Marketing Ideas For Growing Sales

1. Follow-up!

When people contact you through your website (or by phone, or at a trade show), be sure to follow-up. It is amazing how many sales are lost because of a lack of follow-up.

One cool idea from Lisa Todd at Urban Creative was to reply to e-mail queries with a phone call. As long as you do it quickly enough youll get a chance to answer much more effectively than by e-mail.

2. A Gentle Approach to Cold-Calling

When Dianna Bowes of Fabulous at 50 wants to sell advertising she asks, Is it OK if I send you a media kit? When they say yes, as almost all will, then she asks, Is it OK if I follow-up with you in two weeks? Most will agree, and those who dont arent likely customers anyway.

3. Trade Show Tips

If you meet a likely prospect at your booth during the day, Diann advises inviting them to join you at an exclusive dinner or club that evening. They will likely say yes to this sort of personal invitation, and it gives you a great chance to connect with them at the show.

She also suggests holding draws during the conference instead of after it. Call the winners right away and encourage them to come to the booth to pick up their prize. That gives you another opportunity to connect. (And theres a good chance theyll tweet about it!)

Lisa was blown away by this clever idea: Instead of shipping your standard trade show booth materials (which can cost thousands of dollars), one company bought IKEA furniture once they were in the city where the conference was being held. It made for an unusual and cozy booth, and afterwards they got a ton of great PR because they donated the furniture to a local charity!

4. How to Win Over Skeptical Colleagues

One attendee (who wont be named to avoid repercussions with colleagues) is having trouble convincing colleagues to change the way theyve always done things. Others suggested ways in which she could run a small pilot test of her approach (while still supporting the old way) to demonstrate its success.

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