consumers. They are also effective in selling goods. Before implementing techniques to increase profitability, it is important to find out what went wrong and why sales are declining.

Such an analysis will help solve many problems.

Conditions and factors affecting profitability

External factors can reduce the profitability of a retail store: economic and political crises, weather disasters, etc. People cannot change these circumstances, but there are other reasons that reduce profitability. Many of them arise due to the fault of store owners. Errors are caused by short-sightedness and passivity of management, the presence of competitors, irrational use of premises and lack of transport links. There are many negative factors, but most often income falls for the following reasons:

• inexpressive design;
• insufficient or too wide range;
• poor quality service.

Solving the identified problems guarantees good results and returns. You no longer have to think about how to increase sales in the store and “survive” among competitors. Success comes to those who act rather than wait. As for the buyer, his attention needs to be won. Nowadays, it is not enough to simply sell a quality product. People go and return to places where shopping is pleasant.

About buyers and ways to attract clients

The modern buyer is very demanding. Preferences depend on impressions and the more pleasant emotions and reviews, the higher the likelihood that they will return to your store to spend money. The buyer is pleased to come to a cozy room, communicate with polite sellers, see attractive prices and participate in interesting promotions. All these points have a significant impact on increasing retail sales and have a positive impact on income growth.

Many people know that it is necessary to work with the client base, but how to do it correctly? To begin with, it is important to analyze the traffic and identify those people who are really ready and will make purchases in your store. Regular customers should become favorite customers. These people should be appreciated, pleased with new products, and pampered with discounts. They tend to be active and loyal, know about your store and visit it often. Even if they just came in and didn’t buy anything, they should be greeted and seen off in a friendly manner. If you need to buy something, your regular customer will be the first to visit your store.

For casual visitors, it doesn’t matter which store to leave money in. They go for the assortment, prices and convenience of shopping, they love sales and promotions. Among the casual buyers there are many visitors and this is definitely not your target audience. In any case, they should not be ignored. The service should always be excellent, and everyone who enters your store should leave it happy.

Customer Retention

Customers can be lured away from competitors. You can entice with price or offer a new, unusual product. There are many marketing tricks, but there is a rule in trade that has been tested in all areas: retaining customers is easier and cheaper than finding and attracting new ones.

You can hold it in different ways. Most of them are based on attention and special treatment of each customer. In retail, a personalized approach works very well. Make your visitor feel welcome and special. Give souvenirs, congratulate you on the holidays via SMS or email, give a birthday gift, thank you for your purchase. All these signs of attention will be appreciated and will have a positive impact on sales.

If you sell clothes, you can stimulate sales. When reducing prices, be sure to justify this action. The buyer must be aware of the nuances, otherwise he will think that they are trying to push a defective or low-quality product onto him. When looking for a solution to the question of how to improve trade in a clothing store, it is better to immediately eliminate deceptive ways. There is a risk of losing regular customers and facing the problem of finding new ones. Approaches must be fair. By the way, this rule also applies to advertising companies.

Advertising opportunities for retail stores

You need to advertise yourself when you have something to offer, otherwise the investment will be pointless. If you are sure that the assortment is complete and worthy of consumer demand, start planning promotional activities. It all depends on financial capabilities. No matter how much you're willing and able to put together, advertising should inform and stimulate. Emotions play a vital role in the retail market.

The audience must be captured, interested and captivated.

How to improve sales in a clothing store

There are many ways, we will highlight the most common and effective marketing communications:

• social media;
• radio and television;
• printed materials: booklets, leaflets, stickers, etc.
• pillars, bright signs, banners;
• regular customer cards: bonus, privileged, savings;
• public events with the participation of animators.

This list can be continued, since the possibilities of the advertising market are not limited. For the sake of unique PR, many store owners are willing to spend a lot of money. A well-organized advertising campaign increases entrepreneurs' chances of success, but How to increase sales in retail if advertising turns out to be ineffective? This, unfortunately, happens often. The money is spent, but the expected influx into the store is not observed. There may be several reasons: the wrong location was chosen, the assortment was not in demand, advertising texts and videos are unattractive and do not call for action, excessive intrusiveness of advertising. The latter, by the way, causes irritation and can scare away the buyer.

Effective advertising

To avoid these mistakes and unjustified investments, you need to act carefully and take into account the needs of exclusively your consumer living next to the outlet. Flyers in elevators, roadside banners, tenders and promotions in the store work well. This concentration allows you to “bind” the buyer and make sure that he returns only to you for purchases. Stimulation should be constant, but do not overdo it in your desire to “feed” clients. When making discounts, keep in mind that some buyers get used to it. They come, look and don’t buy, waiting for the price to drop.

What does the force of attraction of a store depend on? Design and assortment

Increasing sales directly depends on image. A visit to the store leaves different impressions; the better they are, the more often and more people will buy from you. Beautiful design, availability of goods, high-quality assortment - all these are the main components of a favorable image. Excessive pathos can be off-putting, at least that’s what every third buyer thinks. People are simply afraid to enter such stores, initially assuming that everything there is expensive.

For display of goods and window dressing often attract designers and merchandisers. If you have a modest budget, you don’t have to spend money on these services. Having studied the nuances, you can organize everything on your own. Look at your store from the outside, through the eyes of the buyer. Unattractiveness and inexpressiveness always repel; visitors will simply pass by. They need to be interested by playing on their curiosity.

Product layout rules

There are certain rules, guided by which you can positively influence the increase in sales in a retail store:

• The display of goods should be clear and accessible so that you can touch, smell, and turn them in your hands. In retail, the arm's length rule applies. The client takes the product that he can easily reach. If a product is above or below the designated zone, it will be ignored.
• The buyer must understand the logic of placement, quickly navigate, move easily and find what he needs. Many people are afraid of lack of system. The product must be distributed by groups, sets or brands.
• Themes for decoration should be relevant, and the windows should demonstrate your product. If you sell clothes, the perception needs to be refreshed by rearranging and updating mannequins. This is a very effective measure in solving the problem of how to increase sales in a clothing store. People often buy exactly what they liked on the mannequin. If these are counters, everything should lie beautifully. Consider quality signage. Let it be bright and informative, and don’t experiment with fonts; the names should be readable.
• Maintain cleanliness and temperature. The client will not linger in a store where it is hot or cold. The temperature should be comfortable and the cleanliness impeccable. No dust or unpleasant odors.
• It has been proven that customers stay longer in a store where neutral, quiet music is playing. A nice little thing can inspire an unplanned purchase and increase traffic.
• Prices, especially low ones, should be visible and true. Don't deceive the buyer. Having realized that he has been fooled and that the prices on display and mannequins differ from the cost of goods on the shelves, they will no longer come to your store.
• Store doors must always be open.

Reasons for declining sales

If your customers don't return to you, the reason may be due to insufficient assortment. Compare yourself to your main competitors. Talk to customers and find out what they want to see on the shelves. The circle of buyers is formed gradually, but it depends on you how attractive and walkable your store will become.
The reason for the decline in sales is often too large a range. Finding what you need becomes problematic. The buyer will be confused and leave without purchasing.

You need to sell what is being sold, but if some product was quickly sold,
no need to buy the same thing. Surprise with new products, this is the perfect way out. At least, this is the opinion of those who managed to solve the problem of how to increase sales in a clothing store and avoid financial losses. The sale of related products is very effective. You can offer a bracelet for a dress, a scarf for a coat, a belt for trousers. A stand with discounted goods works well. Many find it difficult to resist the temptation to buy something in this price category.

Sales are an unpredictable business. If a product gets stuck in warehouses and gathers dust on the shelves, you can think about changing the assortment. Analysis of sales dynamics and prompt response to changes in demand helps increase profitability.

Personnel issue

The success of any business depends on the quality of service, namely on the seller selling the product. How to increase sales in a retail store if the salesperson does not have sufficient experience? Actually, this is not a problem. It is not difficult to teach skills; motivation and training help. In-house marketing is very important. An interesting pattern has been revealed: the higher the salary and the better the working conditions, the more diligent the seller, and, accordingly, the higher the sales.

The modern buyer does not just go to the store to buy something, it is important for him to enjoy the process itself. And the seller should help with this. A good employee is able to sell any product, but a bad employee will not sell even the highest quality one.

The seller's inability to start a dialogue is the main reason for ineffective trading. They write a lot and often about how to increase sales in a clothing store. Among the qualities required for a seller are the ability to resolve conflicts, smiling, competent speech, and knowledge of the assortment. All this is welcome, but there are human qualities that are very difficult to eradicate. According to surveys of buyers, the most repellent things are the arrogance, importunity and untidiness of the seller. If you have such an employee on your team, don’t waste time on re-education. Find another seller and teach him all the intricacies of trading.

conclusions

For a customer to go to the store, you need to be not at the level of competitors, but higher and better. Analyze your work, look for weaknesses, work on mistakes and use all the wonders of your ingenuity. This is the only way to achieve increased sales in retail trade. Uniqueness must be in everything: product, price, service. A profitable business is, first of all, the use of all necessary resources, tangible and intangible.

Unfortunately, a universal way to increase profitability has not yet been invented, but there are certain rules and approaches, following which you can achieve good results.

With the development of a market economy, the private business sector is increasing from year to year. This is quite natural - more and more people do not want to work for someone else, they want to open an independent business. And depend only and exclusively on yourself. Despite the fact that your own business is always a risk of failure, business acumen, abilities and endurance can help lead your small business to success. But still, running your own business is not an easy task, especially when it comes to trade. Quite often (and at any stage of development of this, the question arises of how to increase the level of sales?

It should be noted that it is quite difficult to give a definite answer to this question. Any trade is both profitable and very risky, since it requires from the businessman a careful study of market conditions, flexibility and resourcefulness in business decisions and, of course, luck. Let's look at the simplest, and therefore clear, example of this in a store.

First, it should be noted that all trade is based on compromises. There are several of them. The first is between the price and quality of the product. Recently, such a concept as “brand” has been wedged into this scheme (which most often has no effect at all, but can increase the price). The quality of the product (or better yet, both the quality and the popularity of its brand) should be at the highest possible level, while the price should not be a penny higher than the price set by competitors. On the contrary, an artificial, albeit small, reduction in prices is welcomed (especially at first).

The second important compromise that must be observed if you want to learn in practice how to increase sales is the relationship between supply and demand. The first, as we know, gives rise to the second. Accordingly, there are two options: either sell goods that will always be needed, or occupy a specialized (narrow) niche of the market sector, ensuring a lasting influence on it. To do this, you should either expand or, conversely, narrow the range of products sold.

However, this is not the only way to ensure an increase. First of all, you should remember that various kinds of promotions and advertising stunts give only a one-time effect, perhaps attracting a small wave of buyers, but it is the quality of the services provided that will turn this spontaneous wave into regular customers. To understand how to increase your sales level, let's look at the following diagram. It is always necessary to work by people and for people, that is, we start from the individual. To ensure an increase in sales volume, it is necessary that all managers, salespeople, warehouse workers - in general, all personnel work like a well-coordinated mechanism, having a perfect understanding of their own functions and understanding what corporate ethics is.

Next, constant and thoughtful work with the client is necessary. Clear, fast and friendly service will make the store popular in a fairly short time. We must not forget that the seller himself must be well versed in the product he is selling.

That's the whole answer to the question of how to increase sales. The answer is simple, but the main thing here is to bring all its elements to life. And perhaps, based on the tips outlined above, come up with something of your own!

Any organization associated with trade, be it a small store or a large enterprise that not only sells, but also manufactures goods, has always been concerned with one question: how to increase sales.

It was the activity of the sales department that was the main measure of the company’s success: sales are growing - everything is great, but they are falling - which means you need to look for sources to increase their volume.

And only when things were going really badly did the emphasis shift: the goal was not to increase sales, but to retain existing customers.

Of course, the main reason why it is so important to keep sales volumes high is profit. As the number of customers decreases or their purchasing power decreases, the profits of everyone, from sellers to the owner of the business, will fall.

Both large and small companies often make a common mistake: when sales fall, management begins to blame the departments responsible for them or the salespeople themselves. This is wrong, because no matter how qualified and pleasant the seller or manager is, The buyer will not purchase the product if:

• the store has a meager assortment - he simply won’t find what he needs;
• there are interruptions in supplies - there are now enough stores, so you can purchase the required product elsewhere, rather than wait until it appears at your place;
• the sales area is dirty or has an unpleasant odor;
• the product is not advertised, etc.

What are modern methods of increasing sales volume based on? Sales volumes can be increased if:

1. Increase the number of clients.
2. Increase the average bill of each client.

“If you don't take care of your client, someone else will.”

Konstantin Kushner

Depending on the problems you have, start acting in either one or several directions. If you use even just some of the methods described below, this will already have a significant impact on the growth of your sales.

Where to start to increase sales in your business?

Start with what sags you the most. Not enough clients? Work on the first indicator. Don't buy enough? Apply sales promotion techniques. Small purchase amount? Increase the average bill and the number of purchases. Accordingly, in order to work on any indicator, it is necessary to know their initial values, i.e. measure.

Once you understand what sales are made of, it becomes much easier to influence your revenue using various techniques for managing each of the components of the formula. Here are 15 ways to have that influence.

1. Potential clients

The easiest way you can increase the number of potential clients is to increase the number of advertising messages you send and the number of addresses.

• How many promotional emails do you send per week?
• How many contacts do you have in your mailing list?
• How many flyers do you hand out?
• How many people are in your social group?
• How many customers do your sales managers say after a completed transaction: “Thank you very much for your purchase! To whom of your friends can you recommend us?
• By the way, if you bring 2 clients to our company, you will receive a discount on your next purchase.” And also, if you have online sales, for example an online store, when sending your product to a client, you can insert advertising material there with an offer to purchase the next product/service and a time-limited discount promotion.

2. Potential clients who submitted a request

To increase this metric, you need to know the conversion rate of your advertising.

• How many people visited the site and how many of them left an order/purchased?
• How many flyers have you distributed and how many inquiries/calls have you received?

Conversion and site traffic (how many people visited the site and how many left a request) can be analyzed using the free Yandex service. Metrics.

But in any case, you should have a rule that every client who calls or comes to your company should be asked: “How did he know about you?” This will give more accurate indicators.

If you don’t have sales pages yet, you need to make them. The sales page is your sales manager 24/7. A sales page is a website made up of just one page, aimed at selling just one product/service. If the page is done well, you can count on a conversion of 5% or more. In addition to conversion, you need to understand that advertising should be based only on surveys.

It’s far from a fact that what clients are falling for in Rostov will be relevant in Chelyabinsk.

An example from practice: in Cherepovets, in the title of an advertising article, focus on the city-forming enterprise - Severstal. "For what?" - you ask. We answer: Severstal is an enterprise that employs most of the city’s population.

An example of such a headline: “The shocking truth about the management of Severstal!” Yesterday we learned that the entire management of Severstal buys food only at the Scarlet Sails store. There has long been a discount on consumer goods for all Severstal employees!

And we can guarantee that the response to such articles by residents of Cherepovets will be very high, definitely higher than just the title “Come to Scarlet Sails - we have discounts.” However, the same headline will no longer work in Chisinau.

3. Customers who agreed to buy

To increase this indicator, you need to work properly with the sales department. You can go two ways - increase quantity or increase quality.

Quantity is how many calls your sales team makes to customers. Quality is how many of those calls result in sales.

If you want to increase both, then implement scripts right now. Write scripts for at least standard customer objections: expensive, not interesting, I’ll think about it.

This will allow your managers to move from the question: “What should I say to the client?”, to the question “Where else can I get clients?” to whom I can say this. The number can also be increased by hiring additional salespeople.

Yes, and if sales managers are on salary, transfer them to salary + percentage%.

Moreover, under no circumstances should the ceiling be made from above! Sometimes good salespeople realize that they will not be able to become managers in the company because all the positions at the top are already filled. Then the only reason for them to sell a lot will be money.

4. Gross income

This indicator can also be increased separately in two ways: Increase the cost and/or increase cross-sales (sales in addition). If the first is obvious, then the second needs to be worked on.

You need to find answers to two questions:

• What else can you sell right now to a client who has decided to buy from you?
• Why is it profitable for the client to buy, and why is it profitable for the manager to sell it right now?

Example: One owner of a chain of luxury shoe stores pays a percentage to the manager only if the client bought two or more pairs of shoes at once. At the same time, the client, buying a second pair at once, receives a good discount on it or a branded shoe care cream.

Another car dealership owner works according to the same scheme. The manager who sold the car receives a good percentage only of the amount of additional equipment purchased by the client: floor mats, sound system, anti-theft alarm, etc.

What’s noteworthy is that the same owner also opened a car service and tire repair shop.

Returning to points 1 and 2, this owner made an agreement with the insurance companies, and now their field representatives are located right in the car dealership at separate tables and offer auto insurance policies to customers. In exchange for this, along with each policy that is issued at the head offices of these insurance companies, customers are given an advertisement for his car service and tire service.

5. Net profit

The last link in this chain is to increase net profit.

Net profit is gross income minus costs. See how you can reduce costs - squeeze suppliers for discounts, refuse

some unnecessary positions in the company or, conversely, have a full-time accountant with a salary of 20,000 rubles. in exchange for outsourcing for 50,000 rubles. Done? Great!

Now look at how and where you can increase the speed of particle movement in your company and reduce time costs. Down to the smallest detail:

• How long does it take for a customer who calls your company with a desire to buy to receive their product?
• Can this time be reduced by at least an hour?
• How long do your employees smoke?
• How long after ordering a product does it appear in your warehouse?

If you plan your income by month, then you must understand that every wasted minute of your employees works against YOU. It is you, and not your salaried accountant, who is receiving less net profit. The accountant will receive his salary in any case.

6. Add value to your product

If your company produces a product, then one of the solutions that has a positive effect on sales is to increase the value of the product. In many cases, you can change the appearance of a product, such as its packaging, to increase sales. And, as a result, the value of the product in the eyes of buyers will change.

For example, the company was engaged in the production of cheap clothes, which were sold in markets and cheap shops. As a result of the analysis, it turned out that the main competitor of this company was China. The goods that the company produced were perceived by consumers as Chinese, and the price of the products was slightly higher.

It is clear that clothes created in Russia cannot compete with Chinese ones in price. Even the fact that the quality of the products was higher did not help in the current situation, since the nondescript appearance of the product, together with the relatively high price, reduced the interest of buyers.

An analysis of the product and its perception by customers was carried out. This led to a risky decision: they changed the packaging to a better and more modern one.

What was done:

• We changed the logo, fonts, and design. We made it bright, stylish, attractive.
• We chose a different material. Instead of cheap plastic bags, we used high-quality cardboard packaging.
• The packaging contains as much information as possible about the product.

As a result, the product, in the perception of buyers, “fell out” of its usual price category. Thanks to the packaging, it began to be perceived by customers as more expensive and of higher quality. At the same time, at first the price was not raised at all, and the real cost increased quite a bit.

Thus, in the perception of buyers, the product has “gone” from the niche filled with Chinese goods, and the real price has not increased much, since the cost of cardboard packaging per unit of product turned out to be very small. Of course, we had to tinker with the introduction of new packaging; in production, any changes are associated with certain difficulties. But that's a different story. But thanks to the new packaging, there was a transition of the product from one value category to another in the perception of buyers, which became a real “springboard” to increasing sales volumes.

7. High-quality work with the order

For some reason, many companies still neglect to process customer orders. Of course, certain actions are being taken. The manager accepts the order, processes it, issues an invoice, then ships it, etc. At the same time, most small and medium-sized businesses, and let me remind you, I work specifically with these segments, do not work to order.

Sales departments of companies are somewhat reminiscent of stalls: they sell what they have in stock. And if the requested product is not in stock, the manager does not even offer to place the required item “to order”. Most often, this happens because the system does not have the necessary tools, and the manager simply does not know how to place such an order.

It would seem that the solution lies on the surface. Don't refuse customers! Offer not only analogues, but also “custom-made” design of the desired product. Those. your client orders everything he needs. And the manager accepts the order and notifies the buyer about the delivery time, taking into account the deadline for receiving items missing from the remaining balances. All companies that implemented this system received a noticeable increase in sales.

In this case, we are not talking about online stores that operate without a warehouse at all, i.e. only to order, regardless of whether they inform their customers of this fact or not. And we are talking about companies that have their own warehouse, but at the same time they can order goods from a supplier. What is the problem with implementing such a work scheme? The problem is that companies do not know how to technically implement it. An example of how such a scheme was implemented by a person engaged in the wholesale sale of ceramic tiles.

All products are divided into two groups:

• The first is goods in our own warehouse, i.e. those goods that you yourself ordered from your main supplier.
• The second is “foreign” goods, i.e. those that can be quickly ordered from another supplier or competitor. This “Alien” attribute was filled in in the product card to indicate goods ordered from competitors. The product card also indicated the supplier (competitor) from whom this product was purchased.

In this company, which sells imported goods with a long delivery period (about two months or more pass from the moment of order to receipt at the warehouse), a special system was developed when, when accepting a buyer’s order, if there is no product in the warehouse, but until the next delivery another month, the manager can find out whether a competitor has this product and order it. The manager includes this product (Someone else's product) in the customer order with the designation To order (To be supplied), and when the customer order is posted in the system, an order/orders are automatically created for the supplier/suppliers (data about suppliers is taken from the product card). As a result, the client receives all the assortment he needs and continues to actively work with your company. He will not go to a competitor in search of the position he needs, because you have everything he needs.

This approach significantly increases sales volume, while in many cases profits increase slightly, because you buy goods in small quantities, perhaps even from competitors, and therefore sell some items with almost no markup. What's the point? You gain customer loyalty. Your customer does not leave, fills out an order with you, and buys other goods along with the unprofitable “alien” position. And you will notice an increase in profits from such a work scheme at the end of the month, quarter or any other reporting period. By increasing customer loyalty, sales volume and profits will increase significantly.

8. Sale of related (additional) services

Many companies sell only products without any additional services. But often it is the service that helps customers make a choice in your favor.

For example, among my clients there was a company specializing in the sale of cable products. At some point in time, they decided to introduce an additional service - cable laying. Those. In addition to the delivery available to everyone, they began to offer on-site cable cutting, as well as installation at the customer’s location. As a result, not only the profit increased due to payment for additional services, but also the volume of sales of goods.

What is the reason for this increase in sales? Some customers of such products consider it a big plus to be able to order everything in one place: both goods and services. They don’t want to waste time searching for contractors and cannot install (lay) the cable they need on their own. Those. in this case, clients reason like private buyers: “if I bought a sofa, then I need to assemble it right away, albeit for an additional fee.”

For some reason, many companies neglect this opportunity to increase customer loyalty, the attractiveness of products for new customers, as well as profits. In fact, selling services is a great method to increase sales. Don't forget about him.

9. Make the terms of cooperation softer

Many companies work with their clients under very strict conditions. This is especially common among those who have been working in the market for a long time, often since the 90s, working with imported goods, with products that have no analogues on the market, and so on. For example, I had a client who sold imported professional cosmetics for beauty salons. Despite the fact that one jar of the product can cost from 17 euros and more, in order for a dealer to receive a 5% discount, it is necessary to make a purchase volume of 2,500 euros, and to receive a 20% discount - 7,500 euros. In addition, dealers took it upon themselves to buy and distribute magazines that no one wanted. There were other requirements, often inconvenient and unfriendly towards clients.

10. Sell more expensive goods

Typically, the buyer chooses from several units of a product of different prices. At the same time, price will not always be the decisive argument for making a decision. Let's say a person will not always buy the cheapest jeans out of three options.

At the moment when the buyer has almost chosen, offer him a similar product, but from a more expensive segment. Perhaps the buyer did not notice it on the shelf. Explain why your option is better (higher quality, better fit, fashion brand, etc.). If you have shown the benefits of the purchase, 30-50% of customers will agree with you.

11. Sell kits

Create sets using the “this item is often bought with this item” principle. This works both in offline trading and in online stores. The buyer tries on trousers - offer him a suitable shirt, jacket, sweater. Don't say “take something else,” but offer a specific model, a specific product. This works even better together with a discount on your second purchase.

12. Run promotions

Promotions like “4 things for the price of 3” are a powerful motivator for increasing the purchase amount, even if you personally are skeptical about them. Of course, it makes sense to hold such promotions only when you are primarily interested in selling goods and clearing shelves. If your product can last, will not deteriorate and will not go out of fashion, you do not have to arrange a total liquidation.

13. Increase the time spent by the customer in the store

Time is one of the important factors influencing the purchase. You can increase it, say, by influencing the companions of your customers. In a women's clothing store, create a relaxation area for your husband and a play area for the children - and you will immediately notice how the average check has increased.

If you rent premises, for example, in an elite shopping center, then allocating and equipping a recreation area for you may not be low-budget at all; always consider the costs.

14. Use “cardboard salespeople” and “talking” price tags

Cardboard salespeople are signs on which you place important features of the product. This could be a mini-selling text, technical specifications, an indication of the audience, or the purpose of the product. In a clothing store, you can write, for example, what type of figure a particular outfit is suitable for. In a household appliance store - for what home, what intensity of work, and so on. “Talking” price tags are a version of the “cardboard seller” on the scale of one price tag.

It is especially important to use this technique when working with a male audience. Women are more willing to communicate with sales consultants, while men are more comfortable reading information.

When posting large cardboard sellers, remember that people will be reading them as they go, so choose placement, text size, and image wisely. In an online store, the function of a “cardboard seller” is performed by product descriptions, remember their importance!

15. Let's test and try your product

Often people do not buy something that is unfamiliar to them because of doubts: is the quality good, will I like it, will it fit, will I be able to use it. Some products have a statutory buyer's right to return. But you can go further: offer an extended money-back guarantee.

Some products cannot be returned, but you can let visitors try them out. For example, I recently had a consultation with the owner of a handicraft store. Her tools for making jewelry were not selling well. She set up a table in the store where anyone could try them out - and her sales of not only the tools themselves, but also consumables, increased.

It has become the norm for online stores to have many payment methods in their arsenal, including electronic money. But offline there are still retail outlets where they only accept cash. To the different payment methods, add payment on credit, payment in installments - there will be more purchases.

Of course, these are not all the ways to increase the average check in a retail store. Each business and each case may have its own recipes.