This is our DURFM strategy you can use to immediately increase sales, attract new customers, and survive and grow in the current economic realities. Don't know what DURFM is? Check out this article

As you are no doubt aware, the world economy is kind of slow right now. And a lot of businesses have seen sales drop off a cliff (ie the auto industries).

This slow economy and slow sales has affected all kinds of businesses and services - even web business.

But there are steps you can take right now to give your business and sales a Boost.

We call this our 'DURFM' strategy. It involves Discounts, Freebies, Updates, Rollouts, and Marketing (DURFM).

Read about how we, and you, can use the DURFM strategy in your business below.

Five 'DURFM' Steps to increasing sales in a slow economy

1. Offer Deep Discount pricing on special combo packages - One way to quickly increase business is to offer deep discounts on a combo package of your most 'in demand' products so as to create an irresistible reason for customers to buy now.

   For example, we've just reduced the price of our Five Best Selling DVD package from $252 to $99 - see http://www.bmyers.com/products/item24.cfm.

   At this price, customers who may have been considering ordering just one of our DVD titles, will find it a better proposition to order them all at the special price - thus getting everything they wanted at a price just a little more than the cost of just one DVD.

   Special packages like this give customers a reason to buy now rather than waiting - and perhaps forgetting about your products.
   
   

2. Offer FREE Shipping - Offering Free Shipping is an easy way to quickly remove a negative -- worries about hidden shipping charges -- and change it into a strong positive - FREE SHIPPING - in the eyes of the customer.

   Studies on web shopping sites have repeatedly shown that when two sites offer the exact same product, and one offers free shipping, the site with free shipping will usually get more sales -- even if their prices are higher, .

   So offer free shipping - and be sure your customer knows that shipping is free - see example of how we are now offering free shipping on all our products, and how we use a drop in message to alert customers at http://www.bmyers.com/products/index.cfm.
   
   

3. Offer updates to existing products - Customers who have purchased your existing products may be interested in current updates to those products. This is especially true when the product is software or training videos.

   With software updates, you provide the customer an opportunity to gain new features and benefits from their investment in the software, for a small update fee. Just about every company that offers software does this, and many customers expect and request regular updates.

   With training products, updates are generally volume 2 (or volume 3, etc), providing additional and updated information, starting where the original training CD left off.

   One advantage of offering product updates is you already know who your most likely customers will be - those who purchased the original product. Use email to let them know of the update, and be sure to offer a discount to show your appreciation of their prior purchase.
   
   

4. Offer New Products - If you've been offering the same old products for several years, you've probably seen sales drop off as those products near the end of their 'shelf life'.

   A product's shelf life has to do with how long the product will remain viable in the market-place, and in the case of training videos, especially computer training videos, shelf life can be relatively short, often as short as two years.

   To combat declining sales to expiring shelf life of existing products, you'll want to create or acquire new products you can offer your customers.

   We're doing this in our own business with new products like Building & Profiting with Google AdSense Discussion Forums
   
   

5. Expand your marketing efforts - It should be obvious that one way to increase sales is to increase your marketing efforts. But in a declining economy, one of the first things many businesses cut is their advertising and marketing budgets and effort.

   When a business cuts their marketing efforts, their products are almost always less visible, even hidden from potential customers. And this almost always hurts sales.

   To increase sales without increasing your marketing efforts, use 'zero cost marketing' tactics like placing videos on YouTube, posting messages in discussion forums, sending press releases, using affiliate programs, creating your own discussion forum for your niche, offering something free on your web site, and sending out free 'tip of the week' emails.

   An example of how to combine many 'zero cost marketing' tactics is the video I have on YouTube which shows how to use my free DVD case template.

   The YouTube video gives visitors a reason to come to my web site - to get the free template - and once on my site, visitors discover the free tip of the week, the products I sell, and other videos I have on the site - and they often end up either joining the site, or making product purchases.

   Expanding your marketing efforts doesn't mean spending money. It just means using the tools and resources available to reach the customer most likely to purchase your products.
   
   

So there you have it - a basic DURFM strategy to boost your sales.

By applying these elements to your business operations:

• Discounts
• Updates
• Rollouts
• Freebies
• Marketing

  . . . you'll likely see a boost in sales, and you'll be able to add new and repeat satisfied customers base for long term survivability.
  
  
  
  

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