What sales process would you want one of your sales people to follow if they were selling to a potential customer? While there are many schools of thought and various descriptions of what a sales process is, my belief is that it is best to understand what is going on in the customer s head. After all they are the making the decision. Why not figure out how they decide and then help them buy that way.
Online Selling Problems
I can usually tell a professional salesperson from a closer by following the process that the salesperson uses. A professional salesperson is easy to identify by their ability to qualify the prospective customer. Before a professional salesperson sells anything, they ask questions. They want to know exactly what the customer actually wants and needs. The professional is an expert when it comes to the product or service and wants to be the one to decide if it is worth actually doing a presentation.
No want or need, no presentation. It is that simple.
If you cannot ask questions directly on a website, how do you qualify your prospects?
Do not bother. If the prospect makes it this far into your sales engine, they have self-qualified. If they were not interested they would have removed themselves from your mailing list long ago.
If you have done a consistent job with your newsletter, content site, key words and focus you will be attracting pre-qualified buyers to your mini-site.
Every piece of correspondence you send out gives your prospects the opportunity to disqualify themselves.
Direct Sales Copywriting
Here are some general guidelines when it comes to adding the copy to your direct selling mini-site:
- In order to be heard you have to be believed. Remember trust and legitimacy is the goal of your writing.
- Make every word count. The text must be clear and written for a single individual, your perfect customer.
- Free is good. Never underestimate the power of a free offer.
- Make it easy for your prospect to respond. Give them the options that you want for every page.
- If you want a certain action you have to tell them specifically what you want them to do.
- Your strongest Big Fat Claims are always your biggest benefits. Use them all and use them early. The reader has to be left wanting these benefits so badly that they will be compelled to take action.
Key Point!
The Same Principles Found in
Direct Marketing Work Online!
Combinations of words have magic in them. Writing a good single page direct sales website takes time, too much time for most of us. The best thing to do is to take some shortcuts and learn from the masters who have already cut their teeth by writing great advertising and sales copy for traditional direct mail campaigns. Your single page direct sales website is in fact the equivalent of a traditional direct sales letter. It follows the same format and uses the same techniques to influence. A good direct sales letter is
Salesmanship in Print
Word Power
Persuasion, influence and your ability to communicate with pictures will always be at the foundation of your sales conversation. While there remains a fine line between manipulation and influence, do not shy away from the fact that your job is to communicate why your product and service meet the specific needs and wants of the prospect you are working with. Read these questions carefully.
- Can you open the fridge door?
- Is the cell phone ringing?
- Can you change the channel on the TV?
- Did you know you needed this?
They are questions that require you to mentally experience something before you can answer them.
What does this mean to you? It means that there are ways of giving commands to people without their conscious awareness that they have received a command. Sales suggestions can be made without the resistance you would find with a traditional sales approach.
If you are serious about copywriting, read some books like Joe Vitale s Hypnotic Writing. And Joseph Sugarman s Triggers.
Hypnotherapist Milton Erickson used a conversational approach to hypnosis and much of his approach to communication is used by top copywriters.
Here is an example of how smart words can be used.
I wonder how quickly you are going to buy this product.
On first read it looks like a simple sentence. If you look at it closely you will notice the embedded command:
" .. you are going to buy this product."
You can even use fonts, typefaces and colors to enhance the effect, can t you?
So how does this apply to you, the small business owner? It means that when you are using words to describe the benefits of your product and service, you need to pay close attention to the words and how they are structured. Saturate your writing with intense, emotionally charged words. Build word pictures.
Helping the Reader
In a mini-site, a conversation with the reader is more important that conveying valuable information. You need a specific outcome, the sale, and to do that you want the visitor to the site to read the entire text of the sales letter. So how do you keep a long, single page of copy engaging to the visitor?
- Break up copy with one sentence paragraphs. The direct mail industry has taught us that long sales letter copy sells. Include one sentence paragraphs to make the copy look shorter. This is called chunking. Smaller bites are always easier to digest.
- Use lists and bullets. Readers scan headlines, sub head, bullets, lists and the PS. Use them. When you started reading this page where were your eyes drawn? They are free. Use them.
- Use emphasis when appropriate. When you want to draw the eye to certain points and benefits, consider italics, highlighting, bold, CAPITAL LETTERS, font size changes, underlining and indentation. Emphasis is powerful when used properly. Overdo it and the reader quickly gets annoyed.
- Link paragraphs in a conversational tone. Your teacher is not going to grade you on proper writing skills; your visitor is grading your effectiveness as a communicator. Use the words and or then to start new paragraphs.
- Turn your word processor s fragmented sentence warning off. It is OK to use fragmented sentences in the text of your mini-site. Sentence fragments bring attention to key points and break up copy.
Build Your Own Swipe File
A swipe file is a term used by copywriters. It is the collection of tested and effective copy, the word patterns and phrases that they use when they are writing words that sell. How do you find good copy? Collect and bookmark websites that you find compelled to order from and take a look at how they have set up their offers. What words did they use and how was it formatted? Cut out sections of copy that you find compelling and keep it in a scrap book for further use.
Key Point!
Build a Swipe File to Save
Time!
When you need to write the words for your direct sales website use similar phrases and the same structure of the letter. It is appropriate to swipe the structure of a good direct sales letter. However, under no circumstance should you copy the text or phrases directly. If you are serious about building your direct sales letters, mini-sites, visit the websites of Joe Vitale, Jim Daniels and Joseph Sugarman, and look at how they have written their web pages.
In fact, that is how I got started.
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