Offer a premium as a thank-you for the purchase. Add value to your book by offering a premium. It changes the perception of your book and it will get purchased more, spiking your sales.  Some examples include offering a free eBook with the purchase of a physical book, or offering a free audio CD or video DVD. You might even consider offering a free 15 minute phone consultation for customers that buy the book…if your transaction value is high enough, those 15 minute consults could lead to thousands of dollars.  You can also offer tests, assessments, and whitepapers as a bonus.  If your book is on hiring, perhaps you include an “interview checklist” or “prospective employee assessment” as a free download when you purchase the book.  Your opportunities here are only limited to your imagination.

Make the ordering process easy. As simple as this sounds, I am amazed at how difficult authors make it for customers to buy their products. If consumers are forced to work to make a purchase, guess what?  They won’t make it.  Make sure your books and products are easy to order online, telephone, fax and by mail.  Yes, believe it or not, people still order by mail!  Always provide your fax number and mailing address on your online order form too.  And definitely make a toll free number highly visible.  Just because you like to purchase one way doesn’t mean others do too.  The more ways that are available to purchase, the more purchases there will be.  More tidbits to come…