The path to increased sales is one we all want to follow, but where are the direction signs? What is the best method to increase sales in your business? Before even thinking about increasing your sales, you will want to ensure that you have the foundation to support the increase. How are your customer service skills? What about service and fulfillment? What is your value proposition? If you don’t have those basics nailed, now is the time to fix them quick!

The “path of least resistance” the physical or metaphorical pathway that provides the least resistance to forward motion by a given object or entity, among a set of alternative paths. The concept is often used to describe why an object or entity takes a given path. (Wikipedia entry) Using this metaphor to look for increased sales involves a 360-degree approach; you have your physical location, existing customers, potential customers, and your competitors.

Your physical location may be an actual “brick and mortar” or it could be your website. For a moment, “be the customer;” would you buy or do business with you? Is there unnecessary clutter that can be removed? Sometimes the easiest path is to refresh your image online and/or in your store.

Talk to your existing customers. What do they like or not like about your business? You have to be willing to take the negative feedback. Why do your customers come back to you? Of the customers that don’t come back; do you know why? One of the easiest things you may want to consider is a discount or rewards program for those repeat customers. If you make it easy for your customers to shop at your business and they’re rewarded for doing so, they will be back.

How are you attracting potential customers? Do you have folks that “just stop by” and not make a purchase? What will it take to close the deal? Customers want to make informed purchases. You may want to consider publishing a regular newsletter (online, print, or both) describing new products, providing tips, etc. An online newsletter or email newsletter may be the easiest means to attract potential customers.

What are your competitors doing? Getting to know your competitors better will help you make more tactical (short-term) and strategic (long-term) business decisions. You need to keep an open mind and assess your competitor’s business against the same criteria you would evaluate your own business. Try to understand their business model in an effort to ascertain their best practices. One of the easiest ways to obtain competitor information is to be “the secret shopper.” Visit your competitors and make a purchase. How does that experience compare to the experience you offer your customers.

The key points to remember are: (1) make sure you have a fresh face for existing and potential customers; (2) reward your existing customers for their repeat business; (3) evangelize your business to potential customers via newsletters or email; and, (4) understand what your competitors are doing.

How would you like to be able to take your office applications, email, web browser, and more with you to be able to work from any Windows PC? That is where portable applications come into play.

For an application to be considered portable, it must not require any installation on the host computer, store all settings on the portable device and not in the host computer, and not leave any trace behind after being used. Any portable device (USB thumbdrive, PDA, or iPod) can be used.

There are portable applications for Windows, Mac, and Linux. We’ve seen a couple of low-cost application launchers (Ceedo, MojoPac) and a free launcher (PortableApps.com) that are available. We prefer the open source PortableApps suite. It’s been in use here over a year and we highly recommend it.

We installed the PortableApps suite to a SanDisk Cruzer USB thumbdrive. Installation did take some time, so go grab an iced coffee. When finished, the base set of applications included:

• ClamWin Antivirus
• Mozilla Firefox Portable
• Gaim Portable Instant Messenger
• PortableApps Backup
• Sudoku Portable
• OpenOffice.Org Portable
• Mozilla Thunderbird Portable (email)
• Sunbird Portable (calendar)

We added the following applications (downloaded from the PortableApps.com site) to our thumbdrive. We now have the capability to edit code and FTP changes to servers.

• 7-Zip Portable (compression utility)
• Eraser Portable
• Filezilla Portable (FTP client)
• Notepad++ Portable
• yWriter4 (great novel/screenwriting tool)
• GreatNews (excellent RSS reader)

How We Rate It - 5/5

• Convenience - 5/5
• Ease of installation - 4/5 (does take some time)
• Base application selection - 5/5
• Ease of adding applications - 5/5