Another 15 ways to kick your sales into high gear

In the last article, we reviewed 15 ways to kick your sales
into high gear. This article covers another 15 FREE and
almost FREE techniques to do the same. Use all 30 effective
techniques and watch your sales skyrocket!

16. Offer a discounted product. Discounted products attract
tons of traffic. Take one of your best selling products and
slash the price as low as you can and still make a small
profit. Your smaller profit will be offset with a larger
volume of sales. Even if you don't make a lot of money on
this one off promotion, you introduce more people to your
products and services and can contact them later to make
more profitable sales.

17. Give your product away! Although it sounds crazy at
first, it makes a lot of sense. The best example of this
technique is used in the software industry. Adobe Acrobat
Reader, Win Zip, and Group Mail all give away a free
version of their software. After you have used the product
and have a good feel for the 'inner workings,' you
probably want to upgrade to a more deluxe version. Your
upgrade is where the company makes money.

18. Re-mail. Send your list a second chance offer by
re-mailing them. Statistics show that your same offer
that you mail today, will achieve approximately 70% of
its original success on the second mailing. Remember, it
takes an average of seven impressions before your
prospects actually make a purchase.

19. Numbers and bullets. Make a list of features and
benefits and list this in your sales literature. It is
much quicker for a prospect to scan a list that is
numbered or listed with bullet points, than it is to
read a paragraph of text.

20. Promotion warning. Give your customers an advanced
warning about upcoming promotions. This creates a demand
for your promotion even before it is released. You also
create a feeling of goodwill from your customers because
you have shown them that they are important.

21. Ask for referrals. The best type of advertising is
word of mouth. Place a referral form on your site where
customers can give you their friend's names and email
addresses. In return, you will give your customer a
special bonus and send an email to their friends on
their behalf. The email you send must include a very
special offer and refer to the customer that gave you
the contact.

22. Rename things. Give standard items a new name and
prospects will respond. If you ask a prospect to
subscribe to your online magazine, or digital magazine,
your subscriber rate will increase faster than referring
to your publication as an ezine.

23. Double up. Instead of offering one item at a special
price, offer two. On average, the extra item brings in
an additional 45% more sales.

24. Bonus value. It is common to offer FREE bonuses with
every purchase on the www. If you don't offer free bonuses
you are losing sales. FREE bonuses are part of internet
culture. Since everyone offers FREE bonuses, make yours
stand out by giving it a price value. Instead of offering
a FREE ebook, offer a FREE ebook worth $29.99.

25. Swap ads. If you publish an ezine, swap ads with other
ezine publishers to increase your exposure.

26. Define your USP. What makes your business different
than your competitors? Your USP, or Unique Selling Point
gives your customers a reason to buy from you instead of
someone else. Are your products bigger, faster, cheaper?
Every business has a USP. Find yours and promote it.
27. Testimonials. Your customer's opinions are worth
gold, especially if they write them down. Include
testimonials from satisfied customers in all of your
promotional material. This technique gives your product
or service more credibility in the eyes of your prospects.

28. Pre-sell. If you are introducing a new product, ask
your customers for their opinion a few weeks before the
product is released. This gives you time to tweek and
polish the product to perfection before its release.
When your product is released, you can send the customers
who have responded with suggestions a special discount on
the product as a thank you for their help.

29. Test. Send a trial offer to a percentage of your
mailing list. From the response, you can gauge whether
to roll out the offer to your entire list or rework the
details and try again. Testing saves you money and
increases your sales by giving you feedback in small
blocks before you use up your whole database.

30. Short and sweet. Keep your prospecting emails short
and to the point. Long emails are often deleted before
they are read. To present detailed information, get the
prospect hooked in your short email and invite them to
visit your site for the details.

And there you have it, the complete set of 30 award
winning techniques to kick your sales into high gear.
Implementing just a few of these techniques will
increase your sales. Imagine if you implemented them
all!

I wish you much success with all of your marketing.