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5 Secrets to Selling Products & Services to Your Audience
1. Know your audience. To serve your market you'll want to know what problems youcan solve for them, and more specifically what your audiencelongs for. Most of us have what we need, but desire more orless of what we have--or we yearn for something different orbetter. A poem by the Japanese Haiku master Basho describesthis essential state of the human condition--this longingfor something other than we are or have. Even in Kyoto- Hearing the cuckoo's cry- I long for Kyoto. Give people what they are longing for and you will find apermanent place in their hearts. 2. Test, test, then test again. Many webmasters don't test your shopping cart on differentcomputer platforms (Windows, Mac, Linux), with differentbrowsers, or with various computer configurations. This isessential! The $10,000/hour speaker discussed above insisted that theshopping cart on his website worked from his computer,though he admitted that he'd heard from a number of peopleit was often *down.* I tested it on my Mac and Windows PCwith both Netscape and Internet Explorer and couldn't get itto function at all. Understand that I'm no techie (biggest understatement ofthe year) so these were the most basic of tests, all donefrom a marketing vs. technical standpoint. If you are yourown webmaster, have your friends and associates test yourecommerce sections, and your website in general, before youunleash your brilliance on the world. It's amazing all thethings that can go wrong on a web site, including thingsthat you or your tech help hasn't thought of. While it'simpossible to go through every conceivable configuration, itis possible to take care of all the major ones. 3. Take the annoyance out of shopping. In other words, make buying from you a pleasure. I was on a*professional marketer's* site to scope out a product hesells for $97. I muddled my way through a century of copybefore I could get to the actual *click to buy button.* Iknow he and other Internet marketers like him think thisdirect marketing technique (long copy, addressing everyobjection, the illusion of giving away meaningfulinformation) really sells the product--but it doesn't workif they don't make it easy to get the product in the basket. After about 5 minutes of clicking forward and backward, Igave up. (By the way, women have less patience on theInternet than men). Chalk up another lost sale for him. Use the fewest number of clicks to get a buyer to wherethey're going (to the checkout). This means in navigatingforward, toward the final sale, or backward to add moreitems to their cart. Don't have your potential customerwaste time and effort trying to figure out where or what toclick, because they won't--they'll simply leave. Modelyourself after amazon.com who makes the process simple andeasy. Also, explain every step of your ordering process so thatpeople feel confident of where they are going and what theycan expect from you. This means everything from screens thatverify the information is correctly filled out on forms, toemail messages confirming and precisely explaining theshipping method and timeframe. 4. Don't sacrifice image for speed. Think about it. If someone is paying you a substantial sumfor your services and your website comes across like a poorpauper, do you think they'll retain their confidence in you? It's important to concern yourself deeply about the kind ofimage you're projecting before you slap something up on yourwebsite that you'll be sorry for later. Donald Rumsfeld, ourcurrent Secretary of Defense, former chairman of the*transition team* for President Ford, and the former WhiteHouse chief of staff, gives this advice, *Think ahead. Don'tlet day-to-day operations drive out planning. Plan backwardas well as forward. Set objectives and trace back to see howto achieve them. You may find that no path can get youthere. Plan forward to see where your steps will take you,which may not be clear or intuitive.* Some questions to ask to help you get clear: Is what you're offering soft or hard-edged enough for thekind of audience you want to attract? What are the qualitiesyour audience is looking for from you? Is what you docompletely clear? Are the products you sell filled withknowledge and information (or in the case of 3-D productsoriginality and true value) your buyers can't get from yourcompetitors? Do you make it easy to buy? Remember that mostinformation can be found elsewhere, but your wisdom cannot. 5. Your website image must match everything you *do, say andare.* Create continuity, in person, on paper, and on the Internet.You must come across as professional, trustworthy, andknowledgeable. When I was interviewing people for my book,*Sell Yourself Without Selling Your Soul,* I turned to theexpertise of a professional PR listserve to which Isubscribe. One woman, whose knowledge and online manner I'dcome to admire, was first on my list to call. I visited herwebsite to research her background before I contacted her. Iwas baffled to find little dolphins and other silly-lookingcharacters that had nothing to do with a theme or anythingelse for that matter, on her site. Needless to say heresteem dropped in my eyes. I never called. On the other hand, my client Leslie Kirk Campbell, Founderof the Ripe Fruit School of writing, took the time toruminate over her website for months. She carefully chosephotos that gave her potential clients a real sense of heras a teacher and leader. She poured over hundreds oftestimonials to select just the right ones that captured theessence of taking a class or going on a writing retreat. Andshe thought intensely about what it was that people whosecreativity was stifled, stalled, on brief hiatus, or in fullroar, would need from her. Her site isn't *perfect* and it'sstill in evolution, but the basics for what her audienceneeds are there. See what she came up with that representsher teaching/living style and her love of language at:http://www.ripefruitwriting.com A Wall Street Journal article about the best Southern porkbarbeque,illustrates my point. Restaurateur Wilbur King whogot started doing mail order Bar-B-Q by sending carepackages of his *Kingston, N.C., 'cue to displaced locals,*said that he didn't want to make his website too slick.*People have an image in their mind, and if it's not threerednecks over a pit in the woods, they think it's not thereal deal.* Smart marketer this Bar-B-Q salesman. Another great example of how look and feel serenely match isFeng Shui expert Shannon Lee Turner's website. Visit athttp://www.tranquilspaces.com to get a sense of how thecontent, images, design, graphics, and services arecompletely congruous. Besides offering classes and businessor residential consultations, Shannon also has a free weeklynewsletter called *Feng Shui Tips.* You'll get manyfascinating ideas about how to run your business better withinsights on structuring your environment. Her newsletteralso perfectly matches the sensibility of her business. Tosubscribe to the list, send your name and city of residenceto mailto:tips@tranquilspaces.com I look forward to getting this one in my mailbox. It alwayscontains both wise advice and a beautiful quote or poem. Bythe way, there is no archive of the past tips so the onlyway to get them is to subscribe. 6. BONUS TIP! Don't give your customers too many choices. Potential customers will log off if they're confronted witha dizzying display of decisions. Case in point, a friend ofmine was looking to buy the Herman Miller Aeron chair on asite that advertised it for a great price and free shipping.First he needed to choose a size. Then the color of theframe. Then the color of the material. Next, the color forthe arms, and the size and type of casters, and on and on!He decided he couldn't make a decision unless he saw thedarn chair. The solution? Offer a few of the most popular standardsfirst. Then note that any of the items can be customized.It's your job to help guide your customers to the optimalanswers to the most common asked questions--before they'reasked. Since you're tracking your most popular items you canlet people know what has worked best for others. You'rehelping them make an intelligent decision. In other words,simplify the thinking and ordering process so it's a quickand easy process. Back to my original point. While the ordering process iscrucial, the look and feel of your website may be moreimportant than you think. It's a surprising fact that peopleremember feelings more than the specifics of what you say.Make sure your online image matches your expertise and thefeeling you want to leave with people. Warrant that everystep someone takes on your website is in the direction youwant them to go. Finally, take the time to ensure that theirjourney is the guided tour you want them to take. Get insider secrets on publicity and marketing bysubscribing to Sixty Second Secrets. Packed full of powerfultechniques to promote yourself on and off the web. Excitingideas and stories from successful people. http://www.prsecrets.com/joinlist.html
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
By: Susan Harrow Take control of your company's online future today:
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