On average, less than 50% of customers contact a salesperson without first checking out an item three to five times. Imagine how many customers are lost without clear pipelines and touchpoints in your sales process. There are many ways to sell a product, but some are certainly better than others.
The why and how of a business and its offerings largely determine the most appropriate sales tactics. With so many strategies and techniques around, how do you know which ones are best? Read this guide to find new methods for selling your goods and leverage new business growth.
The 5 best ways to sell a product
When you examine current strategies for selling products, you should evaluate a few key details. Before breaking down the top ways to sell products, here are those elements:
- Location: e-commerce, physical store, hybrid
- Distribution: supply chains, packaging
- Advertising: budget, ad type
- Marketing: social media, email, content
Any one of these factors can make or break even the highest quality sales process. Without considering them, you’ll find pipeline breakdowns inevitable. Applying these top product sales strategies means protecting your sales funnel and process in advance.
1. Research your target market and audience
The best way to sell products means knowing who you’re selling to. You can’t personalize a sales process if you don’t know your customer. You may have a clear target market or audience but no buyer persona for your ideal client type.
Or, you may have lucked into your ideal client and target market without ever conducting market research. No matter your business size, you need to connect with consumers, or products won’t sell. There are few ways to research your market.
It’s critical to find out “where” they hang out online. This will help with marketing and e-commerce sales, aligning future ad campaigns and revenue strategies. Here are a few places you can
- Twitter (individual and company accounts)
- Blogs
- Google (prospect and company)
- Company’s press releases pages
- Competitors’ press releases pages
- Company financial statements
When you find where your potential customers socialize and shop, it’s easier to carve out your niche in the market. This clarity makes it easier to connect with their pain points. Personal connections are essential with modern sales strategies.
2. Connect on personal and psychological levels
Thorough market research should address the pain point of your target market and buyer personas within the audience. When you assess emotional touchpoints, you should consider a few questions about your business and products.
- Is there growth or shrinkage in the market for your products?
- How satisfied are people with the existing products in your market?
- Which needs aren’t being met?
- What product features do people value?
- How do competitors’ price their products on average?
If you value building emotional interest, you’ll see a boost in psychological investment. Most small business owners understand the importance of personal connection, often prioritizing the person over profit. Although this isn’t true for everyone, it’s still valuable for profit-focused business leaders.
3. Evaluate product quality
When you examine what your business offers, you may find pros and cons. If you offer specialty products, your competition may be minimal. If so, it’s even more important to evaluate customer pain points and valued product features.
The more you know your consumer, the better you can tailor products to them. This personalization may shorten or extend your sales process, depending on what customers need. If they value experience and service, the end of your process may be longer.
Conversely, you may find competitors’ comparable for commodity products. Evaluating your product quality determines whether it’s a specialty or a commodity. Using competition allows you to adjust price points, incentives, and financial projections realistically.
Without a clear picture of your product quality, you may easily miss connecting with your target audience. Where’s the value in knowing multiple ways to sell a product if your customers don’t perceive it as high quality?
4. Brand your business
A clear audience and quality products can (more or less) sell themselves if you have a strong brand. Branding is an essential part of modern marketing strategy, often beginning with a clear buyer persona.
Your brand voice and visual identity help market your business. Without them, you’re looking at a host of advertising problems. If you’ve researched your target market, you already know where to advertise to them, too.
Selling products is easier when customers recognize, trust, and respect your business and products. You’ll find it less challenging to access and understand consumer pain points when your brand cuts through the noise. Aligning sales and marketing goals is simpler when you’ve put in the hard work to learn about your customer.
Where will you sell your products?
After converting the four best ways to sell a product, you’re still not finished! There’s lots of work ahead for elevating your sales strategies. If you’re not doing market research, you better get started. If you know your target market, maybe you haven’t evaluated your product quality yet. Or, maybe your marketing needs work.
Research, product evaluation, and branding all take time. Your business deserves the best opportunity for growth, which means putting in the time to make it so. Of course, you might still wonder where to sell your products, too.
You can outsource your distribution and sales to a wholesaler. You can keep everything in-house and DIY the sales and distribution process. Dropshipping may also offer a middle ground for business owners who want to do it all. There’s always brick-and-mortar operations, as well. Knowing where to sell depends on knowing how to sell first.
