Online Sales Secrets

Online Sales Secrets
Back in the old days professional salesmen conducted
face-to-face meetings to open and close a sale. Several
meetings occurred before a sale was consummated.

Today, Internet marketing has opened the possibility of
doing business anywhere in the world. However, face-to-face
meetings are a rarity, especially if your prospect lives on
the other end of the globe. In order to attract any
customers, your site has to be your personal salesman.

The rules for selling online is no different than a
face-to-face meeting. Let's make a comparison between what
happens between a buyer and seller in someone's home and
that between your site and the prospect that comes to visit:

Your Conduct: Just as the professional salesman walks in
with a suit and tie, smiles and greets the potential buyer,
your site should also look professional. Spelling errors
and grammar mistakes give you away as unprofessional. Your
site doesn't need to be cluttered with run-on text and
flooded with banners. Open space and easy-to-read text are
extremely important.

The Introduction: Who exactly are you? The prospect wants
to know something about your credentials. While that
doesn't have to appear on your home page necessarily, you
should have a link to an "About me" page. Since you can't
talk to your prospect directly, you should have some way
for him to reach you if your site doesn't present some
answers to his pressing questions. You should include your
email address, phone number, fax, cell phone or a message
service through MSN, Yahoo, Skype and others. Your "About
Me" page acts as your business card.

The Opening: Here's where the salesman sits down to begin
discussions with his prospect. Your site's opening is your
title. Your title should be just as effective as the
advertising you do to get customers to surf to your site.
It should outline a problem and hint at a solution. It's
what will make the prospect want to read your text to find
out if you have a solution that can help him. Salesmen know
what the prospect's problems are and get right to the meat
of the problem without a whole lot of chitchat.

The Presentation: This is your home page. You should start
off by outlining the problem from the perspective of the
client. If your site focuses on unrelated issues or doesn't
address the real problem until page 10, your prospect isn't
going to wait until he gets there. Get to the point.
Emphasize the problem, then make the claim you have a
solution for him.

Involve the Reader: Ever read a good book? The book draws
you in because you can identify with the characters and the
plot. It creates an atmosphere that makes it difficult to
put that book down. Why are Harry Potter books so popular?
Your website doesn't have to read like a Stephen King
thriller but it should have something that entices the
reader to stay and give him a potential solution to his
problems.

Ask the reader questions: It's yet another way to involve
the reader. Your text should flow from one idea to the
next, leading to the solution. You should anticipate the
prospect's objections and answer them as your page draws
him in. The salesman not only prepares himself for that
sales meeting, he's also a psychologist and knows that if
he involves his prospect, it'll be much easier to make a
sale. Make sure your site provides some answers. Let your
site ask questions that makes the reader respond in a
positive manner. In the book "How to Win Friends and
Influence People" by Dale Carnegie, one of the rules of
winning people to your way of thinking is by getting the
other person to say "yes?yes". Your site should do just
that.

Bring up the facts: One of the most important parts of a
website that sells is testimonials. That helps to dissolve
doubt in the prospect's mind. Bring up the reasons why your
product is better than the competition. Outline the
benefits of using your product. Here's where you can have a
few useful graphics on your home page. Professional
salespeople use graphics that appeal to the buyer's senses.
In the online world, the customer can't touch your product,
but a good picture and a description of the object helps
lead the prospect to a buying decision. If you sell ebooks,
outline some of the chapters and high points that the ebook
addresses.

The Closing: Once your site answers all the prospect's
questions, it's time to wrap things up. Your site isn't
complete unless you sweeten the pot a little. Since people
are reluctant to purchase anything online, a few extra
bonuses and freebies can help swing your prospect into
whipping out his check book. Encyclopaedia salesmen would
often add other volumes as free offers to entice the
prospect to buy. You should have something to offer your
visitor, even with a time limit to entice him to act now.

After The Signature: Just as after-sales service is
important in the real world, your sale page should offer up
a money-back guarantee and, of course, contact information
in case the buyer needs to reach you.

Salesmanship online or off follow the same rules. While you
can't be present, your site's professional appearance and
construction can make an excellent salesman that will earn
you hundreds of sales and an income equal to what the best
offline salesmen in the world earn.

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