Another 15 ways to kick your sales into high gear

In the last article, we reviewed 15 ways to kick your sales into high gear. This article covers another 15 FREE and almost FREE techniques to do the same. Use all 30 effective techniques and watch your sales skyrocket!

16. Offer a discounted product. Discounted products attract tons of traffic. Take one of your best selling products and slash the price as low as you can and still make a small profit. Your smaller profit will be offset with a larger volume of sales. Even if you don't make a lot of money on this one off promotion, you introduce more people to your products and services and can contact them later to make more profitable sales.

17. Give your product away! Although it sounds crazy at first, it makes a lot of sense. The best example of this technique is used in the software industry. Adobe Acrobat Reader, Win Zip, and Group Mail all give away a free version of their software. After you have used the product and have a good feel for the 'inner workings,' you probably want to upgrade to a more deluxe version. Your upgrade is where the company makes money.

18. Re-mail. Send your list a second chance offer by re-mailing them. Statistics show that your same offer that you mail today, will achieve approximately 70% of its original success on the second mailing. Remember, it takes an average of seven impressions before your prospects actually make a purchase.

19. Numbers and bullets. Make a list of features and benefits and list this in your sales literature. It is much quicker for a prospect to scan a list that is numbered or listed with bullet points, than it is to read a paragraph of text.

20. Promotion warning. Give your customers an advanced warning about upcoming promotions. This creates a demand for your promotion even before it is released. You also create a feeling of goodwill from your customers because you have shown them that they are important.

21. Ask for referrals. The best type of advertising is word of mouth. Place a referral form on your site where customers can give you their friend's names and email addresses. In return, you will give your customer a special bonus and send an email to their friends on their behalf. The email you send must include a very special offer and refer to the customer that gave you the contact.

22. Rename things. Give standard items a new name and prospects will respond. If you ask a prospect to subscribe to your online magazine, or digital magazine, your subscriber rate will increase faster than referring to your publication as an ezine.

23. Double up. Instead of offering one item at a special price, offer two. On average, the extra item brings in an additional 45% more sales.

24. Bonus value. It is common to offer FREE bonuses with every purchase on the www. If you don't offer free bonuses you are losing sales. FREE bonuses are part of internet culture. Since everyone offers FREE bonuses, make yours stand out by giving it a price value. Instead of offering a FREE ebook, offer a FREE ebook worth $29.99.

25. Swap ads. If you publish an ezine, swap ads with other ezine publishers to increase your exposure.

26. Define your USP. What makes your business different than your competitors? Your USP, or Unique Selling Point gives your customers a reason to buy from you instead of someone else. Are your products bigger, faster, cheaper? Every business has a USP. Find yours and promote it. 27. Testimonials. Your customer's opinions are worth gold, especially if they write them down. Include testimonials from satisfied customers in all of your promotional material. This technique gives your product or service more credibility in the eyes of your prospects.

28. Pre-sell. If you are introducing a new product, ask your customers for their opinion a few weeks before the product is released. This gives you time to tweek and polish the product to perfection before its release. When your product is released, you can send the customers who have responded with suggestions a special discount on the product as a thank you for their help.

29. Test. Send a trial offer to a percentage of your mailing list. From the response, you can gauge whether to roll out the offer to your entire list or rework the details and try again. Testing saves you money and increases your sales by giving you feedback in small blocks before you use up your whole database.

30. Short and sweet. Keep your prospecting emails short and to the point. Long emails are often deleted before they are read. To present detailed information, get the prospect hooked in your short email and invite them to visit your site for the details.

And there you have it, the complete set of 30 award winning techniques to kick your sales into high gear. Implementing just a few of these techniques will increase your sales. Imagine if you implemented them all!

I wish you much success with all of your marketing.

Terry Telford is the author of the popular ebook, Website Ladder, and the founder of bpc publishing, where you can pick up your FREE and almost FREE website marketing and traffic tools. Visit http://www.bpcpublishing.com today!