Add to your 2017 sales total by implementing these action ideas.

1. Expand Within a Niche:
Do you already work with companies or organizations in a particular market? If so, you have a great foundation from which to connect with new clients in the same arena. For one thing, you can woo prospects with ready-made success stories about other clients in the same market. Also, if you’ve done your job correctly, you possess a working knowledge of the niche – the challenges and concerns that might be common to companies that operate within it. You can leverage this expertise to build rapport and suggest stronger solutions to clients. Also, you can navigate through existing contacts/clients in the niche to new prospects. Ask satisfied customers for referrals. In addition, use LinkedIn, which would include looking for prospects who are connected to people you’re already working with. Specific online research through your network offline can lead to more connections to potential clients, too.

2. Get Creative With Content Marketing:
Start a blog. Make it a vehicle for delivering insights about promotional products, branding, marketing and topics that would be of interest to current clients and ideal prospects. Keep the text of each post compact, and include images. Posting videos is wise, too, as people increasingly prefer to consume video content online. Feature a “subscribe here” button or link in your posts so that interested prospects can sign up to have your latest content emailed to them, and email teasers with links to new blogs to customers already in your contact list. Share links to the blogs through social media. Post on a consistent schedule. A routinely updated blog that features high-quality content can help generate new sales opportunities with current clients. It can also help establish creditability with prospects considering you for the first time and, potentially, lead you to people you’ve never even heard of.

3. Seek More Cross-Selling & Upselling Opportunities:
Cross-selling and upselling are terms that often get confused and/or used interchangeably. Still, there’s a difference. Cross-selling involves selling a client a product – typically a less expensive one – in addition to the main products they’re already purchasing. The oft-given example is the fast-food employee who asks if you want fries in addition to your burger. Within our industry, cross-selling may take the form of selling caps to complement the new soft-shell jackets you provided for a firm’s managers. Upselling, meanwhile, is taking a client’s interest in a particular type of product and selling them a more expensive model. Think the luxury car salesman who convinces a buyer interested in a 2 Series BMW to invest in a 5 Series model. In our arena, an example could be getting a client to go from a low-end golf shirt to a name-brand one. To succeed with cross-selling and upselling, you need to demonstrate compelling reasons why the client should invest the extra money. In each case, there should be a genuine benefit to the client. It’s incumbent on you to articulate what this is. If there’s not a real benefit to the customer, then avoid cross-selling and upselling attempts. You just do the client a disservice – and risk alienating them.

4. Delve in to a New Market:
Strive to gain new clients in a strengthening market you’re not currently plugged into. Research what markets are heating up and then pursue clients in one you feel would be a good fit for you. For instance, the growing marijuana legalization movement is leading to new niche market opportunities in some cities and states, something distributors shouldn’t ignore. Also, you can seek to branch out into niches related to markets you currently serve, and niches related to your personal interests. Are you an avid runner or a cyclist? Then running or cycling race organizers could make good clients for you.