When it comes to running your own business, selling your products profitably is often one of the hardest barriers you will have to overcome. Whether selling products is a large or small aspect of your business, you need to be sure you have thought about absolutely everything before you delve into the world of sales. Whilst it may seem as though it is impossible at first, there are a number of different things you can ask yourself to ensure you are on the right track. To help, here are 9 top things you need to consider if you are selling products as a business:
- Who Is Your Target Audience?
One of the first things you need to do is work out who your target audience is, as this will help you when it comes to all of the points that follow. Knowing your target audience is the best way to see whether or not you are selling to the right people, so it is vital you work it out before you get started in sales. The best thing to do is to create yourself a customer avatar, someone who will represent your ideal customer. Think about their likes and dislikes, where they like to shop and how they like to shop. The more detail you go into, the better. For more tips and tricks when it comes to creating a customer persona, you can visit the Sales section of the Everything Entrepreneur Business Blog.
- What Products Are You Going To Sell?
Once you know who you are going to sell to, you need to decide what products you are going to sell. Whilst you may already have an idea of what these are going to be, now is the time to refine this and think of all of the features and benefits to each product. If it helps, write out product descriptions that can be used online or in advertising.
- How Many Products Do You Want, To Begin With?
Another important thing to consider is how many products you are going to be selling. While you may want to sell as many as you possibly can in order to make the most profit, often it is better to start small and work your way up. If you offer too much, you may be taking on more than you can handle. The best way to approach this is to look at the products you want to sell and work out a manageable timeline for each launch. You will be thanking yourself for it later!
- What Will Your Pricing Strategy Be?
Once you know what you are going to be selling, it is time to start thinking about your pricing strategy. For most people, this is the hardest part as they don’t want to undervalue their products but want people to feel as though they are paying too much. One of the best things to do is look at your competitors and see how they are pricing their products. Ideally, you want to sit somewhere in the middle of your main competition. If you discount your product price too much, customers may consider your products to be lower in quality.
- How Are You Going To Sell Your Products? In Store? Online?
Once you have worked out your pricing strategy you can think about where you are going to be selling your products. The most obvious choice would be to sell them online so as you reach a larger audience, but if you are a local business selling instore may be the best option. Work out what is best suited to your business and go from there. If you are going to be selling in store, you will also need to think about how you are going to accept payment. For more information about taking payment from customers, you can visit our Finance section.
- Do You Have A Marketing Strategy?
A great way to spread the word about your product and attract more customers is to ensure you have a strong marketing strategy. Whilst this may not be one of your main focusses as a business, it is actually one of the best ways to grow as the more people that know about your brand, the more chance you have to make sales. For advice when it comes to setting up a marketing strategy, you can visit this site here.
- Will You Be Using Social Media?
Alongside your marketing strategy, you may also want to think about whether or not you are going to be using social media to grow your business. Whilst it does take some time to grow a following, it can be one of the best ways to ensure you have both new and repeat custom. If you think you are going to struggle to manage social media accounts alongside your business, this is always something you can outsource to someone who has more experience than you.
- How Will You Accept Feedback From Customers?
Whether your customers have good or bad feedback, it is important you are taking it onboard and one of the best ways to do this is to offer a way for people to get in touch with you following their purchase. Whether it is online or instore, you want to welcome absolutely anyone to offer their opinion on your products or your customer service.
An easy way to get customer feedback is to email all of your customers with feedback for they can fill out a number of days after their purchase. Alternatively, you can get in touch asking them to review you on sites like Facebook or Google. You may not always get a response, but it is worth a go.
- Do You Need To Encourage Repeat Business?
Finally, depending on the products you are selling, you may want to encourage people to come back and purchase from you again. If that is the case, you need to consider whether or not you need to have a specific strategy in place that keeps people coming back for more. Often, if you offer a great product and great customer service, the rest will do itself for you.
Do you sell products within your business? What do your company needs to do to ensure you are as successful as you can be? Let us know your successful selling strategies on social media by sharing this blog post article link.