18 Ways To Increase Sales for Your Small Business

Running a business comes with ups and downs, and increasing sales can be one of the keys to success. Whether you want to attract new customers, optimize your sales process or strengthen your relationship with existing customers, there are strategies that can help you make a big difference.

This guide outlines 18 ways to boost your sales, including leveraging marketing strategies, improving customer engagement and streamlining the checkout process. Let’s dive into some of the ways you can help your small business boost sales.

How to increase sales

1. Set goals.

Setting clear, measurable and achievable sales goals is one of the first steps when trying to increase sales. Consider outlining things like specific revenue targets or the number of customers you want to acquire in a certain period. Goals can help provide direction and make it easier to track progress. You can break big goals down into smaller milestones and celebrate wins along the way to motivate your team.

2. Nail down your value proposition.

Think about what makes your business unique. Why would customers want to do business with you instead of competitors? This could be anything from the quality of your customer service, to price, to product design. You can use your unique value proposition to communicate to your target audience how your product or service solves a problem, satisfies a need or delivers benefits to them.

3. Create customer personas.

Understanding your customers’ needs, interests and pain points can help you communicate with them more effectively. Consider building detailed customer personas with things such as demographics, buying behaviors and challenges. This can help you tailor your marketing strategies and messaging to resonate with your ideal customers and help get them through the door.

4. Invest in marketing.

A strong marketing strategy can be a powerful tool to help you increase sales. It can help you reach potential customers, stay top of mind and reengage with former customers.

SEO. SEO (search engine optimization) helps your website rank higher in a search engine’s results. 75% of people never click past the first page — so it’s important to rank as high as you can.

Social media. Social media and content marketing can offer you organic ways to interact with your target market and also allow you to pay for ads to reach a broader audience.

Email marketing. Email marketing allows you to send alerts for deals, promotions and events. It’s an easy and relatively inexpensive way to market to existing and new customers. Adding an email sign up to your website or checkout process can be a good way to expand your customer base.

While there are tons of cost-effective marketing ideas out there to explore, small business owners may find themselves wanting to finance a bigger marketing campaign. A business term loan or line of credit can help you get your idea off the ground.

5. Try the sales funnel model.

The sales funnel is a process that guides a customer journey through the steps of becoming aware of your business to making a purchase. There are three stages:

Top of funnel. This is the awareness stage — it’s where potential customers first learn about your company. You can use tools like blogs, social media posts or other marketing tools to grab their attention. The focus here should be on value and visibility — not necessarily pushing for a sale.

Middle of funnel. This is the consideration phase. Your target audience has heard of you and they’re interested. They may be looking for more information before making a decision. You can use free trials, informative guides and more to build trust and show how your product or service best solves their problem.

Bottom of funnel. This is where your goal should be to encourage customers to make a purchase. You can use incentives like discounts, case studies or limited-time offers to convert leads into paying customers.

By understanding the sales funnel, you can better align your marketing efforts with customers’ journey — helping you meet them with the right messaging at the right time.

6. Engage with your customers online.

Your customers are probably online — especially if you have an ecommerce business. You can engage with them on social media platforms, review sites and even your own website. Talking with customers allows them to be heard and feel valued, which can help you build a community of loyal customers.

7. Provide multiple payment options.

Make it easy for customers to pay by offering multiple payment options. This can include credit cards, cash, digital wallets and buy-now-pay-later options. Making it easy to pay can improve the customer experience and reduce friction at checkout.

8. Start a referral program.

Your customers can be your best advocates. A referral program rewards them for bringing you new business. For instance, you can offer free products, exclusive perks or discounts such as “give $10 off, get $10 off,” which provides the new customer and current customer with $10 off their next purchase. This not only motivates the new customer to shop with you, but it also encourages your existing customers to keep coming back.

9. Start a loyalty program.

Alternatively, you could start a loyalty program that keeps customers coming back. It’s cheaper to retain a customer than it is to acquire a new one. This could be as simple as a punch card where they earn a free item after a certain number of purchases. Simple measures that show you value their business can help improve customer retention.

10. Offer a money-back guarantee.

A money-back guarantee reduces some of the perceived risk of purchasing a product or service. This can help encourage hesitant customers to give your business a try. Often, this small promise can help significantly increase your conversion rate.

11. Offer discounts.

Discounts are a great way to attract deal-seeking shoppers and boost sales. Offering first-purchase discounts or holiday promotions are a great way to encourage customers to make a purchase.

12. Bundle products.

You can encourage customers to buy more by bundling related products. For example, if you sell fitness equipment, you can sell a yoga mat, resistance bands and a water bottle at a slight discount compared to buying everything separately. This small upsell can help you boost your sales.

13. Create a sense of urgency.

Fear of missing out can be a powerful motivator for shoppers — they don’t want to miss out on a deal. Nudge shoppers to act fast by calling out when deals are ending or items are almost out — try phrases like “sale ends tonight” or “just a few left in stock.”

14. Make checkout seamless.

Whether online or in-store — checking out should be easy. For ecommerce business, use automation to auto-fill customer details or offer one-click checkout. This can help you reduce the number of abandoned carts. For brick-and-mortar stores, offering multiple payment options and having enough staff to man the registers can help streamline checkout and make sure lines don’t get too long.

15. Leverage testimonials.

Leverage your testimonials by showcasing positive reviews from loyal customers. Highlighting customer success stories on your website, social media channels or email campaigns can help build trust and credibility with potential customers. When people see real experiences and results from others, they feel more confident in choosing your product or service. Include specific details or quotes from these testimonials to make them more relatable and impactful.

16. Listen and respond to feedback.

Actively seek and act on customer feedback. You can use surveys, online reviews or even in-person conversations. Paying attention to what your customers have to say can help provide valuable insight into their needs and expectations. You can use this feedback to improve your product or service or address your customer’s concerns. This can help you build customer relationships and improve customer loyalty.

17. Incentivize your sales team.

You can motivate your sales team with performance-based incentives to help encourage them to sell more. You can teach them new sales strategies to help provide them with the tools they need to be a great salesperson. Offer bonuses, commissions or rewards for meeting or exceeding sales targets. This can show your team tier efforts are valued and directly contribute to the success of the business.

18. Get involved in your community.

Getting involved with your community is a great way to build strong relationships and boost visibility. It shows that your business cares about the community and its people. You can volunteer at local events, sponsor school programs or even collaborate with other local businesses. This can help you make connections, build goodwill and create a network of mutual support.

The Bottom Line

Increasing sales doesn’t have to be overwhelming. By setting goals, understanding your target market and leveraging some sales strategies, you can help your business improve its sales performance. With the right approach you can help your business grow and build strong customer relationships.