The study of intangible data, information, knowledge, and ideas have helped us craft careers and livelihoods around them in this information age.  But

Most small business either sell data, information, knowledge, or ideas. The following tips might help you find the niche your business is in.

• If your business comprises of collating numbers for customer surveys, managing someone’s itineraries, or transcribing voice into print, then your business falls under the selling data category.

• If your main source of revenue depends on compiling data into easily understandable charts, tables, and summaries, then your firm falls under the category of selling information. Moreover, this category also includes, but are not limited to doing research and mining data to reveal useful industry trends.

• If your business’ main mission is combine information to produce special reports, publish books, create videos, or design training seminars, then it definitely falls under the category of selling knowledge.

• If combining knowledge from different sources allows your business to create new approaches, craft strategies, formulate tangible action plans, and propose solutions, then it falls under the selling ideas category.

Based on my observations, most small businesses seem to fall under the ‘Selling Information’ category.

Selling information is very useful to any industry; which in turn means that selling information can be very profitable. On the other hand, being the profitable industry that it is, selling information means that there is also more competition. Businesses in the industry selling data, information, and knowledge are quickly getting more demands from their customer base. In turn, more and more businesses are setting up shop every day to cater to these needs.

From my experience, I see that the industries are moving from quantity to timely relevant quality. If you observe people around you, you would see that there are lots of people who still contract the services of a travel agent, just for very simple trips. Likewise, you would observe that people still love watching medical shows on the television even if there are lots of available medical information that can be found on the internet.

In this information age, almost anyone of us has access to any data or information that we need; yet, we still want experts to do most of the hard labor for us. Due to us being  time-poor and results-driven at the same time, we’d like to have an expert take care of these things. One example that I can think of is that if you need to fix a certain issue on your website, do you download in a crash course in HTML, or do you just have a web developer do it?  My thoughts, exactly.

Based on the current trends, I reckon that there will be needs on the following:

• We need people to make sense of the available data and information to create relevant knowledge that we can apply to our business.

• We need people who will make sense of data and information so that we can use these in our businesses.

•  We only need knowledge and ideas – on demand; just when we need them. We therefore need people who can make a relevant contribution to our business.

Have you considered how your business are going to meet these future needs?

One of the best tips that I can share with you is to move up the information value chain. Moving up not only adds more value to your products and services, but it also allows you to create a diverse portfolio of offerings.

The higher you move up the information value chain, the safer you will be from commodisation. Not only that, but you will also potentially increase your market differentiation.

Every year’s business planning session or goal setting workshop would always include the words “increase sales” or any derivative of it. Increasing sales, as a goal, entails having strategic plans to enhance the chances of getting the business you need. This enhancement, in turn, will be a stepping stone to attain your year’s goals.

Throughout the next twelve months, the business you will gather will be based on the number of potential customers you can successfully identify and qualify. This increase in business will also depend on the number of your approaches these prospects and the number of initial meets that you can schedule.

What’s more is that basing your strategic sales plans on attracting potential customers, instead of approaching them, will be determined by how many marketing activities you can partake in. These activities can involve, but are not limited to, showcasing your business and getting more ‘face-time’ that will attract more potential customers to your product or service.

Here are five effective ways on how to craft strategies to increase your sales.

Craft a Solid Action Plan

One of the key factors in increasing sales is that you have a solid action plan in place. Once implemented, this robust plan will deliver your needed volume of prospective customers that you can include in your sales pipeline. Always remember that action plans are always ‘SMART;’ specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-bound.

Identify What you Can Implement NOW

Another key to hitting the required sales increase, as specified in your yearly goal, is to find out what action plans or activities that you can implement today. Doing so will take you a few steps nearer your goal within a very short amount of time.

Increase Your ‘Face-Time’ with Customers

To start off, you can create a list of all the activities and organizations (whether they’re events, organizations, seminars, and such) that your target prospects will most likely be attending within the year. Attending these will be great opportunities to expand your network, make your business more known in the industry, and get to meet prospective clients all in one go. Don’t wait until the last minute, reserve yourself a seat today.

Increase Your Visibility in Media Channels

You can also start this action plan off by creating a list of all media resources that you can review on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis to further identify prospective customers. Once again, don’t wait until the last minute, get your subscription to these media channels today.

Implement action Plans that Attract Prospects

You can do this by identifying all the opportunities and taking part in activities that allow you to market your business. You can approach event organizers today and ask for the opportunity to address your target audience. You can also approach editors and journalists today and ask for the opportunity to write articles or get featured in a spot to better attract your target prospects.

If you find selling to a potential customer very taxing, then you would be in for a big surprise. You hate selling because your marketing strategies are weak.

For most business owners, the idea of selling to potential clients brings about a shiver on the spine. I think I’ve heard hundreds among hundreds of entrepreneurs say that selling isn’t really the best tool in their drawer. If I had a dollar every time I’ve heard that, then I would’ve just established a business

The reason most of us loathe selling is because we always put a negative connotation to it. When it comes to sales, we always imagine someone trying to sell us something that we don’t really need or want. We also relate sales to an image of an annoying and pushy salesperson that we usually see on television or on used car lots.  These images, however, are the opposite of what we want our potential customers to perceive us.

Our goal, as business owners, is to have our customers genuinely want our products or services. As part of our business objectives, we want to convince them that we are the best at what we do. Ideally, we want them to already have that notion about our business even before our first contact; and we always yearn for a steady flow of prospects who are already advocates of what we do.

This is where your marketing strategies come in.

I started a business a few years ago in the UK. It was kind of a rocky start as I spent too much time knocking on customers’ doors only to have most of them shut. It was getting discouraging being in the shoes of a failed salesperson. It was then that I decided to change my approach.

During those most challenging times, I realized that I had been completely ignoring a very important area of my business that I was supposed to be good at – marketing. I had all the qualifications with the matching experience; but it had still taken me months to realize my mistake.

My new approach required me to create a demand for my product. Since this was the case, I reckoned to spend ninety percent of my time and energy on marketing my product. I also decided to put all sales on hold. The change in approach paid off as I started getting questions and queries for my product, globally. The only selling I had to do then was following up with the customer and closing the deal.

If you find selling a tedious task, then the best way to make it easier (or sometimes entirely taken care of) is to be really tacky on your marketing. Spend a little more time crafting a marketing strategy that best supports your goals and makes sure that you’re sending out the correct message to your dream clients. Doing so will make selling a little bit more fun for you.

In an interview with Steve Herzberg, Managing Director of NRG Solutions based in Australia, he shares with us some insights on what successful sales people are made of.

According to Steve, there’s no one solution to becoming a master sales person. He did mention though that doing a few things well can make you successful in selling; whether you’re working for a large organization or your own business.

Steve identifies three things that always occur in successful sales people during the interview.

Successful Sales People Have High Energy Levels

Successful sales people do a lot. They speak to a lot of people, they make more calls and stay in touch with more people than anyone.  Successful sales people also make their presence felt, and they do this through blogging or attending events. Successful sales people do a lot of things every day and they always find new and creative ways in communicating with a lot of people.

Successful Sales People Exude Confidence

According to Steve, one of the keys to being a successful sales person is to be confident in the products and services you’re selling. Likewise, he also stresses the point that in order to be successful in selling, you also have to be confident in who you are.

Think of it this way. If you’re planning to buy a flat screen television at the mall, you’ll be more inclined to buy from someone who’s confident in the product they’re selling. Moreover, technical skills, product knowledge, and knowledge of the Industry are very important competencies that effective sales people possess;  and these can be distinguished in the way they communicate

Successful Sales People are Good at Getting Their Customers to Articulate their Needs

Another characteristic of an effective sales person is that  he or she is good at asking questions. Furthermore, a successful sales person actively listens and asks follow up questions.

When asked what are the most effective questions that any sales person should ask, Steve replies that any question that shows interest in your customers business and the problems and challenges that they have are effective.

Most of the time people purchase something for pleasure, but occasionally, they also purchase things to cure the pain. As a sales person, you should always utilize your skills in finding out where these problems exists. Moreover, he also adds that asking questions on the impact of problems on customers are also helpful in getting a better understanding of what the customer is going through.

Finally, Steve also put in a lot of emphasis on following-up. As a business owner, it is your responsibility to find the right balance between being a stalker and staying in touch. Steve’s general rule of thumb is to maintain contact with customers at least once a month or every quarter.

There is always a time when the customer is ready to buy, and the key to is that you are always on top of mind compared to your competitors. Steve’s advice is to continually find creative ways on how to stay in touch. These can be in the form of a blog, a newsletter, setting up events or seminars for your customers.