In short terms like a loss of one or more customers, decline in a market or the arrival of a new competitor. Another in terms of medium to long like, you are taking a deliberate approaches as part of planned growth of the business. The approaches you take will be different in each of these situations. Few approaches will deliver better results over the long term but it consumes more resources & time to deliver. It is important to use the appropriate methods for the appropriate situation.
Many start-ups make the mistake of trying to sell their solution to anyone & everyone. It is very important to focus on your lead generation efforts on only the companies that are for the right fit. Holding current customers satisfied is much easier & less costly than finding & cultivating new ones. If your customers are turning to your competitors get to know the reason for quitting your company or get to know what the attraction gimmick they are trying to impose on. Try offering a short-term discount to encourage existing users to buy more or to attract new customers. Once you have them buying, you can then use different approaches to keep them stayed.
Keep in mind that sales is a matter of establishing trust & building a relationship for the long term with your customers. You don’t need to push anyone into buying from you or you need not be a smooth talking sales person. Instead let your natural inclinations to build relationships help people to make their way to your business. These are some of the ideas to increase sales, if you are done with all these home works, then experience, judgment & imagination will help you grow sales strategies to expanding the circumference the of the sales by adding new customers who can help bridge gaps created by customer defections.
Business success doesn’t come in a day by following one right action. It comes from a group of highly focused committed people doing a lot of small growth building activities, a hell lot of trial & error methods on a consistent basis over a sustained period of time. Building a strong foundation makes less frustration for the plans of increasing the sale.

