Time To Boost Your Sales

It’s the last day of September. So, with October beginning tomorrow, business owners everywhere are preparing to enter the year’s fourth quarter. Generally, the last three months of the year are the busiest, and therefore, most important for any business. This is the time of year when owners are usually working to achieve greater sales and end the year off on a high note.

Clearly, it makes sense to concentrate on strong end-of-the-year sales as the holiday season is guaranteed to provide quite a boost. This doesn’t mean that business owners can simply lay back and take for granted that a sales spike is inevitable. Being diligent in ensuring that customers choose your products and services over the competition is a key to maximizing profits.

There are, of course, times of the year when sales slumps do occur. It is especially important that, during those times, business owners focus on ways to increase sales. However, the final quarter of the year is not one to ignore. Perhaps now, more than any other time of the year is when you should be thinking about having your best sales year yet.

Shari Waters of About.com agrees that boosting retail sales is something that store owners should be concerned about all year round. In a recent article posted on the website, Waters outlines a number of ways that this can be achieved. Whether it’s to increase traffic during slow seasons or to take advantage of the holiday rush, business owners should take measures to utilize these tips.

Investing in advertising is an integral step to take in boosting sales in your store. Many business owners remain concerned about their marketing budgets in the wake of the recent recession. However, it is arguable that there is a better way to overcome the stresses of the economic downturn than to advertise your business.

Waters insists that entrepreneurs should “advertise more”. Increasing marketing efforts can take place through a variety of avenues including newspaper ads, magazines and other specialty publications. Without consistently letting the public know that your store exists, how else will they know to shop there?

“Generate a buzz,” writes Waters, “Whenever anything noteworthy happens within your business, send a press release to the media. The idea is to grab any free coverage possible. Get involved with community events. Consider hosting classes, meetings or other networking events in your retail store. Use a unique promotional event to generate a buzz about your business.”

We will take a look at a few more of Waters’ tips in tomorrow’s blog. After all, tomorrow isn’t just the first day of October. It is also the first day of the last quarter of the year. It only makes sense to consider the ways in which you can make it your strongest quarter ever!