How to make great sales in December

Oluwatosin S. Ogunlowo

YOU might be wondering about the kind of content I’m about to publish. Some might deem it as a cliche while others won’t take it seriously. But I only need a few people to heed this. December is the twelfth and the last month of the year. It happens to be a month a lot of people envisage to be a merry month; visit your loved ones, acquire new things. A lot of people buy various things during this period. There is a feeling for acquiring new things. According to research,  our brains are made to be attracted to novelty. It’s part of the brain’s natural desire to seek out new experiences which provide us with stimulation and improve our learning capacity. Humans crave novelty. Therefore, as a business owner, you must find out what your prospects might be interested in.

Why do you need to make more sales at this period? Apparently,  one of the primary purposes of a business is to make sales. Every business that has sales is likely to improve on other activities such as buying new equipment, providing contemporary necessities. Sabri Suby once said, “without sales, you will not have cash flow and without cash flow, your business will die from lack of cash, which is the oxygen to any business. Without it, you will not be able to pay for all the other functions, and you will go out of business very quickly”. This shows how sacrosanct sales is in every business. To get more prospects, a certain amount of customers can never be enough for a business whether a start-up or a large business. The more prospects you get,  the more your sales are likely to increase.  Most of your prospects might not be willing to buy initially because people buy from whom they know, like and trust.  But if you do your job well as a business owner, you’ll surely get them to buy your stuff.

And lastly, to increase a business’s visibility.  Do you know that some people don’t even know your business exists? Still, they need your service badly. Even though they can get it somewhere else, is it bad if they purchase things from you too? There is a need for business’s visibility. To think of how to make more sales during this period shouldn’t be a herculean task.  You have everything at your disposal. Therefore, sit back and watch how we’ll be exploring this journey together.

I’ll be sharing four tips on how to make successful sales within a short span.  First, know your customers: The ability to figure your audience out of the crowd makes you to specify the kind of people you want to sell to.  You need to identify them out of over 200 million people in the country.  Another thing is to carry out a demographic analysis. This helps you to develop an understanding of the age, sex and status of your customers. For instance, you can’t be selling a product that is worth over N50,000 and expect your target audience to be students.  Not every student can afford to purchase a product with such an amount. I hope you understand this?  You have to know whether your customers are working-class or students, or your product is predominantly meant for men or women. Knowing your prospects enhance swift move on how to start implementation.

Second, create an offer. What is an offer?  It’s a clear proposal to sell or buy a specific product or service under specific conditions. Offers are made in a manner that a reasonable person would understand their acceptance, which will result in a binding contract. It doesn’t have to be something spectacular. Just make it affordable for your business. Remember it’s an offer. For instance, why not think of creating an offer that says “For every purchase worth 10k and above, buyers stand a chance of winning a voucher to watch a movie of their choice.” It could be free delivery to their doorstep. It could discount on a certain product. You can think of something else either. But make sure you offer what would make them buy from you. Claude Hopkins once said: “ Make your offer so great that only a lunatic would refuse to buy.”

Next, build value. This has to do with recommending valuable information to your customers.  The more value you give, the more your customers like you and purchase your products without forcing them. Next, follow up. This is aspect is also important.  For you to have a successful follow-up, you need to keep track of all your customers; both old and new.  Try to check up on them. Remind them about the product you created recently. This approach builds a bond between you and your customers.  As a result, they have no choice but to call you in case they need the product you already told them about.  Every business needs to incorporate the above tips into its operations and see how it grows.  The season is here, let’s cash out and make our business known.

• Ogunlowo is a student of Communication and Language Arts at the University of Ibadan.

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