Internet Marketing and the Sales Process
I started out on the affiliate marketing side; you keep EVERYTHING to yourself because if others (and believe me there are people who will try to steal your niche) found out they can steal your niche. So you use assumed names to put articles in article directories and make a lot of sites and get traffic to them all.
Finding the right product and putting it in front of people who can (and are willing to buy it) is the key. These are fairly simple processes if you have the skills to pull it off. Each profitable niche is your own private gold mine so you keep it a secret as to what you are doing.
Then I found traffic exchanges that turned that process around and tell you you need to ‘brand’ yourself. Now this is a common theme in the ‘make money at home niche’ as there are “gurus” that seem to sell a bazillion dollars worth of stuff just because they came up with it.
There are SO many other niches that are much bigger with less competition. This niche is SO much harder to get going than others, it is a challenge. I have been giving the ‘make money at home niche’ a go to see how it all works.
The thread though all this is some people do make some money and most don’t. There are people who I have met that have been doing this for YEARS and not had a single sale. They keep trying and keep hoping. They keep buying the ‘shiny objects’ and keep going. They have spent thousands of dollars on this course and that system and still keep buying.
The people selling this stuff know they have a captive audience and the crap fest continues. For you to be successful, it may be something as simple as doing another niche that is easier to get customers.
No matter what niche you are in; you need to understand the sales process. What most don’t realize is the sales process is a troubleshooting process. You, as the salesperson, must find the ‘problem’ and provide a solution. If you can’t find the solution, you have failed.
Sales is sales, no matter if it is selling sweepers, pot and pans, cars, houses, or the newest Internet marketing product. Far too many people fail to realize this IS a sales business and they ARE salespeople. We don’t get a chance to meet face to face, we don’t have the means to communicate things except in our sales pages. If you fail to fine tune your sales process; you will continue to have the same success you are now.
To give an example; when I sold sweepers door-to-door we had a pretty simple process that was based on tried and true sales mechanics. Get to know the customer and let them get to know you, show the product has value to the customer, and then ask them to buy. To show by example we will look at this as it is similar to Internet marketing.
Now the thing with door-to-door sales is they do not know you at all. They had no idea they had any problem or want or need for your product. Just as people coming to your page may not know you have a solution for a problem they hadn’t thought about. Did you think about tracking software until you found out you really needed tracking software through a sales page? See how it works?
You give them a free gift to get inside to do the demonstration. This is similar to giving a gift to sign up for a newsletter or whatever. The free gift was cleaning product (usually “Tide or Towels”) purchased at the local store. They did cost me money, but I made so much more that it was an inconsequential cost. If you think that you can do this business for free; you will not make it far.
Some may be able to; but those people are few and far between the normal operation. If you don’t get into the house, you don’t have any possibility to make any money. You only make money when you have a sale. The better the gift, the easier it was to get inside. See any similarities?
You had the ‘front talk’ to get to know the people a little bit and gather information to help you in the sales process. You see this in all the successful sales pages where you are introduced to the marketer. You learn a little about who they are. If written correctly you see yourself in their position. This is your ‘branding’ as the people who see it didn’t know you from the guy on the street before this. Have you noticed this on sales pages?
You had the demonstration to show how the product worked. You had to build more value than the cost during the demonstration. This is the main body of the sales process. If people can’t understand or use the product or see how it will benefit THEM; they WON’T BUY. This is no matter how good a deal you give them or how much value you build for the product.
You had the close. You added up what everything would cost separately and came up with a huge price, then did the “It is not $XX or even $XX, but JUST $XX” going done in price until you got the the “suggested retail price”. You see this same exact thing in a lot of sales pages. It is crucial to getting a good price for your product. If your customer perceive your product as being worth $1 – you won’t get $10.
The closing is were most failed: this is where you asked for the money. You would have people who were in a house for HOURS and never once asked for the sale. We used what is called a ‘third party’ closing technique. When everything was done, we put out a signal on the front porch that we were done and our manager would come in to make sure there were no other questions while he helped pack everything away.
If there was any interest, then the ‘boss’ would be called and a great deal would be presented that they could take advantage of TODAY.
The process worked great on paper, but people tend to make a mess of it most of the time. Each part of the process is important and can’t be left out or skimped on. The front talk was important as you got to know them and they got to know you.
The demonstration was important to build value and show the problem. The close was important too; if it was not done you wasted your time on all the rest. When it was all done properly, everyone was happy and got what they wanted. If when the close came and the front part was lacking or the customer perceived no value to them, people felt ‘pressured’.
Think about YOUR sales process. Think about the stuff you have bought. Isn’t the process similar? Are you lacking in some of the steps? You have been through this process in buying a car where the salesperson had to get the great deal or huge trade-in approved by the manager.
You have bought products that were on sale TODAY ONLY. Once you understand the process, you can use it to your advantage as both consumer and as a salesperson. People LOVE to buy and they HATE being sold. Look at what you are doing now and see if there is a way to improve on your process.
I have seen pages that were pretty darn ugly that make people money because they have this process nailed. They have articles that accentuate the problem (using the proper keywords to get the proper traffic) and a link to the solution. Are your pages providing a good ‘sales funnel’?
The thing is if YOU think the pages are great and are not making any sales, then you need to look at them again. If these elements aren’t in your affiliate page, then you need to make a ‘pre-sell’ site that does that to you direct people to FIRST. Even tiny tweaks can have massive changes on your results.
If you don’t know your ‘closing average’ or how many people need to see the site to those that actually BUY (where you make money) you will have NO idea if what you are doing is working.
In this aspect, people who just ‘sign up’ and get on your list is irrelevant as they aren’t making you money NOW. If you have no cash flow, you are out of business. Having a list with thusands of people you never make any money from is useless.
The last part of the equation is having the right kind of traffic. If you are getting a thousand hits from vegetarians and you are selling a steak…will you make any sales? EVER? Even with a million hits? I know that I sound like a broken record on this, but you NEED the proper kind of traffic.
Do you try to sell to other salespeople? Are they trying to sell the SAME product?
Where is the traffic you are getting coming from?
Do you even know?
How can you get the right kind of traffic?
To go back to the sweeper example, we didn’t knock door-to-door in the welfare projects. This should be common sense, but we had people who set up appointments for people on welfare with no job. They did try to purchase, but had no money and no credit. This was devastating to the newbie and they quickly say,”This is a SCAM and doesn’t work!”
This is why qualified traffic is SO important.
Any other does you no good.
I had a 65% closing average which meant that 65% of the people I saw purchased. The funny thing was that most of my sales were cash or credit card (same as cash), because I ASKED for it. I did have sales that were financed that didn’t go through, but I had enough other good sales that made up for it. I also had a less than 1% return rate. So I wasn’t a ‘high-pressure’ salesperson.
I am hoping I have enlightened you a little as to what you might be able to do to make some money online. It is a pretty simple process, but NOT easy. You need a variety of skills to pull it off and if you don’t have them – get them. There is hard work involved as in any business.
If you are not making any money online and have been at it for awhile, you need to look at what you are doing a little closer. If you want to make more money, some small tweaks and split-testing can show massive changes. If changing some things will increase you from 1 to 2 sales, you just doubled your income!
