If your home business is currently struggling, you need to act fast in order to save it. Our friends over at Find My Workspace provide 6 valuable tips that can help you boost your sales immediately.
One of the challenges for home business owners is getting out the word about their products and selling them. How do they advertise and grow their market when they have limited resources? What should they do? Here are some useful tips to help home business owners boost their sales without spending a lot.
(1) Work on advertising your product and services through family and friends.
No one will know about your business if you don’t tell anyone about it. Before reaching out to other people, reach out to your family and friends. Sure, some of your relatives and friends may doubt what you do, but it doesn’t matter. Let them know that you are serious about your business venture. For example, you decide to become a home-based baker and cake decorator, create a cake for your niece’s or nephew’s birthday, which gives you the opportunity show party-goers how great your baking is. Make sure that your work is impressive so that those who see and tasted it will remember you when they need a cake or when they meet someone who needs one. Word of mouth is still one of the best ways to get the word out about the products and services that you offer.
A word of caution: know your limits when offering free products or services. Don’t let yourself be abused by people who would ask for free products in exchange for exposure.
(2) Take advantage of holidays.
Depending on your business, there will always be a holiday when everyone seems to want the product or service that you offer. Take advantage of these days even if it means you will have to work double time instead of taking a vacation. Going back to the example of the cake decorator, people need sweets and cakes around Valentines and Christmas. During these times, the big cake shops and bakeries are usually swamped with customers and they charge high prices because the demand is greater. Not only that, but their cakes and sweets are designed to be massed produced. There is no special touch. So how does this work to the home-based cake decorator’s advantage? The cake decorator can sell customized cakes that are unique and different from what everyone else would be getting. And for last-minute shoppers, offer pretty and delicious ready-made cakes.
(3) Use social media.
With the rise of smart phones and tablets, everyone is on social media. This is why it is important for home business owners to have an active online presence. There is no cost in setting up a Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Snapchat account, and the ways through which you can reach your potential customers are endless. Be sure to post engaging photos and videos of your products and services that will catch the attention of your potential clients. Regularly update your status so that your followers won’t forget you, and be sure to promptly and politely respond to customers who inquire about your business. Become a social media darling and customers will definitely remember your business.
(4) Offer several payment options.
One way to reach your customers and boost your sales is to offer several types of payment options. For example, the home-based cake decorator, after using her social media account, has managed to attract some customers from overseas who are interested to send cakes to their loved ones living within the cake decorator’s area. If the cake decorator only accepts payments in cash and check, this may not be available to the overseas customers, and this could prevent them from buying her products. Think of offering quick and easy payment methods such as Paypal that could be more convenient to some of your clients.
(5) Personalize your customer interactions.
Customers appreciate businesses that are able to make a personal connection with them. Start by personalizing responses to inquiries received through social media. Also, when you have a customer who comes back to you, make sure that you take note of what he likes so that next time, you can tailor fit your offers based on his preferences. This makes the customer feel that you listened to him, and will make him comfortable in choosing you over your competitors.
(6) Listen to your customers.
Personalizing customer interactions encourages your customers to open up to you. Be sensitive to your customers’ offers products or solutions that meet their needs and wants. If you still don’t have that product or service, work on making it available to your customers.
These are just some easy tips that you can follow to boost sales. Combined with perseverance and determination, you will definitely be able to expand your home business and make it successful.
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