Most business owners would probably agree that, when it comes to sales, there’s always room for improvement. To this end, every company should strive for organic sales growth — that is, increases from existing operations unrelated to a merger or acquisition.

That’s not to say a merger or acquisition is necessarily a bad idea, but you can’t rely on major moves like this to regularly boost your numbers. Let’s look at three best practices for achieving organic sales growth.

1. Attentive customer service

Premier customer service is more than just a smile and a handshake. Are your employees really hearing clients’ problems and concerns? Do their solutions not only fix the issue but also, whenever possible, exceed the customers’ expectations?

The ability to conduct productive dialogues with your customers is a key to growing sales. Maintaining a positive, ongoing conversation starts with resolving any negative (or potentially negative) issues that arise as quickly as possible under strictly followed protocols. It also includes simply checking in with customers regularly to see what they may need.

2. Smart marketing

Do you often find yourself wondering why all your marketing channels aren’t generating new leads for your business? Most likely, it’s because some of those channels are no longer connecting with customers and prospects.

Therefore, you might want to step back and reassess the nature and strengths of your company. If you work directly with the buying public, you may want to cast as wide a net as possible. But if you sell to a specific industry or certain types of customers, you may be able to grow sales organically by focusing on professional networking groups, social organizations and trade associations.

3. Great employees

Ultimately, people are what make or break a company. Even the best idea can fail if employees aren’t fully prepared and committed to designing, producing, marketing and selling that product or service. Of course, as you well know, employing talented, industrious staff requires much more than simply getting them to show up for work.

First, you must train employees well. This means they need to know both: 1) how to do their jobs, and 2) how to help grow sales. You might ask: Does every worker really contribute to sales? In a sense, yes, because quality work — from entry-level office staff to executives in corner offices — drives sales.

Second, once an employee is trained, he or she must be periodically retrained. Happy workers are more productive and more likely to preach the excellence of your company’s products or services to friends and family. Sales may occur as a result.

The right moves

These best practices are, obviously, general in nature. The specific moves you need to make to boost your business’s sales numbers will depend on your size, industry, market and focus. Our firm can help you identify optimal strategies for organic sales growth and measure the results.

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Polk & Associates

Large enough to serve a diverse clientele, yet small enough to maintain a hands-on approach, we are committed to maintaining the highest accounting and ethical standards with continuous education, extensive research resources, and excellent quality control.

Polk and Associates is a member of the Michigan Association of Certified Public Accountants, and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. The firm participates in the AICPA Peer Review Program, and has always received the highest level of award for its audit practice and quality control.