Every company runs on the revenue and the sales department is the only department that generates revenue for the organization. It can be any kind of business selling a product or service but the ultimate revenue generator is sales only.
This is the reason why closing a sale is important for every business. Selling is not just a transaction involving exchange but it is a process that starts from the launch of the product and does not stop at selling but further goes to after Sales service.
There are many ways of selling a product – one of the top 10 ways to sell a product is engaging the prospective customer by providing useful information. This creates brand awareness in the market.
The work of the salesman does not stop at selling the product but is only half done. The work starts at promoting the product than making the customer understand the product then proceed to finally get the order and then providing after Sales service.
This will result in customer satisfaction which is of prime importance and positive customer satisfaction can be termed as a sale closed. Selling a product requires a lot of skill on the part of the salesman.
Making your customers understand the benefit of the product for them rather than selling the feature of the product is very important. There are many ways to sell the product successfully to the customers and most of them require efforts on the part of the sales team as well as from other team members and departments in the company or business.
Table of Contents
Following are 10 ways to sell a product
1. Advertisements
Advertisement is the most common form of selling. Although there is no sale with the advertisement there are sales because of an advertisement. different advertisement methods are used in order to promote the product or the service. The mode of communication or the mode of advertisement depends on the product and the target customers.
For example, when a premium product is to be sold like Rolex watches in that case advertising on television would not work. There must be print advertising in business magazines in order to reach the target audience because no audience who buys Rolex is going to watch the soap opera on TV. There are Multiple modes of advertisement and following are few of them:
TV advertisements are for FMCG products and regular use products for the majority of the population. Products like toothpaste shampoo, instant food, bikes, low budget cars, Over the Counter medicines, etc. are advertised with the help of TV. Placement of advertisements is done in proper TV shows at proper timings in order to target the right customer set.
For example, an advertisement for baby diapers is usually placed during a soap Opera TV show in order to target housewives. Advertisement of products such as toys and instant food is placed during kids and teen TV shows.
When the services are of an intellectual category, then print advertising is the preferred mode of communication with the target audience. For example, advertisement of a new coaching class for a new summer, vacation workshop is done via print advertising. They are placed in newspapers.
Online advertisements preferred for all kinds of products which target all kinds of customers. Online advertising has evolved in recent years because of its effectiveness and because of its low pricing. compared to every other form of advertising, it is the cheapest and the most affordable by everyone right from a single person selling his old phone after to large cooperation targeting many people for the launch of their new product.
Online advertising is the preferred mode for many companies because almost all the people nowadays are using social media to find people and targeting them with the advertisement has become very easy. The use of social media such as Facebook Instagram and others has increased drastically.
Other modes of advertising in which a jingle is placed during a talk show, product placement in TV shows or movies are done so that customers get the message of the company. Product placement is one of the costliest forms of advertising.
2. Innovation
Innovating new products is the best strategy for a company to sell products. Innovation has a lot of market and appreciation from the customers. When a company innovates a product, it uses the expertise of the research and development department in order to create something new that was not previously existing in the market. Innovation can be of any kind to write from a new product of a new feature of the product. Innovation can also be in the form of delivery or service.
It goes without saying that when a company knows its a product, the market changes substantially. And the other part of innovation is customers have to pay a premium for the product. The fact that the product is innovative itself is a selling factor for the product. This is the reason why customers are pulled towards the product pushed towards the product.
Since the product is innovative and the company charges a premium, the product will have a limited market initially and there would be no buying from all the customers unless the product is of basic nature. The downside of innovation is that there would be many cheap copycats in the market and the company would be unable to recover the RnD costs.
Also, after a certain period once the patent of the product is over, then other companies can adopt the feature or imitate the products please in the market. The best examples of innovation are always given by Apple products. Apple iPhones are considered as a benchmark of innovation for a long time.
But many features of the products are copied by many competitors slightly changing their names but keeping the overall feature the same. Nevertheless, the company always innovates new products every year and bring them out to customers.
All of the Apple products are charged a premium because of this innovation. The customers are attracted to the product because of innovation and the product sells. In order to maintain the innovation levels of the company, Apple has to innovate every year and bring certain new features to the same product or bring out new products entirely.
3. Marketing strategy
Having an excellent marketing strategy is also an invitation for customers to buy the product. Marketing strategy is not the only plan but a long process that starts right from launching the product to the after-sales service. Planning is only a part of the marketing strategy wherein the company makes a blueprint of all the steps to be followed in order to make the product successful.
Marketing strategy involves designing a campaign in order to make the customers aware of the product. The campaign runs in different phases according to the industry or product. The company makes the customers aware of the product by highlighting the features and benefits to the customer.
An excellent marketing strategy would be able to convert a lot of customers which will make the sale happen. Part of the marketing strategy is advertising promotions as well as pricing.
If the product is priced low compared to competitors, then the company will be able to achieve competition conversion, but if the product is priced at a very high price point then the company has to make sure that the product is innovative and has excellent user benefits as compared to the competition.
One of the best examples of marketing strategy would be DCEU. The DC Extended Universe is a TV show franchise started by detective comics and Warner brothers and is based on characters from detective comics.
The TV shows started with Arrow, which then branched out and introduced several characters throughout the show like The Flash, Supergirl, Batwoman, and others. Every year the DC extended universe came up with one crossover event in which their characters from other TV shows of DC will be brought together in a single episode.
This marketing strategy not only proved successful and popular but also combined the entire viewer base of DC and compared to its rival Marvel. The user base of DC extended universe is a much larger number. In order to watch these crossover events the audience had to watch all of the TV shows which increase the number of users and currently, apart from excellent ratings and viewer base of more than 6 Million, DC extended universe has the highest approval rating in TV shows and compared is far successful than Marvel.
Therefore having the right marketing strategy is very important for success for the product or service. In some cases, the marketing strategies start before the launch of the product as the company starts to create a Vibe around the launch.
For example, a lot of success earned from the movie The Dark Knight was used in order to promote its sequel The Dark Knight Rises. A website specially dedicated to the movie which hummed only with the chants of something ominous and fictional newspapers of Gotham City highlighted on this website.
This created a curiosity in the minds of the audience and finally, when the trailer was released it earned the huge success, and the movie took the success forward. The Dark Knight rises is not only one of the highest-rated movie of all time, but it shows the best approach of viral marketing in order to promote your product before its release.
4. Digital Marketing
The current trend in the market is of digital marketing because the target audience is using the same platform. Because digital marketing has gained a lot of success in recent years the prices to incorporate digital marketing have not only gone down but the reach has increased dramatically and the success rate of digital marketing is also going up as compared to other modes of marketing.
Social media is one of the biggest contributors to the success of digital marketing because almost everyone is present on social media which encourages the companies to reach their customers with the use of social media.
Websites like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram have helped the organizations to narrow down their customers and effectively target them with advertisements. Another part of digital marketing for a more mature audience would be by the help of email marketing. A lot of promotions are sent every day in our inboxes, and these emailers are part of email marketing.
An attractive email designed with the company logo and the information on the offeror a product is used to attract customers. The image is incorporated with a hyperlink which when clicked on, will take the customer to the landing page of the website or of the product. The customer can then choose whether to go ahead with the purchase or browse through other products of his interest. Almost every successful company uses email marketing.
For example, Apple sends out an emailer every time when a new iPhone is launched. This emailer is one of the most attractive mails in the industry which highlights all the features and benefits of new products and takes the customer to the website where the customer makes the purchase and sale will happen. search engine optimization is yet another tool of digital marketing used to sell the website content.
In search engine optimization, the website uses specific keywords which are the most searched keywords on the internet and which will help the website to rank on the first page of the Google search. This brings a lot of visitors on the website and will earn revenue for the website with the help of advertising.
When the tags and meta tags along with keywords and titles are used correctly on a website, then it will be able to attract visitor traffic. SMS marketing is also a crucial part of digital marketing. Many informational and promotional SMS’s are sent to many users every day. Hyperlinks and mobile numbers are added so that the viewers can visit the website or call on the number.
Some classify YouTube marketing under social media marketing but YouTube has a different marketing strategy and customer base altogether. Because making videos and choosing the ads on them requires a different set of skills, YouTube marketing is an entirely different type of digital marketing.
5. Price cuts and schemes
Another strategy to sell the product is to have huge price cuts or schemes and offers. Whenever the product gets a huge price cut that pushes the sales upward. The reason for getting a price cut but maybe because the company wants to increase the sales of the product or because a better new product is to be launched by the same company it could also be an answer to the competitor price cut. In any of these cases the sales increase.
Schemes are yet another form of price cut in which a customer is made to buy more products at less price or a free product is given with the purchase of the existing product. In either of the cases, the customer gets the price benefit. Following are examples of price cuts and schemes:
One Ralph Lauren shirt will be price at $ 199. The offer may be like either of the following: Buy 2 Get 1 free, Buy 1 Get 1 Free, Buy 2 at 30% discount, Buy 3 at 50% discount.
These schemes are valid for a limited time and the primary intention is to exhaust the stocks and make the sale early. In case of a price cut, the products receive price cuts during the festive season in order to generate more business. Sometimes the price cut may be psychological simply to promote the product and attract the customer who is price-conscious.
For example, a shirt with a price tag of $ 99 may not attract that many buyers but if the same tag is changed to $ 199 and that number is scratched and shown as $ 99, then it will pull the customer and which will increase the sales. Sometimes freebies are given with the product like buying a shirt and get a tie for free. All of these strategies in order to attract customers and make the sale happen.
6. Customer Visit
This is one of the best strategies in order to make the sale happen. Some products require the visit of the customers at their place of business. These visits have to be regular and should address the product and also build a relationship with the customers over a period of time. The visits are usually done by salesmen in order to promote the product to the customers.
The developed nation over a period of time with the customers and this relation can be leveraged into a sale. Usually, this strategy is carried out by pharmaceutical companies who have appointed medical representatives who will work for the company by visiting the customers and promoting the product and generate the business.
Their primary job is to continuously visit and follow up on the customers who are primarily doctors, promote the product and discuss technical features, advantages, and disadvantages, etc. and convince the customer to prescribe their brands to the patients. Constant follow-ups, product-related discussion and convincing the customers is what generates a sale for the product.
Such a strategy can also be applied in the case of Industrial products wherein the end customer would be a company. Convincing this company would require visiting their primary decision-makers and give a presentation about your product or service and establish its importance.
The strategy of customer visit can also be used in combination with other strategies as well, for example, customer visits can be made in follow up to a lead generated from email marketing. Customer visit is considered as one of the most conventional strategies to generate a sale and is one which is the failproof strategy.
7. Stores
The most ancient option for generating sales is to start a store of the product. Stores have existed for a long time in order to conduct business and generate sales. A store is a place of business where the product and materials on sale are kept on display, the customer can walk in choose the item to buy and purchase it.
Recently however the new format of stores has evolved like a superstore and mega markets in which almost all the items of daily use are kept under one roof for the customer to purchase. this avoids the customer to visit different stores to buy different items and the customer can purchase all the necessary items in one store which makes it convenient for the customer as well as for the store by generating the sale. There are also other formats of stores which are called specialized stores.
In these specialized stores only selected categories of items are available for sale. Apple store is an example of a specialized store that sells only Apple products. Similarly, a clothing store can also be classified as a specialized store even though it may keep multiple brands under one roof. It is called as a specialized store since it specializes only includes rather than other materials. The store should be located at the point of customer convenience so that customers can walk in and make the purchase.
In-store display advertising is a strategy used in order to attract the customers walking by the store. Once the customer comes into the store it is the duty of the salesman to convince the customer and make the sale. Pharmacy, electronics stores, grocery shops are all examples of Stores.
8. Event Marketing
A recently popular strategy event marketing is the one in which a popular event is sponsored by the company who is just to promote their product. The event already has a lot of media coverage which helps the brand to get exposure and brand recall in the minds of the people.
Event marketing, this way, helps to generate sales. Popular events like and about show or talk show of celebrities are mostly sponsored by different brands. Sports events like cricket or football are always sponsored and the name of the brand or product features around the stadium or on the clothes of players, which has to promote the brand to the viewers.
The primary function of event marketing is to improve the image of the brand and the brand recall of the audience. Generating sale is an outcome of the process.
Major brands like Adidas and Reebok carry out event marketing in sports events, while other brands use celebrity talk shows and award functions in order to promote their products. Science functions, charity shows, and other conventions and concerts are examples of events where event marketing can be carried out successfully and the sale can be generated by building the brand.
9. Referrals
Customer referral is a powerful tool to generate business. a satisfied customer can bring in at least 10 other customers while a dissatisfied customer can drive away at least hundreds of them, this is why getting the feedback of positive customer and convincing and dealing with dissatisfied customers is equally important in order to generate future business.
A customer who is positive about the product can be asked for a reference to his relatives and friends and then they can be approached by his name in order to conduct the sale. Customer referrals can work right from industrial sales does FMCG business, but this is a strategy that is primarily used for service rather than the product.
For example in the restaurant business, the taste of the food of restaurant cannot be justified or quantified in any of the advertisement and there is a positive and strong customer referral which encourages other people to try out the food in the restaurant. Customer reference is also useful when the product is innovative and launch into the market.
There would not be a lot of buyers of the product in the initial phase and that is why the company can benefit by providing references of customer referrals. A strategy similar to customer referral is carried out by brands, these days with the help of social media marketing. Many brands get in touch with the influencers of social media who may or may not be celebrities.
These influences have millions of followers on social media and the followers see every single post made by the influencer. In such cases, the companies can contact these influencers and ask them to promote their brand against payments or free samples.
The strategy has worked well and has done wonders for many brands by generating a sale for them. Quick links are provided in the description which takes the followers to the buying page.
10. Tele calling
This is also a popular strategy in which the authorized representatives of the company carry out telecalling to follow up on prospective customers or with current customers.
The telecalling is also done to promote about the product or new service recently launched by a company. Usually, a person is on the other line speaking with the prospective customer, but these days a recorded message is also played on the other line. This saves the cost of the company.
The primary job of telecaller is to convince the customer to buy the product and to make the sale. Insurance, credit card offers, bank policies, etc use telecalling in order to follow up with their customers. Tele calling is also used for service calls in which the companies call upon customers to inform about the warranty of their products or to inform about new changes in the policies of the company.
Stock market uses telecallers in order to promote their stocks to stockbrokers, who then buy the stocks and generate revenues for the business.
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