Are you struggling to make sales? You’re not alone. With new competition, changing consumer trends and an increasingly difficult economy, more and more businesses are struggling to make enough sales to stay afloat. And as a result, many people are feeling frustrated, confused and helpless. Luckily for you – there are some easy things you can do to help yourself get back on your feet again! Here are 7 reasons why you’re not making sales and how to fix them.
1. You’re not showing up consistently
Twitter, Facebook, Instagram… It doesn’t matter which platform you choose if you don’t show up consistently. You have to treat your business like a job if you want it to pay up. Showing up inconsistently or only when you feel like will affect your sales.
Imagine trying order food from a restaurant. You check out their Instagram pages. One restaurant has lots of posts, including one from the previous day. The other restaurant has made only 7 posts in 5, and their last post was 3 weeks ago. Which would you rather order from?
Your audience is more likely to seek out accounts that post regularly, and most social media algorithms also favor consistent content.
You can fix this by having a clear content plan, batch-creating and scheduling your content.
2. Your business doesn’t rank well in search engine results
If your business isn’t showing up on Google, you’re leaving money on the table. Your company could be just a click away from reaching new customers – but they’ll never find you if they don’t know you exist. One of the best ways to push yourself up those rankings is by investing in SEO services – which can help you show up higher on Google’s search engine results page (SERP). If you can’t afford to hire an SEO specialist, you can still boost your ranking by learning the basics of SEO, especially on-page SEO.
3. Your marketing message isn’t clear
One of the most common reasons for a drop in sales is your marketing message. Marketing is all about telling people who you are and what you do, but it’s also about making sure that what you’re saying is clear and specific. What do I mean? Well, guess which one of these two sentences below will be more effective at convincing someone to buy your product:
- “We have a great new hair shampoo!”
- “Our new shampoo formula will cleanse your hair without stripping off its moisture, leaving your hair clean and luscious.”
The first sentence might work in some cases, but most people are looking for something more than just a good product. They want to know how good it is, why they need it and how it can benefit them. If your marketing messages aren’t clear, then nobody will take the time to find out what makes your product different from others.
4. You’re not targeting your ideal audience
This is one of the most common reasons why people struggle to make sales. If you’re not targeting your ideal customer, it’s unlikely that they will buy from you.
Marketing consistently to your family and friends will not make you those sales. Imagine trying to sell the digital nomad lifestyle to an audience of men and women with little children and 9-5 jobs. You have to know your ideal customer, find out where they hang out online and market to them there. Or create content with the right keywords to help them find you. You can even reach them through Facebook ads.
When you target your ideal audience, the number of sales should start going up!
5. You’re not confident in what you’re selling
If you’re not confident in your products or services, it would be hard for you to convince anyone to pay for them.
One way to overcome this would be to get beta-testers who are also your ideal audience. They can give you helpful feedback to improve your product or service. They can also give you testimonials, which will help convince others to buy from your.
Also, be transparent with your audience and try not to make outrageous promises that you can’t deliver on.
6. You’re not pricing your products right
This is one of the most common reasons for not making sales. If you have a product that’s not priced correctly, it won’t sell. If your product is too expensive, it may get passed over for something cheaper. But if your prices are too low, people may feel like they’re getting an inferior product and be turned off from buying from you. So, what’s the perfect pricing? It can be tough to figure out. Luckily, there are a few things you can do to test both ends of the spectrum and try to find the right balance for your products:
- Consider the amount of time or effort you’ll put into the product
- Offer discounts on larger purchases or more popular items
- Have a range of prices with lower prices on less popular items
- Offer bundle deals or set up “specials” to move inventory
- Consider using price comparison sites like Google Shopping or Bing Shopping
These strategies can help you find the perfect balance between quantity and quality!
7. You’re not asking for the sale
Asking for the sale is one of the most important things you need to do. If you’re not asking for the sale, then you won’t be making any sales. This can be as simple as asking someone if they want to buy a product or service when they walk by your store. It may seem like an obvious suggestion, but many people forget to ask this important question.
As an online business, you can offer lots of valuable content to your audience, but if you don’t ask for the sale, they may not think or remember to buy from you. It can be as simple as adding a call-to-action at the end of your posts, or you could do full promotional posts to get your audience excited about buying.
8. You’re not making it easy to buy from you
One of the most common reasons for not making sales is because you’re not making it easy to purchase your product. One way to fix this is to have a very simple process for people who want to purchase. They should be able to checkout in two clicks. Don’t add unnecessary fields to checkout forms, so that your customers don’t get tired and abandon the process.
You could also offer a variety of ways for people to pay you. You could do this by adding multiple payment gateways to your checkout, or introducing payment plans for your higher-priced products.
Conclusion
Making sales can be difficult, especially for new business owners. Have you identified some things you might be doing wrong? Here’s a quick recap of 7 things you could do to improve your sales:
- Show up consistently
- Use SEO to attract more clients
- Have a clear marketing message
- Target your ideal audience
- Be confident in your products or services
- Price your products right
- Ask for the sale
- Make it easy to buy from you