When it comes to selling products face-to-face men and women make all kinds of mistakes that cause them to completely lose the customer. The shocking thing that many people do not realize is the same can be said for marketing online. You might even be guilty of some of these mistakes, which are costing you constantly.
Just think about a salesperson that makes one mistake every single day. If they are selling a $47 product, we are talking about one more sale every day, which means $17,155 in a year. Not fixing the mistake might not seem so bad to the sales person when they rationalize it in their mind, but when you present them with the actual reality of the situation, they realize how important it is not to mess up.
Below you will find 12 of the most common mistakes made by many internet marketers. Feel free to keep track of these as you go along and apply them to people that work for you or perhaps use them to improve your own mistakes.
1. Multitasking. Multitasking can be a salesperson’s best friend or the reason they lose tens of thousands of dollars each year. For example, a presentation or any meeting with a potential customer should be a very productive event with the focus being on them and what they want or may not want.
The most common mistakes come from cell phones. A ding, an obnoxious ringtone, or even the vibration of the phone being amplified from a desk is very unsettling. However, proceeding to pick up the cell phone and respond is even worse. That almost guarantees an unsuccessful sale.
If they are on your sales page, they should be looking at reasons to buy your product or at least learning that you are in some way better than the competition.
All possible distractions must be eliminated. That means customers as well. If they are on your sales page, they should be looking at reasons to buy your product or at least learning that you are in some way better than the competition. By giving them unrelated information you are clouding their mind and hurting your chances of getting a successful sale.
More importantly, a bunch of distractions when you are seriously trying to look at something is frustrating. If a customer is looking to buy your product and ends up frustrated from your sales page, you are going to have a serious problem.
2. Not interested. It might sound kind of funny to talk about boring the customers right after talking about getting rid of all the distractions, but that is because there is a crucial step in between those that is the key to making non-stop sales all day and night. You must know your customer and read them.
This is a lot easier to do in-person because you can look at a person when you give them the sales message and see whether they are interested or not. Also, being able to read them from start to end gives you the advantage. You must master this as a face-to-face sales person.
The way to master this as an online marketer is always to be searching and exploring new ways to learn about your customers. For example, put some interactive surveys about your products on the site, ask questions about deals, or maybe incentivize people with gifts for providing their honest opinions about some of your products.
The last one is brilliant because the person that is the winner of the contest will be right behind you and will support you every day as a loyal customer, which can be used as an advantage to show how happy you make those who choose to invest in you and your business.
3. Know what drives them. This is one of the worst mistakes that somehow continues to occur all the time. If you are selling anything to anyone, you have to read them from the beginning all the way to the end and then proceed to anticipate what they are going to do in the future. That has already been covered. However, if you are doing that as a sales person and always receive anything other than interest and enthusiasm, the entire thing is useless because there will be virtually no sales. You have to study, learn, and study some more.
First, you have to study the product and the people that it appeals to. Once you have your angle, it should, of course, be implemented. Finally, the feedback should be looked at, and the angle should be changed accordingly. One person can sell one product better than anyone else because they have done this over and over.
They understand the audience they are selling to like they are family or close friends. Do not push the acne wash because it makes you “look younger” and do not sell the new diet routine to obese men and women “to promote a healthy lifestyle.”
4. Know the product. If you are following along, you should be prepared to approach every customer from the right angle, and you should know how to keep them engaged all the way through the sale. Even if you are naturally good at this, the overwhelming number of questions that come your way from all the different customers must be answered. The only way to satisfy the person asking the question is to know the product you are selling like it the back of your hand. Seriously, even the most obscure questions should be ready for an immediate answer.
When it comes to writing the task is even harder. You must have experience or at least be aware of several experiences others had using the product that you are selling.
5. Handle the objections. When selling a product, there will be people that just look for reasons to hate the product, and they will likely toss out very brutal questions that are frustrating. The first key to learning how to deal with these objections is realizing that they do not occur that often.
There will certainly be a lot of questions, but most of them will just be natural curiosity. They should still be met with a direct answer as soon as possible. However, when someone says something along the lines of “Why don’t I just go buy this product from _______ and spend ____ less?” you have to be prepared to defend your product in a second, which means you must be prepared ahead of time. That is how you win a sale.
6. Features without benefits. One of the more common and understandable mistakes made during both face-to-face and online sales is using language the customer doesn’t understand. For example, the words spoken or written might say “by using this diet plan the insulin spikes will dramatically decrease.” That will leave the customer confused because they are likely not dieticians or familiar with health in general.
The reduction of insulin spikes is positive, but it is a feature that does not give them insight into the benefit they would be getting. In this case, that benefit would be less fat storage and overall faster weight loss. Always give the customer the benefit of the feature. Even if they already know what you are referring to they will never stop you and say “I know.” They enjoy hearing anything positive about the product.
7. Show the value. You will always hear people complaining about the price of what you are selling them. Even if the product is very low in price, the job of just about every customer is to complain a bit. Never let a complaint or a question go unnoticed when it comes to the price of your product. Put all of your knowledge about the product and the person asking the question to use by proceeding to tell them the benefits they will receive or the dangers they will avoid. It might take a few tries before you find the one that pulls them in, but once that happens, you have won the sale.
For example, $500 for a shampoo, body wash, and moisturizing bundle might sound insane. However, a good salesperson will highlight the fact that all of the products come from around the world, and they are made with some of the finest ingredients. Go from point to point until the end, and the person is likely to start feeling the value and asking questions.
8. The price is not everything. Price is a scary thing for everyone involved in a sale. Too low can be frightening for the person attempting to buy because they will perhaps think they are buying junk. At the same time, a salesperson who knows they are selling a very low priced product will have a tendency to focus on the price too much and forget to add in the actual benefits. The same goes for a price that is extremely high as well. The sales person will wait until the end to drop the number and person will run away because it is too high.
Do not wait until the very end to give the price of the product, do not start off by talking about the price, and do not beat around the bush when asked about the price. Include benefits, study the customer, use your knowledge, and always be looking through the eyes of the person you are selling to.
9. NOT asking for it. One of the worst mistakes that is made way too often when trying to sell comes from a lack of confidence. A salesperson will study, research, drive all over the place, and finally, talk to the customer they are way too familiar with, but won’t get a successful sale simply because they do not have the confidence to either ask them for their investment or encourage their investment in them as a trustworthy representative.
The main thing that separates a potential customer and a repeat customer is a good salesperson that pushes the hesitant person to invest and make a leap of faith.
10. Not asking twice. When first starting out as a sales person a “no” is the one word that ends it all. However, a good salesperson hears “no” over a dozen times a day. The secret is to continue the sale and continue reading the customer even though they said “no.” For example, a “no” toward the beginning of the sale means nothing when toward the end the person finds out the product will perhaps change their life in a matter of days.
If you are an online marketer, you have the advantage of emailing them at a later time. You would be surprised how dramatically their opinion can change. Maybe you were talking to them at a bad time before or maybe they are in a good mood for some reason now. You never really know, which is why you try later. It might take some time, but you will eventually find the reason that inspires their investment.
11. Following up and repeat business. Once you complete a sale, you should keep track of who you sold and follow up with them in the future. Sounds simple, right? It is, but day-after-day the “who’s next” mentality keep salespeople neglecting past customers while struggling to sell the tougher prospects coming their direction. Balance is essential.
As an online marketer, you have a major advantage in this area. You can follow up with the customer literally right after you made the sale by email, phone, etc… You can advise them or share a positive benefit you forgot to mention.
By doing this, you advance the relationship and increase the chances for repeat business. The only thing you don’t want to do as a salesperson is try to sell them another product right after they committed to the one you just sold them. Take some time to relax and establish a bond with them. More importantly, listen to the feedback they give you and see how they feel.
12. Finding success in failure. Once you get used to hearing the word “no” all the time your perception of rejection begins to change entirely. However, 99% of all salespeople feel rejected and hear the word “stop” in their head when they get the “no” from a prospect and then see them buy a competitor’s product. The 1% that reaches out to the customer after seeing them invest elsewhere finds that almost all of their attempts are successful. The logical question to ask is “why?”
This odd occurrence goes back to the previously mentioned point about catching a customer in a bad mood or taking advantage of a customer that is in a very good mood.
More importantly, this odd phenomenon shows that the key to making successful sales non-stop is following up with the customer and looking at things from their perspective. Maybe they liked the majority of your products. You were tossing one product at them, and even if they said they wanted that one product, you must try to spark their interest or tell them what they really want.
As an online marketer, you have many options. You can continue studying the reason they are not buying and perhaps even correspond with them to get a little more insight into what they do. On the other hand, you can send them other products or bring up other products and see if they bite. It is all about understanding them.
What is your score? Are you making 2 or 3 of these mistakes? It is okay to answer that question with a “yes.” A few of these errors are nothing than the average salesperson out there committing 9 or even 10 in 1 day. Concentrate on the few mistakes you are making. Once those are corrected, you will be unstoppable.
Even if you are making 4-6 mistakes, you are still going to be okay. Focus on one at a time and try your best to correct them all in 14 days.
If you are making more than 6, you should not feel hopeless at all. The average salesperson is 9 or 10. Clear your mind, sit down, and reflect. Come up with an action plan to dramatically alter your path and begin working as fast as possible. Some of the best in the business had to do the same thing. Learn each one and conquer them all. Successful sale after successful sale will certainly be coming your way shortly after that.