This article is part of our Sales & Business Development resource section
Get More Sales Online
Covid pandemic resulted in many businesses and industries coming to a grinding halt. According to Yelp, there was a 34% increase in businesses getting permanently closed (compared to previous year).
This is because nobody saw it coming. Most businesses were not prepared for the strict lockdowns. But there were some businesses that actually prospered. These were the ones that were able to make the most of technologies like the Internet or smart phones to stay in touch with their customers and deliver the items at their doorstep.
All this has taught us an important lesson.
Either the businesses change and grow or they die. Also, it is incredibly important to take advantage of the latest developments and technologies for your business. Let’s have a look at some of the most exciting technologies that local businesses can use to get more sales online. Businesses can also learn how technology is shaping modern inside sales to understand how digital tools can support modern sales activities.
You can also use the same techniques to generate and sell leads to other local businesses (here’s a course that teaches you the art of lead flipping).
Let’s have a look at the technologies.
Table of Contents
Chatbots:
Chatbots allow you to stay in touch with your customers 24/7. Lots of businesses are using chatbots to offer customer support and responding to simple and frequently asked questions. Chatbots can save a lot of time in terms of sales or customer support. There are many different options to choose from. Mobilemonkey or Botsify are great for Facebook while Lobster or Drift are good for Whatsapp.
Businesses using chatbots as part of a broader sales process can also benefit from understanding each sales pipeline stage and how prospects move from initial interest toward conversion.
YouTube Marketing:
There’s nothing better than using videos to introduce your product or service. It’s a lot more credible and customers will feel more confident while making an online order. Videos can help you capture more space in Google search results. They can also improve your engagement rates on Facebook. It might take some time in building subscribers to your YouTube channel but once you have a good viewership, it can be the most cost effective way to reach your target customers.
Video content can also support direct sales by giving potential customers more information before they make a purchase. Businesses interested in this approach can explore video pop-ups to grow online sales.
Messaging Apps:
We have seen so many local businesses turning towards the messaging app during Covid pandemic. It was the quickest way to offer customers a platform to check the product catalog and make orders. All they needed was to share their Whatsapp numbers and customers got in touch for items like grocery, clothing, food, etc. Building your email list is actually old school. Local businesses need to build their messaging list. This list will allow them to send new product announcements, special offers, or discounts to their customers.
WhatsApp can also become part of a wider marketing strategy when businesses use WhatsApp marketing strategies to multiply leads and sales alongside their customer messaging efforts.
Push Notifications:
Push notifications work like the messaging apps. When someone lands on your website and allows push notification, you can choose to send them a notification every once in a while. For example, you are a local business selling kids clothing. You can send push notifications when new stock arrives or you are offering off season sales. Many parents will be interested in getting these notifications to make the most of these offers.
Businesses should also make sure their website supports their sales goals, including the principles covered in how to ensure a company website is driving sales.
Social Commerce:
Social commerce is another way to make it incredibly easy for customers to make orders without even getting on to your website. Before this, the customers have to visit many different platforms for searching, finding, evaluating and purchasing a product. Social commerce will let them do it all while browsing a platform like Instagram. What’s more? You can use social proof to improve conversions.
Customer and sales information can be managed more effectively with the key benefits of Salesforce-based solutions when businesses need a structured way to manage customer interactions.
For online stores using Magento, Magento 2 advanced reports can provide additional sales information that helps businesses understand their performance.
Sales teams can also explore Sales Cloud features to boost business sales when they need tools to organize and manage sales activities.
For businesses using Salesforce for customer service, the standard service console for users in Salesforce can help organize customer-related work.
The best part about all these technologies is that you do not have to be a technology expert to use them. Using messaging apps or chatbots is incredibly easy. It might take some time in building subscribers or followers but once you do, it will turn out to be the biggest asset for your business.
Businesses can also use an Amazon Sales Estimator Tool when selling products through Amazon and looking for sales estimates to support product research.
Finally, when online leads are ready to engage with a sales representative, knowing how to get the most out of the first sales call can help turn digital interest into a direct sales opportunity.
