How To Sell – Persuasive Power

Is Your Website a ‘Good Sales Guy’ ?

Ever been followed around by a commissioned salesperson at the mall?

Their job is to take care of your every need, and for providing that ‘service’ (used loosely), they will hopefully get a percentage of a percentage of your purchase. It’s in their best interest to make sure you have as many things available to you as cross your mind.

If nothing crosses your mind, they have brilliant additional ideas to invade your senses with.

You know, some do it right …

But others, well … not so much. Have you ever left because you were annoyed? Have you ever turned down their suggestions because they were way too expensive, gaudy, or irrational?

Or worse …

Have you ever refused to re-enter a store because it was obnoxious?

I’m not opposed to a good salesperson doing their job and making well-deserved money at it. I’m simply making an analogy we can all relate to.

Listen, your website is your online store. 

You won’t be very persuasive if you attempt to use a bad sales guy approach.

Bad Sales Guy had a few wrong ideas:

1. He was more interested in his measly percentage than fulfilling your shopping desires.
2. He believed that if he hit over the head you long enough, you’d give in and buy.
3. He was indifferent.

That second idea actually works on some people, but more than likely they’ll  return the item, fuss about it to their friends, and avoid him IF they ever go back.

Those approaches aren’t very successful, and I don’t believe you want them to be the take-away from an encounter on your website, do you?

A couple of things to remember about your online storefront:

• Keep it simple and direct.
• Link to everything that they’ll need clearly from every page.
• Spend more time talking about understanding what your customers need than what you want them to know about your company.
• Don’t be vague; it’s like a limp handshake.
• Everything should read as though the writer was smiling at you.
• Stay clear of pop-up adds or sign-up forms that get in the way of the viewer’s experience. Instead, gently and clearly guide them to the location they’re looking for.
• Give them ways to interact with your business. Use blogs and respond to legitimate comments, keep your social media handles (profile names) readily available, use forums, and offer freebies.

It’s easy to miss this stuff. That’s the problem. Bad Sales Guy didn’t know or take the time to learn to persuade.

Make sure your website is a good sales guy.

I liked this post by Karri Flatla, it discusses what selling is and isn’t. I think you’ll like  and learn from it:

Think You Know What Selling Is?

Learn more about how your website can be a ‘good sales guy’:

Website Marketing Strategy

Do you agree? Do you have anything to add? We’d love to hear from you, leave us a comment below.