Whether you are selling physical or digital product, it is absolutely crucial that you build a relationship with your potential customers before you try and sell to them.
This is something that a lot of sellers and marketers just don’t understand and
ultimately it is to their detriment as they end up missing out on the
opportunity to sell. Read on to see exactly what this means and why it is so
important…
An Analogy…
The best way to explain this is with an analogy, or two. Imagine for a moment
that you see an attractive lady or man at a bar and you want to get to know
them a little better. So what you do, is you go up and you ask if they can come
home with you tonight.
What do you think happens next? Most likely you get a firm slap in the face –
and this is more than fair enough!
The problem with this approach is that the person doesn’t know you yet. They
don’t know what you’re like and if they’re likely to have a good time with you
and more importantly – they don’t know if they can trust you! You might be
dangerous as far as they’re concerned!
Another scenario is someone trying to sell a watch. Imagine they come up to you
in the street holding a watch and ask if you want to buy it for $2,000. What do
you say? Again, you’ll probably turn and run. No one would spend that much
money on something without knowing anything about it and without having any
form of ‘come back’ in case the deal turns sour.
How Businesses Make This Mistake All the Time
Both of these examples probably seem absurd to you but this is essentially what many businesses are doing all the time. If you have a website that tries to sell a product as soon as anyone lands on it, then you’re going to drive people away before they have even had a chance to read your site.
They may well be interested in what you’re selling but if they don’t know your
brand and they don’t know your product, then they won’t want to buy right away.
And if all you’re interested in doing is selling to them with tons of pop up
ads, then you’re going to drive them off – it will look like spam!
Now consider the alternative approach: they land on your website and they find
tons of great content that’s well written, free and informative. This allows
the visitor to form a positive opinion of your business and hopefully to become
interested in the products you’re mentioning.
And as a result, they’re much more likely to want to buy from you in future. So instead of focusing on making a sale, focus on making a fan. Push them toward a mailing list instead and invite them to come back. That way, the sales will come to you!