Sales are the backbone of every business and are a significant revenue driver.
An increase in sales is every business owner’s dream.
Sales not only plays a role in increasing revenue, but also in the building of loyalty and trust between consumers and the business.
These days, the power to sell lies in the hands of the prospect — as they always research, and analyze the company before making a purchasing decision.
That’s why driving sales depends (to a huge extent) on how successful you are in selling your offer to your prospects.
While smiling to the bank at the end of a great month (sale-wise) is a great feeling, some businesses have no idea what it feels like.
This could be because they are constantly in the never-ending cycle of trying to hit their sales target, or even increasing their sales.
Before figuring out HOW to increase sales, it is important you understand the common problems that may be affecting your sales — and how to overcome them.
Common problems affecting an increase in sales and how to overcome them
When it comes to increasing sales, the common problems and frequently asked questions revolves around
- How to be different from your competitors
- How to build trust
- How to increase engagement /conversion rates.
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How to be different from your competitors
Prospects receive messages (dozens to hundreds of them) — similar to yours from your competitors almost all the time — and to grab their attention and stay at the “top of mind”, you need to pass your message in a way that makes you stand apart.
Standing out in a crowd of competitors is no easy task. It may be difficult to differentiate your business from your competitors, however, this is difficult, not impossible.
Effective differentiation is one of the main challenges businesses face.
Here are 2 ways you can implement to help your business stand out from your competitors;
- Leverage on your competitor’s point of difference:
While this isn’t advice to obsess about your competitors, it is good to analyze your competitor’s activities.
An active and in-depth look at your competitor’s behavior and activities will reveal some loopholes which you can leverage on.
Finding this point of difference can be particularly useful in adding the differentiating factor between you and your competitors.
Looking at what your competitors are doing well (and what they are doing badly) can help you figure out new ideas for your own business and competitive differentiation.
- Having a knack for creativity:
Creativity will always set you apart from your competitor.
No two people have the same creative abilities and capacities, there will always be a difference.
To stand out from the crowd, you need to create a defined point of difference, and only your creativity can make you go on a different path.
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How to build trust
The key factors that play a role in being able to sell to someone are the;
- Know
- Like
- Trust
If no one is buying from you, it is most likely because they do not know, like, or trust you (maybe all 3).
Consumers today look for a reason to trust your brand before investing their money into your product or service.
Study shows that 61% of consumers read reviews before they complete a purchase.
With selling moving online, here are ways you can leverage to build your brand trust online
- Provide valuable content:
Whether it is on your website, blog, or social media platform (Instagram, Facebook, etc), quality content can do a lot for your company.
To create content that will benefit your business and make the difference;
- Research to see what your competitors are creating, then create content to fill the gaps they’ve left.
- Implement the 80/20 rule: This rule simply implies that 80% of your content should be useful and non-promotional, while the other 20% can revolve around your offers and promotions.
By providing reliable and insightful content — more than sales pitches –, you’ll nurture a sense of trust in your brand as the content will engage consumers and also show that their wants and needs are a priority to you.
- Engage consumers in two-way communication:
To engage consumers successfully, you need to interact with them regularly.
By being responsive, you’ll be able to build a positive relationship with your consumers.
Consumers today like to engage and have relationships with brands, and building this rapport is important to your consumers.
- Host live video events:
Whether it’s a Q&A, demo, or webinar on IG live, live video events are a great way to build trust online.
Consumers can engage and ask questions while they watch, and because it’s “live”, they know the answers they’ll be getting are raw and straight from the source.
- Encourage User-Generated Content (UGC):
User-Generated-Content refers to content created by consumers who have purchased and used your products.
It could be a;
- Snapshot of the products
- Review or testimonial (photo or video)
Studies show that some people find content shared by an average person more trustworthy than content shared by the brand itself.
UGC is a great opportunity to show real people enjoying your products, and this goes a long way to building trust in your business.
You can share your User-Generated Content on your
- Testimonial page
- Blog website
- Instagram page
or create a specific destination for it so consumers can easily see it whenever they stumble upon you online.
- User reviews:
Encourage people who buy from you to provide honest reviews (good and bad alike) about your product or service online.
These days, customers will check your ratings before they think of committing to a purchase,
While a good review is “good”, a bad review can be used as an opportunity to prove your transparency and willingness to turn that negative review into a positive one.
Recent statistics show that the presence of bad reviews improves conversions by 67%.
The number one secret to increasing sales
Now that we’ve brought to light the common problems and how you can overcome them, let’s talk about the secret you need to increase your sales.
As you might have already guessed (or not), the number one secret to increasing sales is leveraging the power of VIDEO.
Generating sales requires building relationships with prospective customers, creating memorable touchpoints, and ultimately, giving your audience the assurance that your offer is the solution to their needs.
As opposed to text or static images, video plays a crucial role in each one of these steps.
Over time, studies and statistics have shown that;
- Video ads were the number one way consumers discovered a brand they later purchased from.
- Video has directly helped increase sales, according to 78% of marketers.
- 93% of brands got a new customer because of a video on social media.
- 84% of people say that they’ve been convinced to buy a product or service by watching a brand’s video.
Video’s combination of attention-grabbing media and clearly explained concept is key when it comes to attracting new customers.
Depending on the video you choose,
- Explainer video
- How-to video
- Testimonial video, etc.
You have the opportunity to educate and entertain your consumers, and this is a great fit to drive sales.
Ways you can use videos to increase your sales
78% of people watch videos online every week, and 55% of people watch videos online every day. This is proof enough that video is fast becoming the most popular form of media consumed online.
You can use videos to showcase your products or services in different ways.
With videos, it may seem scary at first but becomes easy from the second try.
Videos are adaptable and can be promoted and shared with your audience in a variety of ways including;
- Using the video on your website
- Incorporating the videos into your email newsletter campaign.
- Sharing the videos on social media (including Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, etc).
Here are different types of video you can incorporate into your sales strategy
- Product videos:
Regardless of whether you sell a product or service, this type of video is all about showing every aspect of your product/service.
Hubspot noted that about 72% of customers would rather learn about a product/service by video.
Product videos will allow you room to talk about and describe your product/service in the best way possible as opposed to photos.
- Demonstration/how-to videos:
These types of videos are created to help customers learn how to use a product or service.
The idea behind this type of video revolves around showing off the functionality of your product/service.
Videos like this not only demonstrate why your consumer should pick your product/service, but also answer and overcome potential objections to buying it.
How-to videos can also be created from reviews and feedback – make videos answering common problems your previous customers might have had in order to serve as a guide to help your future customers overcome them.
- Reviews and testimonial videos:
It’s one thing to talk about how great you are, but videos of your customers saying how great you are even better.
Testimonials and reviews are a powerful tool to help build trust, boost conversions and increase sales, and this is because people find video testimonials more trustworthy than written ones
- Behind the scenes/videos:
These are videos that show a process, how you got from point A to point B down to point X.
People love to learn about the “story behind the story” as it offers them an insight into the company and the team behind them.
Conclusion
“I do not feel comfortable being on camera”
“I do not know what to say when I press record”
“I do not know if people are going to like watching my videos”
These are the 3 most common objections people have towards video.
But the truth is, recording a sales video is just like recording for anything else, and all it takes is practice to get it right.
From the statistics shared, you see how much impact video will have on your sales efforts, but you can only experience the power of video for yourself when you start using videos and garnering results.
Dubb is an all-in-one video sales and marketing platform that lets you create, share, host, and track the performance of videos.
Give videos a try. Head on to dubb.com, and grab a free trial to get you started.
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