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Nikolay Mrochkovsky, Andrey Parabellum

Get everything out of business! 200 ways to increase sales and profits

Introduction

Our book is not a theory. This is practice in its purest form.

Everyone who has ever been in sales has to constantly fight - for the client, for profit, for market share, for a place in the sun, for survival, in the end. Such is the fate of the seller. Such is the fate of the businessman. And we really like it.

In the process of active struggle, we have developed over two hundred different tricks, strategies and tactics that help businesses not only increase sales, but move to a fundamentally new level of customer service. And, accordingly, to a new level of profitability.

In this book, we have collected the most universal and strongest recommendations, which for the most part will not require any serious financial investment from you.

After reading some of the advice, you may clutch your head and say: “Why didn’t we do this many years ago? How much money have we lost! or “Immediately implement!” This is fine. The main thing is to start taking action. You can easily earn a lot more money just by changing the format of how you work a little - with clients, advertising, sellers.

Over two hundred specific techniques that we have described in this book are really tested in practice (both by ourselves and hundreds of our clients) and work. You can open any page and immediately start implementing the information received in your business.

Whoever goes first skims all the cream. We are absolutely certain that ninety-nine percent of your competitors are NOT using the technologies you will learn about in this book. It is you who can be the first to do this in your niche. In this case, very soon the competitors will not have any chance to keep up with you!

Nikolai Mrochkovsky(ultrasaLes.ru)

Andrew Parabellum(infobusiness2.ru)

P.S. If you find a new strategy that we have not yet included in the book, send it to us on We will definitely add it to the next edition and express our personal gratitude to you there for your help.

Sales: system or case?

In the vast majority of businesses, sales are a real black box. The notion of the connection between what is being done and the profit that the actions actually bring, the business owner, at best, has only an intuitive level. And often not even that.

At first glance, it is clear that if you conduct a lot of different activities - place advertising in targeted media, train salespeople to properly handle customers, serve current customers well, and so on - then sales will increase. However, what exactly will happen and what specific financial result will follow is not at all clear.

In this book, we offer you a radically different approach. Build your next business sales system:

♦ controlled - so that you clearly understand what effect each step gives;

♦ transparent – all elements must be clearly defined and understandable;

♦ well-adjusted - each element of the system must be adjusted - perhaps more than once, but so that it works on autopilot - with minimal involvement of the director;

♦ interchangeable - if you rely on people - you will have big problems. Yes, it is worth looking for and inviting good specialists. But the business must still be based on the system, and not on the personal qualities of a few key employees. If someone leaves, you quickly find a new person and replace the departed person without significant losses for the current work process.

Five key ingredients

To implement a sales system in your business, you need to clearly understand the five main components - each of which must be of the highest quality:

♦ Inflow - potential customers who learn about your company in some way.

♦ First purchase - how do you turn a potential customer into a real one.

♦ Average check - how much an average client leaves at your checkout (or what is the amount of an average transaction).

♦ Repeat sales - how you work with regular customers.

♦ Profit - how much profit you make from sales.

The formula that every businessman must know by heart

There is one formula that combines all of these ingredients and immediately puts everything in its place. It allows you to clearly understand which business processes you should work on first. To better understand the "magic formula", let's derive it sequentially:

Profit = Sales × Margin (M),

where margin is the percentage of your profit from the cost of production.

Sales volume = number of customers × average revenue per customer.

On the other hand, the number of clients = K × Cv,

Where TO- the number of potential (learned about you) customers; CV- conversion rate (how many of the potential customers who know about you turn into real ones).

Average revenue per client = $ × #,

where $ is the average purchase; # - the number of transactions (customer purchases for the period).

In total we get:

Sales volume = leads × Cv × $ × #.

Profit = M × sales = M × leads × Cv × $ × #,

under the generally accepted term in international practice leads we will understand the number of potential customers.

Now the process of increasing sales is nothing more than working on increasing each of these ratios. And building a system is about setting up clear executable processes in each of these areas.

In what order to start work?

Naturally, you need to work on all the coefficients. But you must understand that, for example, increasing the number lead, which is done mainly through advertising moves, is the most expensive of all ways. Because, according to statistics, it costs about seven times cheaper to sell something to a current client than to attract a new one.

That is, by launching advertising, we increase the incoming flow of customers. But if the next steps in the company are a mess - sellers are rude to customers, the service is terrible, after the sale no one works with the client anymore - all your money will be wasted.

At the same time, for example, increasing the conversion rate from 3% to 4% will eventually lead to an increase in total sales by more than 30%.

To better understand how this happens, let's look at a few examples.

Example #1: A supermarket for home and renovation goods

Let's say you are the owner of a supermarket for household goods and repairs. An average of eight hundred people enter your store per day (special devices on the doors allow you to keep an accurate record of the number of visitors to the store, so there are no difficulties in obtaining such statistics). Of these, an average of 30% make a purchase. The average check is 1600 rubles. A customer makes only one purchase from you per day (if we took a longer period - for example, we considered data for six months - then most likely this coefficient - the number of transactions - would be equal to two or three - about the same number of times every six months the average person is interested in goods for home and repair).

It turns out:

leads=800

Cv = 30%

$ = 1600 rubles

Total sales per day = leads × Cv × $ × # = 384,000 rubles.

With a margin of 30% profit per day = 115,200 rubles.

Now imagine that, having worked out a system for converting potential customers into real ones, you have achieved an increase in CV up to 35%.

Now daily sales volume = leads × Cv × $ × # = 448,000 rubles.

With a margin of 30% daily profit = 134,400 rubles. That is, 19,200 rubles more than in the first case!

Example #2 Wholesale

Your sales reps make an average of twenty-five cold calls per day (which is about five hundred calls per month, or fifteen hundred per quarter). Of these, an average of 2% go into a deal. The average transaction is 120,000 rubles. In a quarter (in this example, we will consider a different period, although you can evaluate daily activity in the same way), the average customer buys products from you twice.

We get for one manager:

leads = 1500

CV = 2 %

$ = 120,000 rubles

Total Quarterly Sales = leads × Cv × $ × # = 7,200,000 rubles.

If we have four sales managers in the sales department, the sales volume of the entire department is 28,800,000 rubles, respectively.

Nikolay Mrochkovsky, Andrey Parabellum

Get everything out of business! 200 ways to increase sales and profits

Introduction

Our book is not a theory. This is practice in its purest form.

In this book, we have collected the most universal and strongest recommendations, which for the most part will not require any serious financial investment from you.

Nikolay Mrochkovsky (ultrasaLes.ru)

Andrey Parabellum (infobusiness2.ru)

P.S. If you find a new strategy that we haven't included in the book yet, send it to us at [email protected]. We will definitely add it to the next edition and express our personal gratitude to you there for your help.

Sales: system or case?

In this book, we offer you a radically different approach. Build your next business sales system:

¦ controlled - so that you clearly understand what effect each step gives;

¦ transparent - all elements must be clearly defined and understandable;

¦ debugged - each element of the system must be configured - perhaps more than once, but so that it works on autopilot - with minimal participation of the director;

¦ interchangeable - if you rely on people - you will have big problems. Yes, it is worth looking for and inviting good specialists. But the business must still be based on the system, and not on the personal qualities of a few key employees. If someone leaves, you quickly find a new person and replace the departed person without significant losses for the current work process.

Five key ingredients

To implement a sales system in your business, you need to clearly understand the five main components - each of which must be of the highest quality:

¦ Incoming flow - potential customers who somehow learn about your company.

¦ The first purchase - how do you turn a potential customer into a real one.

¦ Average check - how much an average client leaves at your checkout (or what is the amount of an average transaction).

¦ Repeat sales - how do you work with regular customers.

¦ Profit - how much profit you derive from sales.

The formula that every businessman must know by heart

Profit = sales volume? margin (M),

where margin is the percentage of your profit from the cost of production.

Sales volume = number of customers? average income per client.

On the other hand, the number of clients = K? CV,

Where TO- the number of potential (learned about you) customers; CV- conversion rate (how many of the potential customers who know about you turn into real ones).

Average revenue per client = $ ? #,

where $ is the average purchase; # - the number of transactions (customer purchases for the period).

In total we get:

Sales volume = leads ? CV? $? #.

Profit = M? sales volume = M? leads? CV? $? #,

under the generally accepted term in international practice leads we will understand the number of potential customers.

Now the process of increasing sales is nothing more than working on increasing each of these ratios. And building a system is about setting up clear executable processes in each of these areas.

In what order to start work?

At the same time, for example, increasing the conversion rate from 3% to 4% will eventually lead to an increase in total sales by more than 30%.

To better understand how this happens, let's look at a few examples.

Example #1: A supermarket for home and renovation goods

Let's say you are the owner of a supermarket for household goods and repairs. An average of eight hundred people enter your store per day (special devices on the doors allow you to keep an accurate record of the number of visitors to the store, so there are no difficulties in obtaining such statistics). Of these, an average of 30% make a purchase. The average check is 1600 rubles. A client makes only one purchase with you per day (if we took a longer period - for example, considered data for six months - then most likely this coefficient - the number of transactions - would be equal to two or three - about as many

Nikolay Mrochkovsky, Andrey Parabellum

Introduction

Our book is not a theory. This is practice in its purest form.

In this book, we have collected the most universal and strongest recommendations, which for the most part will not require any serious financial investment from you.

Nikolai Mrochkovsky(ultrasaLes.ru)

Andrew Parabellum(infobusiness2.ru)

Sales: system or case?

In this book, we offer you a radically different approach. Build your next business sales system:

♦ controlled - so that you clearly understand what effect each step gives;

♦ transparent – all elements must be clearly defined and understandable;

♦ well-adjusted - each element of the system must be adjusted - perhaps more than once, but so that it works on autopilot - with minimal involvement of the director;

Five key ingredients

To implement a sales system in your business, you need to clearly understand the five main components - each of which must be of the highest quality:

♦ Inflow - potential customers who learn about your company in some way.

♦ First purchase - how do you turn a potential customer into a real one.

♦ Average check - how much an average client leaves at your checkout (or what is the amount of an average transaction).

♦ Repeat sales - how you work with regular customers.

♦ Profit - how much profit you make from sales.

The formula that every businessman must know by heart

Profit = Sales × Margin (M),

where margin is the percentage of your profit from the cost of production.

Sales volume = number of customers × average revenue per customer.

On the other hand, the number of clients = K × Cv,

Where TO- the number of potential (learned about you) customers; CV- conversion rate (how many of the potential customers who know about you turn into real ones).

Average revenue per client = $ × #,

where $ is the average purchase; # - the number of transactions (customer purchases for the period).

In total we get:

Sales volume = leads × Cv × $ × #.

Profit = M × sales = M × leads × Cv × $ × #,

under the generally accepted term in international practice leads we will understand the number of potential customers.

Now the process of increasing sales is nothing more than working on increasing each of these ratios. And building a system is about setting up clear executable processes in each of these areas.

In what order to start work?

At the same time, for example, increasing the conversion rate from 3% to 4% will eventually lead to an increase in total sales by more than 30%.

To better understand how this happens, let's look at a few examples.

Example #1: A supermarket for home and renovation goods

It turns out:

leads=800

Cv = 30%

$ = 1600 rubles

Total sales per day = leads × Cv × $ × # = 384,000 rubles.

With a margin of 30% profit per day = 115,200 rubles.

CV up to 35%.

Now daily sales volume = leads × Cv × $ × # = 448,000 rubles.

With a margin of 30% daily profit = 134,400 rubles. That is, 19,200 rubles more than in the first case!

Example #2 Wholesale

We get for one manager:

leads = 1500

CV = 2 %

$ = 120,000 rubles

Total Quarterly Sales = leads × Cv × $ × # = 7,200,000 rubles.

If we have four sales managers in the sales department, the sales volume of the entire department is 28,800,000 rubles, respectively.

With an increase in conversion from 2 to 3%, we get an increase in sales by 3,600,000 rubles.

Example #3. Online Health Products Store

An average of 2,000 people visit your site every day. Of these, an average of 4% make a purchase. The average check is 1200 rubles. A customer makes only one purchase per day.

It turns out:

leads = 200 °Cv = 4%

$ = 1200 rubles

Total sales per day = leads × Cv × $ × # = 96,000 rubles.

Now imagine that, having worked out a system for converting potential customers into real ones, you have achieved an increase in CV from 4 to 5% (that is, out of a hundred people who visit your site, on average, five instead of four people make a purchase).

Now daily sales volume = Leads × Cv × $ × # = 120 000.

That is, by increasing this ratio from 4% to 5%, you have achieved an increase in sales by as much as 25%!

By the way, by increasing each of the coefficients by 15%, you will double the profitability of your business.

Thus, if before your profit was, for example, 10,000 dollars a month, now it will become 20,000.

If you work seriously and achieve a doubling of each coefficient, the profit will increase thirty-two times! $10,000 turns into $320,000!

Of course, doubling all odds is by no means an easy task. Most likely, it will take you far from one month and even more than one year. But, as you can see, the result is worth it.

Therefore, the first key thing in increasing a company's profits is to work on these five ratios. Each of them can be enlarged. And often very significant.

The myth of the magic pill

At this stage, we have to upset you a little by revealing one important secret:

There is no magic way, the implementation of which would immediately increase your profits by one hundred percent. However, there are hundreds of methods that will result in a few percent increase in profits or sales.

By implementing all of them (or at least a small part), you will achieve the desired profits.

The good news is that by using various technologies to increase key ratios, you will achieve a cumulative effect - when each factor individually will bring a small increase in profits or sales, but when implemented together, they will bring you many times better results.

In the following chapters, we will take a detailed look at the various ways, strategies, techniques, and tricks to increase each of the key ratios.

System development sequence

Naturally, it is not always an easy task to increase one coefficient. And in each particular business, its coefficient may turn out to be more “cheaper”. However, for most companies, the most optimal sequence for developing a sales system is as follows:

Margin × Average Check × Conversion × Repeat Sales × Inflow.

The easiest way to get additional profit is to work with margin, since this is the only ratio that directly affects your profit. There are a number of special methods for this, which we will discuss in the following chapters.

Now let's move on to sales.

The first, easiest and cheapest way to increase sales is to work with the average check. You can increase it in a number of ways, one of the fastest is to start offering customers who have already made a purchase from you to take something else “in the appendage”. Often, many customers will agree to such a purchase.

The second most difficult is the increase conversion rate. One of the most important factors in its increase is the people who directly “close” sales. In many cases, calls from potential customers are answered by a clueless secretary who discourages customers from buying something. By simply eliminating this weak link, you can significantly increase sales. Naturally, I'm not talking about eliminating the secretary in the literal sense, but about replacing a stupid employee with a more or less adequate one, able to answer a potential client according to a pre-prepared script.

The third factor to think about is number of transactions. Think about how you can get your customers to come to you and make purchases again and again. Ideally, it is desirable to put the client on a regular subscription fee. Then the work done once to attract customers will bring you money all the time.

And last on the list is the increase the number of potential customers. Usually here the main resource is various advertising moves, often eating up huge budgets.

Thus, in order of increasing “high cost”, the coefficients are arranged as follows.

2. Average sale.

3. Conversion rate.

4. Number of transactions.

5. The number of potential customers (leads).

Therefore, before investing a lot of money in dubious advertising, think: maybe it’s much more profitable for you to work on other coefficients first?

P.S. If your business is at an early stage or you are currently experiencing financial difficulties, you should start working with the first ratios. And only then, having earned additional money on this, use it to increase more “expensive” coefficients.

P. P. S. If there are no clients at all, then, of course, you need to start by creating an incoming stream - that is, increasing leads. Otherwise, there will simply be no one to sell.

What is marketing and can you live without it?

There are many definitions of marketing. Once I was at Igor Mann's seminar, where he gave more than thirty different definitions of this term. The one I remember best was the one given by the Catholic Church: "Marketing is love for your neighbor, with which you receive God's grace in the form of profit."

However, I prefer the simplest definition: marketing is about attracting and retaining customers. Or, to put it even more simply, marketing is everything you do to help sell your product or service.

Let's assume that working to increase all profit-contributing ratios is marketing.

The question arises: is it possible to live without marketing? Is it possible to live without studying it, without tracking and working on ratios that increase profits?

I'll give you an example. You have probably heard of the great luminary of marketing science, Philip Kotler. He once spoke in America at a large sales and marketing conference, where a huge number of people gathered.

During his speech, Kotler addressed the audience from the stage: "Please raise your hand to those who believe that he does not need marketing, that he is doing well and he will live perfectly without it." Accordingly, expecting that no one will raise their hand, he is preparing to say that everyone needs marketing.

Indeed, no one raised their hands. And as soon as Kotler approached the microphone to say the next phrase, one hand went up. Kotler asked in some bewilderment: “Tell me, what do you do that you don’t need marketing at all?” To which the conference participant, who raised his hand, replied that he was the director of the Suez Canal.

And if you are the director of the Suez Canal, then most likely you can live without marketing - simply because there is no alternative to it in the market and you are the only service provider. You can live without marketing when you enter a new niche where demand is many times greater than supply, but in this case you should be very careful, because this situation changes very quickly. Usually, even if you enter a niche where there is almost no competition, the situation changes very quickly and competitors come. And then without marketing you just can't survive!

Thus, if your company is a natural monopoly, then you may not need marketing. If your business belongs to any other category, then marketing is necessary. And you need to work on increasing key ratios.

Whatever you don't measure, you don't control

However, before jumping directly into the strategies and tactics for increasing key ratios, you need to start measuring them if you are not already doing so.

It is important to understand the following fact:

What you don't measure, you don't control!

That is, if you start to introduce this or that technology in your business, but do not regularly measure the performance of your business, you will imagine what effect you got at the level of “good” or “bad”, but nothing more. Accurate measurements and careful recording of all indicators are necessary for a clear business development.

Measurement of key indicators in any business should be carried out at least once a week, and for companies with a large number of daily sales - daily.

Note

Athletes and coaches have known for a long time that simply constantly measuring results increases those same results. If an athlete used to run just like that, and now he began to mark his result in the training log every day, then his performance begins to grow.

The same thing happens in business. The very fact that you start measuring all your indicators will increase the efficiency of your business.

How to measure indicators correctly

A serious mistake in the control of indicators is an attempt to measure the results immediately after the introduction of several chips. For example, you simultaneously advertised in several targeted magazines and newspapers, where you indicated one phone number, plus you started distributing flyers at the nearest large shopping center. Naturally, it will be very difficult to understand which of the campaigns worked.

Another example is when you simultaneously started using several new techniques to get the customer to leave more money at the checkout. At the end of the week, you determine the size of the average check. Let's say it grew by 10%. This, of course, is great, but it will not be easy to understand due to what exactly this happened, and to draw conclusions - that is, to determine what should be worked on more seriously.

Therefore, the correct approach to measuring indicators is as follows: you introduce one new feature and measure the results of its use, after which you analyze what effect it has brought. Then do the same with the next method, and so on.

We measure before, implement, measure after, draw conclusions, take on the next indicator.

Work assignment

Identify three main sources of customers in your business. For example, it can be a website, an advertisement in a local newspaper, and an advertisement on the radio.

Calculate, at least approximately, five key coefficients for each of the sources:

1. How many potential customers come to you (or call)?

2. What proportion of them, on average, make a purchase?

3. What is the average cost of this purchase?

4. What is your margin and profit per average sale?

5. How often during a period (for example, a month, a quarter or a year) does a customer make purchases from you?

Increasing sales profit

In this chapter, we will explore different methods of margin increase. As you already know from the previous chapter, margin is the only ratio that directly affects the profit you make. All other coefficients, as components of sales volume, are the second stage.

And working with margin is one of the easiest and "cheapest" ways to increase the profitability of your business.

Many methods do not require almost any financial investment at all.

Unobvious laws of pricing

One of the most important and non-obvious things in business is this: the lowest price is not always the best. Classical economic theories say that when the price rises, demand falls, and vice versa - the lower the price, the higher the demand for a product. In reality, this is by no means always the case.

Let's turn to a specific example. It's taken from a wonderful book. Roberta Cialdini The Psychology of Influence, which we highly recommend reading for all people involved in sales.

“Finally, in the evening, before leaving on business out of town, my friend hurriedly scrawled an angry note to her head saleswoman: “x for 1/2 the price of all turquoise”, hoping to simply get rid of the already disgusting items, even at the cost of loss.

When she returned a few days later, she was not surprised to find that all the turquoise pieces had been sold. However, she was amazed to learn that because her clerk read “2” instead of “1/2”, the whole lot was sold for double the price!”

Why did customers act so irrationally? To understand this, you need to understand the behavior of different types of customers.

What do your customers want - price? quality? result?

Regardless of where and what you sell, you will always come across three main types of customers:

Looking for the lowest price

The first and most common type of customers are those for whom the most important thing is the price. The only reason they make a buying decision is the best price. It only makes sense to fight for such customers if you really position yourself as the supplier with the lowest prices.

Some companies have been very successful in taking this approach. For example, "Auchan", due to gigantic volumes, offers prices that are killer for any other business.

For many companies choosing the path of the cheapest, a very serious problem arises - competitors also begin to reduce prices at the expense of their profits. The price race begins. At the same time, a significant reduction in costs is required, sometimes the transfer of production to countries with cheap labor, a decrease in margins with an increase in sales volumes.

Also, how many suppliers can offer the lowest price? Only one. It is far from certain that it will be you.

In general, the game "we have the lowest prices" very often turns out to be a loser. Especially for small businesses that are not able to pull out prices due to the large volume of sales.

The good news is that there are still not very many clients of this type. If you have more than 20% of such customers, it means that you have a big problem with pricing. You need to raise the price urgently.

Professionals

The second type is professional clients. Their goal is to get the maximum number of pluses for the least amount of money. They are well versed in the product and optimize not money, but the result. If the first type of customers is looking for the lowest price and quality is practically not important to them, then the second type is interested in getting the maximum result for their money.

For such buyers, additional bonuses and gifts work very well. Moreover, the paradox is that often bonuses that have nothing to do with your product work much better - trips, umbrellas, popcorn as a gift, and so on. In B2B sales, such bonuses are often actually legal kickbacks.

Professional buyers tend to be in the majority, especially in the B2B segment.

Result today

The third type of clients are those who are looking for results today. They need to fix the problem and do it as soon as possible. This trait is especially characteristic of male clients.

For these people, the guarantee of the result and the speed of delivery are important. If such a client comes to you, then most likely he has already decided to purchase what he needs from you. And here it is necessary not to interfere, but competently help to choose the most suitable option for a product or service.

Imagine that you are selling water. And a client comes running to you: “Our house is on fire, I need water, urgently!” The question of finding the best price from competitors does not even arise. Just have time to ship as much as they ask.

This is the most pleasant type of customers - usually they have the least problems with them, and the purchase decision is made as quickly as possible. Perhaps such a person will ask for a discount, but more for decency. Simply because he is used to asking about discounts - what if they give him?

Unfortunately, there are usually not very many such clients.

Price testing

In this book, we will not go deep into the details of why people's psychology is arranged in such a way that the same product, but offered at a higher price, is often perceived as being of higher quality (for more details, see Robert Cialdini's book "The Psychology of Influence").

In many cases, at a slightly higher price, there will be more demand for your product or service.

The question arises - how to find the optimal and psychologically comfortable price for people? The answer is simple - it is also determined experimentally: you need to set a price and see how much sales have increased or fallen.

That is, if you are selling a product for 300 rubles today, then you need to test different options - 310-333-350-390-490 rubles and so on.

How does such testing take place? Very simple - one day you change the price tags in the store (or on the website) and see how sales have changed. If you fall, discard this option. At some point, you will find the very best price.

Raising prices - a path to the abyss or an opportunity?

In many companies, this is one of the fastest and easiest ways to increase profits. At the same time, most businessmen are very afraid to take this simple step - to raise prices. “My clients won’t understand this!” is the standard objection we hear.

In fact, very often the client may not even notice the price increase.

For example, if your product costs 4060 rubles, then the fact that you put 4180, the number of sales, most likely, will not change. And you get an additional 120 rubles of net profit from each sale.

It looks like nonsense - an increase in sales by some 3%. But let's look at it from the other side: with a margin of 20%, the profit from each sale of 4060 rubles was 812 rubles. Now, by raising the price, we have increased the profit by another 120 rubles, that is, by all 15%!!!

So, by raising the price by 3%, we achieved a fivefold increase in profits - by as much as 15%!

Let's look at another example - when our product, on the contrary, is very cheap.

Let it cost 40 rubles, a margin of 30% = 12 rubles of profit from each sold unit of production.

The business owner decides to raise the price to 48 rubles (usually, if it is not a commodity of daily demand, such as bread or milk, the buyer will hardly notice such a price change). That is, they seem to have raised the price by 20% - by only 8 rubles - but this is again an additional net profit. Instead of 12 rubles of profit, the company receives 20 - that is, an increase in profits by 60%!

Bottom line: even a small price increase usually leads to a noticeable increase in profits.

Prices and departing customers

There is another point that must be taken into account. When you increase your price by, say, 10-15% and lose 10% of your customers who stop buying because of the price increase, you can still win.

For example, your company provides Internet access services to individuals. The cost of the package is 400 rubles per month. At the same time, let's say that 500 new subscribers connect to you every month (for simplicity, we will not talk about current customers, although, of course, they also need to be taken into account). That is, every month the volume of sales to new customers is 200,000 rubles.

Now let's imagine that you increased the price for new customers by 15%, and now the monthly cost of the package is 460 rubles. As a result of this action, 10% fewer people came to you every month, that is, 450 people. The resulting sales volume is 460 x 450 = 207,000. That is, you not only did not lose, but also turned out to be a winner.

In addition, you must consider reducing the cost of connecting and maintaining these 50 customers, which will bring you additional profit.

It often turns out to be more profitable to lose some customers, while increasing the margin.

Detachment from competitors

Raising the price can be an effective way to set yourself apart from your competitors.

For example, let's say you are selling a $700,000 Rolls-Royce. And you decide to lower the price to 550,000 in order to outperform your competitors. What effect does this have on buyers? Do you think they are happy to jump on the cheap option? Sometimes this is what happens. But for a significant part of customers, the price reduction raises suspicion: why is it so cheap?

Now let's say you raise your price to 900,000. What is the first thing you hear from your customers? "Why is it so expensive?"

It is extremely difficult to keep the attention of the client in order to talk about your product. People don't like being "loaded". In this option, you get a client ready to listen. And you can tell why it is profitable for him to buy goods from you and at that price.

Remember for yourself: you probably had cases when in some store you met a product that stood out from a number of analogues at a noticeably higher price. At least he's interested. I would like to know why it is so expensive.

With a low price, you need to run after customers in an attempt to tell them about your product. When the price is high, customers begin to approach you and ask why it is so expensive.

New price

If you've been to supermarkets like IKE A, you've probably seen crossed out prices. For example:

499

The buyer is under the impression that he can now purchase the same product at a much better price. However, this is often nothing more than an illusion - the product has always been sold at a price of 399 rubles, and line 499 was created only to create the appearance of a benefit.

And I must say that it works! The largest retail hypermarkets do not just put a price tag with a crossed out price on almost every product. They know that if you present the cost of the goods to the client in this form, then they start buying more!

You can do the same in your business. But do not forget that here everything needs to be tested. One day, change the price tag to one of your best sellers and see the result. Then try another option, on the third day - another one. And measure the results every time. You will soon find the option that is best for your business.

P.S. Often even seemingly absurd things work. Let's say you sell not through dealers, but to end consumers, and the cost of your product or service is 200 rubles. Try doing this in the "new price special offer" format:

300

New price

This sounds extremely counterintuitive, but it often works, allowing you to increase margins. The most interesting thing is that you are not fooling anyone: the price is really new.

And if one of the old customers says: “But yesterday there were 200”, he can be answered: “Only for you, as for a regular customer, we will make a discount and allow you to purchase for 200 rubles.”

Anecdote on the topic

Why do you have sheep?

- 10 kopecks each.

- And in the bakery opposite they are 7 kopecks!

So go there and buy them there!

“They don’t have bagels now.

- When I don’t have bagels, I sell them for 5 kopecks apiece!

The hidden method of increasing the margin works quite well - when you indirectly stimulate the buyer to buy not one unit of the product, but several at once.

Buy 10... and we'll deliver them to your door for free!

Buy 3 - get ... for free!

Active offer of highly profitable goods

If you know that people mainly come to you to buy some kind of product with a low margin, offer them something with a high markup in addition.

At McDonald's, for a hamburger, on which the company earns practically nothing, they always offer potatoes and Coca-Cola, the cost of which is less than a ruble per glass (and the retail price is about 30 rubles).

If you're selling laptops, add printers, scanners, keyboards, mice, and so on.

If you are an Internet service provider, suggest that the client also connect expensive channels.

Shareware offers

Offer clients a first consultation on any issue in your industry in a shareware format.

For example, the cost of a consultation is $ 100, but if a client then makes a purchase from you, then this amount is returned to him back (or rather, it counts towards this purchase). Thus, for his $100, the client gives you an hour of his time for you to sell something to him.

By the way, this move immediately cuts off freeloading customers who do not want to buy anything and are just wasting your time.

Unusual options for increasing margins

Here are some unconventional ways to increase margins that look absolutely crazy but work.

Let's say you sell coffee and muffins. Coffee costs 90 rubles, a bun 40 rubles. You can write: "Special offer - coffee + bun = 150 rubles." And some customers will buy simply because people are used to it: a special offer is profitable.

In fact, ninety percent of purchases are made unconsciously. So don't be surprised! Naturally, this will not work well in sales of expensive and complex goods, where the buyer clearly knows the market price of each item.

Once I saw a stall that sold DVDs. It had a large yellow sign on it, with an absolutely gorgeous special offer written in huge type - “Sale! Buy 3 discs for the price of 4 and get 1 free!

I was not too lazy and even asked them if there really was an effect from this move. They answered me: “What else!” A certain part of customers gladly took advantage of the “accidentally turned up” opportunity to make a bargain.

Note by N. Mrochkovsky

The text formula that makes your customers drop everything and buy right now - UPOD

If you want to get the maximum response to an offer to customers (whether it be advertising in the media, postal or e-mail intended for current customers, or a commercial offer for the B2B market) - so that customers run to the ATM to withdraw the last money and send it to you, then you need to use the UPOD formula in selling texts: the offer must have three mandatory components.

killer offer

The key to writing strong sentences is to push the client's emotions, not their logic. On the feelings that he experiences when he does not have your product. And in contrast to this, you need to describe his own feelings after the purchase. And you should do it in such a way that the person reading the sentence understands: “This is about me!”

Limitation

Supply limit - usually by time (although a quantity limit works well too). In the absence of a shortage, 95% of people will look at your proposal and say: "I'm interested in this, but I'll think about it." Naturally, most will think forever and never buy your product.

But if you show that this super offer can only be used now, and tomorrow it will be more expensive (or the offer will disappear altogether), then a significant part of customers will make a purchase so as not to miss their chance.

Example

Only from March 22 to March 27 you can purchase our product with a special 15% discount + get it as a gift… Only 25 sets participate in the promotion. Don't miss your chance to get a great product at an incredibly low price!

Call to action

Often in the selling text everything is described just fine, but it is completely incomprehensible what needs to be done right now. Yes, I like the product, yes, I want to buy it. But what to do? Who to call, where to run?

You need to give very clear instructions: “Call this number right now”, “Click here” (in the case of a website), and so on.

Do you think your customers are smart and will understand everything themselves? By no means! Write texts as if Homer Simpson will read them. And you will see how much the response to ads will increase.

Separately, you should pay attention to contacts - the phone number or site to which you draw the attention of the client: they should be indicated in large print, and not in small letters in the corner of the ad.

In general, if you're writing copy using the LOA formula, you're creating a compelling reason for the customer to buy "right now."

Here is a letter that we received from one of our clients after another competent action, the proposal in which was drawn up according to these principles: “Participation in this training did not fit into my plans, financial and temporary, but your manager competently pressed me.

The money had to be borrowed. I had to give up on the guaranteed skipping of part of the classes and the need to practically spend the night at work. On the wife - cycle. In short, I am delighted with your sales service. I would like this…”

Surcharge for urgency

One of the very simple ways to increase the margin on your products or services is to make a special option "for urgency".

For example, a standard production cycle from order to delivery takes one week. But if suddenly a client appears who needs it immediately, you do not deny him the opportunity to buy and get additional profit for fulfilling an urgent order.

So, using urgency surcharges, you can say, "OK, if you need it at the standard price - we'll do it within a week, if you need it in two days - we can do it, but the cost will increase by fifty percent." In such a situation, customers understand that they are overpaying precisely for urgency and comfort. Moreover, they are usually willing to pay for it.

This technique is actively used in various fields of activity. There are entire industries where the whole business is based only on this, such as courier services that charge ten times as much to deliver the goods not in three weeks by mail, but in three days. For most other industries, this is a great way to increase margins and sales.

For example, in the office furniture niche, there is a large segment of customers who are “urgently moving”. These are people (or companies) who knew that they needed to move sometime, but for a number of reasons (they forgot, they didn’t have time, something didn’t work out yet) they missed the right moment, and tomorrow or the day after tomorrow they need to move to a new office or apartment And, accordingly, they urgently need furniture, which just as urgently needs to be purchased and brought. Most furniture companies will not do anything in two or three days to order, but there are companies that offer a similar service with a surcharge for urgency. “Do you have to move tomorrow? Great! We will make the necessary furniture and bring it, but it will cost 40% more.”

A similar principle has long been accepted in the market for the design of various documents. If you want to get a visa, you can collect all the documents yourself, or you can entrust it to other people who will prepare and execute everything. You only need to get a ready-made visa, but, accordingly, overpay for urgency. Of course, in addition you will receive service and comfort.

Look at your products: what and how you can do faster than your competitors, and how much you can raise the price for it.

This is a very simple way to increase profits, since it usually does not require almost any additional investment. You simply take and raise the price for an urgent order and, accordingly, find a contractor who is ready to do it faster for big money, working, say, in two shifts, or you hire a second shift that will work at night, and so on.

Surcharge for customization for the client

If you have some product with standard parameters (length, width, color, shape), but at the same time it is possible to change these parameters for the client, and he is ready to overpay for it, this is also a great way to increase margin. You can offer both standard standard product models and additional customization options for the client.

For example, there is furniture in standard sizes, but if you need a bed twenty centimeters longer - no problem, they can do it for you, but you, accordingly, will pay 20% of the cost of a standard bed.

Car dealerships always offer cars in both standard colors (usually three to five to choose from) and additional ones, which you can also choose by paying some amount (be it 25,000 rubles or 1.5% of the cost of the car). This is an option that practically does not incur additional costs for either the manufacturer or the seller, but at the same time allows you to increase the margin due to the fact that people understand that the product is designed for them, and they are ready to pay for it.

Nike has a whole direction: you can go to the site and order sneakers, choosing all the characteristics for yourself - the colors of all details, including laces, and other points. That is, literally order an exclusive model that you came up with yourself. And they will make it for you! Naturally, it will be one and a half to two times more expensive than sneakers of standard modifications, but it will be done for you. And people are willing to pay for it!

Look at your products and services and think about how you can customize them for customers and, accordingly, make an additional margin on this, that is, receive additional profit due to the fact that you will become more qualitative in your product range, focusing on the consumer.

This method can be used almost everywhere! That is why it is very important to communicate with customers more often in order to better understand what they want, what additional interesting options or services you can offer them.

Possibility to pay immediately, in any convenient way

Although this point does not directly relate to increasing margins, it is really important.

Clients make decisions emotionally. And if they want to buy right now, you need to give them this opportunity. Tomorrow half will change their minds. Eighty percent will change their mind in a week.

The next chip refers, first of all, to those areas of activity that use the Internet to receive orders and pay for goods.

The bottom line is that you can have the best product, great advertising and lead generation, great sales letters. But if the client cannot quickly and conveniently pay for it your product or service, all your hard work will crash against this wall like sea waves against rocks.

You can, of course, allow payment only by credit card, or by bank transfer, or using the Internet (Yandex-money and webmoney) - there are practically no restrictions on this today. But the problem is that:

You will lose a significant proportion of customers if you do not provide a payment method that they are familiar with and love.

That is, not allowing you to pay for goods using, for example, Internet money, you will instantly lose the lion's share of buyers for whom this method is the main one.

Frustrated customers trying to get your great product and not being able to pay for it will curse your carelessness with every word they know.

The ideal way is to use payment systems such as RBC-money (www.rbkmoney.ru), assist (www.assist.ru) and so on, which allow you to accept payments for products and services by all available methods - bank transfer (for example, a client can come to the nearest Sberbank branch with a printed receipt and pay for what he bought), plastic cards, payment terminals, money transfer systems, Internet money, and so on.

Result Guaranteed

The margin on the guarantee is very high, because a very small percentage of people will use it and return the goods for a refund. But the number of consumers who, precisely because of the presence of a guarantee, will make a purchase decision is very significant.

There are different types of guarantees in different fields of activity.

When buying a computer or other household appliances, a person often receives a one-year warranty from the manufacturer.

Rice. 1. An example of a warranty offered at Castorama, a home improvement and renovation hypermarket

Some stores give an additional guarantee for fourteen days, and during this time, if there is a check, it is possible to return the product that you did not like.

You can give a guarantee regardless of the reasons - for example, for sixty days. During this time, it is possible to return the goods for any reason (for example, we do this when selling our products and services - see http://infobusiness2.ru/ and http://uLtrasaLes.ru/).

If you give a guarantee, then in many cases the increase in sales will cover the possible costs. But everything needs to be calculated and tested. What works in one area will not work in another.

An example of a well-formulated guarantee is the story of two brothers who organized a pizzeria in one of the American universities and guaranteed the delivery of hot pizza in thirty minutes.

They didn't guarantee the quality of the food or the special recipe, just the timing. If the time period was not respected, then the pizza was delivered free of charge. True, this practice was later canceled due to the possibility of road accidents caused by the rush of drivers delivering pizza. But for several years in a row, they opened pizzerias at various universities and colleges, using this guarantee alone, and made billions in profits.

Now Domino Pizza is a world famous brand.

Task for study - we come up with a guarantee

Think about how you can guarantee your product or service.

After you have done this, test what effect this move will bring.

Increase in the amount of the average check

The second ratio worth considering is the average sale (or average check). Of the remaining ratios, this is the fastest way to increase sales.

The client bought - offer more

One of the fastest ways to get additional sales is through the cross-sell (or upsell) system.

What is the essence of this system?

It is known that selling something "in the appendage" to a person who has just made a purchase is an order of magnitude easier than to a new client. Of course, this should be used.

How exactly? Start offering customers something else of your products or services along with the main purchase. Ideally, do it with an additional discount or bonuses.

Naturally, not everyone will buy, but many will want to purchase additional products or services that you offer them!

Example: if you come to McDonald's and buy a drink, they will definitely offer you a pie, potatoes or something else. Do you think the cashiers at the Mac are doing this out of deep sympathy for you personally? Not at all. This is a well-built cross-sell system. McDonald's knows that a certain proportion of people will react to this offer and buy something extra.

A simpler option is when the waiter in a cafe, after you have announced the order, asks: “Anything else?”, Or even better, offers some specific dishes from those that you have overlooked (for example, dessert).

If you buy a book from online stores like Amazon (www.amazon.com), you are immediately offered to buy it along with some other book, receiving a certain discount.

If a customer who has made an order is offered a product that complements the main purchase well for 30-50% of the base order value, on average 20-25% of customers will buy it with pleasure.

If you haven't done this yet, be sure to start using the cross-sell system in your business - and very soon you will see the additional sales that this method will bring. Moreover, it most likely will not require any additional investments from you.

Various options for additional offers

Using the technology described above, you can offer the following to the customer making the purchase:

1. More expensive item.

2. More items.

3. Related product.

Sell a more expensive product

With this strategy, you can sell more expensive mobile phones and computers, hotel rooms and travel packages, fertilizers and seedlings.

The main thing is to understand that when a person is aimed at buying, he just needs to offer to buy a more expensive product, and then briefly explain why this option is better (or rather, that the client will benefit if he purchases it). Even if you begin to apply this technique in such a simple form, you will soon see that it works wonders.

For example, when you come to a cafe, you ask for a mug of coffee, and the waiter immediately asks: "Big one?" You nod your head without hesitation and now you have already ordered a large mug of coffee, although, perhaps, in front of the doors of the establishment you were thinking about a small one. We believe it is clear that for a cafe the cost of a large and a small mug is almost the same, but the price for a client can easily differ by thirty to fifty percent.

Sell more product

Let's immediately give an example from life, which is familiar to any man. Imagine that you want to buy a bouquet of roses for your significant other. You go into the store, choose, show what you are interested in, and then name the quantity. The seller starts packing the flowers, and then, as if by chance, offers you to buy not five roses, but nine, citing a discount.

Here you, succumbing to an emotional outburst, imagine how surprised and flattered your beloved will be, and buy the proposed amount, after which you happily go on a date.

The girl is really surprised, but it’s not clear whether it’s because you came with flowers, or because instead of the standard three or five roses you bought nine. One thing you will now know for sure: the strategy "sell the customer more units of the product" was applied here.

In the same way, this strategy can work in your business, you just need to follow three basic steps:

After the sale has been made, you should offer the client to buy more goods, explaining this as a benefit to him, and then make a tempting offer to buy.

Simple, isn't it? And it does work!

Sell related product

Let's continue with the cafe examples. The waiter came up to you and you asked for a cup of coffee. The waiter repeats your order and asks: “What dessert would you like to serve with your coffee?” If you do not know, the waiter will be happy to tell you ... and now you are already eating tiramisu.

And the amount of your check has doubled.

This strategy makes it easy to sell computers with accessories, a car with air conditioning and an alarm, and a stove with a set of frying pans.

How to increase sales even more? Probably, many of you have already guessed that it is often possible to use not one, but two, or even all three strategies at once.

Just imagine how the profit of the same flower shop will increase if the seller offers each client to buy not ordinary roses for 100 rubles, but more beautiful roses for 120, and in addition, packed not in cellophane, but in a colored mesh.

And if we are talking about ordering a cigar in a restaurant, then the waiter can offer a glass of good cognac and a chocolate bar for a snack.

The most important thing is to try, experiment and act!

Basic solutions and additional options

The main products and services of various providers are usually similar. But the offers you make may contain many additional services, programs, systems, conditions that increase the value of the main product and provide additional value to customers.

Examples of additional options

Services

Fulfillment: guaranteed availability, prompt delivery, installation, training, maintenance, disposal and recycling.

Maintenance: specification, testing and analysis, troubleshooting, calibration, performance improvement.

Programs

Economic: terms and conditions, discounts, rebates and bonuses, quality guarantee, return guarantee, cost savings guarantee.

Collaboration: advice and consulting, design, process engineering, product and process redesign, cost and performance analysis, joint marketing research, joint marketing and advertising.

Systems

Automation: web-based order management, automatic replenishment and resource planning, enterprise or project management computer system.

Efficiency: Internet support, expert systems and directories, centralized management, control and rapid response systems.

It is common to combine additional services and the main product, that is, the offers state: "Buying our product, you get a 24-hour support line, warranty, free shipping, and so on." As a result, when purchasing the main product, customers usually receive such services for free and often without any restrictions on use.

The problem is that many people do not need such options at all, and it is not clear why they should pay for them, while others see that they do not receive the necessary specialized services, for which they are willing to pay more.

And these services you should consider from the following points of view:

1. What is their value to customers?

2. Why are they valuable to some clients but not to others?

3. How can they be a source of your advantage?

Key point: even if most of the requirements and wishes for your offer are the same among customers, there are always requirements that differ. Most providers ignore such preferences. But they can be the source of your flexibility and uniqueness!

How can this be implemented? Separate basic solutions and additional options.

A basic solution is a necessary minimum of goods and services that all customers in a niche appreciate. By deleting all additional options, the basic solution allows you to make an offer with a very "delicious" price for those customers who want to get the minimum at the minimum price.

1. They are improvements to products and services that some, but NOT all, customers appreciate.

2. Offered individually to those customers who are willing to pay for them.

Very often, some services (training, installation of equipment, retooling, and so on) are excellent candidates for optionality. Especially if you, communicating with clients, hear from them that they do not really appreciate such a service.

You test it - make it optional and paid, and look at the reaction of consumers.

Example - a holding trading in chemicals for agriculture

In addition to the production of the chemicals themselves, the holding offers a lot of additional services - laboratory support, consulting and research under the customer's working conditions, special seminars, and so on. These are additional and very expensive services.

Moreover, the holding offers many levels of service for each service. If a customer purchases the minimum number of core products annually, they receive a basic level of service along with the standard offer.

If the client wants to get additional options, he either increases the volume of orders or pays for them separately.

How to display services from the base offer to options?

There are no problems for new customers - you can only offer them a fresh version of the offer. For old ones, it makes sense to make a smooth transition.

Specify additional services separately on the invoice. Their cost is zero, but it's worth writing with a strikethrough to make it look like this:

Additional option 1300 rubles 0

Customers are getting used to seeing these services separately, and not as part of an overall package. Then you separate them into separate paid options.

Many companies do not want to introduce paid options for fear of losing customers. In fact, when you make a basic version that turns out to be noticeably cheaper, while still offering additional options, such a move allows you to find new customers due to the greater flexibility of the offer. Plus, this allows you to focus on those segments and customers that bring maximum profit.

It often works very well to create multiple versions of a product tailored to different types of customers:

1. Clients who care about the price - the basic version with a minimum of options and a low price (for example, air discounters like SkyExpress). It is often possible to reduce the price by 10-20% and compete already on it, with the help of advertising actively informing consumers that you have the cheapest household appliances.

2. Clients who value speed and availability - options related to fast delivery, ongoing support (twenty-four hours). An example with an additional option in the form of an urgent production of office furniture, we have already taken apart.

3. Customers for whom customization is important - options for refining products or services to specific requirements.

4. Customers who need to urgently solve the problem - a full range of services.

If there were no basic solution, then for customers of the first type, who want cheapness without additional services, it would be necessary to reduce the price of the entire offer. But then other clients, including those who use the services, would also demand this, which would most likely turn out to be unprofitable.

Some examples of additional options

1. Fast delivery.

2. Maintenance (since it is not offered to everyone, there is no need to keep a large staff and a lot of equipment - we adapt to orders).

3. Flexibility of the volume offer. If there is none, then customers are required to order goods for a full car load, a whole tank or container. Saving logistics costs.

4. Placing orders through the site is cheaper than by phone (the client does it himself, we save the employee's work time). Savings on personnel and storage costs.

5. Once agreed, the delivery date cannot be changed without a surcharge of 5%. Rush surcharge 10%, cancellation fee 5%. This makes work scheduling more predictable.

6. Credit conditions - with or without receivables - affect the turnover of capital.

7. Customization - a standard set (color, equipment, and so on) or for the client.

8. Warranty - the possibility of returning goods under extended conditions.

The main product is the same for everyone, the only difference is in additional services - this can and should be played on.

Adding additional service options to your offer

Even if you can't break down your current offering into a basic version and options, think about what other products, services, and services you can offer. Such options can be found.

For example, a dental clinic offers dental treatment for 3,000 rubles. We add an option to this service - a re-examination in six months, which the client can pay immediately with a certain discount (in relation to the standard cost). Some customers will do this simply because they have the opportunity to make such a choice.

As a result, firstly, the amount of the average check increased. Secondly, it is clear that in six months some of the clients will not come (that is, they will not use the paid service). And some will come, and the doctor will recommend them to undergo further treatment - at least cover their teeth with fluorine varnish for prevention.

Shipping cost will not change...

If you sell consumer goods with delivery, then the following method works well - when the client has already collected a full "basket" of products, offer him something else, from which the cost of delivery will not change.

A good example of the use of this technique is the Ozon online store (www.ozon.ru). If you buy any goods in it, they show you how much the order weighs and how much you can add more without changing the shipping cost.

It is clear that out of a desire to save money, a number of customers will buy something else.

Free shipping

A similar way to manipulate delivery is as follows: when a certain purchase amount is reached, you offer customers free home delivery of products. If a person is a little short of the free shipping tier, in many cases they will decide to buy something else to get this option.

Help the client score MORE

If you are a retailer and the customer is able to pick up a lot of your merchandise, then it is imperative that you give him the opportunity to carry as much as possible. Otherwise, even if he wants to buy something else, he simply cannot do it, since he will not take away what he has acquired.

Supermarkets have long solved this problem by providing baskets and carts to customers. By the way, as soon as this technology was introduced, the amount of the average purchase increased dramatically.

End of introductory segment.

Our book is not a theory. This is practice in its purest form.

In this book, we have collected the most universal and strongest recommendations, which for the most part will not require any serious financial investment from you.

Nikolai Mrochkovsky(ultrasaLes.ru)

Andrew Parabellum(infobusiness2.ru)

P.S. If you find a new strategy that we haven't included in the book yet, send it to us at . We will definitely add it to the next edition and express our personal gratitude to you there for your help.

Sales: system or case?

In this book, we offer you a radically different approach. Build your next business sales system:

♦ controlled - so that you clearly understand what effect each step gives;

♦ transparent – all elements must be clearly defined and understandable;

♦ well-adjusted - each element of the system must be adjusted - perhaps more than once, but so that it works on autopilot - with minimal involvement of the director;

Five key ingredients

To implement a sales system in your business, you need to clearly understand the five main components - each of which must be of the highest quality:

♦ Inflow - potential customers who learn about your company in some way.

♦ First purchase - how do you turn a potential customer into a real one.

♦ Average check - how much an average client leaves at your checkout (or what is the amount of an average transaction).

♦ Repeat sales - how you work with regular customers.

♦ Profit - how much profit you make from sales.

The formula that every businessman must know by heart

Profit = Sales × Margin (M),

where margin is the percentage of your profit from the cost of production.

Sales volume = number of customers × average revenue per customer.

On the other hand, the number of clients = K × Cv,

Where TO- the number of potential (learned about you) customers; CV- conversion rate (how many of the potential customers who know about you turn into real ones).

Average revenue per client = $ × #,

where $ is the average purchase; # - the number of transactions (customer purchases for the period).

In total we get:

Sales volume = leads × Cv × $ × #.

Profit = M × sales = M × leads × Cv × $ × #,

under the generally accepted term in international practice leads we will understand the number of potential customers.

Now the process of increasing sales is nothing more than working on increasing each of these ratios. And building a system is about setting up clear executable processes in each of these areas.

In what order to start work?

At the same time, for example, increasing the conversion rate from 3% to 4% will eventually lead to an increase in total sales by more than 30%.

To better understand how this happens, let's look at a few examples.

Example #1: A supermarket for home and renovation goods

Current page: 1 (total book has 12 pages) [accessible reading excerpt: 8 pages]

Nikolay Mrochkovsky, Andrey Parabellum
Get everything out of business! 200 ways to increase sales and profits

Introduction

Our book is not a theory. This is practice in its purest form.

In this book, we have collected the most universal and strongest recommendations, which for the most part will not require any serious financial investment from you.

Nikolai Mrochkovsky(ultrasaLes.ru)

Andrew Parabellum(infobusiness2.ru)

Sales: system or case?

In this book, we offer you a radically different approach. Build your next business sales system:

♦ controlled - so that you clearly understand what effect each step gives;

♦ transparent – all elements must be clearly defined and understandable;

♦ well-adjusted - each element of the system must be adjusted - perhaps more than once, but so that it works on autopilot - with minimal involvement of the director;

Five key ingredients

To implement a sales system in your business, you need to clearly understand the five main components - each of which must be of the highest quality:

♦ Inflow - potential customers who learn about your company in some way.

♦ First purchase - how do you turn a potential customer into a real one.

♦ Average check - how much an average client leaves at your checkout (or what is the amount of an average transaction).

♦ Repeat sales - how you work with regular customers.

♦ Profit - how much profit you make from sales.

The formula that every businessman must know by heart

Profit = Sales × Margin (M),

where margin is the percentage of your profit from the cost of production.

Sales volume = number of customers × average revenue per customer.

On the other hand, the number of clients = K × Cv,

Where TO- the number of potential (learned about you) customers; CV- conversion rate (how many of the potential customers who know about you turn into real ones).

Average revenue per client = $ × #,

where $ is the average purchase; # - the number of transactions (customer purchases for the period).

In total we get:

Sales volume = leads × Cv × $ × #.

Profit = M × sales = M × leads × Cv × $ × #,

under the generally accepted term in international practice leads we will understand the number of potential customers.

Now the process of increasing sales is nothing more than working on increasing each of these ratios. And building a system is about setting up clear executable processes in each of these areas.

In what order to start work?

At the same time, for example, increasing the conversion rate from 3% to 4% will eventually lead to an increase in total sales by more than 30%.

To better understand how this happens, let's look at a few examples.

Example #1: A supermarket for home and renovation goods

It turns out:

leads=800

Cv = 30%

$ = 1600 rubles

Total sales per day = leads × Cv × $ × # = 384,000 rubles.

With a margin of 30% profit per day = 115,200 rubles.

CV up to 35%.

Now daily sales volume = leads × Cv × $ × # = 448,000 rubles.

With a margin of 30% daily profit = 134,400 rubles. That is, 19,200 rubles more than in the first case!

Example #2 Wholesale

We get for one manager:

leads = 1500

CV = 2 %

$ = 120,000 rubles

Total Quarterly Sales = leads × Cv × $ × # = 7,200,000 rubles.

If we have four sales managers in the sales department, the sales volume of the entire department is 28,800,000 rubles, respectively.

With an increase in conversion from 2 to 3%, we get an increase in sales by 3,600,000 rubles.

Example #3. Online Health Products Store

An average of 2,000 people visit your site every day. Of these, an average of 4% make a purchase. The average check is 1200 rubles. A customer makes only one purchase per day.

It turns out:

leads = 200 °Cv = 4%

$ = 1200 rubles

Total sales per day = leads × Cv × $ × # = 96,000 rubles.

Now daily sales volume = Leads × Cv × $ × # = 120 000.

That is, by increasing this ratio from 4% to 5%, you have achieved an increase in sales by as much as 25%!

By the way, by increasing each of the coefficients by 15%, you will double the profitability of your business.

Thus, if before your profit was, for example, 10,000 dollars a month, now it will become 20,000.

If you work seriously and achieve a doubling of each coefficient, the profit will increase thirty-two times! $10,000 turns into $320,000!

Of course, doubling all odds is by no means an easy task. Most likely, it will take you far from one month and even more than one year. But, as you can see, the result is worth it.

Therefore, the first key thing in increasing a company's profits is to work on these five ratios. Each of them can be enlarged. And often very significant.

The myth of the magic pill

At this stage, we have to upset you a little by revealing one important secret:

There is no magic way, the implementation of which would immediately increase your profits by one hundred percent. However, there are hundreds of methods that will result in a few percent increase in profits or sales.

By implementing all of them (or at least a small part), you will achieve the desired profits.

In the following chapters, we will take a detailed look at the various ways, strategies, techniques, and tricks to increase each of the key ratios.

System development sequence

Margin × Average Check × Conversion × Repeat Sales × Inflow.

Now let's move on to sales.

And last on the list is the increase the number of potential customers. Usually here the main resource is various advertising moves, often eating up huge budgets.

Thus, in order of increasing “high cost”, the coefficients are arranged as follows.

2. Average sale.

3. Conversion rate.

4. Number of transactions.

5. The number of potential customers (leads).

Therefore, before investing a lot of money in dubious advertising, think: maybe it’s much more profitable for you to work on other coefficients first?

P. P. S. If there are no clients at all, then, of course, you need to start by creating an incoming stream - that is, increasing leads. Otherwise, there will simply be no one to sell.

What is marketing and can you live without it?

However, I prefer the simplest definition: marketing is about attracting and retaining customers. Or, to put it even more simply, marketing is everything you do to help sell your product or service.

Let's assume that working to increase all profit-contributing ratios is marketing.

The question arises: is it possible to live without marketing? Is it possible to live without studying it, without tracking and working on ratios that increase profits?

Whatever you don't measure, you don't control

However, before jumping directly into the strategies and tactics for increasing key ratios, you need to start measuring them if you are not already doing so.

It is important to understand the following fact:

What you don't measure, you don't control!

Measurement of key indicators in any business should be carried out at least once a week, and for companies with a large number of daily sales - daily.

Note

Athletes and coaches have known for a long time that simply constantly measuring results increases those same results. If an athlete used to run just like that, and now he began to mark his result in the training log every day, then his performance begins to grow.

The same thing happens in business. The very fact that you start measuring all your indicators will increase the efficiency of your business.

How to measure indicators correctly

We measure before, implement, measure after, draw conclusions, take on the next indicator.

Work assignment

Identify three main sources of customers in your business. For example, it can be a website, an advertisement in a local newspaper, and an advertisement on the radio.

Calculate, at least approximately, five key coefficients for each of the sources:

1. How many potential customers come to you (or call)?

2. What proportion of them, on average, make a purchase?

3. What is the average cost of this purchase?

4. What is your margin and profit per average sale?

5. How often during a period (for example, a month, a quarter or a year) does a customer make purchases from you?

Increasing sales profit

And working with margin is one of the easiest and "cheapest" ways to increase the profitability of your business.

Many methods do not require almost any financial investment at all.

Unobvious laws of pricing

Let's turn to a specific example. It's taken from a wonderful book. Roberta Cialdini The Psychology of Influence, which we highly recommend reading for all people involved in sales.

Why did customers act so irrationally? To understand this, you need to understand the behavior of different types of customers.