Most start-ups begin as a one-person show, severely limiting their growth. At the same time, it is difficult for an early-stage start-up to bring in additional employees or partners and remain profitable. This is why all entrepreneurs should constantly be thinking of ways to increase revenue without dramatically increasing the number of hours worked. These types of solutions allow the entrepreneur to use his or her time more efficiently while at the same time allowing for higher growth rates. Here are some general ideas for entrepreneurs to streamline their sales.
Install an online shopping cart on your website
The internet is every entrepreneur's greatest tool. It allows you to market to your entire target audience passively. By simply building a website and marketing it, you can easily build a steady stream of visitors and paying customers if done properly-- adhering to certain "search engine optimizing" techniques, purchasing advertising with services like Google Adwords, getting press coverage in blogs and other forms of media, and taking advantage of the powers of social media like Facebook and Twitter. Having a shopping cart can help you bring in sales without having to make cold-calls or start expensive marketing campaigns, although you should continue with those sales techniques as well to get the best of both worlds.
Work with a fulfillment center
If you sell goods and you still personally pack and ship your products, you should consider outsourcing to a fulfillment center. Obviously, this would be a financial decision which usually only makes sense when you are moving heavy volumes or you are making a very large profit margin on your products, so do your due diligence before hiring a fulfillment center. By taking yourself out of the packaging and shipping equation, you give yourself more time to work on more productive tasks such as marketing and sales.
Start an affiliate or referral program
Starting an affiliate or referral program is similar to hiring a new sales rep, except you have no fixed-cost burdens. You only pay when a sale is produced. Combine this very favorable sales structure with the power of the internet, and you can potentially have a very successful business. Starting these types of programs is very easy with the help of services such as Google Affiliate Networks and ClickBank. The only downside with these programs is the fact that you lose control of the sales methods used to sell your products or services, so without the proper oversight and monitoring you can quickly tarnish your brand.
Hire a sales representative
May sound the common sense, but if you want to streamline your sales you are going to eventually have to hire a sales rep. Hiring a sales rep follows the same logic as the other ideas above in that it allows you to delegate sales activities to someone else in order to free up time for yourself to do other tasks. It can also be as simple as needing to ramp up the selling power your company has - one person can only do so much. Obvious implications to hiring a sales rep is the fact that you now have someone's livelihood in your hands and you must pay them a decent wage, which is tough for a start-up. Many start-ups compensate their sales reps with a small fixed salary, commission, bonuses, and sometimes equity. Hiring a great salesperson can be the best thing you've ever done for your company. Hiring a terrible salesperson can be a disaster for your company.
Increasing and streamlining sales is all about efficiency and scaling up operations. Regardless of the path you take, plan carefully and do your research before making a decision.
This article has been provided for free by Steve at SmoothEntrepreneur.com. Check out the website for more free articles regarding the entrepreneurial lifestyle and start-up advice.
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