Scotland's Source - How to...Make more Sales before Christmas

How to.......
Make more Sales before Christmas

Wow, life just keeps getting busier and busier at this time of year, have you noticed? Kids are back in school, the lazy days of the summer holidays are over and everybody`s starting to think about Christmas. The shops are full of Christmas stuff, ads on tv are showing pressies for the kids, even the World Wide Web is overflowing with Christmas.

Do you realise there`s only about 14 weeks between mid-September and mid-December? When you think of it that way, it`s understandable that everybody`s really starting to promote their stuff hard.

Especially on the web, because things tend to happen so fast online compared to in real life.
If you don`t get going there in time, you risk missing out. So whatever it is you`re marketing: Go for gold, pull out all the stops, get the best copy you possibly can, and promote, promote, promote!

We all want to make sales at this time of year, so that we`ve got money in our own pockets for Christmas. So how do you go about getting as many sales as possible?

First of all, take a good, long hard look at yourself. What IS it that makes you want to buy something? What makes you say "I`ve just got to have that!" Why do you want it? Is it the price? Is it because it`s simple and easy to use? Does it solve a problem for you? Maybe it`s just because it`s outright fun?

Guess what you`ve just done? You`ve looked at yourself as your own prospective customer! You KNOW what draws you, and you KNOW you can`t possibly be the only person on earth that get`s drawn by those things, so you now KNOW what buyers want.

There are a few proven methods to getting your customers to buy more from you once they`ve made that first purchase, such as offering a freebie with it. Giving them that little bit more than what they bought can really work wonders. Of course, something worthwhile, and preferrably related to what they ordered from you usually works best.

After-sales follow-up is also extremely important. Write them an email asking if they`re happy with their purchase, or ask if there`s anything they need explaining about the product etc. Make sure you`re available to answer any questions they might have about the products they`ve bought.

If you sell actual hands-on products that you have to send through the post, then drop a business card with all your contact info into the parcel. Or add a little extra something to the package, trust me, they`ll remember you.
How do I know this?

At times, I buy small wholesale lots on Ebay. One of my favourite items to buy happens to be belly bars (they`re actually good sellers for me). So anyway, I`ve been happy with most of my purchases, but this one time I`d bought some belly bars and waited for them to come to my door. Impatiently, as always..

When they arrived, I opened up the package, and inside was a small polythene bag, with 3 small candies in it and a "Thanks for your purchase" note. Just a tiny gesture, but guess what? It made me remember the seller, and I`ve bought from her time and time again.

I read somewhere that if you under-promise, and over-deliver, then you`re onto a winner. I think whoever wrote that may just have been knowing what they were talking about.

So get going. Christmas is close, and time is running out. If you`re useless at ad copy, then PAY someone to write your ads for you. It IS worth it, and there are a lot of extremely reasonably priced copywriters out there. My personal favourite is http://www.strategyadservice.com

Give your website a holiday feel, full of red and green, just don`t overdo it. Make people feel comfortable, give them a reason to trust you, and you WILL make those Christmas sales!

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