7 Ideas to Get More Sales in 2019

Happy New Year!

If you’re an agent or consultant, chances are pretty good you want additional customers to grow your business. That’s the thing about agents and consultants– you are go-getters.

We want to help! So for 2019, we have 7 sure-fire ideas to get more sales and grow your business.

1. Send awesome emails

If you’re not currently sending emails — reaching out to people regularly — start. Today. This minute!

Sending emails is one of the best and easiest ways to convert people from potential customers to customers. You can even vary what you email to them — ideas to help them, tips, and information about your services. In other words, every email shouldn’t be a request to get them as a customer … but some should!

If you’re already sending emails, maybe you need to send better emails. We have email best practices, too.

Some marketing tools make it easier to create awesome emails.

2. Create killer landing pages

Landing pages are webpages that have forms, asking people to give their information. Typically that includes name, email, and maybe phone number.

Your landing pages — what potential customers want — include:

Receiving your newsletter, with information and ideas to help them regularly
Getting you to contact them
Asking to download a piece of content — eBook, video, infographic, etc.
Attending an event, class, or workshop you put on or sponsor
Free offers or discounts

If you already have landing pages, but aren’t seeing anyone fill them out, use our tips to improve them.

Some marketing tools make it easier to create these killer landing pages.

3. Work on your website

Can people find the information they need quickly and easily? Do they know how to engage with you — ask for information or get your services? The user experience of your website is vital. If you’re not sure how successful it is now, there are lots of ways to find out.

Ask 10 friends of varying computer skills to use your website. Ask them to find what you sell and how to contact you. Time them and watch as they struggle.
Engage with a service that provides user testing, such as UserTesting.com.
Review trends. Using Google Analytics, for example, you can see who’s coming to your site (in general), how long they’re there, and what they’re doing. Do you have a high bounce rate on your services page? Do people come to your contact page, but don’t complete the form there? This may mean it’s time to change these pages or figure out why it’s an issue.

Also, don’t forget about the people you’re not emailing — those using a search engine to find services like yours. By improving search engine optimization (SEO) you can get more people to your site. It’s all about using specific words, while communicating your services, in the website content, as image “alt tags, and in headers (h1, h2, h3, etc.). There are also free tools, such as Google Search Console, that indicates which search terms people are using to get to your site.

4. Create cool content

Content keeps potential customers coming back. It converts people from potential customers to new customers. Even current clients can use it. And it attracts people you’ve never met. It’s important for sending emails, creating landing pages, improving websites, and more. It’s the essence of marketing.

So, how do you create cool content? Think about your customers and potential customers’ issues. What would help them? If you’re a real estate agent, do people selling their homes need tips on whether to remodel a kitchen or bathroom? What about staging furniture?

Few marketing apps come with free templates — emails and landing pages — with great content. But SwiftAgent does! In fact, even in a free trial, you can get additional customers.

5. Get referrals

Your best marketing is word of mouth — people who are already customers telling their friends and family about you. But you don’t have to wait around for it to happen. You can ask customers who love you to tell their friends and family. In fact, that can be an email campaign you do today — referrals.

And once you get those referrals, don’t forget to thank who referred you.

6. Keep up with contacts

You go to events. You meet people. Make sure you have their names in your customer relationship management (CRM) application. Include notes and tags about how you met them, what you talked about, and what they may need from you. That way, you have more people to market to.

You don’t need something expensive, such as Salesforce, to handle your contacts. SwiftAgent does marketing and manages contacts for you inexpensively.

7. Be easy to do business with

This may seem like common sense, but it’s worth noting how easy you are to do business with.

Are you ….

Operating when it’s convenient for your customers and potential customers?
Available by phone and email throughout the day for questions?
Providing clear information about who you are and what you do (your services)?
Giving pricing structures that people understand?
Providing people enough information so they can make an informed decision?
Making it clear how you differ from others (your competitors)?
Being upfront and honest?
Communicating clearly and effectively? Creating documents, contracts, and forms that people can understand easily?

If you’re not closing deals, it may be one of the above. All of these things matter. By making it easier to do business with you, you’ll ensure more people do!

Okay, it may seem like a lot of hard work. But instead of biting everything off at once, think about these things incrementally. If you’re not sending emails or creating landing pages, maybe start there. Send a few emails until you get the hang of things and continue expanding your list. Slowly over the next couple of months, do more and more. Soon, you’ll be growing your business.