Wednesday, July 8, 2009

GOING OUT OF SALES ONLINE BUSINESS

So you have tried everything possible and you cannot control your business’ slide into the abyss? You’ve tried everything your sponsor and your system have taught you but to no avail? You are slowly coming to the realisation that you are going out of business? You’ve decided that striking it rich through online sales is not all it is cracked up to be? Well, think again.

It is true that on average only 3% of online businesses succeed. What is strange is that usually those who succeed and fail with a given opportunity have the same websites and system to promote and their sales copies are identical. Even more frustratingly, in exceptional circumstances, the successful entrepreneurs generate identical numbers of leads as some entrepreneurs who subsequently fail.

Strange as these might seem, there is a plausible explanation and it has nothing to do with luck. It’s called an ability to close the sale. Closing the sale refers to completing the sale of a product or opportunity on the one hand, and closing the sale of yourself on the other. Let us look at each in turn.

Closing the sale of the product or opportunity refers to an entrepreneur’s ability to convert leads to paying customers or team members. Traditionally, this depended on an entrepreneur’s personal selling skills either over the phone or in person. Recently, with the growth of and innovation in, the online marketing industry, this function can be outsourced to professional sales call centres, a service which normally comes as part of the opportunity package. These call centres, with their experienced sales professionals, call the leads on behalf of the entrepreneurs to affect the sale. The use of professionally written sales copies also performs the sales function well.

The most important sale is the sale of ‘You’. In the industry, it is also referred to as ‘marketing yourself’ or ‘self branding’. Increasingly, the successful entrepreneurs have proved that leads join the entrepreneur rather than the business. The entrepreneur who is better able to convince leads or prospects about their leadership, results and their ability to help the prospect or customer achieve their goals will get more team members and customers. It’s as simple as that.

The tools they use to self promote include video marketing, article marketing or blogs. Every marketer could use these tools but it is important that each entrepreneur identifies which tool works best for them.

It is also important for the struggling entrepreneur to identify his strengths. If personal selling is a weakness, for example, it would be advisable to join a company that can handle this for you through a dedicated call centre or professional written sales copy.

Regardless of how much money is invested in the business and the quality of the product or opportunity being promoted, an entrepreneur’s focus should be how effective is his sales process and his marketing of self.

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