Mastering Internet Sales – Part 1

Joe Bingham says there are two ways, and only two ways, to master selling things on the Internet. He calls these two ways of making actual Internet sales Instant Excitement and Earned Association. He may well be right.

Instant Excitement is the process of firing up your prospects with sharp sales copy and flashy promotion. The potential customer feels "I am lucky to have found this product" or opportunity or service, and the volume of instant purchases can lead to quick profits. To be effective everything must direct the prospect to the buying decision for this one product, service, or opportunity. There must be an intense urgency, a need to buy it here and now. There should be only one single straight-line pitch geared 100% toward the selling of this one item, now.

The approach moves the prospect quickly through the product information and gets them quickly to the order page. Ordering is easy. There should be numerous directives to purchase now. Incentives are often used, but the whole process is about making the sale, quickly.

An Instant Excitement presentation is carefully structured with an opening pitch that catches the attention, covers the basics, and offers the oportunity to complete the transaction quickly. There is a middle section that goes into a little more detail for those who need convincing and again offers a link to the purchase function. The final section recaps the offer and, perhaps, sweetens the deal with extras for those who need to be convinced. These extras may be just more details or they may actually be one or more bonus items included if the purchase is finalized now.

In a nut shell you outline what you are selling and provide an order link, briefly expand on the features and benefits and provide another order link, and finally fully explain the product, service or program, offer incentives, and provide yet another order link. The key is to move the prospect to the order page and make the sale.

Although often effective, this kind of selling may not always lead to sustained growth and success. Buyers quickly tire of the hype. The seller is always having to re-tool and redesign the presentation lest it become old and stale. Long term, repeat business is seldom the result. And one needs to be careful not to lose touch with sound business principles or to slide into dishonesty, false claims or fraud. The hit and run "sell 'em and leave 'em" attitude that many Instant Excitement promoters fall into is a certain death nell for any business.

Excitement is good. Fast sales are great. But your business should be based on realistic claims, desirable products or services, and you should offer support services and refund guarantees as appropriate. Repeat sales to satisfied involving additional items is the basis of long term business growth.

But not all prospects will be ready to make an instant purchase when they first encounter your product or service. Some people are savvy shoppers, more cautious about the way they do business, and they may require more time to come to the buying decision, to think things over. Others may be interested in buying what you offer but may be short on imediate funds and want to return at a later time to complete the transaction. Turning these people away because they don't take advantage of your Instant Excitement approach is short sighted and counter-productive to good, profitable, business.

So, how do you keep the interest of these prospects? How do you get them to return to you later? This is where Earned Association comes in. Earned Association is developed by advertising away from your sales site. Plant the seeds of recognition. Develop a "brand" or "identity" on the Internet so people will know how to find you and know when they find you. It often requires several exposures to your product or service brand before viewers will become serious prospects.
Prospects often need to develop trust before they will become serious about doing business with you. There is a comfort level that must be reached. Coming to the buying decision is a process that varies from person to person. Some need time to mull things over. Some need to get their information in bite-sized pieces over a period of time. Often it is as much a matter of catching the prospect at the right moment as anything else.

This process requires repeat exposure; advertising, blog and forum posts, banners, articles, etc. Over time your information will sink in and the prospect will seek you out. They will associate you, your business, your product/service with what they need and, more importantly, want. You will have earned that association. You will have become more credible, in their mind, as an answer to their need, a solution to their problem.

Besides simple long-term exposure, Earned Association involves the provision of extra information. Auto-responders and periodic newsletters are a good method of getting more detail to someone who originally contacted you about your product/service. Serial blog posts and other web exposure can be good. Don't flood the prospect. Don't become a spammer. But do follow up. Sometimes a sale is only as far away as YOUR contact.

Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) pages can lead prospects through anwers to questions they have but haven't been able to put into words. Extra detail pages and testimonials are also good. Stay on topic and provide links to the order page. Remember, your goal is always to get that sale. Always offer the place to make the purchase, not just the information.

If you are sitting back waiting for sales you are probably doing a lot more waiting than selling. Successful Internet selling is a process and you must take action in order to master Internet sales. Watch for my next article on this subject.