The last quarter of the year is the time to take stock, analyze how the previous months went, see what remains to be done, and plan the way to reach the pending goals.
All companies go through the same scenario, but not all end the year as planned. Only those who have established a trusting relationship with their audience and are therefore ready to increase their sales and achieve better results.
The reason is that trust is one of the key factors on which any buying decision is based. And if the foundation is good, it translates into sales.
Adding value to your product and offering more to your customers, or potential customers is one of the best strategies you can apply to build trust. Do that all year round, and you will be able to end it with excellent results.
· Ideas to end the year with more sales
If you no longer know what to do to reach your sales goals before the end of the year, you are probably looking for ideas to update your sales strategy.
I know this is not easy and therefore I would like to help you with some tips that may be helpful.
Next, you will find a list of recommendations you can work on to not only win more customers later in the year and close more sales, but also to attract and retain those who already trust your business.
1# Identify and retain your best customers
After analyzing the database, you can identify, by turnover or frequency of purchases, who your best customers are. You should give them preferential treatment.
Without blatantly selling, you’ll still have plenty of opportunities to apply loyalty strategies before the end of the year.
Here are some ideas you can use to grab the attention of these special customers:
● Ask him for feedback. Once you know his opinion about the product or service he bought, you can offer him related options that could be useful for this user.
● Send him a friendly message to thank him for working with you. You could offer him a gift or an exclusive discount, but without forcing him to buy from you again. This strategy could serve as a “hook” to attract customers to a new service or product.
● Offer discounts for purchases made before the end of the year. This sense of urgency will force your customers to act now so as not to miss the opportunity to save money and buy the product they want to get.
● Send a newsletter to your most loyal customers talking about a product or service that will be available only next year. They will feel special if they believe that they are really receiving private information (and this may also lead them to buy it later). You could also ask them to contact you in advance to confirm that they will buy it, and if they do so, they will get an exclusive discount.
2# Upsell campaign for those who have bought from you in the past
Offer an extra for those who are already your customers, making them part of your funnels and sales processes. For example, you can send them additional educational content (due to seasonal holidays like Christmas) and direct them to an upsell campaign (with a related service or product they haven’t purchased yet).
You could explain that you created this content with them in mind, to continue helping them with whatever your solution solves, and you could even emphasize that it is something unique that you have not yet marketed.
3# Raise prices and offer more to your customers
If you want to make the most of your current customer base, you also have the option to update your rates whenever you add new solutions to offer more to your customers. For example, if you offer consulting services and want to increase your rates at the end of the year, you could contact your current customers to explain why you will change your prices.
These reasons could be a new business model, forecasts for next year, new skills acquired, or increased productivity (which, if they are paying for hours, will translate into more value for your customers).
Here are some ideas for sending this kind of news, although the most important thing is always to be honest and sincere:
● Tell them about your year and talk about your professional growth. You could use stories to create engagement, and if you can empathize with your customers and make them feel like partakers of your accomplishments, they will understand that you actually raised your prices because that was the best thing you could do.
● Create a new value proposition and explain its advantages. If your customers realize that they will receive more value, they will want to know more about everything you are offering.
If you can’t make an exception and keep your current prices for some customers, you’ll have to stay firm and offer other cheaper alternatives (only you can give what he values so much and even if he decides to stop working with you now, he’s very likely to come back in the future).
● Replace services or products that you will no longer offer. Report this change to your customers with a transparent argument and allow them to contract or buy your new offer with some extra advantage.
4# Create mechanisms to attract profitable customers with special discounts
Remember, closing the year well means not only selling more but also getting maximum profitability by increasing metrics like CTR.
Looking at this part, you may be able to identify customers who, in the short term, gave you little or no profit, but who were especially profitable in the long run.
Therefore, it may be interesting to offer discounts to attract these types of customers. This requires that you track results throughout the year and extract data to make the best decisions.
5# Work with different advertising formats
Spreading your brand across different channels is also a good option for reaching more people and attracting new customers. Building trust is vital, but not everything. You need to advertise your products or services on different channels to attract more people potentially interested in what you are selling.
Some of the actions you can take in this regard are:
● Increase social media posts. To be present in the minds of your audience. For example, something very effective is to post stories daily, showing you as a consultant, professional, or company interested in your customers.
● Create a specific channel to address the topics most relevant to your audience. In addition to stories, you can share videos on the channels your audience is in (such as IGTV, YouTube, or Vimeo), as well as content in other formats, such as podcasts or animated GIFs.
● Prepare content for your blog with organic traffic in mind. You should never stop thinking about SEO, and blogging is one of the best weapons for this. So don’t forget that and prepare compelling, well-optimized content to keep improving ranking on Google.
● Send newsletters more often. Keeping in touch with your subscriber list helps improve your relationship with them. This way, in addition to increasing engagement with your customers, you can enhance values such as their trust and confidence in you (and they will feel more comfortable making a purchase).
6# Launch a new product or service
I would recommend that if you plan to launch a new product or service later in the year, start planning months ahead.
Typically, these campaigns are accompanied by a significant revenue spike that can undoubtedly help you close the year with better numbers.
If you already have a new product or service, it is a good idea not to wait until the last moment and set up a schedule and define the actions you will take to avoid potential mistakes and have room to make changes to your sales strategy. This way, you can get the most out of your investment.
7# Create special campaigns
On dates like Black Friday or Cyber Monday, consumption increases rapidly as customers are ready to take advantage of the impressive discounts offered by different brands. Join the crowd and don’t miss the chance of selling more.
And if you don’t know what strategies or actions you can apply to these types of campaigns, here are some ideas:
● Create more expectations. Inform your audience across all of your channels that you are preparing special promotions for these dates. You can even use a countdown (Instagram stories can be your best ally in this strategy).
● Create remarketing campaigns. This is the perfect time to catch the eye of anyone who has checked your products or services but not completed the purchase. Discounts can be a fantastic option to convince these visitors to become your loyal customers.
● Create banners for this occasion. Upload them to your social media profiles on your website, and wherever you find it interesting to redirect traffic to your campaign sales page (I personally wouldn’t recommend using pop-ups because they’re invasive and very negative for SEO).
● Add an item to the reference navigation menu. This will capture the attention of everyone who comes to your site and can persuade them to click through to see the offers you have prepared.
● Schedule an email marketing campaign. Create an email sequence to send before, during, and after launch. Remember that in all of them, the goal should be to close as many sales as possible.
8# Organize an event to sell on stage
That is live sales. Any occasion is good to sell, but when you’re face to face with your audience, it’s easier to convince them to trust you. In that sense, there are a few tricks I want to share with you:
● Include success stories. When someone else is telling users what your product or service meant to them, you can break through most of the barriers and beliefs that those who are listening to you have (and this will help to convince reluctant costumers to purchase from you).
● Plan well what you will present to your customers. Stories always help sell, but when it is told live, it will be easier to surprise your listeners. The reason is that you can be more humane, convey your emotions and encourage people to act.
● Turn the price of the product into something tempting. Price is always an objection. And for this reason, it must be shown as an irresistible offer. To do so, you can compare it to everything your customer might gain or lose if he doesn’t buy it, then show its real value and finally the price he must pay to get it (if you can convince him that the solution you are offering is worth it, he will pay for it).
9# Try to make contact with potential customers
Certainly, throughout the year, you talked to people interested in your products or services, but who didn’t buy or who told you that they would do it later. The last months of the year are the perfect time to resume this contact!
Ideally, you should monitor your leads continuously and not wait until the last moment. But if you haven’t done this, it’s time to call those leads who almost bought from you to see if there is anything you can do to convince them to purchase now.
This direct contact is vital to understanding what you will need to do to persuade him to buy, or at least to find out why he will not do it now.
Maybe today is your lucky day, but if you don’t make that call, you could be missing out on an opportunity to sell to this customer.
10# Invest in Advertising
Advertising is the fastest and most effective way to reach new customers, or improve branding, to show them what you have to offer. So research the best advertising platforms to reach your audience and try to create campaigns focused on these customers.
Whichever platform you choose, there is a key factor that will influence the performance of your campaigns; targeting.
That is, you need to accurately and precisely define the buyer persona to whom you want to show your ads (because what matters is quality, not quantity).
All platforms have an advanced degree of segmentation and allow you to filter by demographics, interests, age, and more. (I won’t take any more time talking about this, as we would need to write another article just about that.)
As you know, among the most widely used platforms for advertising products or services, we can list Facebook and Instagram, Google AdWords, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
· Reflections for the end of the year
You could take some of these ideas and set up your own action plan. However, keep thinking, check with your team, and analyze which actions are producing the best results according to your business and the ideal customer profile you want to reach.
Remember that the best sales strategy for closing the year is one that does not lack transparency, honesty, and a genuine value contribution to the public.
When you are ready, set goals and take action!
