How To Sell In A Rough Economy - Ask Evan

Hi, I'm Evan Carmichael, and welcome to a video edition of Ask Evan. In today's video, I want to answer a question from one of our readers, Jackie, who's concerned about the recession and is feeling that people are spending less money on everyday items, which is hurting a lot of small business owners who rely on those consumers. And so Jack was asking, "How can we overcome this as entrepreneurs? Is there a way to generate more business?" So my answer for you, Jack, is yes, people are spending less, but they are still spending money. And so it's up to you to really differentiate your business from everybody else to win that market share. So even though there's less money out there, there is still money there to be had. So here's a couple ideas for you that will hopefully help you solve your problem. The first is you want to offer really great customer service. Be as helpful as you can, try to reach out and connect with your customers as much as you can, and try to build a relationship with them. So it's harder for them to jump ship and stop buying from you or go buy from someone else who might be a little bit cheaper, because they feel they have a really strong relationship with you. So do your customers really care about you? And it starts with you caring about them first. So as much as you can, you want to try to be really super helpful for your customers, go above and beyond with your service. If it's just you, that's great, but also your staff if you have it. Try to be as helpful as possible. So you want to build that relationship. So that's the first step. The next thing I would recommend is try to make it really easy for people to buy from you and to say yes. So you might want to think about having an introductory offer, for example. Have something that's low cost, is an entry-level gateway to start to work with your business, and that way you can show what a great product or service you have, what great service you have on top of it and how helpful you and your team are, and that helps start to build the customer loyalty. So if you have a really high-ticket priced item, is there a way to make it a little bit cheaper, have an entry-level offering so that people can start to do business with you and realize what a great company you are? The third thing I would recommend is try to get some social proof in there. Nobody wants to be the first to buy, and there's probably tons of competition for whatever you are, you know, buying or selling. So what you want to try to do is show that, hey, people really like what you're up to. So try to get testimonials from some of your customers, try to use social media and get people, you know, liking you and giving you some tweets about your business. And the more you can showcase that and show new prospective customers that, you know, they're not going to be the first ones to buy from you, the greater the chance is that you're going to be able to land that new business instead of your competition. So I hope that helps. Don't get too discouraged. It is tough times and it can be really hard to sell to people when, you know, they're not spending as much money. Money, but they are still spending money, so don't lose hope and, you know, focus in on your business to try to get those customers as much as you can. I hope you liked the video. If you did, please give it a thumbs up below. I'd also love to hear your thoughts and feedback if you want to leave a comment below, and stay tuned for the next episode.