All posts by myonecall

My One Call LLC is a Sales Acceleration Firm based in the Denver Area.

Ecommerce for Solopreneurs

August 2, 2013 myonecall 1 Comment

Ecommerce for Solopreneurs

By Rob Gordin.

Suppose you want to start selling online, but you are a one man (or one woman) show. What solution fits your needs the best? How much work will it be to get up and going? How much will it cost? Is it flexible and easy to maintain? Does it provide a growth path for the future?

These aren’t easy questions to answer, and there are a mind numbing number of options, but this article will give you a few things to consider in making a rational decision on the best eCommerce system for you. This is not intended to give you every possible option in selecting a platform for your business – that would be all but impossible. Rather, we would like to provide a “framework” for ways you can think about it so you can make rational decisions on the eCommerce approach that is best for you.

There are two things that Solopreneurs generally don’t have in great abundance – the first is time, and the second is of course, money, so those will generally be the primary consideration, but there are many others. Let’s take a look at the possible options, and note that there is a great deal of overlap with each of these approaches.

1. Use an open source platform. Many solopreneurs are into DYI (do it yourself) approaches, so these are always popular. Basically this just means you select one of the many solutions that have been developed by the open source community, then configure and modify it to fit your needs and then host it on your own server and domain. A few of the more common examples in this genre:

Zencart
Magnito
OpenCart:
osCommerce:
Miva
PrestaShop

The Upside: For all intents and purposes, you will “own” this system and can do what you want. There will be no monthly service fees beyond what you pay for hosting, and no transaction fees beyond what you pay to your credit card payment provider. There will also be a great deal of flexibility in development – with some effort, you should be able to get the exact “look and feel” that you want.

The Downside: This is not for the faint of heart. Even if you are technically skilled, this is often a “trip into the weeds”. You very will may find yourself working far more on your technology, then you are on selling and marketing your products and services. The maintenance and upkeep of these systems can be daunting, and technical support can be spotty at best. In the case where the open source software company also has a paid version, there will usually be less functionality and the free version is mostly meant to eventually get you to upgrade to the paid version.

2. Use a Content Management System. This is somewhat similar to using open source software, except in this case software that is designed for managing content on websites is used, and a plugin of some kind is used to provide the eCommerce functions. Depending on the technology selected, this can be either easier or more difficult than using open source software designed specifically for this purpose. A few of the common examples in this genre:

Joomla with VirtueMart Plugin
Drupal with Ubercart Plugin
WordPress with WP e-Commerce (and others)

The Upside: Most solopreneurs who use this approach are already using it to manage their website so it has the advantage of being well integrated with what is already in place. It can often be a superior way to showcase products, as not everything is oriented to :”selling” so product displays can be mixed with other content.

The Downside: This is usually not quite as flexible as using an open source system specifically designed for eCommerce. Technical support is usually through online forums and can be frustrating and time consuming.

3. Use Commercial Software. This is also similar to the “free open source” approach, but in this case solopreneurs elect to pay for their software solution – either through a one time or ongoing licensing fee. Note that “open source” and “free” are not exactly the same thing., Software can be open source – meaning you have full access to the source code and can modify it if you wish, but it still requires a licence fee. Also, some commercial ecommerce software does have free versions with less functionality. A few of the common examples in this genre:

Magnito (also has free version)
CS-Cart Shopping Cart Software
X-Cart Shopping Cart Software
Pinnacle Cart

The Upside: Purchased ecommerce store software is generally has a higher initial cost but there is only a single payment and then you own the software or have a permanent licence. Support is generally superior and you have an accountable party and “someone to talk to” if something goes wrong. Purchased software is also usually more flexible and can be modified to suit your needs.

The Downside: Primarily the up front fee, and also the danger of being “locked in” with a single vendor. It is not unheard of for these companies to go out of business which will leave you with no growth path.

4. Use a Hosted Platform. This is an approach where you do not host the ecommerces software at all, but rather use a host to provide this service. Typically you will “embed” the shopping cart into one or more of your website pages, but is is also possible to use many of these as standalone platforms – even while retaining your domain name. Be aware that there is a wide range of functionality with these platforms. Some hosted platforms provide no more than an “add-on” cart which is deployed on an existing website by copying a few lines of HTML, while others provide a complete stand-alone website builder can be added onto an existing site or used independently as your entire website. A few of the many examples in this genre:

Yahoo Stores
Intuit Ecommerce

Shopify
Paypal Shopping Cart

The Upside: This is a great solution for beginners because the hosting is included and there is usually no technical setup required. There are some great deals out there especially if you don’t have a ton of different items to sell. In general, the will support multiple payment providers so that is one less thing to worry about.

The Downside: There is usually a monthly fee and often transaction charges. Many of the deals out there are “loss leaders” and If your store is successful there could be some hefty fees and service charges as you grow. When the platform is provided without charge, some companies put advertisements on your store which can be a turnoff to your customers. It can also be extremely difficult to migrate to another platform once you have selected one of these services.

5. Get in Bed with a Giant. This is an approach where you use the solutions provided by one of the major players in the ecommerce industry. At the moment, there are really only two “giants” to consider – Amazon and eBay, but we can expect all the major social networks – Facebook, Google+. Twitter and Pinterest to have offerings in this area. The two major examples in this genre:

Amazon Webstore
ProStores Store (An Ebay Company)

The Upside: These sites know how to sell, and there may be some advantages to their dominant market position. If you are selling on Amazon or eBay anyway, this is something you probably want to consider. There are generally multiple payment options and since these sites are highly “trusted” you may get more sales by associating with them.

The Downside: Since these services are associated with these giant companies, your branding may become overwhelmed by the larger company. The solutions are often more “canned” and less flexible than other approaches.

6. Get Social. This is an approach where you sell primarily socially – either through an existing social network or through sites that have been specifically set up for this purpose. This is an emerging genre and we can expect to see more players in this area, including all the major social media companies. A few examples in this genre:

Etsy (mostly for art and handcrafted items).
Envato (for digital goods)
Threadflip (clothing)
FriendShopper
Vendio Ecommerce (for Facebook stores)

The Upside: This sites often specialize in niche areas, and come with a built in community of prospective buyers – a big plus for the solopreneur.

The Downside: As with hosted services, the growth path is uncertain and you may find yourself needing to do a migration at some point – which can be even more difficult since you may have active buyers and prospects in the community. Also, since the genre is new, no one really know what will happen. New players will almost certainly emerge, and there may be a shakeup with some of the existing companies.

7, Go Mobile. More and more people are buying off their mobile devices – smart phones and tablet computers. While this genre overlaps somewhat with the others, it is worth considering in its own right. A few examples in this genre:

Square
Venda
Shopgate

The Upside: This, along with social commerce, is likely to be “the wave of the future”. Most ecommerce providers will be designing support into their platforms if they haven’t already

The Downside: Many new and smaller players that may not provide support for more traditional methods. Some “trendy features” may not stand the test of time, and not all products are ideal for being sold on mobile devices.

***

At best, a report like this can just scratch the surface on an industry as broad and multidimensional as ecommerce. For all intents and purposes, you can expect just about every Internet technology company to try to get a “piece of the action” this, for the simple reason that it is “where the money is”. Most players in this industry will be integrating different approaches so it shouldn’t be to difficult to find the provider that is best for you.

For most solopreneurs, however, the best solution will likely be to use one of the hosted platforms. These will allow you to get up and selling almost immediately, which you can’t do with either open source, content management or commercial software.

Regardless of ths solution you select, do your homework. Select the approach you think works best for you and write up some specifications for your needs before you even look at the prices and feature sets of the different systems. Avoid any services require you to pay a percentage of your sales and “free trials” are all but useless. Even with hosted platforms, there will be some effort in setting this up so you want to select the system that best matches your needs.

One more thing – don’t delay. If you have products to sell, you can be making money sooner than you think.

About the Author. Introduction. Rob is the founder and owner of one of the largest business communities on Google Plus. You can find his information on his G+ profile. Because he interfaces with over 25,000 small business owners he has a unique knowlege of that market. He also is the founder of http://world-startups.com/

Tweet This Post

Uncategorized

SEO and the M Theory

July 2, 2013 myonecall Leave a comment

Okay.. so years ago there was this huge debate in the physics world about the M theory. Some said it involved 10 dimensions, some said 11. Some said there were an unlimited amount of universes, some said there were 122… whatever. The point being, the quantum theory community had a bunch of different “opinions” on how the universe (in a quantum way) worked, and worked at the quark level.

This all evolved into the string theory….and all things being made up of vibrating energy. The rate at which the thing vibrated made it appear as either matter, light , or gravity. Easy right?

So strings are little pieces of energy that vibrate.

You see where this is going right? In the end (so to speak, as there is no end to anything in the string theory) one amazing scientist came before all the others and basically settled the debate by proving that they were all saying the same thing, they were just looking at it differently.

Local SEO and Digital Marketing is all the same stuff looked at differently. Here is what makes up a partial list of areas that SEO’s and inbound marketers (heck we can’t ever decide what to call it!) think make up the SEO universe.

On Site:

Words

Words strung together

And a bunch of other details…

Okay.. that’s it for on site. Now for off site:

Social sites

Blogs

Directories

Paid advertising

Mentions

words

words strung together.

and a bunch of other areas…

Heres what I think SEO is:

Words strung together throughout the Internet that vibrate differently.

Now, Apply Newtons law of motion… an object in motion has a tendency to stay in motion ( picking up more mentions, links and words strung together) and you have SEO.

Thank you

Tweet This Post

Uncategorized

You’re optimizing the wrong page on your Google +

May 27, 2013 myonecall Leave a comment

This blog was posted a while back, and I thought I would update it today. So much has changed on G+ that the truth is you really shouldn’t try to “optimize” your G+ profile or posts much at all. The value of G+ posts on SEO is highly overstated, as a stand alone practice.

USe your G+ profile like any other about you page.

You’re optimizing the wrong page on your Google +

I had a discussion with Stephan Hovnanian ( https://plus.google.com/105076725141939280120/about , who is someone you might want to follow by the way on Google Plus) about optimizing your Google plus profile. Here’s the deal in my opinion. People are always talking about “optimizing” your profile, when that’s a long term losing game.

Your profile page is like a scrolling screen. Google probably see’s every post you make as a new page, and every time you make another post about cute cats, or your amazing insight into… whatever… every post you made previously gets pushed down the page (or buried under more stuff). That causes your links in those posts to gradually diminish in value, both from a readership standpoint (come on, when was the last time you read more than 3 or 4 of the most current posts on a profile page) but also from a SEO value.

Your “About Page” on G+

You could be optimizing your “About ” page, and getting far more SEO value. The About page doesn’t scroll, and is attached to your profile page. Every time you get a mention of your about page or add it as a link on an decent authority site, you are getting far more value when it comes to SEO. Not that you want to ignore all the very cool and important ways to utilize your profile and posts. That IS important. But a complete focus on your profile is a short term strategy. If you build the value of your about page…. it will naturally build the visibility of your profile, and… you don’t have to constantly update, plus, mention, post, engage…

Places to add your About Page URL

Here are places you should mention and add your About page:

Your Facebook page
Your Linkedin Profile
Your Web site (the Google badge goes to your profile, why not add an additional mention and link to your About page)
Any other social directories you participate in.
Twitter
Any forums you participate in
Blog comments you make from time to time
On your blog
Add to your email signature

I bet you can think of many more. So what happens if I do all this you ask? Well, all the things you hope will happen as far as your sites, blogs and authority will get better.

Needless to say, if you are going to start paying more attention to your About page, please read up on all of the good info out there on how to build a good one. And trust me, it can be a very powerful page for your internet visibility, and therefore every page you have a link to on that page..

So, if someone were to ask me, would you rather have a link to your site in a post on a profile which slowly just loses it’s value as it sinks deeper and deeper into the G+ (or Facebook, or whatever) catalog of millions of posts that are made every day, or on an About page, which never moves down into that cavernous digital vault of old posts. Which makes more sense?

By Mike Bayes. My About Page on Google Plus

Tweet This Post

Uncategorized

Marketing Plans. If you Don’t Have One You’re Acting Dumb.

April 27, 2013 myonecall 3 Comments

Marketing Planning. Quick… grab your marketing plan.

Okay… for those of you who have nothing to grab, I am going to tell you something you may not want to hear. Your behavior is dumb. You’re not dumb, but not having a marketing plan is.

I communicate with a bunch of small business owners every week. You know the number one question that gets asked about, in one form or another, it’s about how do I sell my stuff.

Lot’s of businesses ask about and are interested in social media to develop new relationships and leads. Some are looking at email as a tactic. Lot’s like the SEO or search engine marketing route. A few talk about direct mail. Yet, when you ask-

Who is your target market
How do you reach them
And what message they have developed for that buyer

It gets quiet. So very quiet. And in that very silence, unlike the silence between notes in music which is in fact what makes it beautiful, this silence is horrible. It means you are wasting away whatever vision you had for your business.

You can’t implement any advertising, promotion or sales campaign without understanding those three areas, and have any success, unless your service/product is irresistible. Building a irresistible product is the best way to sell a lot, because, if its really irresistible, you don’t need much of a plan… the market will find you.

So.. ask yourself, Is my service/product irresistible? No it’s not. Can it be? Maybe but unlikely if you want to make money.

So having recognized that 80% of small business owners don’t have a marketing plan, and the reason for that was generally they didn’t understand it’s value, or they didn’t know how to do it, or they didn’t have the money to get it done. we developed a very good program for

business owners that is sold through Bayes Square LLC and some ActionCOACH franchises. We take the info you have on your current good customers… the type you want more of, and we research up to 70 different possible commonalities in the group.

The Premise is easy enough, your next customers will look like your current customers.

( Play along at home if you Like)

List everything you can think of that businesses might have in common. Start with at least 10 areas… things like time in business, Industry type, locations, associations….

Now list your 10 or 20 best clients. Now check mark the commonalities and the percentage as a total. If 75% of your good customers are part of a certain association, and you are prospecting less than 75% of the time in areas besides that association, well, your behavior is dumb.

The Marketing Crystal Ball service looks at up to 70 different commonalities than does the research to understand why prospects buy from you, and how to reach them….

TA DA!

You have a targeted List

You know the message

You know how to reach them

Frankly, for less than 2K you would be an idiot not to have one done.

Ask yourself… if I had a targeted list, and a compelling message, and knew how to reach that list, how many additional customers would I sell this year? Now how much more revenue would you have from the new customers?

Now it that amount is anywhere above 20K you need to make a decision. Am I an idiot, or not?Our last client sold 24K in new revenue in the first month after it was finished. You might too, but only if you call me, or DIY. Either way, a marketing plan is the first thing you must do every year.

One last thought. It’s important. I know 2K can be a lot of money for very small businesses. So… We can do the mini version for you which will tell you your best prospects highest commonalities and a 30 minute call to give you thoughts on how to reach them for $549.00. This includes all the research we do for a standard client, except, we don’t call them or do an email survey. I will be glad to tell you how to execute that part of the marketing plan.

You just send us the info you have on 20 customers. We will do the rest. This is good through April. Do it now. Click the button on the left to call me, or just call 303 500 3053 ext 1.

Tweet This Post

Uncategorized

Google Plus for SEO. A Fellini Movie Set in Algorithms.

April 14, 2013 myonecall 3 Comments

Google + for SEO. A Fellini Movie Set in Algorithms.

SEO practitioners are, by their very nature, curious. I think this is the main reason they continue to research and track and measure in a business area where there are no “right answers, or at least, not that stay right for very long. SEO is a changing landscape like no other I’ve experienced in business. It’s more analogous to a game of chess where the rules change every three moves. The queen becomes the pawn, the pawn becomes a soccer ball. Its a Fellini movie set in algorithms.

According to wikipedia.org “Curiosity killed the cat is a proverb used to warn of the dangers of unnecessary investigation or experimentation. An easier definition of the phrase curiosity killed the cat would be that being curious can sometimes lead to trouble”. As SEO companies we all understand that we ultimately are lead to trouble when we become completely focused on the newest SEO rage, currently the Google plus platform.

It seems like every 30 minutes there is a new post (on G+) about the miracles of G+ and SEO. It’s a mass conscientious thing. One well known SEO makes a post or blog stating G+ has potential, and then every young SEO gun slinger wants to prove it is so. The young guns do a lot of the early testing, and when one or two stumble upon some curious correlation between say… the alt tag in your g+ profile picture and one high ranking low competition keyword, the content marketing crowd goes to work flaming the fires of curiosity, all for the benefit of traffic, not truth.

Even if all of this discourse on Google plus for SEO has a substantial amount of truth in it, the fact remains, (and this is where so many of us fail, and get “killed”), there is no one historic case you can point out where an SEO gold mine platform, wasn’t converted conveniently by Google into just another web page over time, leaving those who invested too heavily in it, poorer than when they began. Can any one who has been working in the SEO community for more than a few years, honestly say, that even IF G+ is the greatest SEO platform in the world today, that in a blink of an eye, it won’t just become another web page or site, like any other, at any moment.

We should be curious… but diverse. We should view all new trends and correlations with historical perspective, and not let the current mania du jour form our operating principles.

By Mike BAyes

Tweet This Post

SEO Analysis Denver

Local SEO. The One Fix to Jump Start Your Rankings

April 9, 2013 myonecall 5 Comments

Local SEO. The One Fix to Jump Start Your Rankings. (updated February, 2015)

A few months ago a new prospect who has been using several different SEO type companies asked me why their site still couldn’t be found online. This is a good question as they have spent thousands of dollars, in a slow and painful trickle, to SEO and Internet marketing people via a $350.00 monthly payment over several years. (That’s like 8K total)

So, I like any professional give the standard SEO guy answer, let me look at it. The first tactic I use to figure out what is going wrong in a Local Business ranking is to see where they are currently listing online and what those listings have in them. Specifically do the sites they are currently listed on have the correct information on the company’s name, address, phone number, and categories.

In this case the potential client had a real mess going on.

One of his “SEO” companies had built two different web sites with two different URLs, both with different phone numbers (for tracking I assume) and their correct company name and physical address. They had also listed these sites with the wrong information in many of the standard local directories everyone uses, including Google of course.

They also had a HomeAdvisor listing with a tracking number, and…. they even had several directories where someone years ago had listed their home phone number and address before they had a nice big office in a nice big office building.

All of this created a very confused Google.

Google loves consistent information about your company. They are robots… they have a mission, and the first mission is to collect information on your business name, address, phone and URL. If they see different versions, they completely lose their confidence, and push your website rankings way down, so they don’t have to deal with it. I am not joking. These robots are cowards.

The reality was they didn’t need SEO, they needed an Internet Janitor to clean up a horrible listings mess. And this is where so many SEO’s and businesses get it all wrong, from the very beginning. They start with checking back link reports. Backlink reports will not show you the inconsistent listing issue. You must search like a human (hey… that sounds like a song title… “Search like a human”), anyway. Go to Google and type in the Company name. Now go to every site that shows up for that company and see if it has the right Name, Phone, Address and URL.

I have seen rankings plummet when a business uses DEX advertising with a call tracking number. Dex will publish the company name, address and the tracking number, all over local directors to encourage salespeople to call the client, so DEX can make a dollar of two on the call.

It all comes down to this.

A confused search engine is a big problem. And when Google see’s different information for the same company, they don’t call you and ask, because they are robots, they just bury your rankings because robots have no feelings.

In many cases, the fastest way to get your sites rankings up is to fix any old, incorrect, or in any way inconsistent listings that exist online today. Most businesses can do this on their own by contacting each site that needs to be corrected. In some cases, it’s really hard, so if you can clean up most of them, you probably have done enough to fix the problem. Or, you can hire an Internet janitorial firm (like us) and we will do it for you. The main thing is Don’t continue to pay for SEO until this is completed. You may be surprised to see your site appearing on the first page for your important services after a good clean up.

Not sure if this is your issue on rankings? See that click to make an appointment link on the top of the page, it goes directly to my inbox. Feel free to use it, and I can tell you in 5 minutes if you have issues.

By Mike Bayes

Tweet This Post

Uncategorized

Top Lead and Sales Sources for Small Business

March 31, 2013 myonecall 1 Comment

Top Lead and Sales Sources for Small Business First Quarter 2013.

We track where sales come from for various small businesses, and I think we have enough data to say what we see is fairly representative of many small businesses.

We also provide a service we call the “Sales Crystal Ball” that shows where a company’s new customers are, and why they will buy. To accomplish that one of the things we have to look at is where their new sales have come from (for their best customers) and the sales tree from that customer.

For the first three months of 2013- and now updated through JUne 2014

Number one source : Referrals and Relationships 61%. Relationships can include referrals from other businesses, or non customers.
Internet leads from their site. Not Social Media or PPC stuff. So a business who has high rankings and have employed a good SEO service do see new sales from the Internet.
Pay per Click advertising. In some cases this is number one. In some cases this is not on the list at all. Depends on your industry and service.
Print advertising: Can be effective if placed correctly. Check current references for any Print advertiser.

So what’s interesting in this, as there is no surprise in the list, is… what many of us do, and this costs us in the sales area, is forgetting that the sales that were referred to you, have a history, and it’s important to understand where the first sale in that chain came from. Because the reality is, if it hadn’t happened, you would not have received the referral.

Do a sales tree to see what activity was really responsible for a referral, and then add that to your list of lead generation tactics.

Here’s a quick example:Referral sale came from > Another referral ( very common) That sale came from a telemarketing appointment.

So, without the original sale, you never would have the most recent customer. Do this for all your good customers, and you may see why your sales are flat. We stop doing the “seed” activity, or fail to replace it. Relying primarily on referrals is a recipe for flat and inconsistent sales.

There isn’t any reason to go back to a lead generation source that overall was poor quality. So, if in the above example, telemarketing didn’t produce well, then you may need to replace it with a lead source that does.

Have at least 3 non referral based lead generation programs working at all times. The Internet is a natural place for this. SEO, Pay per click, and online advertising can generally keep new leads coming in. You need to plant those seeds to continue to grow your referrals and relationships.

One of my personal examples is in the early days we did cold calls via the phone to very targeted prospects. Worked fine, I really should do it again, except, I hate cold calling and telemarketing. So, to replace that lead flow we have built in a targeted networking program. I am not talking about BNI or those type lead groups. We are involved in pretty expensive private business networks that , when we are active, is great new lead sources. More about those later.

By Mike Bayes

Call me at 303-5003053 ext 1 with questions.

If you want to jump start your sales, look at our sales coaching or crstal ball programs! www.salesjumpstart.net

Tweet This Post

Uncategorized

Business Is Relationships. Build Your Referrals.

March 30, 2013 myonecall Leave a comment

Business is relationships…

Yet we don’t really focus on the current health and value of our relationships with business contacts. As small businesses we track and analyze piles of information, and ignore our greatest assets, relationships.

Here’s a system (or part of a system) we have used for several years that can drive your sales, and build your relationships. I think its self explanatory. Just list every business contact you can think of… even people you haven’t communicated with for years, in each category. The spreadsheet gives you a blended score which in theory predicts which of your contacts has the most “referral” potential.

Then do something for each one. Even if you can’t think of anything to offer, you can call or email them, and say, I was just thinking about you and wanted to see what you are doing these days. You can offer to do an introduction to someone, or invite then to lunch. Have a great tip on sales or marketing, or something that is working for you that you can share? Any thing that is of value.

Relationships, like anything else, need maintenance and nurturing. This simple spreadsheet can go a long way in helping you grow your most important marketing and sales resource… the relationships you have built.I would love it if you would try this for a week or two to see what results come from it. I can tell you, it’s been my number one source of leads and sales for two years.

If you are an Internet Marketer you can use it to build great on-line contacts. In many ways, its much faster because you can use Social Media as the nice thing to do for someone. Post their blog on your G+, Facebook, Linked in… that’s a gift. Even good blog comments are gifts.

Click here to view the Google Docs Sheet Relationship Chart

Let me know how this works! This is a part of our Sales Coaching Program. Need help building your sales and revenue? Contact me for a free consultation.

By Mike Bayes

720 254 1234

mike@myonecall.com

Tweet This Post

Uncategorized

How To Write Content Your Readers Will Act On

March 30, 2013 myonecall 2 Comments

Author Info: Matt Brennan is a Chicago marketing writer, helping businesses tell stories to attract customers.

How To Write Content Your Readers Will Act OnIf you’re running the marketing campaign for a small business, surely you know a lot about the industry. If that industry were announced as a Jeopardy category, dollar signs might start dancing inside your head.

It’s not enough to “brain dump” your encyclopedic knowledge on the page. Readers may make the decision whether to stay with your content in a few seconds flat. If they’re bored or frustrated, they’ll leave in favor of the next Google result.

You’ll need to generate interest in the topic.

What makes the topic interesting to you? It’s up to you to convey that enthusiasm to your audience. It’s the lifeblood they’ll need to keep reading.

What problems are your readers trying to solve? Think of what information they are looking for as they make their way onto your website. Present this information in an entertaining matter, and you’ll be ahead of the game.

What questions do your customers frequently ask in person? Try and answer those questions in prominent places on your website.

Do your pages contain strong calls to action?

They should. It doesn’t always mean a hard sell, it simply means making sure your reader knows what you want them to do.

To find out more information, they can call you or fill out your form. To answer a question you posed in a blog post they can comment. Don’t be afraid to be specific about what you want them to do.

You’ll also want to pay attention to the language you are using.

Strong writing wins the day.

Strong verbs improve sentences. Active, punchy writing keeps readers interested.

Avoid using too much industry lingo. Your mother may be proud of your expansive vocabulary, but your readers may not share this knowledge with you. The second they feel like you’re talking above them, they’ll move on.

Vary your sentence lengths to create a tempo to your writing. If every sentence is too short or too long, that can become frustrating to your reader. A good gauge for figuring this out is to read your work out loud.

As you’re reading out loud, you may catch mistakes that weren’t discernable before. Make sure to edit ruthlessly. Grammar and spelling mistakes erode trust, and that can have a financial impact on your work.

Remember, good content evokes action. Keep your readers engaged, and they’re more likely to reward you in the end.

Tweet This Post

Uncategorized

The Socratic System of Sales. The Customer Questionnaire.

March 12, 2013 myonecall 2 Comments

The Socratic System of Sales. The Customer Questionnaire.

The Socratic System of Sales is a system that is based on using the questioning process to persuade a prospect to buy your service. In fact, it can be used to pre-qualify a prospect, and in doing so, save the salesperson time in establishing that the prospect is in fact qualified, and what is important in the buying process to that prospect.

I should ask you, why are you reading this? Is closing and qualifying more prospects important to you? If so, read on.

The main complaint I hear about salespeople is that they don’t care about a prospect’s needs or issues. They “show up and throw up” as they say. It’s all about their product and service. True sales professionals speak less than the prospect, and ask excellent questions.

I am going to blog about many uses of the Socratic form of sales, but to introduce it I want to encourage you and your sales department to have a standard prospect questionnaire that is a required part of any sales process or presentation.

It’s important for your salesperson to understand the following.

What is the number one issue the prospect has that you need to fix?
What buying criteria will they use to make a decision?
Does the prospect understand your company’s value as it relates to their problem?
. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Here is a quick example of questions a business might ask every prospect, and the reason they ask it should be clear. Many of these may apply to your business.

How soon did you want this project completed?
How important is a detailed proposal showing all expenses and a bottom line price?
How important is it that the company you select have experience completing similar projects?
How important are recent references of people that had similar projects completed?
How important is it that you are able to speak directly to those references?
How important is the financial stability of the business you select?
How important is the insurance and licensing of the company you select?
How important is bottom line price in your decision?
How important are the billing arrangements the company offers?
What other areas will you look at to make your selection?

A salesperson should never address any of the answers until all the questions are asked. If you take off on a tangent because they say a detailed proposal is very important, you may never get back to the other questions, in which you may have found out that the detailed proposal while being important, is not the hot button. Take the time to walk through all the questions. It’s certainly okay to add a brief statement after a question, like, yes we find that true with many of our clients, and then move on.

You should build your questions around the strengths of your business. If you have only been in business 1 year, you don’t ask, how important is the number of years a company has been in business is. You ask. How important is it that the company you select has new ideas and is hungry for your business?

Oddly enough, many small businesses don’t use a questionnaire because they don’t want to hear the answers. They would rather have a “shot” at the business and ignore the reality their business doesn’t actually have a shot.

Once you finish the questions, you have a couple of choices to make. You can address the main issues at this time (If this is a one call close) or you can briefly cover their main concerns, and then go into detail when you return with the actual proposal for work.

Your presentation or proposal needs to focus on the answers to the questions. If you have a canned presentation you send to every prospect, then you are losing out in sales conversions.

Start with these words…. Ms. Smith, let me tell you why our customers love our service. Like you, they were looking for a business that had experience in servicing their industry. We have over 25 clients in similar industries, and have learned that it takes a very specific approach (go on about this unique and valuable approach).

Can you see the benefits of using a questionnaire with your prospects? Instead of selling them what you “think” they need or want, you can actually address what they feel they want and need.

Another value of a questionnaire is many businesses fight the “price” battle all the time. A questionnaire will help you educate a prospect on your value. If used correctly, it will help you win business over the “cheap” competition, by having the prospect state and acknowledge that there are far more important issues than price.

Now if the prospect says the biggest issue is price, and you know you can not compete on that basis, then you have saved a lot of time by identifying this, and not moving into a proposal process.

There are so many examples of using the Socratic method of communication I will be blogging about later. It’s used in Marketing, Sales, H.R., P.R., as well as Education and may other fields – because it works.

Sit down and write out the questions you should ask every prospect and then start using them! I am positive you will see a much better sales conversion rate, and have a better relationship with new clients or customers.

By Mike Bayes

If we can help you accelerate your sales contact us at www.salesjumpstart.net

Who was Socrates? http://www.columbia.edu/itc/lithum/wong/Socrates.html

Tweet This Post

Marketing and Sales Programs