10 Sales Strategies You Can Implement Online

This is Day 22 in the 30 Day Blogging Challenge. You can read Day 21’s post here.

Yesterday I attended a Business Gateway workshop on improving your selling skills.

The workshop was delivered by Alisoun Mackenzie who is a business adviser and “heart-centred” entrepreneur.

Selling is something I find does not come naturally, but the workshop was packed full of useful tips that made the process seem less daunting, and even enjoyable!

Here are 10 takeaways I got from the event:

1. Sales rarely happen immediately.

People buy from those they know, like and trust. You need to build business relationships over a period of time.

Do this online by:

• Creating an email list, inviting people to join by giving away something of value and emailing them regularly.
• Keeping up with people through social media.

2. To sell effectively, you need to define your ideal client, find them and get enough of them into your sales funnel.

This process involves several steps:

1. Marketing.
2. Capture the contact details of your prospects.
3. Build rapport.
4. Invite them to buy from you.
5. Conversion into customers; delivery of your product or service.
6. Upsell and get referrals from your satisfied customers.

Do this online by:

• Saying on your website and social media who you want to work with.
• Finding leads through relevant LinkedIn or Facebook groups.
• Creating a sales page on your website.
• Sending sales emails.

3.  People you meet will say yes, no or maybe to a sales approach.

Snag the Yes camp, ignore the Nos and connect further with the Maybes.

Do this online by:

• Having a database of customers and prospects and contacting them periodically. You could use a Google Spreadsheet, LinkedIn or an online CRM system for this purpose.

4. Find out the problems your prospects have and offer your product or service as the solution to those problems.

This feels less salesy – you’re actually doing them a favour! Even if they decide not to buy, they’ll feel well disposed towards you.

Do this online by:

• Writing blog posts and inviting comments.
• Participating in online forums and offering your help for free.
• Setting up an online survey and offering an incentive to complete it.
• Asking people in emails what you can help with, or what questions they would like answered.

5. Qualify your prospects before giving them your free time.

Otherwise you may waste time with people who have no intention of buying from you. Learn to say no to people who aren’t a good match for you to work with.

Do this online by:

• Having a qualification form on your website.
• Offering appointments through an online booking system only to people who match your qualification criteria.

6. There are very many ways you can sell to people.

Do this online by:

• Website copy – make it engaging. Hire a sales copywriter to polish your text.
• Email marketing – a really effective form of marketing. Read Ian Brodie’s book Email Persuasion for tips.
• Webinars – a great opportunity to connect with prospects and answer their questions.
• Blogging – show your expertise. Remember to add a call to action to each one, publicize them and make it easy to social share. You can also republish them on LinkedIn.
• Social media – connect and converse!

7. Regularly have sales conversations with interested parties.

Ask them about their current situation, what their ideal future would be and what’s stopping them getting there.

Do this online by:

• Sales conversations usually take place offline (face to face or over the phone), but you could use Skype.
• Visiting 21 Powerful, Open-Ended Sales Questions for ideas of what to say.

8. Overcome objections to sales.

There can be many objections to buying such as prospects saying it’s too expensive or they don’t see the value.

Do this online by:

• Clearly stating the benefits of your product/service on your website.
• Making it really easy to pay – make simple payment forms with minimal information to complete. Use a payment gateway like Stripe or PayPal and/or set up an InspirePay page.
• Displaying testimonials on your website.
• Showing your terms and conditions clearly, including cancellation and refund policies.
• Offering a money back guarantee on your sales pages.
• Offering a payment plan online.

9. Close the sale effectively.

Don’t let people get to the point of buying and then leave the process!

Do this online by:

• Having a “Buy Now” button – or more than one – on your sales pages.
• Giving the customer a free trial of your product or service, if appropriate.
• Offering things at different price points – you could use a pricing table to display them.
  
• Offering bonuses for prompt payment.
• Delivering products digitally if you can – customers get them instantly.

10. Formalise your sales.

Do this online by:

• Using an online invoicing service.
• Sending out auto-generated emails.
• Displaying terms and conditions on a web page.

Did you find these 10 sales strategies helpful? If so, please leave a comment.

Category: Business Tags: 30 day blogging challenge, ecommerce, sales, social media, website