Scientific Selling. By Jeff Neil
The art of selling is not a new concept that came free with the Internet. I call it art but it`s more like a scientific process. Long before the Internet, salesmen have used scientific methods to achieve great success. Marketing on the Internet should be no different.
We can learn a lot from mail order marketing. It has been around for decades yet still flourishes today. Successful mail order marketers know exactly what works for them and what does not. They also know that people still have the same desires as they did 50 years ago. People want good health, wealth, to be loved, more and better sex, they want to be safe, and they want to be respected.
_________________ Choose a Product _____________________
A successful mail order business doesn`t just place some ads some where and hope for the best. They test things. The very first thing they do is to decide on a product. Is it wanted, and can it be bought at the local store? If it can be bought at Wal-Mart it won`t sell well using mail order or that great on the Internet either.
** As a note: That rule doesn`t really apply to MLM that sell easy to get products. MLM also provides a business opportunity. Wal-Mart doesn`t want the competition so you can`t get that there.
Back to the product. Will it improve the customer`s life and make them happier? If not, choose something else. People will buy what they need, but it`s easier to sell what they want.
________________ Find the Buyers _____________________
Target your buyers. Find out where they are and what they want. Visit forums and discussion boards. Read magazines, especially the editorials. Find the sites they visit and the ezines they read.
An auto mechanic may not get real excited about buying a cheap set of screw drivers. But offer him a quality set of wrenches that fit both standard and metric with the same wrench and he`s apt to buy. Offer those same special wrenches to your lawyer or doctor. You won`t see many sales.
Sell to a few, not the masses. That`s one of the reasons Spam is not effective. I`m personally satisfied with my weight and other body parts. Find someone who`s not. They might buy.
The same holds true for the Internet marketing affiliate. It seems almost everyone has an affiliate program to offer these days. If you are going to advertise for a product, make sure it`s a good one. And advertise where people are willing to buy. Your ad sent to over a million people will not do well if half of them are looking for recipes for cookies.
_________________ Good Ad Copy ________________________
Good ad copy sells. This is not a guess. It has been proven over and over again for decades. The more expensive the product, the longer the sales letter. One of my favorite sales letters was five pages long. It gets read because it is interesting.
Use a headline on your web page. A good headline quickly grabs the reader`s attention so they`ll want to read more. Use quotation marks around you headline. For example: " Turn that Unwanted Christmas Wrapping Paper into Cold, Hard Cash... ". I don`t know how that`s done, but I`d read what ever to find out. Quotation marks make your headline seem more important and can increase sales by 27%.
** NOTE: The next time you see that bullet on a sales letter you`ll already know the secret.
Write your sales letter as if you were writing a friend. People like to feel they are dealing with a person, not a big corporation. Make it easy to read with short words and sentences. Don`t you just hate it when people use words you don`t know the meaning of?
For that personal touch add your signature in blue at the end. Your signature at the end makes your sales letter easier to believe. Making it blue gives the reader a warmer feeling. Similar to the difference between a photo copied memo and one that was hand signed.
_____________________ Test It ________________________
Now test for success. Write it down. Every ad, every headline should be tested to get the best results. Keep accurate records.
Once you are getting sales, or email subscriptions if that`s your goal, create a mirror page. Make slight changes to your headlines, bullets, and even the price. Change your ads and see which ones pull and where. Keep all the god and get rid of what does not work.
© 2001, Jeff Neil, Maine Moose Marketing
You may publish this article in your ezine and/or web site as long as this resource box is left intact.
Article written by Jeff Neil, publisher of Always Marketing. Get the truth, the whole truth and nothing but. Combining Email Marketing, MLM, and Motivation to take you to the next level. Success. Visit at: http://www.mainemoosemarketing.com Subscribe at: mailto:always_marketing@postmaster-email.com