First, you will want to check that people can find your order form easily and hassle-free. You can write a clear, concise paragraph to direct your prospects to your order form so that you can minimize the chances of them getting lost. You can also reduce the chances of losing prospects by putting a prominent link to your order page from every other page on your site.

Also, do you offer multiple payment options? Some people may feel comfortable paying via Paypal, some may only want to pay with their credit card and others might want to send a cheque. The more options you offer, the better your chances of covering your prospects’ desired payment method. After all, it wouldn’t make any sense to sell hard to a prospect only to find that they won’t be able to pay you when they want to.

On the other hand, you will want to prove that you are a credible merchant. Is your order form secured using encryption technology? You would want to look into SSL for this. You can also offer a money back guarantee so that people will feel confident about buying from you. How about after sales support? Who do they contact when they have problems after purchasing?

Alternatively, you can add customer testimonials, your contact information, address, and so on to boost your prospects’ confidence. Make them feel safe about buying something from you, a total stranger to them on the other end of the Internet.

As a conclusion, it would be very pitiful if you sold hard and sold well to a prospect and something goes wrong when he or she is ready to pay. Eliminate any chances of that to maximize your profits!

Whenever someone sends the autoresponder a message, the individual who sent the message will receive a preset email message with the information they were seeking. Depending on the servers and speed of the Internet, the email response will happen very fast. Autoresponders have always been known for their quick speed and fast responses to any type of email message they receive.

One of the best things about autoresponders is the fact that they are always available. They are always there 24/7, providing your clients and customers with the information they seek. They will make your business life easier, by boosting your sales. They require little work from you, yet they are easy to operate. They can also make managing your customers and clients easier than ever, as they will help you keep track of your responses and keep up with email addresses you receive.

Even if you’ve never used an autoresponder before, you can easily use it to your advantage with your online business. You can preset it to say a variety of messages, even inform your clients about future offers and products. This is a great way to get your message out there, especially if you are currently holding a sale or other deal that you know people won’t want to miss out on. Autoresponders will work for you day or night, making your company information available to anyone whenever they want it.

Contrary to popular belief, not all buyers are impulse buyers. Research has shown that less than 15% of those who visit websites are impulse buyers. Although most websites focus themselves on getting visitors to buy their products immediately, most buyers need time to think about a product or offer they will purchase it. Most buyers don’t like to buy something immediately, simply because they may not be familiar with the product or know what it can do for them. Therefore, most buyers will learn all they can about something before they decide to go ahead and purchase it.

You can also use an autoresponder to distribute courses, articles or reports to your clients and subscribers. They are also great for providing free information to interested individuals, or immediately sending out information about your products and opportunities. You can also choose to send out price lists as well, or welcome new clients to your organization. If customers have purchased from you before, you can use an autoresponder to send out confirmations, thank you notes, and even offer discounts to those who buy your products.

In the world of Internet marketing, autoresponders are simply beneficial to have. They are worth more than the price you pay for them, simply because they will provide you with so much for so little. One of the best in the business is www.Automatic-Responder.com. Sending out information is easy with an autoresponder – as it will provide information about your company and products to interested clients the instant they need it.

All in all, an autoresponder will help you operate your business easier than ever before. Unlike other programs you can get for your online business, autoresponders will keep you in a constant state of readiness. You can feel free to go out and do what you want – and rest assured that your autoresponder will be there to supply information to those who need it.

Isn’t this the way it should be?

NO! The customer doesn’t care about the late nights you spent meticulously researching your product. The customer wants to know just ONE thing: What’s In It For Me? (WIIFM) If you can’t answer that one simple question, you’ll never be able to consistently sell your product or service.

In a sales letter or ad, you have less than two seconds to gain your prospect’s attention. The first major mistake most people make is to start out with a weak headline.

If your headline doesn’t grab attention, then whatever you say in the body copy is meaningless.

The next biggest mistake is starting any piece of copy with a “me” message. A “me” message is all about you and your company. To your prospect “me” messages are boring! To get your prospects attention you must talk about THEM, not you. You must talk to their pleasure, their wealth, their challenges, their fears, their problems, and their joys. Every prospect is tuned into the same radio station – WIIFM (as in “What’s In It For Me”).

One way of avoiding this after you have written your ad or sales copy is to reread it and circle all the “me” words. Words such as “I, me, we, and our” are “me” words. Rewrite the copy using “you” and “your” words, making it more interesting and exciting to your prospect.

Imagine how much fun it would be to see your profits go through the roof. To do this, you must clearly make your business stand out and apart from all your competition. You must convey your uniqueness without spending a fortune, and the secret is all in the sales copy.

You must create a Unique Selling Proposition (U.S.P.) What do you offer your prospects that your competitor doesn’t or can’t? Maybe it’s a better guarantee, better service, availability (reachable after 9 to 5), better location, or better customer treatment. Whatever you can do to set your business/services apart from your competition gives you the “edge”.

Something many business owners don’t realize or are mistaken about is the “length” of guarantee they offer. Giving your prospect a “2-Year, No Questions Asked Guarantee” is much better than a “90-day,
Money Back Guarantee.”

The longer the guarantee, the more credible you and your business are “perceived” by your prospect. Typically the majority of your customers will never make use of the “2-Year Guarantee.” Let’s face it, by that time they like using your product, and/or they’ve long ago lost the sales slip. BUT, when a prospect reads about the longer guarantee you’re offering, it raises their comfort level and makes them choose you over your competition.

Always remember that when you’re a small fish in a big pond – you must be different to stand out. Making use of good advertising copy filled with words that make prospects eager to satisfy their WIIFM is the answer.

What happens in nature when there is a vacuum? Right. There is an attempt to fill that void, and human nature also follows that law.

1. Filling the void

When someone does a person a favor or gives them something of value for free, this act provides an imbalance in the relationship. This creates a subconscious pressure on the recipient to give back in some way. This is what’s known in marketing as filling the void.

2. Reciprocation 

In marketing the word “FREE” has the most response of any word in the English language. That’s why marketers use it over, and over again. Everybody likes something for free, don’t you? Even though “free” means there is no obligation or cost, the recipient does feel obligated. If something of real value is given to the person, an imbalance is created – a void in nature – that needs to be filled. Maybe not immediately, but if that person has gotten great value and use from the gift, there will be a nagging sub-conscious motivation to reciprocate in some manner.

You’ll find that some people just don’t seem to reciprocate, and it could be that they didn’t appreciate the full value of your offer. This is why it’s so important to make sure when you are offering a free gift with a promotion, that your customers are made aware of the full value of what they’re receiving.

What really makes this work in marketing, though, is that you make your “free” offer available when your customer takes action. Now it can be a very small one like filling out a customer card for you (which gives you their name, address, and email address), or accepting your product on a 30-day trial.

3. Getting your customer to like you 

Have you heard the phrase, “if a customer knows, likes and trusts you then they’ll buy from you”. Well, you’ve gotten them to know you with your “free” offer, the next step is to get them to “like” you. The quickest way I know to get someone to like you is for you to let them know that you like them (reciprocation, again).

Now, not ALL people are going to “like” you and you’re not going to like all your customers, but if you take this approach you’ve a lot better odds of finding customers.

When you’re writing your ads and marketing letters always write as if they are a personal note to a real, live, breathing friend. Use plain talk as if you’re talking to your best friend, and not “hi-tech technobabble”. Keep it simple!

4. Trust 

I don’t know about you, but when I hear someone say “TRUST ME” it reminds me of a snake oil salesman and makes me do anything but trust them. So how do you get your customers to trust you? Take a leadership role with them and tell them what they should do to take action and buy. You must be or present yourself as an “Authority” figure. An expert in your field and the only one they should buy from as proven by the endorsements of your other customers, their friends and neighbors.

If your offer is made in a letter, than include some endorsements from others, mention articles written about you, books, articles, newsletters that you’ve written, etc. It is interesting that most people don’t want to make a decision, and it’s better that you give them an action plan to say “yes”.

5. Scarcity 

This is one persuader that really motivates humans to action, and you must create and manage this to your advantage in every offer you make.

People want things that solve their problems or make them feel good about themselves that are of good quality. They want it even more – if the quantity is limited in some way. Remember the law of supply and demand? If the demand for a product is high and the supply is low, then the price that’s charged will be accepted readily be it high or low. (Sounds like buying gas for your car, doesn’t it?)

Even if you create the “perception” that there is a limited quantity available, a limited time frame for availability, or whatever you conceive to use, you’ll find this a catalyst to action for your customer.

Of course, it goes without saying that you always include a guarantee of some kind in your offers. I always like the “no questions asked” type of guarantee for 30, 60, 90 days or even a full year if it fits for you. With this you’re emphasizing your credibility (trust) by saying you’re going to be around for a while. I’ve found that most times there are very few takers to the guarantee policy you offer, and if there is – you don’t want to keep an unhappy customer anyway.

Be sure to include all five of these tips in all of your offers (ads, sales letters, presentations, etc.) and you’ll see dramatic results and an increase in your business.

What happens in nature when there is a vacuum? Right. There is an attempt to fill that void, and human nature also follows that law.

1. Filling the void – When someone does a person a favor or gives them something of value for free, this act provides an imbalance in the relationship. This creates a subconscious pressure on the recipient to give back in some way. This is what’s known in marketing as filling the void.

2. Reciprocation – In marketing the word “FREE” has the most response of any word in the English language. That’s why marketers use it over, and over again. Everybody likes something for free, don’t you? Even though “free” means there is no obligation or cost, the recipient does feel obligated. If something of real value is given to the person, an imbalance is created – a void in nature – that needs to be filled. Maybe not immediately, but if that person has gotten great value and use from the gift, there will be a nagging sub-conscious motivation to reciprocate in some manner.

You’ll find that some people just don’t seem to reciprocate, and it could be that they didn’t appreciate the full value of your offer. This is why it’s so important to make sure when you are offering a free gift with a promotion, that your customers are made aware of the full value of what they’re receiving.

What really makes this work in marketing, though, is that you make your “free” offer available when your customer takes action. Now it can be a very small one like filling out a customer card for you (which gives you their name, address, and email address), or accepting your product on a 30-day trial.

3. Getting your customer to like you – Have you heard the phrase, “if a customer knows, likes and trusts you then they’ll buy from you”. Well, you’ve gotten them to know you with your “free” offer, the next step is to get them to “like” you. The quickest way I know to get someone to like you is for you to let them know that you like them (reciprocation, again).

Now, not ALL people are going to “like” you and you’re not going to like all your customers, but if you take this approach you’ve a lot better odds of finding customers.

When you’re writing your ads and marketing letters always write as if they are a personal note to a real, live, breathing friend. Use plain talk as if you’re talking to your best friend, and not “hi-tech technobabble”. Keep it simple!

4. Trust – I don’t know about you, but when I hear someone say “TRUST ME” it reminds me of a snake oil salesman and makes me do anything but trust them. So how do you get your customers to trust you? Take a leadership role with them and tell them what they should do to take action and buy. You must be or present yourself as an “Authority” figure. An expert in your field and the only one they should buy from as proven by the endorsements of your other customers, their friends and neighbors.

If your offer is made in a letter, than include some endorsements from others, mention articles written about you, books, articles, newsletters that you’ve written, etc. It is interesting that most people don’t want to make a decision, and it’s better that you give them an action plan to say “yes”.

5. Scarcity – This is one persuader that really motivates humans to action, and you must create and manage this to your advantage in every offer you make.

People want things that solve their problems or make them feel good about themselves that are of good quality. They want it even more – if the quantity is limited in some way. Remember the law of supply and demand? If the demand for a product is high and the supply is low, then the price that’s charged will be accepted readily be it high or low. (Sounds like buying gas for your car, doesn’t it?)

Even if you create the “perception” that there is a limited quantity available, a limited time frame for availability, or whatever you conceive to use, you’ll find this a catalyst to action for your customer.

Of course, it goes without saying that you always include a guarantee of some kind in your offers. I always like the “no questions asked” type of guarantee for 30, 60, 90 days or even a full year if it fits for you. With this you’re emphasizing your credibility (trust) by saying you’re going to be around for a while. I’ve found that most times there are very few takers to the guarantee policy you offer, and if there is – you don’t want to keep an unhappy customer anyway.

Be sure to include all five of these tips in all of your offers (ads, sales letters, presentations, etc.) and you’ll see dramatic results and an increase in your business.

1. Qualify Your Prospect – Maximizing your time is important, so the faster you can determine if you’ve got a potential customer the better. Determine who the “Decision Maker” is, do you have a good rapport with him/her, is their a problem you can solve or do they know there’s a problem? You may have the greatest hammer in the world, but if all this prospect uses is screws – you can’t sell your product.

2. Gain Trust – Price and product benefits are obvious buying factors, but less obvious ones are intuition, impressions, and rapport. Prospects are just as apt to buy for emotional reasons as practical ones, so you need to show them you are most like them, you’re sincere, you keep your word, and are honest. If you say you’ll see them on Tuesday, make sure you keep your word. Don’t make a promise you don’t intend on keeping.

3. Define Your Unique Position – Your product or service provides your customer with a specific benefit or group of benefits. Make sure it isn’t the same as your competition. Why does your company stand out? Let them know the difference.

4. LISTEN! – Most salespeople are guilty of “overselling”, and often miss the sentence from the prospect that says, “You’re right. We’ll take it.” Listen to your prospect as he answers open-ended questions, and even listen to his tone and inflections of speech. Uncover the problem, and then provide the solution and stop talking.

5. Stay Focused – Too many small business owners spend all their time putting out fires instead of making sales. Spend at least 60% of your time trying to produce revenue. The sales window of 9am-5pm is small, so plan your selling time accordingly. Schedule non-sales generating duties outside this time.

6. Polish Your Presentation – Don’t take your sales presentation for granted. Practice your pitch. You’ve spent a lot of money perfecting your product or service, take the time to develop a comfortable, confident, effective presentation.

7. Do Your Homework – Research your prospects so that you can ask better questions, show better under-standing of his business, and be more prepared and confident before your meet.

8. Learn From Success – Many entrepreneurs have success in one industry with one type of client, and then don’t focus on getting more of the same type. If you’ve been successful selling to doctors and publishers, call on other doctors and publishers and refer to the successes you’ve had. Prospects will trust you more if they know you have previous experience with others in their field. You also spend less time establishing your credibility with them.

These are just a few of more than 50 or more ways to increase your sales revenue, but they are valuable in helping you to accomplish one very important goal – TO SELL THE MOST PRODUCT OR SERVICE IN THE LEAST AMOUNT OF TIME. Remember, the only difference between an average baseball player and an All-Star is just one more hit in every 10 at bats. Step up to the plate and sell, sell, sell.

Your most important skill as a business owner is your salesmanship. Having the best product or service means nothing if you can’t get anyone to buy it, so to ensure the success of your business you must develop the ability to generate revenue – “salesman-ship”.

Here is a brief outline of 13 techniques I’ve developed for increasing sales:

1. USE THE PHONE –Absolutely the cheapest, most effective, and efficient way to find customers is by phone. Yes, “cold-calling”. Write out a script for this before you call, so you don’t sound vague. Introduce yourself, your company, the purpose of the call, and give a brief “benefit” of your product/service to the client. ”What will you do for his/her business?” Be brief, to the point, and have 10 possible objections you might get, answered in your script. This way you’re prepared for the customary “brush-off.” Always try to get a firm commitment to a meeting. This call is not to “sell” the client, it’s to get a face-to-face meeting to establish credibility – and then to sell him/her. Would you buy from a voice on the phone? No. You want to see the vendor and listen to his offer.

2. SHOUT IT FROM THE MOUNTAIN TOP – You should always be looking for new customer, and I’ve found that giving seminars, teaching, guest speaking at trade shows and organizations, or writing an article for your trade magazine or business journal establishes you as an “expert” in your field. People like to buy from experts because it reduces their fear of making a bad decision. Everyone can overcome their fear of public speaking, so find the method that works best for you and do it. As a desperate step, join a Toastmaster’s group near you or take a night course at a nearby Adult School.

3. ASK QUESTIONS – Most salespeople think that the first meeting with the prospect is the only chance to make a sale. WRONG! Before you go into your “pitch” ask questions, take notes, what are your prospects goals, challenges, etc. Helping a prospect solve a business problem creates a “win-win” relationship and closes more sales than you think.

4. AVOID “PRODUCT DUMPING” – Telling your prospect all about your product/service before you know their needs is a mistake made by 95% of salespeople. This is an inefficient selling method and upon reflection, your client will lose faith in you. I’ve met with clients on several occasions and left them with some advice and good feelings, but no sale and that’s alright. Because in the future I’m apt to get “word of mouth” referrals from them, which will outweigh what I might have made if I’d simply “sold” them a service that wasn’t an answer to their problem. Remember – nothing adds more to your credibility than a referral from a satisfied prospect.

5. KNOW YOUR NUMBERS – Selling is a numbers game, and you need to learn your “selling ratios.” How many prospecting calls do you need to get a meeting, and how many meetings to get a sale. This allows you to manage your cash flow by forecasting your sales. It also tells you how many calls are needed to increase your sales revenue.

As I said in the previous post, like it or not we are all salesmen. Our lives are made up of a series of “sales presentations”, otherwise known as presenting ourself in the best light possible. Whether we’re out for a job interview, trying for a raise, or just convincing our employees that a job must be accomplished – you are making a presentation.

To become masterful at it can be summed up in the acronym IPRESENT! In my last column we covered the steps “I” through “E”:

• I – involve your audience
• P – prepare your audience
• R – research your arsenal
• E – explain “Why?”

Let’s finish the acronym today.

“S” stands for State (mental) Management. The mental state of the successful presenter must be congruent with the message. If you don’t believe that, try giving a pep talk to your sales force when you’re depressed – it won’t work! You must be aware of and manage your own mental state and that of your listeners or communication channels will not be open. I don’t have space to elaborate on methods of doing this, but here are a few key hints. First, “AAI” – act as if. Act the way you want to feel, it’s amazing how this works. Use music to set the mood if necessary, dress the part, and reduce your anxiety by whatever method works for you. Remember that you’re the one in charge, and presentation mastery isn’t about being perfect – it’s about achieving your objective.

“E” is for eliminating the unknowns. Fear of public speaking ranks high on most people’s list of worst fears. You may find you’re unusually nervous, develop poor voice tone or negative body language, and be unable to respond to audience feedback. Managing your anxiety permits you to focus on your audience and their needs. The basic approach to do this is the asking ourselves a list of “what if?” questions. Another way to overcome our fear is to take ownership of the situation. Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse. Double check your notes, and prepare yourself.

“N” is fudging a little by using the second letter of the word “know” – as in kNow Your Audience. Whether it is one person or many that you are presenting to you must do three basic things: Meet their needs, reduce tension, and avoid mistakes. A good knowledge of the listeners will give you a chance to tailor your objectives to meet their needs. This also allows you to reduce the “audience-presenter” tension so they will focus on what you’re saying. With a clear knowledge of your audience’s views you’ll be sensitive to potential “hot buttons”.

“T” stands for “Tailor Your Presentation Throughout”. Boring listeners leads to missed objectives or total failure. You must be flexible and responsive to your audience. To do this you need to use techniques that will give you audience feedback; you must diagnose the cause of the problem you’re addressing, and finally you must choose the solution to act upon.

When you’re presenting watch for non-verbal behavior such as clock-watching, foot-tapping, and cat-napping. When any of these are present get some feedback with, “Is it too warm in here?” or “Should I pick up the pace?” That breaks the attention or lack of, of the audience and brings them back to your talk. One important thing to remember is that the mind can absorb no more than the seat can endure. Sometimes a simple thing like taking a short stretch break will solve the problem.

The techniques for achieving your most desired outcomes are at your fingertips, when you remember that life is a series of presentations.

Strange as it may seem, our life is made up of a series of “sales presentations”. Sales may not be your gig, but if you’re the boss you’re making presentations everyday. Be it a pitch to your Board, announcing a policy change to employees, selling an idea to your spouse, or just trying to win others over to your point of view – you need to punch up your people skills for winning pitches.

Human nature is such that people support solutions that they help create, so involve them by allowing your audience to participate with questions or ideas. It goes without saying that to not involve key people is risky, because messages can be misunderstood. Your plans may be derailed before they begin if sufficient “buy-in” is lacking. Use lots of open-ended questions in your presentation to draw out the silent type.

Preparation is a key to success. Prepare your listeners to what’s coming during or before your presentation. Try these pre-meeting tactics:

• Assign task-related pre-work. This could be pre-reading or study of a problem, and the preparations of possible solutions. An example could be, “go and visit three kinds of accounts before the meeting.”
• Make pre-meeting contacts with those invited by email, phone, or in person. You might want to try an informal survey to get people’s position on the issues at hand.

Remember support on key or controversial matters can be established ahead of time by lobbying, if you know where to lobby.

Do your research! People who make it look easy and are effective presenters have a hidden arsenal. This is an arsenal of up-to-date, organized material that can be accessed quickly in ready-to-use form when needed. They have the stats to back up their ideas, and they have a mental arsenal of stories, examples, jokes, and ice-breakers to use when needed.

Your physical presentation could include tangible items relating to the issue such as recent articles clipped from newspapers or magazines, photographs, reports, and demonstration property. To become masterful in this art learn to maintain resources you can access for just the right thing at the right time.

The next thing you must do is to explain “why?” The single most powerful thing you can do to convince your audience of something is to provide a convincing reason why they should do what you suggest or believe what you say. People want and need a clear “WIIFM” – “what’s in it for me?” – to be able to react positively to what you want them to do. It’s extremely important that you deliver a vision of benefits. Hearing the “why” won’t automatically generate a “yes” to your proposition, but it’ll open the door for receptivity to your idea.

Knowing and accepting the “why” satisfies a basic need that we all have – to understand the purpose of our actions. Use the words “because” or “so that” in your presentation and then finish the phrase. When your subject matter is controversial or likely to generate emotions, it is essential that your “why’s” be tested in advance. Ask some people you trust or that are on your “team” to play devil’s advocate to help you with your logic and arguments.

These are just the first four points for making successful presentations. There are eight of them in total, and we’ll look at the other four in my column next week. For now, let me leave you with this thought.

Life is a sales job from beginning to end. From the moment that we discern how to get approval as children, winning friends at school, getting our first beau, getting our first (and subsequent) job, getting engaged and married, achieving our goals, and anything else you can think of in between – we’re selling ourselves or our ideas all along the way. Who said you weren’t a salesperson?

The art of getting new business is no mystery, in fact it’s so simple we miss the forest for the trees. Here are 10 tips to remind you how to build more client base.

1. Get New Business From Old. Ask existing clients for more biz before you try warming up a stone cold lead. Ask the happy clients for referrals to people they know that you don’t – and be sure to keep track of who referred whom.

2. Pitch a Stranger. It’s like bad advertising when you blow hot air when pitching to a new prospect. In face-to-face mediating you’ve got to know what to say, and say it with conviction.

3. Give It To Me Straight. No one has time for the “warm-up”. Prepare well honed phrases and practice them in front of a mirror. People like it when you can get to the point rapidly and intelligently. If it’s by email, make sure they don’t have to scroll down to read it all.

4. Talk About Your Failures. Seriously! It builds credibility. Everyone can’t be perfect all the time, and when you can tell a prospect why you lost a client and what you’ve learned it’s a welcome change. They appreciate not getting the usual hot air & razzle-dazzle.

5. Offer a “Loss-Leader”. People are less and less apt to buy impulsively from a person if they don’t have a good feeling about them. Offering a loss-leader allows the relationship to mature over time. This is very important in B2B clients. (Loss-leader is the practice of offering a product or service at a considerable discount and loss of profit to attract future business.)

6. Get Sold Yourself. Pick the most successful competitors in your area and let them sell you. Play customer and be aware of how you feel during each step, and see why their approach works so well. Auto-makers buy each others cars and break them down to nuts and bolts. You can do the same thing in your space.

7. Pitch an Enemy. Find the most disagreeable son of a gun you can find and pitch him or her. Let them be as nasty as they please, then analyze later if anything they said had any merit. Be totally unemotional, and don’t defend anything. You’ll learn where you’re lacking after doing this.

8. Start an E-mail Newsletter. This is much like #5. Give them useful information week in and week out, or month in and month out. Make them happy to see your name in the “from” field. If they only hear from you when you want something, they’ll turn you off when they hear from you.

9. Offer Testimonials. Satisfied clients or customers can say things about you that you can never believable say about yourself. Use the person’s full name if possible when doing this. “KM from Buffalo” isn’t nearly as strong as “Kenneth Moore from Buffalo”.

10. Ask Questions. I can’t emphasize enough how important and how underused this tip is in business. Simply allowing people to verbalize their needs makes them happy and tells them you listen. It also allows you to hone in on the points to make when it’s your turn to talk.

It’s strange, but we become so busy doing business that we have a tendency to overlook what’s in front of our noses. Most of the tips listed, would come about if we ever had the time to visit with our customers while doing business.