What’s Killing Your Sales

It seems a little bit unfair.

E-commerce sites induce customers to whip out a credit card and complete a transaction online. But for those of us who offer a service—consultants, accountants, copywriters—that’s not the way it’s done…It’s hard enough to get people to buy a pair of sneakers online. To think that they would purchase services online from someone they don’t know . . . well, it just doesn’t happen.

That’s because a service is intangible. There’s nothing you can hold in your hand. It’s hard even to show a picture of it on your website.

In the early days of the Web, it was pretty cool to have a business website with your contact data—like an online business card—so customers could call for more information.

Today, that strategy won’t get you very far.

Online shoppers interpret “call for more information” as code language that means “call me so I can pester you until you buy.” Consumers are accustomed to having information freely available.

A phone call may seem to you like the easiest way to do business. That’s because an inbound call is the easiest thing for you. But your customers may see it differently.

Prospects need a frictionless way to take a first step toward doing business with you. Once they take that first step, your mission is to keep them engaged and encourage conversions.

How to making your business more user-friendly

Create dual paths for your prospects to follow.

Path One: a long sales cycle with many steps

Path Two: a shortcut

The long cycle gives prospects opportunities to learn more about you and your services at their own pace, not yours. The short cycle enables them to move along at a faster pace, if that is what suits them.

To design a long sales cycle, education is an important aspect.

Spend some time brainstorming about one of your clients—one who was perhaps a tough cookie. He took a long time to make a decision on the sale; he kept changing his mind; he asked dicey questions.

• Make a list of all the questions he asked, especially the ones about the most arcane details.
• Write down the objections he used, especially those that seem too obvious to address.
• List all of the steps required to perform your service.

Now you have a treasure chest of information you can use to educate your prospects as part of your small business sales cycle.

Tips for delivering educational content

Technology has made it possible to deliver content in formats that are affordable or even free.

Consider these delivery methods. The list is not intended to be complete, just a few ideas to stimulate your thought process.

• Use Case Studies to demonstrate your process.
• Write a Marketing Whitepaper to cover technical material in detail.
• Design a Multi-Part Email Course to deliver information in small doses.
• Start a Blog to break up your important ideas into detailed articles.
• Record Video or Audio clips to help prospects get to know you.
• Set up a Facebook page to show the human side of your business.
• Provide Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) on your site to answer all the little questions.

Implementing even one of these strategies gives your prospects a way to enter your small business sales cycle by learning more about you at their own pace.

How to design shortcuts

One of the most important principles in business is to give before you expect to receive. When you provide information in advance, a shortcut like call for more information will seem a lot friendlier.

Another word for shortcuts is offers. Once you get prospects involved in your long sales cycle, you can create packaged offers to invite them again-and-again to speed up the process of becoming a client.

What is one step you could add to your small business sales cycle? Post a quick comment below.

See you next time,

Jack Price