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While cold calling works for many businesses, there are some newer sales tactics that can help you attract new clients and gain new business. It’s important to keep expanding your sales strategy to keep up with your growing business. Here are three sales tactics to test this year.

1. Get social

Social media can be a great tool for finding, qualifying, and nurturing sales leads. Think about the following stats:

• Social selling generates 40% more qualified leads than cold calling
• IBM says that a lead developed from social media is 7X more likely to close
• LinkedIn says sales reps with a high Social Selling Index (SSI) are:
  • 45% more sales opportunities
  • 51% more likely to hit quota
  • 78% of social sellers outsell peers who don’t use social media
• Click here for 15 additional social selling stats

But social selling isn’t only about sales leads—it’s also about leveraging your social network. It’s engaging with your target audience via social media for both business development and shaping your brand, which can also be done by creating and sharing valuable industry content.

[Social selling is] a powerful strategy that can help sell your ideas, establish credibility, secure funding, attract talent and win customers. – Entrepreneur

Download this ebook to learn about how to implement social selling.

2. Build relationships with your customers

Relationship selling is exactly what it sounds like—building relationships with your customers to help sell your product or service. Relationship selling is all about creating customer loyalty.

It’s a successful tactic for those in industries that deal directly with customers, such as real estate agents and lawn care providers who rely on repeat business and, therefore, need to develop ongoing relationships with their customers.

This can be done via social media, as well as other communication channels. Some people may prefer to develop relationships through more “traditional” methods, such as sending thank you cards or calendars and making follow up calls.

3. Use referrals

Encourage your satisfied customers to write positive reviews and be your spokespeople.

Word-of-mouth referrals are the most trusted source for recommendations, making them a valuable sales tool. According to ReferralCandy, word-of-mouth generates more than 2 times the sales of paid advertising.

Online referrals like 411.ca reviews are another great sales tactic. A recent study by BrightLocal found that 88% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations.

However, don’t rush referrals. If you ask for a customer to write a testimonial after one interaction they may be hesitant. Once you’ve developed a good relationship with your customer, they’ll likely be more than willing to write you a shining review. People will want to recommend you because you’re like their friend now, and everyone (okay, almost everyone) likes helping their friends.

Connect with more customers in your community—add your business to 411.ca for FREE

SHARE WITH OTHERS