The web can be a daunting place when it comes to looking for the best tips and tricks on how to increase your sales. There’s a lot of information out there and it can be hard to define what is best for your business and your business needs. We’ve compiled a list of the best tips and tools you’ll need to know how to increase sales for your business.
My team has helped SaaS companies grow $1m -> $25m ARR, and we’ve also helped travel companies 15x their lead acquisition. How did we do it? Below are our tips and tools that we used in the past and know actually work. These tried-and-true tips and tools will help generate sales for your business.
The Best Tools to Increase Sales
The tools listed below can be used no matter what size your company is. Whether you’re an early-stage startup or a steady corporation, these tools will adapt to the size of your company and the needs of your business. We’ve included examples of the tools in action and links to each one so you can see for yourself exactly how they work.
A Social Media Management Platform
Social media is a game that you definitely need to be in. No matter what your service or product is, you’ll need to have a social media presence to some degree. Using the platforms natively is all well and good, but once you start creating regular content or even just want to get a better overview of your metrics or competitor’s stats, then you’ll need to look into a social media management platform.
Why Should You Use a Social Media Management Platform?
It’s a timesaver
Using a social media management platform will save you time and, in turn, save you money. By combining all of your scheduling into one platform, you’ll be able to plan and create content all in one place, for all of your channels.
It has an ear to the market
Good social media management platforms have fantastic tools that enable you to listen to what people are saying about your brand. You’ll be able to track keywords on certain social channels and have an overview on whether there’s a general positive or negative sentiment toward your brand or campaign.
It can help you make smart, data-driven business decisions
A good social media management platform can give you fantastic data that will not only help you adjust your social media strategy, but also help you adjust your user acquisition strategy so that you can increase sales for your business.
It’s a workplace
If you’ve ever tried to work with others on a social media schedule without a social media management platform, then you’ll know how hard it can be to get a true overview of everything you’re posting and how it’s even harder when you want to work collaboratively or give each other feedback.
A good social media management platform is a custom workspace for you and your team to be able to work together online. It knows how best to display each post so you don’t miss a thing and will enable you to work online with your team harmoniously.
The Best Social Media Management Platforms
Let’s dive into the thick of it. Between our team we’ve used a lot of social media management platforms in our day, so it’s safe to say we’ve settled on a few favorites. So, what are our three favorite social media management tools?
Sprout Social – The One with the Group Reports
Sprout Social is definitely on the pricier side for a social media management platform, so you’ll need to be prepared to invest. Their Standard plan starts at $99 per user per month and other options include an Advanced plan that is $249 per user per month.
What’s unique about Sprout? Their listening platform and group reports.
Sprout not only covers every social channel you can think of; it conveniently combines all of your social media data into one report. It also takes reporting a step further with their Listening feature. At an extra cost (we know, it’s pricey!), you’re able to put an ear to the ground and get in-depth reports on certain keywords or brands. This insight will help you make better business decisions, consider new products or predict trends to get ahead of.
Later – The One that Champions Content
Later is the #1 platform for looking after Instagram. They also cover Pinterest, Twitter and Facebook, but they don’t include LinkedIn (definitely something to consider depending on your business). Later is all about content and visual design. It’s one of the most user-friendly platforms the team has ever used and allows you to get a grip on UGC with ease.
By becoming part of the Later community, you’re always kept up to date with trends, tips and content inspiration. The content team at Later works tirelessly to keep your team inspired and your feed as fresh as it can be. It is definitely one to consider if you want to focus on bringing a great brand aesthetic to your channels.
Hootsuite – The One Designed for Small Businesses
Hootsuite is, more often than not, the platform that most small businesses start with and there’s a reason for it: the price. Hootsuite starts at just $25 per month, a huge step down from the likes of Sprout.
Hootsuite also allows you to manage a certain amount of ad spend directly from the platform. Gone are the days in which your content team would need to work separately from your paid acquisition team. Instead, Hootsuite gives your team the opportunity to work collaboratively on one platform.
Wrapping Up on Social Media Management Platforms
Hopefully, we’ve managed to provide you with some insight on social media management platforms and why having one is an essential tool in helping to increase sales for your business. With one, you will get your community management in one place, never miss an inquiry, and make more sales directly from your social inboxes and comments.
A Lead Management Platform
A lead management platform is essential if you want to increase sales for your business. By using a lead management tool, you’ll be able to identify site visitors, see how people engage with your site, reach out to decision makers, and fill your CRM platform with valuable leads.
Essentially, you’ll no longer require a site visitor to fill out a form to get their contact information. Plus, you’ll be able to determine which of those site visitors are “hotter” than others, meaning you can prioritize who to contact first.
LeadFeeder – The One with Integrations
Leadfeeder is trusted by over 30,000 salespeople, marketers and agencies to get better results. It harnesses Google Analytics to give your company all the information it needs to make smart business decisions and turn these site visitors into customers.
Of course, you might be worrying about integrating a new platform into your sales strategies and processes, especially when you’ve already got so many other platforms up and running. Leadfeeder integrates with Salesforce, Mailchimp, Pipedrive, Slack, Hubspot, Zapier, and Google Data Studio, to name a few. Thus, you’ll have no problem integrating it into current processes and will quickly see the benefit of having a lead management tool in your sales toolbox.
Wrapping Up the Best Tools to Increase Sales for Your Business
These tools are not what immediately jump to mind when people think of increasing sales for their businesses. People usually think of a CRM platform or an onsite analytics tool to track their content or SaaS metrics such as run rate and churn. These things are definitely worth considering, but we wanted to give you something that is a little more out of the traditional toolbox (excuse the pun).
It’s definitely worth considering a lead management tool as well as a social media management tool if you haven’t done so already. Once you’ve got these two tools in place, alongside some of your better-known sales tools, you’ll be increasing sales for your business in no time.
The Top Tips to Increase Sales
Increasing sales for your business doesn’t always need to come from the tools you are using. Tools are there to support great ideas. Hopefully, these tips will help spark some great ideas that are relevant to your business and can result in you increasing sales and business revenue.
A Conversational Sales Strategy
Our first must-know tip to increase sales is a conversational sales strategy. What is a conversational sales strategy?
Essentially, it’s a dialogue-driven approach to sales. For so long, sales have been a one-way street until you’re in contact with a sales rep. A conversational sales strategy introduces a conversation from the very first touchpoint. It allows you to get a better understanding of your customer and their needs before selling to them.
Taking it a step further, conversational sales defeat the hassle of a traditional lead collection form, which is often among the highest reasons for an exit rate on websites. We’ve seen enough forms! This is why our first tip to increase business sales is to consider a conversational sales strategy. Start engaging with your customers from the first touchpoint and watch them convert much sooner because of it. A well implemented conversational sales strategy should be paired with a conversational marketing strategy as well. Conversational marketing aims to create relationships with the consumer by building trust through conversations and by making the buying experience smooth and easy.
Write Like a Human
I’ve found myself doing exactly this in this article. 2020 is the year for reconnecting, and there’s definitely a demand for authenticity from brands. This is exactly why our second sales tip to increase sales, and one that’s especially relevant for 2020, is to write like a human. It’s a lot harder than it sounds.
Try to get rid of long words where you can, abbreviate if you can, and write something that you would genuinely enjoy reading. We’re not trying to impress anyone here; we’re trying to connect with people and that’s exactly it–we’re all just people.
So, write with personality and with the thought that you’re writing for another human in mind. You’ll find that your sales copy is that much more relatable; with that comes brand trust and an increase in sales.
Hire a Business Mentor
Business mentors can save you from making those mistakes that you just couldn’t possibly see coming. A mentor is there to guide you with their experience and your business needs. Of course, you’ll need to pick the type of business mentor that’s right for you. If you’re struggling with your email marketing, then you’ll need someone who has specialized in that. If you can’t quite crack your landing page acquisition, then hire a business mentor that’s worked with landing pages before.
A business mentor is not there as someone you need to impress; they are there to guide conversations and help you find solutions to your current business needs. If you’re struggling with a particular area, then consider hiring a business mentor to help you solve the problem. For example, if you’re looking to increase sales for your business, a business mentor can step in and guide specific teams down sales-minded paths that they would never have considered before. Let experience lead the way.
Partner Up
Last on our list of tips to help you increase sales for your business is: Partner up! Partnerships are the way forward if you want to reach new audiences and get your brand out there. You can be running ads, organic efforts, and offline brand campaigns, but if you’re constantly talking to the same people, there’s only so many of those people that will actually be interested in your product, no matter how good it is!
Partnerships are a solid way to reach new audiences and make more sales. Consider partnering with influencers in your industry or within your target markets, partner with other brands that have similar audiences and place emphasis on your press and events’ efforts. This tip is guaranteed to help increase your business sales with a targeted reach.
Wrapping Up the Top Tips and Tools to Increase Sales for Your Business
All of these tips and tools have been selected for this article because they compliment each other. Your social media management platform can integrate writing like a human, partnering up, and a conversational sales strategy. Your lead management platform and social media efforts can be lifted with a business mentor. Everything should be able to work seamlessly together, with the end goal of increasing sales for your business. Consider adopting these tools and techniques into your own sales and marketing strategies and let us know how you get on. Good luck!
