Increase Online Sales: The New Year’s Resolution You Will Accomplish

I am guessing that many of you have set for yourselves a New Year’s resolution, and then there are those that have not set anything specific, rather they just want to continue improving on this and that. Whichever group you’re in, I have a question: was the 2015 chapter of your life better than those before?

This is not another one of those motivational posts on how to stay motivated, create habits that matter, or improve your overall productivity. The internet is flooded with that, with some of the content being awesome and some of that just being a waste of internet space. This post is about taking action. Below is our guide to almost guarantee that you sell more in 2015, with tips on using the right mindset and everything you need to know about creating and meeting goals.

Don’t miss the customized Google Spreadsheet for your own use at the end of the post!

Increase Online Sales by Owning the Growth Mindset

First things first, starting today, you need to start implementing what is known as the “growth mindset”. Take a look at the below graphic, print it, and place it on your desk. Anyone that has taken their business from $0 yearly revenue to $20K, then to $50K, and then to $100K has done so by using this train of thought.

This by no means implies that you are Superman or Wonder Woman, but it does mean that you need to take a more proactive way to thinking so that you can solve problems, and not just abandon them.

Setting Goals for Online Sales

As we’ve stated plenty of times, regardless of the task, setting a goal ahead of time is imperative to success. This time around, we are all going to learn how to set reachable and substantial goals for our business right now!

1. Think Big and Know Your Destination

What is the goal for 2016? Do you want to increase sales by 25%? Do you want to hit a certain revenue or profit amount? Do you want to grow your email list by 200%? Decide and then move to the next step.

On December 31st 2016, I want to have increased sales by/to _______.

2. Create Your Ideal Route

When I set Waze to take me from A to B, I want to take the fastest route. Why? Obviously because it saves me time and gas money. When you create the route to hit your goals in stride you are not necessarily looking for the quickest route, rather the most efficient one.

Our time and knowledge is limited (no one knows or has mastered everything). Hence, create a path that uses tactics and strategies that you can implement (that does not mean they should not challenge you). How exactly do you plan on growing sales by 50%? List out in a prioritized list what strategies you will be implementing and how in order to achieve your goals.

The more in depth you go with how you will implement each strategy or technique the better off you’ll be. Take note, that just like the path that Waze sets for you when you begin to drive may change while you are traveling, so will your path to your goal.

To increase my online sales, I will _______ (be specific, it’s all about the small details).

3. Constantly Track Results

Once you know what the bullseye is, now we can get an idea of how to set up the trajectory to reach that goal. Depending on your comfort level and how much you trust yourself (how disciplined are you?), set micro goals for either every month, 2 months, or quarter of the year.

If you want to increase sales by 25%, how will you know if you are on track and how to get back on track if you aren’t constantly aware of how you are doing. Imagine taking a road trip without a navigation app?! The results would probably include getting lost, sleeping in your card or a horrible motel, and not having any fun!

The solution is simple: setting micro goals and tracking how well you are doing.  For instance, if you want to make 25% more in revenue, your micro goals should include your year-on-year revenue growth for the period of time that you have chosen: measure your revenue of 2015 with that of 2016 for your selected time period. How do you stack up? Which strategies from the path you set for yourself are you using? Is there a strategy that is over or under performing?

If  _____ does not bring the expected results, I will ______.

4. Make Sure to Have the Right Parts

A Jaguar can’t run on old Ford parts, and a Toyota can’t run efficiently on a VW engine. You get where I am going. Only by running on the right parts (infrastructure) can an automobile run efficiently. The same goes for your business.

It may hurt your wallet initially to spend money on a certain tool, but this won’t hurt as much if you stop looking at this as a cost and look at your costs on tools as an investment. Your time is limited. Your skillset is limited. Start finding tools that will help you set up a rock-solid infrastructure for your business. Do not, that expensive does not mean that it is the best for you, but also remember that you get what you pay for.

Recommended: The Ridiculously Big List of 46 Online Tools for Small Business 

A Personal Guide to Growing your Business

Now the fun part! Here is a Google Spreadsheet that we have created for you to personalize in order to reach your 2016 sales goal. We have set the spreadsheet up with a basic layout that will help you track your progress throughout the year.

In the spreadsheet, you will find four tabs, one for each quarter of the year. It takes time to test things, and so it would seem that making a tab for every month or two would be ineffective and would not give you enough time to test things out. Each quarter you are to test 5 different ideas that can help you convert more visitors into customers.

The sheet is divided into four quarters, and you can easily get in touch if you have any questions

Then of course you are to continue doing whatever brought the best results while continually optimizing the effort with more split testing. Also, what worked to increase sales from one channel should be immediately tested the next quarter on another channel.

Get Your Customized Spreadsheet >> Sales Tracker

Final Thoughts

 It takes money and effort to create something that will last. Just as Rome was not built in one day, neither will your business. All the motivation in the world won’t help if you have not set reachable goals. Reachable goals won’t help if you don’t have a plan. We hope that this spreadsheet is able to act as a helpful guide that’ll make sure you cross the finish line in 2016.

“Don’t let the fear of losing be greater than the excitement of winning.” – Robert Kiyosaki

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