In today’s episode of one of the best entrepreneur podcasts, I talk about three sales strategies that most people don’t. These are strategies that can really make your company stand out from others as desirable, credible, and sustainable.
1. Old School Sales and Marketing
Utilize old school sales and person-to-person marketing. When my partner and I first started Storage Squad, we didn’t have the money or resources to pour into digital marketing or social media advertising. However, we knew our audience! We did everything we could to get the word out about the business. Being a storage solution for college students, we knew where the customers walked to class, where they lived, and where they ate.
Using the information our team knew about college students, we put up flyers at the dorms, wrote chalk advertisements on the sidewalks to classes, and put up posters in the dining halls. This may not be scalable with your business, but it is paramount to getting your business off of the ground floor. Prioritizing a physical way of advertising rather than relying on social media made our business grow at an affordable level.
2. Get People to Put Their Money Where Their Mouth Is
When Storage Squad was looking to open on campuses, we put out surveys asking if people would pay $100 to have their stuff moved and stored. We were absolutely thrilled to see that more than 30% answered YES. The bad news is that when we launched the business onto the campus, less than 1% actually signed up to have their stuff stored.
This was an important lesson and experience. Anyone can say ‘yes’ on a survey asking a theoretical question, but numbers aren’t certain until money is paid. In order to make use of this strategy, try any way possible to get a transaction for your business. This could mean putting a deposit down, signing a contract, or just making sure you have as many customers as you can as early on who actually buy. That’s when you can trust the numbers. When you get real customers, you will have a more accurate representation of both supply and demand.
3. Sales Extends Past Business Into All Aspects of Life – Get People to Buy In
The third strategy is simple. What I mean by this is that you will have to ‘sell’ your thought process, your vision, and your credibility to people. If no one is on board with your mission and your business, then you will most likely fail. Practicing this strategy will make your person-to-person interactions, customer buy-in, and investor trust better and more consistent.
Early on in Storage Squad, my partner and I had to sell each other on their ideas. From there, we had to sell our business plan to potential employees and partners. An employee who is happy and excited about the job they work for is much more likely to help your business succeed. This goes for investors and vendors as well. Storage Squad had to be a credible, reliable, and sustainable business for investors and vendors to trust their resources in it.
For more great entrepreneur and real estate resources, check out my online business courses!
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