| You may recall from last time
that I.M.Geekworthy was describing to Mr. SmallBiz the ultimate
use of your web site.
“The ultimate use of your web site is automating
your sales process so that all you have to do is make sure
things are operating correctly and count your money.”
“What does that mean?” questions Mr. SmallBiz.
“Well, wouldn’t it be great if you could concentrate
on how to run your business instead of worrying about the
details?”
“Sure, I’d like that a lot!”
“You must remember Mr. Small Biz, that your web site
is not like a newspaper or Yellow Pages advertisement. It
is an interactive tool to help your business. It doesn’t
matter if you sell t-shirts or tacos, your web site should
give a persuasive argument that drives potential customers
to become actual customers.
It all starts with collecting information from the web
site. Make an offer right there on the home page.
Ask for their contact information and promise to give them
something of value in return. This could be a coupon, a
free newsletter, a white paper, a tips sheet, and the list
goes on and on. Once they have given you permission to send
them information, you are then free to market your services.”
“But I don’t want to SPAM these people,”
says Mr. SmallBiz.
“The key here is the permission. SPAM is unwanted
e-mail. Officially it is called Unsolicited Commercial E-mail.
If people have given you permission to send them information,
then they must want it. And, if you give the them an easy
way to unsubscribe from your mailings, there should be no
problems.”
Geekworthy continues:
“You also need a way to take the order. Your web
site is a perfect mechanism for this. Your customer provides
you with all of the information you need: their information
and the products they want. Now that your web site is in
place with persuasive copy, an offer, and a way to take
orders, here is how it works.
Once you have your permission-based mailing list, send
out your monthly newsletter with tips, hints, or things
of general value to your customer base. They are happy to
receive it because they have asked for it, and they are
getting more than just a sales pitch from you. Of course,
you also tell them about your new product line or the sale
you are having this week, or any specials you can offer
them to entice an order. These offers should be a link to
your web site. Why? Because you should be able to track
which customers clicked on which links to further understand
what it is that they are interested in. They are also sent
to your web site to see more of your offerings. “
“I see, go on please.” Says Mr. SmallBiz.
“If you are selling products that are easily packaged
and shipped, then you have a real advantage. Once at your
web site, customers see the offer and, based on the persuasive
text you have written, decide to order. They enter their
credit card information and, as John Madden would say, “BOOM”
you have a sale. The web site will process the credit card,
send a confirmation message to the customer and alert you
that you have a new order to fill. You then package it up
and ship it off. To take it a step further, you now have
a record for future offerings to the customer. You can tailor
your next promotion based on the information you have captured
from the customer’s order,” continues Geekworthy.
“But what if I’m selling something like pianos
or Real estate?”
“If you are selling services or products that are
not easily shipped, you can sell the “appointment.”
The customer sees what you can help them with, is persuaded
by your offer, and then decides to order. If your type of
service is immediately available to the customer, you can
collect payment with the order. Regardless of your type
of offering, you have just moved the customer along in the
sales process to the point of them wanting to give you money.
And that is never a bad thing.”
“Why does this work?” inquires Mr. Small Biz
“Wow, Mr. SmallBiz, you’d think I was paying
you to be my setup man,” quips Geekworthy.
“It works for two main reasons:
1) Because you asked for permission to send them information.
This means that the people that get your newsletter are
at least remotely interested in what you offer, or they
wouldn’t agree to receive it.
2) Because you made it easy for them to buy from you. People
want tasks to be easy. You stayed in front of their eyes
and on their mind. People buy because it fills a need or
because of emotional satisfaction. If they don’t know
about what you have, they can’t buy from you. They
saw an offering that they were interested in, and with a
couple of mouse clicks, they were able to satisfy that need.
As long as you continue to provide value to your customers,
this process will continue to work better and better. Because
you now have a history record of customer purchases, you
can better anticipate your customer’s needs. So instead
of worrying about the details you can concentrate on how
to better you’re your customers. You have new orders
and it all started with your web site,” finishes Geekworthy.
“O.K. hold on a minute. I thought you said I could
do this with what is readily available?” asks Mr.
SmallBiz.
“Do you have a web browser and an Internet connection?”
“Yes”
“That’s all you need for services like this.
There are several companies out there right now that can
help you get this set up today.
But remember these things: your web site is a two-way medium,
if you provide value and ask for information, you can have
the ultimate situation: automated sales.”
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