A Complete Guide to Increasing Sales at Your Small Business

As a small business owner, your sales strategy can take on many forms. You may work with a sales strategist, have an in-house team that handles the financial side of your business, or even be your entire sales team. However you manage your business, our guide can help improve your sales strategy and grow your company.

Here’s everything you need to know about increasing your small business’s sales.

Prioritize the most effective sales channels for your business

As the name suggests, a sales channel is the path used to reach potential customers and sell products or services. The most effective channels for your business will vary by industry and customer needs. You’ll also need to consider how your customers prefer to buy, the complexity of your offering, and the level of interaction required to close a sale.

Many channels have proven successful for small businesses across a wide range of industries; here are some worth considering:

• Email. Ideal for service-based or B2B businesses, email allows you to nurture relationships, follow up with leads, and move them through the sales process over time.
• Social media. With social media, brands can build trust by sharing their values and engaging audiences through visual storytelling.
• Phone calls. Best suited for complex offerings, phone outreach allows businesses to get to know consumers personally and thoroughly explain their offerings through direct conversations.
• E-commerce marketplaces. For product-based businesses, third-party marketplaces such as Amazon and Etsy can expand your global reach by leveraging their built-in audiences. However, fees typically apply to each sale.
• Website. A direct sales channel — such as your own website — gives you full control over the customer experience and brand messaging, helping build credibility while cutting out the middleman.
• In-person meetings. Face-to-face meetings are great for businesses that need to make connections before closing deals, allowing those relationships to grow and better understand consumer needs.

Diagnose a sales slump

If your sales have consistently been lower than expected or customers have gone quiet, you may be in a sales slump. You can determine whether you’re in a slump by reviewing the data and confirming a significant downward trend in sales.

Once identified, consider how your business got into a sales slump. Is your product or service priced beyond your target audience’s budget? Are you using the most effective outreach methods? Take time to consider the why before moving forward with a new action plan — this ensures you address the root cause of the slump.

It also helps to talk with customers and seek feedback. Finding out what drew them to your business — and what is causing them to step away— can help you refine your processes and recapture their attention.

Refine your sales team and process

Another potential factor contributing to low sales may be your sales process and how your team’s roles support it. Consider these questions: Is your team working in a way that limits productivity? Are team members in positions that make them feel stifled or ill-equipped?

Start by evaluating how your team currently operates. Consider whether your team has a defined leadership style and the right support in place to guide it toward success. If certain team members are demonstrating leadership, recognize their efforts by giving them additional responsibility or opportunities to mentor others. If you’re struggling to fill key roles, consider hiring and onboarding through a structured program.

When your sales team is up to par, assess your current sales management approach and determine whether it’s the right fit for your business. These structures include:

• The island, where employees work individually with a customer from start to finish throughout the high-touch sales process. This structure is ideal for teams with complex offerings that need to develop long-term client relationships.
• The assembly line, where team members are given smaller, specialized tasks within the sales process to support greater sales goals. This method works for larger teams with high-volume and repetitive tasks.
• The pod, where teams operate as self-sufficient units within the organization. This structure encourages collaboration among team members and can foster healthy competition by splitting teams into smaller groups that work together to guide customers through the sales funnel.

Choose the right structure to encourage more effective collaboration among your team. Regardless of structure, clearly document your processes to maintain consistency as your team grows.

[Read more: 7 Forward-Thinking Sales Strategies to Embrace]

Prospect smarter

Sales efforts are far more effective when backed by sales prospecting — the process of identifying, prioritizing, and connecting with qualified leads. Prospects, however, go one step further than leads: They’re considered qualified either by demonstrating a clear intent to purchase or by closely aligning with your ideal customer profile, making them worth pursuing. For example, they may have signed up for a demo or requested more information.

To turn prospects into revenue-generating customers, start by defining your ideal customer profile based on your target market's needs, characteristics, and values. From there, use lead scoring to prioritize top prospects based on fit, purchase intent, and engagement, then apply targeted outreach to move them further into the sales funnel.

Generate qualified leads

Once you’ve defined what a qualified sales lead looks like, grow your list by exploring channels that align with your audience and offer clear value. In addition to the sales channels above, qualified leads may come from:

• Advertising. A strong advertising campaign can help your business gain traction with the right audience by promoting offers, resources, or landing pages designed to capture interest and drive sign-ups.
• In-person events. Whether you’re hosting your own event or attending an industry gathering, meeting face-to-face lets you bypass online screening and network more naturally, leading to stronger connections.
• Partnerships. Partnering with like-minded organizations or community initiatives can introduce your business to new audiences who are more likely to be interested in your offerings. These partnerships help reinforce your values, build consumer trust, and expand your reach.
• Referrals. Encouraging referrals from satisfied customers helps your business grow organically and generate more qualified sales leads. By rewarding customers who promote your business, whether through a review or word-of-mouth recommendation, you can encourage repeat business, gain new customers, and build loyalty.

Nurture and convert existing leads

Nurturing relationships is about delivering the right message at the right time to the right audience — and continuing the conversation after the sale. To effectively move consumers toward conversion, focus efforts on these areas.

Strengthen relationships

Offer consistent support by answering questions or providing guidance as needed. Becoming a trusted resource and building rapport with consumers helps them feel more connected to and comfortable with your brand, increasing brand loyalty and driving sales.

Optimize your website

Ensure your website is easy to use, professional, and, most importantly, reflective of your brand. Employ tools to simplify the customer experience, such as integrated scheduling software or chatbot features for always-available support, and ensure your site is optimized for different screen sizes to accommodate all devices and reduce friction.

Use psychographics

Using psychographics, brands can explore the deeper drivers behind consumers’ actions and purchases — such as their values, pain points, and motivators. These insights help you pinpoint a more specific, likely interested audience and tailor a message to them to increase engagement.

Build trust and focus on value to drive retention and upsells

Deliver value to consumers through education, resources, and relevant recommendations — both before and after you make the sale. When customers see you care about their experience, not just making a deal, you reinforce trust and build confidence, making them more likely to return and invest in your brand again and again.

[Read more: How Consumer Brands Convert Online Views Into Sales]

Improve your outreach

Strong outreach helps small businesses turn everyday interactions into lasting customer relationships and increased sales. Here are a few strategies to boost your efforts.

Make the most of every interaction

Customers can become inundated with competing brands and messaging; if they’re taking the time to interact with you, make it count. Be informative, authentic, and offer actionable advice, such as customized product recommendations or relevant use case examples. For online interactions, ensure you have an attention-grabbing hook and communicate in a way that feels personal and human, rather than relying on generic cut-and-paste templates.

Then, follow up with leads and establish next steps, whether that means signing contracts or scheduling a product walkthrough. Giving consumers a clear path forward keeps them moving through the sales funnel.

Build brand awareness

Brand awareness grows when consumers trust your company and its products. As consumers support your brand, they’re more likely to share their experiences with others, leading to a stronger positive impression and higher engagement over time.

To build that trust, ensure your brand aligns with the values and messages it communicates. When your brand is recognizable and consistent, outreach efforts feel more familiar and credible, making potential customers more receptive.

[Read more: How to Create a Brand Voice Even if You're a Very Small Business]

Leverage technology and automation

Using technology and automation tools are effective strategies to streamline repetitive tasks and increase productivity in the sales process. Many low-cost tools are available to support businesses, including programs for lead scoring, scheduling, document preparation, and analytics and forecasting. Most notably, however, is customer relationship management (CRM) software.

A CRM centralizes consumer data collected across multiple touchpoints, giving you a clearer picture of who your customers are and how they found you. It stores information from interactions such as in-person checkouts, contact forms, and website inquiries, which can help personalize outreach, build relationships, and increase loyalty — ultimately driving sales.

Automated workflows can further capture your audience’s attention without manual effort. These workflows trigger actions based on different behaviors, such as sending a welcome message to a new subscriber or a follow-up after an email interaction.

Update your KPIs and measure what matters

As you update your sales process, consider which key performance indicators (KPIs) your business currently uses and where you may need to shift your focus. These indicators, which monitor your sales team’s performance against your projected goals, help your business uncover patterns and identify opportunities for improvement.

Here are some common sales KPIs to consider:

• Average deal size. The average value of each sale over time.
• Customer lifetime value. The total revenue a customer generates over time.
• Conversion rates. The percentage of leads that become customers.
• Customer acquisition cost. The cost of acquiring a new customer.
• Average sales cycle length. The time it takes to close a deal.
• Win rates. The percentage of opportunities that turn into closed deals.
• Customer retention. The percentage of customers who continue to buy from you over time.
• Referrals. The number of new customers gained through existing customer referrals.

Tracking these KPIs can help you spot sales slumps early and adjust your strategy before they affect your business.

CO— aims to bring you inspiration from leading respected experts. However, before making any business decision, you should consult a professional who can advise you based on your individual situation.

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