The most fascinating part of a business I’ve worked in is selling. Sales, to the uninitiated, can be such a frustrating and daunting task. But when you throw in a little skill and experience sales become fun. In the past selling was more contact based, it was perhaps easier to influence a person to buy because they visited your brick-and-mortar store where you controlled the environment. Other methods of selling such as over the telephone had the advantage of holding the full attention of the prospect. With so much business happening online the transition isn’t easy or a one-for-one swap. Let’s talk about making sales easier in an online world.
Clarity
This may sound crazy but you need to be clear about what you’re selling. I know what you’re thinking; you sell mobile phone cases. However what you are really selling, the ‘why’ people buy, is the security and safety of people’s prized mobile phones. I hope you can see how different those two things are. How does this work in your favour when selling? Apple didn’t sell iPods based on their storage size; the top line feature was always how many songs you could fit on an iPod. So be clear on what you’re selling (benefits) and communicate this to your audience.
Always show
Anybody can say anything about any product but showing is a different ball game. Thanks to improvements in technology the internet is becoming a more visual place. Ditch your walls of text for videos of your products. Show people what you offer. If your product has a great benefit show us rather than tell us. If your product comes in great colours don’t tell us, we don’t know what mystic jade is. Show us! And while we’re here if you can’t show it to us should you be talking about it? If your business brings some benefit you should be able to show that benefit.
Mobile friendly
Mobile friendly has been a point of discussion since the internet came to mobile devices in the early 2000s. The discussion is mostly around websites and making sure they are optimised for mobile phone users as mobile browsing dominates the internet usage patterns across the world. There’s more to think about when it comes to being mobile-friendly though. It’s not just that people use mobile phones more than any other device, it’s also what they like doing on the mobile phones while using them. People love to share good content so make sure your content is sharing-friendly. For example, the video does better on sharing-friendly platforms like TikTok rather than on the sharing hostile Facebook. Sending out images or message adverts without ways to contact you is not mobile-friendly either.
Be present
The internet has brought everything closer. Not just physically but also in terms of time. People don’t just want answers, they want answers now. So when creating your online resources you might want to have a live chat function. This works if you are present. There’s no point in having a chat function that goes ignored. The best salespeople answer questions before they are asked. This is done by having features like frequently asked questions (FAQs) or incorporating this into your sales process. Presence isn’t being available for your customers 24 hours a day, it’s working so well on your sales process that you don’t need to be available 24 hours.
Make it easy to pay
One of the most frustrating customer experiences is making payments and this is amplified in Zimbabwe’s complex monetary landscape. It takes some time to get used to the payments environment in Zimbabwe and just when you do there are likely to be some rule changes to throw the cat amongst the pigeons. So making it easy for your customers to pay is not easy in Zimbabwe. Having multiple payment methods would be best but is not always viable. What is ideal is using payment methods that guarantee delivery of the expected. Offering payment options that leave you as a business disgruntled will sooner or later affect the way you do business.
Flexible delivery
Offering delivery was a luxury until covid-19 took the world over. Blessed were those parts of the world that had already embraced it. Blessed were the businesses that were already leading the way. Everybody else had to play catch up. This is an evolving field and just as we have gotten used to our bike delivery people the world is moving towards delivery networks and remote automated lockers. So keep an eye on developments and be sure you understand what’s coming next.
Selling is never easy but you can certainly make it easier. For your online sales implement the tips above and you will start to see some changes. Who knows, you might even enjoy the process.
