Hot Fresh VTL

Stop trying so hard to sell something! Yep. You heard right. STOP trying so hard to sell. Nobody wants to feel like they were sold! Everyone wants to feel like they have made a wise decision to purchase something that will benefit them. Consider these words: Value Trust Loyalty They are critical to your success! Have you ever gone to a car dealership to look for a car? Really! Well, that's where we're going right now. Close your eyes. Seriously. We all think better in surround sound technicolor when we shut out our surroundings and concentrate. Otherwise it is too easy to become distracted or not re-experience all of the details. Bring back to your mind the most obnoxious, outrageous big ticket item salesman - car, boat, house, major appliances - you have encountered. (I know there are some really nice ones out there - two of my dear friends are terrific car salesmen. But that is not who we're talking about here. So please understand that I am only using a "used car salesman" stereotype for purposes of making a point here.) Now, get a pen and paper or type on your computer the following questions, and leave room to answer them - in writing. We're painting a picture here and engaging as many of your senses as possible will help you really get into it and remember the points we'll be discussing. 1 How was he dressed? What was his body posture/language? 2 How educated/informed/knowledgeable did she seem to be? 3 How did she approach you? What did she say? 4 Did he follow you around breathing down your neck with information you were not ready to receive? 5 Did he ask you if you were "ready to commit today" because he could only give you that deal at that moment in this time in infinity? 6 Did she make outrageous claims or withhold critical information? 7 Did she walk back to her manager's office to get you a better deal? Perhaps you finally walked out of a car dealership, put your hand on your car door handle and suddenly the sales person and his manager came running out with yet another deal for you? Did you buy the product? And if you bought the product, did you get to the finance guy and discover that the monthly payments were not the same as the salesman "estimated" - by a LOT? And when you only had a set amount in mind to spend, how much did the sales person try to "up-sell you" before you decided to forget the whole thing and leave? Value Trust Loyalty Did you experience that? Either you bought the item or you didn't. But now I want you to think about how you felt during the process: How much did you enjoy the process? Did you leave feeling good about your decision? What did you tell your friends and family about it? Would you EVER go back and buy from that person or that dealer again? Did thinking about it just now bring back any negative emotions/feelings? As a netpreneur or a netpreneur wannabe, dear friend, YOU are the salesman. And your potential buyers and current customers are YOU. So let me ask you to really evaluate your attitude when selling products online. Value Trust Loyalty Do you just want to make a sale or do you want to make a friend? Are you just looking to put money in your pocket to feed your family or do you really want to help someone make a good decision that will help them have a better life, too? Are you just selling a product or are you providing a solution? Having learned from your own life experiences and buying decisions, think about just who you have purchased from. Think about traits the person or company had that made you trust them enough to buy from them. What did they say or how did they act to make you believe they were "for real"? If you are always jumping right out there to sell your customers or potential customers something - if you don't establish a relationship with them BEFORE you try to get their money - if you do not continue to build on that trust - you may make a few sales here and there. But your chances of converting a window shopper or one-time buyer into a loyal repeat customer are slim. You're a savvy purchaser. You've been burned before. We all have. Nobody wants to feel foolish or taken advantage of. We all want to buy from someone we trust. So here's my big question to you: Can your potential customers trust you? Even more important: How do they know that? Your sales pitch, your ad copy, your emails, your freebies, and especially your products, must all contain truthful, valuable, relationship-building information. If not, you may end up being just another netpreneur wannabe who is selling used cars that nobody wants to buy. Value Trust Loyalty The keys to your success!