The easy way to increase your sales revenue

What is a common mistake that businesses make when it comes to sales?

Not having, or not sticking to, a long-term strategy.  Typically, people get very excited when they launch a business, and probably do have a strategy in place at first.  But then bills start to come in (or there is a global pandemic!) and the natural instinct is to react, to go into fight or flight mode. 

People, understandably, panic and start to think very short term. Getting a new client, or another £50 sale, feels necessary for survival. But operating in that way will never lead to long-term growth.  And constantly feeling like you are fire-fighting really isn’t fun.

Has the COVID-19 pandemic made it harder for beauty businesses to achieve their sales goals?

It’s obviously meant that we need to tweak our approach, but a successful sales strategy is built from a foundation of nurtured relationships.  And this can be done on video call, on the telephone, in online communities, by text. 

Be really honest and ask yourself if you were easily achieving high sales revenues before the pandemic. Were you in the position that you wanted to be? Were your clients investing the thousands of pounds that you’d like them to? Were you known as a go-to expert?   

The reality is that, even without a global pandemic, beauty professionals were finding things tough.  My strategy works regardless of what is going in the world.  I believe that the businesses that will survive, and truly thrive, during and after the pandemic, will be the ones that are there for their clients now.  

What is your strategy for successful sales?

Firstly, you need to reach out to your clients. As human beings, we evolve through connection and we evolve through true reciprocation. If you’re there for your clients through this time, they will be there for you later on.

So, check in on them. Set a target of checking in on a certain number of clients every day.  But don’t try to sell to them.  Most of the time, when we reach out to clients, it’s because we’ve got an offer, or we want them to book an appointment.  It then becomes about us, not about them.  Change this. Make your communications about them.

The next step is to build a community from your client base. Human, and therefore business, survival is utterly dependent on communities.  Bring your community together and lead it.  Create a social media group, organise a Zoom get-together, run Lives, start group chats.  Nurture, empower, support, entertain, and lead your community.  Then, watch what happens to your sales when your community flourishes.  

How can sales revenues be increased without selling?

By problem-solving. Forget about traditional, high-pressure selling.  At best, it’s uncomfortable for everyone involved.  It might lead to small amounts of short-term revenue, but it won’t easily generate larger, long-term sales. 

With sales, we tend to think along the lines of “how do I sell these 20 products?”, “how do I sell my latest service?”, “how do I get people to buy my gift vouchers?”. We make it all about ourselves, not about our clients. And that approach does not lead to easy, long-term, increases in sales. 

Sales start to flow when we forget about ourselves and focus purely on how we can help our clients.  Rather than focusing on selling ten products, focus on how you can help ten clients.  

The foundation of sales is human relationships. Show up for your clients, and show them that you want to help them.  That is probably one of the most fundamentally important things you can do in your business right now.

How do you find out what problem a client needs solving?

Offering online consultations is a good starting point, but you can also have the same conversations outside of a consultation.  Keep things very relaxed, but ask the right questions.

There’s no shortage of great answers from your clients; there’s usually a shortage of great questions from the therapist. We’re tend to ask very generic questions when we should actually be digging much deeper.  Find out what their ultimate hair and beauty goals are.  What concerns do they have? What changes could be made that would have a hugely positive impact on their self-esteem?  What would have a life-changing impact?  These are the things you need to find out. 

It isn’t just about asking the right questions.  It’s also hugely important that you impart knowledge, that you educate them.  People can only buy from their level of awareness. If they don’t know that something is possible, that a product or treatment exists, or that certain changes can be made, then they will never buy it.

If your clients already understood things to the same level that you do, they would likely have already invested a lot of money.  So, help them to understand.  Show them that their problem can be solved, and how.  Get excited.  Get them excited.  And as you help them to increase their awareness, there’s a very high chance that they will initiate the sales conversation; they will tell you that they want to pay to solve their problem. 

Reach out to your clients, nurture your community, ask the right questions, educate your clients.  Do these things, keep everything relaxed and easy, and the sales will come.