Every company needs sales, no matter what product and services it might sell. Without consistent sales it is impossible for a business to survive amidst cut throat competition. Effective sales strategies are required to edge ahead of competitors in the industry. Every business requires multiple sales generation strategies. Here are 10 ideas to generate more sales:

1. Sales Principles - A company that adheres to some sales principles always earns the customer's respect. So, declare a principle and stand by it. It could be something as simple as "Keeping It simple" to something as tough as "No Compromise on Quality".

2. Educating Business Prospects - It is very important to make your target customers aware of your products and services. Educating business prospects before an expansion of product range or launch of a new product is especially helpful to generate more sales.

3. Sales Compensation - Motivate your sales people to exceed targets by providing volume dependent sales compensation packages. Volume based incentives and performance bonuses are proven ways to generate more sales.

4. Networking - Good old networking methods still work in these times. From old customers to business associates to employees, every circle should be explored to generate more sales.

5. Business to Business Sales - Commonly referred as B2B, business to business sales like that between producer and distributor or distributor and retailer, expand your coverage by allowing to create more sales channels. However B2B involves value addition.

6. Business to Consumer Sales - The tremendous growth of ecommerce systems now enables businesses to approach customers directly in what is called the Business to Consumer (B2C) model. Additionally, this allows to increase both profitability and customer loyalty by passing on some of the savings of B2B value addition. Ecommerce websites, email marketing and even tele-calling can be used for B2C.

7. Sales Presentations - Companies perform sales presentations to generate customer curiosity about new products. It is also helpful when companies launch products and services in new markets. These events need to be informative and often pave way for direct product promotion.

8. Auctions - Auction marketing strategy works great for clearance of surplus products. Companies often resort to time limited auctions to sell products to interested and niche audience.

9. Bidding Principles - Flexibility in bidding principles help companies generate enough sales leads during auction marketing. This helps them to get adequate prospective buyers in short time.

10. Cross Selling and Up Selling - Cross selling implies selling products related to what the customer originally inquired and/or purchased. However, at times, it could be a different type of product of the company. Up selling refers to offering customers enhanced or updated versions of products they look for. Both these methods generate additional sales.

To summarize, apart from traditional methods, there are several ways consumers can be tapped to generate more sales.