Top 7 Ways To Boost Your Profits Through Your Sales and Marketing

Sales and marketing are the main ways you will bring business into your company so here are some tips to help you get the most profit from these activities.

1. Network - with a purpose.
   
   Too many people spend hours networking but haven't really worked out what their message is or what they want to achieve from the networking. Personally I am wary of networking forums that promise lots of contacts and often deliver little. And if it’s an event that is full of your competitors, the chances are it’s the wrong event. Better to focus on where your customers hang out and get known in your area of expertise.
   
   
2. Evaluate your advertising.
   
   Too many businesses spend money on advertising because they think they should. If you are running campaigns, how do you know they are effective? Stop what you are doing and work out how you will measure the impact on sales. Think of payback in terms of the lifetime value of anyone your advertising attracts, not just the immediate sale – but if you aren’t seeing results, don’t just do it for the sake of it.
   
   
3. Understand your niche.
   
   Too many businesses try to be everything to everyone. Step back and work out who you really want your customers to be. That doesn’t mean you can’t have other customers, but your profit growth will come from really knowing who you are targeting and knowing what makes them tick. Paint a picture in your head of your ideal niche and everything about that niche. Trying to grab everything just won’t cut it anymore.
   
   
4. Be seen as the expert.
   
   Whatever you sell, your sales will increase dramatically if you are viewed as the expert in what you do. Work out easy ways to position yourself as an expert - web content, articles, presentations or answering questions on forums. Do whatever you feel most comfortable, but get yourself out there as the expert in your field.
   
   
5. Focus all your sales on high margin products.
   
   What makes you most money (and if you don't know then you need to find out)? Focus all your sales effort on that, not the lower margin things even if they are higher sellers.
   
   
6. Offer a guarantee.
   
   Most people can be persuaded to buy if they think they have nothing to lose. Back yourself and your service and let people know that you offer some form of guarantee. Retailers do it all the time by letting people bring things back that are not right. Lots of businesses won't do this because they are worried about customers abusing the offer. But the research shows that the increase in sales more than makes up for the small number of people who may try and abuse the guarantee.
   
   
7. Be different.
   
   Stop trying to fall in line with every other business in your area - work out what makes you stand out from the crowd. Most businesses have heard of USPs (unique selling points) but in my experience very few can actually explain what theirs are. If you can't, you are in a weak position. There’s lots of competition out there – be prepared to stand out from the crowd.

Want help improving your profits? FREE reports to help Small Business Owners stop falling for the myths and start understanding the real rules of profits. Download instantly for fast profit results! Kate Marsden is The Profit Mechanic and gives resources, tools and support to Small Business Owners to improve their profits. Read more about The Profit Mechanic here.