Graham McGregor: How to make easy sales in the first quarter of 2019

Make sure you clearly associate what you sell with what people are thinking about now. Photo / 123RF

COMMENT: If you want to make easy sales in the first quarter of 2019 make sure that you clearly associate what you sell with what people are thinking about right now.

So what are people thinking about right now?

That's simple.

In the first 1-3 months of a New Year many people are actively looking for ways to make improvements in what they are doing.

Business people are looking for new ideas to increase sales, improve productivity, reduce expenses and increase profits.

They want to make 2019 better than 2018 and at the start of a New Year they are very receptive to considering new ideas that will help them to do this

Non-business people are just as receptive to new ideas to help them solve the pressing problems they have or reach their important goals faster and more effectively.

They want to increase their incomes, improve their relationships, have less stress, get in better shape, have new and interesting experiences, feel more valued and appreciated in their jobs and so on.

The main point here is that in the first quarter of 2019 huge numbers of people are actively looking for ways to make improvements in their lives.

So why not come up with a promotional campaign that ties in the New Year with a good reason to take action now and invest in your products and services?

A number of businesses do this already and the obvious example is the health and fitness industry.

They know that huge numbers of people make New Year's resolutions to lose weight and get in better shape.

So they run vigorous promotional campaigns in the first quarter that encourage people to get in better shape. And doing this generates large numbers of new sales.

So why not consider using a similar idea in your own business?

In other words, run active promotions in the first quarter of 2019 that show people how to make 2019 a super successful year for themselves in the area of XYZ by investing in the products and services that you offer.

(XYZ is the area you can help them with)

• If you are a travel agent you could show people the importance of having new adventures in their lives. And how you can help them to do that with a special collection of 'mini adventures' that will make 2019 special, exciting and a year they will remember positively for the rest of their lives.

• If you are a builder you might talk about how you can help people move into their dream home in 2019 without moving from where they are right now. For many people a good home renovation could actually give them their dream home without the expense and inconvenience of having to sell their current home and buy a new one. So you recommend that people take a 3-4 week holiday in 2019 and you will come in and transform their home while they are away.

• If you are offer computer training you might show busy business people how they can have an extra 2-3 hours of extra leisure time each week by becoming far more effective in how they use various programmes on their computer. So 2019 could be the year they finally have the spare time they have been looking for to achieve some really important goals.

The main idea here is you take something that people are already thinking about (making improvements in the New Year)

You then show them how you can help them to make these improvements faster, quicker and easier by investing in your products and services.

This is a powerful way to get 2019 off to a fast start with easy sales and delighted clients.

"When unsure how to solve a problem, use your common sense." - Catherine Pulsifer.

Action exercise:

What are you going to do in your business to make easy sales in January and February?

- Graham McGregor is The Added Value Marketing Expert™. Register at his website www.addedvaluemarketing.com and Graham will give you a free copy of his brand new free guide 'Easy Sales with Added Value Marketing'. (This guide contains ten time tested strategies that any business can use right now to create easy sales and delighted clients and is with Graham's compliments.)