How to Supercharge Your Sales (Without Spending a Dime on Advertising!)

Increasing sales without paying for advertising is every business owner’s dream.

Unfortunately, far too many business owners have tunnel vision when it comes to their sales process. They spend most of their time advertising to cold leads, and their low conversion rates and sales numbers reflect it!

Today, I want to talk about the fastest and easiest way to supercharge your company’s sales numbers—selling to existing customers!

One of the main reasons why your current customers present such an enormous opportunity to grow your business is because these are people who already know, like, and trust you. The truth is that it takes a great deal of time, effort, and money to get anyone to that point. You should be reaping the full benefit of all the hard work you have already committed to these customers!

Beyond it being easier and more cost-effective, there are other reasons why selling to existing customers is such a game-changer for any business looking to boost sales:

1. The Work Is Usually More Interesting and More Profitable

Unlike the new customer who might be looking to make a small, entry-level purchase, existing customers are typically looking for solutions beyond your business’s basic products and services. This gives you the opportunity to discuss and sell some of your higher-ticket items!

2. It’s Harder for Competitors to Take Existing Customers from You

Brand loyalty isn’t very strong with new prospects and is virtually nonexistent with cold leads. Once prospects become paying customers, however, this is where we start to see customer loyalty develop. When long-time customers see your commitment to solving their problems, there’s no reason for them to seek a product or service elsewhere.

3. Existing Customers Are More Likely to Generate Referrals

Because people often befriend people who are similar to them, the quality of a referral from a current customer is often much higher than the quality of the average lead or prospect.

Now that you see some of the benefits of increasing sales from your existing customers, here’s an actionable, two-part formula to make it happen!

The 2-Part Formula for Increasing Current Customer Sales

1. Convert a Higher Percentage of Your Prospects into Paying Customers

While your business’s prospects aren’t customers just yet, improving your closing rate can have a dramatic effect on sales without all of the typical advertising costs.

Follow these simple steps to improve your closing rate:

• Measure your current closing rate. You will need to refer to this number repeatedly to assess your improvement.
• Identify every first contact point with your prospects.
• Clearly define the objective of your first contact point, whether it’s education, a sale, or another type of conversion.
• Communicate with your team that the primary goal when engaging any prospect is to earn a customer for life.
• With this primary goal in mind, create a script that your team members can use when engaging a new prospect.
• After some time has passed, measure your new closing rate against your initial closing rate and gauge your improvement.
• If there is no difference, or if the difference is insignificant, revisit your process and make one small change.
• After some more time, measure your closing rate again and repeat this process until you are converting a much higher percentage of your prospects into customers.

2. Convert a Higher Percentage of First-Time Customers into Repeat Customers

Next, it’s time to turn your attention to those who have made purchases. You can’t assume that these customers will buy from you again. Instead, use these practical tips to keep them engaged:

• Contact your customers and ask them what they like or don’t like about your business.
• Create an incentive for your customers to buy from you again, whether it’s a discount, exclusive deal, or loyalty program.
• Educate your customers about the value your products and services provide. An educated customer will buy more often!
• Keep in touch with your customers regularly. At the very least, this will keep your business top of mind.
• Train your team on how to effectively upsell when engaging a returning customer.
• Remember the 80/20 rule: 80% of your sales come from 20% of your customer base. Make these valuable customers your priority!
• Encourage word-of-mouth by wow-ing existing customers, asking for referrals, and incentivizing those referrals!