Selling on strategy A Step by Step Guide part 1
The 6 Step Process for Success 1. Know your prospect 2. It s all about their business 3. Discuss how to achieve online success 4. Demo the solution 5. Build the value 6. Discuss next steps
1. Know your prospect Do a little research. E.g. industry trends, market terminology Tailor a strategy to suit their business. See the 4 Cs, BC s Strategies for Success Practice your presentation. Prepare a showcase See product demonstration guide in Part 2.
1. Know your prospect Qualify your prospect Do a little research. What are five other sites that you like (competitors sites included). E.g. industry trends, market terminology and why are they attractive to you? Tailor a strategy to suit their business. How much time will you be able to spend online See the 4 Cs, BC s Strategies for Success responding to inquiries that come in via your website? Practice your presentation. Are you planning to do Online Sales? Prepare a showcase What is the product and how many items do you want to sell? See product demonstration guide in Part 2. For more questions, follow this guide and make your own questionnaire: http://www.freelanceswitch.com/finding/web-design-client-questionnaires/ Credit: Martha Retallick, Freelance Switch
2. It s all about their business During the first meeting Ask them about their business (confirm strategy) Tell them a little about yourself Ask them about their Online Business goals and suggest some How Clients Think from Designing for the Empty Handed Client about suitable design. When I started, I didn t even know what functions the website should have. And form follows function From the client s perspective, I have truly appreciated the times someone has taken me by the hand and provided good guidance. As a client, I have no knowledge of anything on the web (I do now, of course, but it took several years), much less have concrete ideas The most valuable web designer is someone who provides good guidance, visual examples and takes the time to elucidate the actual needs that I have. Then he will help me prioritize the goals so that he can provide me with a good result.
Six online business strategies Why Does Your Prospect Need an Online Business Amplify your voice. Blogs, Email Marketing Automate your customer service (self-service). FAQ, Webforms, Workflows, Secure Zones, Customer Service Ticketing Sell online. ecommerce, Customer DB, Email Marketing Build your community. Blogs, Forums, Comments, Customer DB Generate new leads. Webforms, Workflows, Reporting Tools
To reach these OB Goals... Goals Should Be Measurable and Attainable Demonstrate ROI Unique site visitors Online sales Inquiry forms submitted Free Secure Zones registrations Paid subscriptions Newsletter opt-ins Online Businesses can measure all of these goals
3. Talk about Online Success (4Cs) Client now understands what Online Business goals and strategies are. How do we get there? There is no magic secret. There is a winning process! Website design begins with great content and ends with satisfied customers 1 2 3 4 Content Credibility Conversion Customer
Content (Motivation and ideas) Win #1 Good content addresses your customers information needs. Win #2 Search engines and social media experts love fresh, high quality content. Win #3 The first two wins ensure you own your traffic. If you don t own your traffic, you don t own your online business. Your client needs to regularly publish content on their site through these channels: Articles and Blog Posts Establishes your business as a credible authority How-to How it works Product Reviews Latest Tips, Tricks and Hacks History-of, How-it-helps Content from Social Media Sites Embed and Integrate videos, slideshows, widgets Host your own. Make download section with PDFs, Podcasts, Photos (photo gallery, literature) User experience becomes more real E.g Kelsey Humphries Email Newsletters Regularly keep in touch with past customers Cheap channel to push new products/ services, price changes, news etc Share content between your blog and newsletters
Content Ideas In Action... DelSol Construction www.delsolconstruction.com
Credibility Display Customer Testimonials (Web Apps) Display Customer Case Studies (Article) Allow Customer Feedback (Comments) Provide Online Customer Service (Web Forms) Create a Community (Forums) Write about yourself (Blog, About Us)
Testimonials Example Submit Your Online Business Story To Business Catalyst Today! You ve been selected as part of an exclusive group of Business Catalyst customers whom we d like to showcase on the Business Catalyst site! We re interested in how Business Catalyst has helped your business grow so here s your chance to tell the world by submitting your own Online Business story. Make it easy for a satisfied customer to give you great feedback Don t ever pay/bribe for it How might you do it? Track customers, send the most engaged ones an email follow-up. Customer gets something valuable (exposure, backlinks)
Conversion Conversion is the art of getting your customers through to your primary Conversion Funnel (online business) Website Visitor Email Newsletter Subscription and Site Registration Comments on Articles / Products / Services Forum Participation Online Sale
Customers Your post sales processes and customer service ensures repeat business The cost of customer acquisition is significantly greater than retaining customers 3 concrete examples of using BC for better customer service
Use customer reports Find all customers who have made a purchase Find all customers who have made an inquiry before These are warm leads use them to your advantage.
Create Follow-up Emails Write a follow-up series with informative articles. The aim is to stay top-of-mind, not sell (which = spam in customer s mind) Use emails to link back to your site to drive traffic Hard Selling is permitted if they ve signed up for Special Deals
Workflows, Live Feeds Follow up on leads faster than your competitors Customer Service Ticketing for responding to sales inquiries?
Thanks Just remember, life is not about building online shops using Monster templates. Throw some strategy in to make your work interesting and increase your value-add.