There’s a myth in the business world that sometimes poor sales just happen. One minute your business is soaring and the next…it’s crashing to the ground. There’s no rhyme or reason for this change, it just happens. Maybe, it’s due to the state of the market overall or perhaps it’s just not a time when people are buying.
But more often than not if a company is failing, it’s failing for a reason, and that reason is typically a mistake has been made.
These are some of the biggest blunders that will lead to low sales with tips on how to course correct before you take a dive off the cliff.
Poor Reviews
One of the reasons for low sales might be some poor reviews online. The problem with poor reviews is that businesses often have no idea how to deal with them. Should they be addressed directly, do you take the blame? And, if you don’t take the blame, who does?
It’s possible that there are countless bad reviews of your business online and that leads to the question of whether you should respond to all of them. It’s complicated for sure, but one thing you should never do is ignore them completely. Ignoring bad reviews is like ignoring a gaping wound. Eventually, they will take your company down.
Instead, you need to assess the situation carefully. If it’s just a few unhappy customers, you can think about responding to them and offering an apology. This shows that you are taking responsibility and do care. If you don’t win over that customer, it certainly sends a message to others who are considering buying. Over 80 percent of customers now rely on online reviews when deciding whether to buy.
If there are a lot of negative reviews online, you need to rethink your business model and take a step back.
Not Enough Options
Of course, it could be as simple as the fact that you’re not giving customers enough options on how to buy. Customers have been spoiled for choices lately when it comes to how they purchase products and services.
They can buy online, in-store, over the phone, through apps and even on social media! If you’re not offering at least a few of these choices, expect to see lower sales. Particularly, if your competition has already shifted focus towards these areas in their company.
At the very least you want to make sure that customers can buy however they want in store. This means that you should have a credit card slider at each payment service in your company. It’s only logical to see that if you offer customers more options, they’ll make more purchases.
Outpriced
Finally, it’s possible that the reason you’re not seeing sales is that you’re facing a cheaper competition. The companies that continue to get demand in times of economic downturn drop their prices accordingly and you should consider doing the same.
You should also consider the demand for your business.
These are just a few of the common reasons for low sales but it’s worth looking at these possibilities if you’re currently experiencing low sales in your business.
* This post has been written for Morning Business Chat.
