In many ways, selling a product or service online is much more difficult than in the real world. For one thing, you have to capture your customers’ attention and convince them to buy – or at least look – in a matter of seconds.
Couple this with the fact that there are millions of online products and advertisements all vying for your customers’ attention, and you’ve got a highly competitive selling environment. Yet with all these obstacles, companies do manage to sell their products and services – and some online businesses have become quite good at it.
It isn’t impossible, and online selling can be easy provided you use the right tactics and plan your marketing diligently. For the survival of any business, it’s important to attain decent sales figures. You may have a great website or you may offer excellent blogs to your target group – however, that won’t take you far if you lack the good strategies needed to support your online selling plan.
Create a Win-Win Situation
No doubt, prospective and current customers alike will love you for the wealth of information you offer. But have you ever tried telling your current customers what’s on sale now? If you feel that the idea of trying to get your current customers to buy something else from you is going to put them off, you might as well not have them on your list in the first place.
The basic idea is to create a win-win situation for you and your subscribers: they have the need and you have the solution! As an online seller, you must be aware that you simply cannot afford to have a laid-back attitude and wait for customers to approach you. Agreed, you can’t compel customers to buy from you, but you can at least inform them about what kind of services or products you offer. This is one area where you can’t afford to be shy. Be upfront and direct about what your products and services are and what you want them to do – and then make it easy for them to engage in the buying process.
Communication is Key
Many online professionals love to believe that customers will hunt them down if their products or services are impeccable. In this world of aggressive marketing, you can’t afford to lose customers to your competitors. Today, buyers are more likely to buy from sellers who not only offer a good product or service but also saves them time by providing doorstep service. So don’t waste any time! Communicate with your clients, send promotional emails with product offers, and let them know they can count on your business for reliability and service.
Typically, online sellers need to develop a sales mindset to overcome such emotional hurdles. A ‘sales mentality’ can be developed if you acknowledge the fact that sales are the core of your business no matter how you perceive it. You may occasionally come across clients who will resent you for trying to sell something to them. If such a situation arises, be polite and tell them that the information you provide is invaluable and therefore comes with a price. In the same way a doctor or a lawyer charges for their services, so do you!
As an online business owner, you don’t necessarily have to employ the ‘hard sell’, but you do need to let your clients know that they can get what they want and need from your business. Follow the tips above, and you_ll be well on your way to new customers and increased online sales.
