Retail Business Strategies that can Boost Online Sales

Whether a retail company operates online or out of a physical shop, the basics of business growth and success remain the same. Anybody looking to start and grow a successful ecommerce website, then, can better do so by emulating the same steps that successful retailers in brick-and-mortar stores take.

There are some fundamental elements of a retail business that hold up at their core across all commerce models. Between a shop in a physical building and a shop on the Internet, obviously there needs to be some tweaks made to better suit the environment and the method. Nevertheless, the ideas behind these key business rules remain the same.

First, Choose a Product to Sell

This step is a no-brainer, and everyone figures it out first, usually even before they take any other action to begin their business.  Regardless, it is the first step and deserves to be emphasized. Before you can create any retail business, you need something to sell.

The benefit of selling online is that almost any product is fair game and can find an audience. Anything a consumer wants, they can find for sale on the Internet. This means that an online site often represents a business’s best chance to reach their widest possible audience.

Choose a Good Location

It’s a cliché now, but location really is everything. If your customers can’t find you, they can’t do business with you. For brick-and-mortar shops, this means a building that’s convenient for both the shop owner’s purposes and their customers’ travel. For ecommerce sites, this means a website with a sensible, easy to remember domain name and reliable hosting.

The layout of the store itself is also important. Products have to be well organized, easy to get to, and prominently displayed. For online businesses, this means designing their site in such a way that navigation comes easily to every customer. Make it easy for visitors to see what you have to offer and find what they want. If they have to click through menu after menu just to see what’s for sale, many of them won’t bother, and you’ll be hurting your sales.

Be Present and at the Customers’ Disposal

With a brick-and-mortar location, there is always somebody around to welcome the customer, communicate with them about their needs, and serve them as necessary. Obviously, an online store will not have this same level of customer interaction. This does not, however, mean that retailers cannot have any presence at all in their own stores.

If the online retailer seems anonymous and/or hard to contact, it can hurt their credibility. Instead, have information on your site about your company and the people behind it, including who you are and how to contact you or anyone else involved as necessary. Customer service doesn’t stop being important online, so don’t skimp on these crucial areas to build your credibility as a retailer.

Make Purchasing Quick and Easy

Convenience is a major factor in any retail sale, for both sides. Whether an online or physical store is more convenient for the customer is a matter of his or her personal taste and situation. There are, however, steps that both types of retailers can take to aid in this convenience, and the big one is making the shopping itself as easy as possible.

At a traditional store, customers simply hand their payment to the retailer and walk out with their product. It’s a simple and easy method no matter whether they’re using cash, a check, or a card of some sort. Online retailers need to emulate this simplicity as much as possible by making their online payment systems intuitive, simple, and streamlined.

In other words, online shoppers should not have to fill out long forms full of information for every single purchase. Keep it as simple as possible for customers to flow through decision-making and final purchase.

Also make sure to offer as many payment options as possible such as credit card, debit card, electronic funds transfer, and so on. There are also other options that only online retailers can take advantage of like PayPal or online merchant accounts. If your customers can only pay you in one or two specific ways, you’re not being convenient or accommodating, and they’re more likely to simply take their business to a physical store instead.

How to Keep a Highly Motivated Sales Team.

One of the most effective ways to increase sales performance and boost a business’s continued development is to appeal to basic human psychology and behavior by offering salespeople an extra motivation.  When utilized correctly, a good sales incentive program can prove a windfall to businesses trying to move products or services quickly to as many people as possible.

The important thing to remember is that not all salespeople are motivated in the same way. In fact, often it is not the monetary value of an incentive that drives salespeople to participate in incentive programs so much as personal factors such as professional esteem.

This is why it pays for businesses to keep the following in mind when crafting an incentive program:

Simpler is Better

The quickest way to ruin the effectiveness of an incentive program is to make it too complicated and difficult to bother with. The easier your incentive program is to figure out and follow, the more likely your salespeople are to use it.

For businesses, this means that the prerequisites for acquiring incentives need to be simple and easily understood. It doesn’t take much confusion to make a program no longer worth it to those who are supposed to be interested in it. If gaining an incentive means jumping through a dozen hoops, nobody will bother. You’ll only be wasting time and resources.

Not All Salespeople Are Equal in Value

The “80-20 rule,” that holds that in most businesses, 20 percent of individuals will account for 80 percent of the profits, applies equally to salespeople.  That is to say, the top fifth or so of your team is likely bringing in the most revenue, with each section below them contributing less and less overall.

When it comes time to motivate, then, businesses need to make sure that they are aiming their motivation at the right segment. Your top performers are already top performers without added incentive, so there’s little need to sweeten the deal. Targeting everybody, however, is also inefficient.  The best course of action is to find the second to the top segment and aim your motivation at them to bring them up to where your top performers already are.

Timing is Everything

Another quick way that an incentive program can lose the interest of those whose interest it is trying to grab is to include too much of a delay between somebody winning an award and actually receiving it. This goes back to making things too complex. If you have to keep track of the incentives you’ve won over a longer length of time, you’re going to lose interest. The most effective incentives are allocated immediately, or as close as possible to immediately.

For businesses, this means that whatever rewards are offered in an incentive program need to be either timeless or topical as well as on hand. Money has no expiration date, and things like tickets to an upcoming event will also work – if the event is coming up soon. Don’t offer your people rewards that won’t be redeemable for weeks or months after they’re won or you’ll severely dampen the potential for excitement.

Recognition and Appreciation Are Key

While different things to different degrees motivate different people, one common factor among most professionals is an appreciation for being appreciated. Make sure your incentive program targets winners openly where their peers can know about it. We all like to look good at our jobs and around our colleagues, so sometimes even a free prize like recognition can be more useful to a tangible prize awarded out where nobody can see.

Leadership Tips for Happy, Productive Working Teams.

As businesses grow, entrepreneurs need dedicated employees. However, it is important to promote a balance between work and life, in order to have a more productive staff. In addition, turnover is typically lower when companies emphasize this balance, especially when achieved through supportive and strong leadership.

Here are a couple of important tips that can make a positive difference to how your teams perform throughout the day:

FLEXIBLE SCHEDULES

The ‘affiliative’ leadership style places focus on employees and their individual needs. In general, employees are more efficient, happier, and motivated when they have more flexible schedules. Leaders typically have the power to let workers share jobs or shift schedules. One effective way to do so is not only giving employees deadlines, but also allowing them to manage their schedules in order to meet goals. When given alternatives, employees may become more focused, as well as dedicated, to finishing work.

BREAK UP THE DAY WITH VARIETY

Employees may feel happier and more balanced when they can vary their jobs throughout each day. Leaders can empower workers by breaking up their day, and suggesting employees do the same. For example, spend time doing paperwork in the morning, attend necessary meetings, and then go for a walk to process the day.  If a leader leaves early on occasion, employees should have the same freedom. This autonomy allows them to attend family events or other necessary responsibilities, once their work is completed. This also helps employees to balance their job's demands, while feeling at peace with the work they have completed. 

A work-life balance is a delicate concept. This varies for every employee and every professional. However, with 24/7 access to people and information, this balance is not as it was in the past. Entrepreneurs and leaders must spearhead positive change and foster an environment that promotes peace, balance, and extraordinary efficiency.

Drive Business Growth by Focusing on Your Customers: The Facts and Tips.

The customer is always said to be right for good reason: a business cannot succeed without a customer base.  Trying to understand and satisfy customers should be a priority focus for businesses with equal time and effort applied as put in to other initiatives, such as marketing. Without enough focus on your customers, you're costing your business its success.

In a recent article on the Salesforce blog, research from a variety of sources revealed the following facts about customer service:

• 45% of customers will abandon an online transaction if their concerns are not addressed quickly
• It is around 7 times more costly to attract a new customer than to retain an existing one
• 89% of customers have stopped doing business with a company due to poor customer support
• Customers are twice as likely to share negative customer support experiences than they are to talk about positive ones
• It takes 12 positive customer experiences to make up for one negative experience
• 55% of customers would pay more for better customer experience

TOP TIPS FOR GETTING RESULTS BY FOCUSING ON CUSTOMERS

1. Train Your Team for Effective Customer Care: The main issue with customer care in most companies today is lack of effective training, or care for the customers. The concern of most customer support agents is to quickly deal with a customer, and as a result they do the minimum task of answering a customer's questions with an inadequate answer.  Invest the time to train your team to go above and beyond for the customers.

2. Take Care of Your Employees: For your employees to really care about your customers, leading to explosive business growth for you, it is important for you to care about them first. One of the reasons most employees aren't invested in helping customers solve their problems is because the company they work for doesn't really take care about them; this can be manifested in the form of low wages, poor positions, or lack of training. If you want your employees to care about your business and go above and beyond for it, you need to lead by example and make them feel valued and cared about.

3. Enforce a Customer-Centric Sales Practice: Most businesses prioritize making sales over their customers' needs, and as a result will do anything to increase sales even if it is at the detriment of their customers. Apply a customer-centric approach that is based on trust between customers and your company.  This means listening to your customers' goals and concerns and being able to respond effectively and with care. Take the time; make the effort and the return on success will be positive growth outcomes for your business.