Internet Marketing – I Don’t know how to Sell
January 21st, 2010
As a new Internet marketer I’m going through my personal list of all the nagging worries that cast doubt in my mind as I start out.
Here’s the second of my mental barriers to taking action, “I don’t know how to sell”.
It’s true, in the context of online marketing, I have very little experience. But to say I don’t know how to sell – is that true?
The answer is no because we are all salesman. We might not be selling eBooks or get rich quick schemes but we all know how to argue, to persuade, even to cajole. It’s part of everyday life.
Whenever there are competing suggestions or options how do you ensure it’s your preferred choice that wins out? You sell.
“Let’s go to the Crown an Anchor, the beer’s good and the music is great!”
“Yeah, I agree, but what about the Dog and Duck, the beer’s good there too but they have a live band playing tonight!”
“Works for me, let’s go!”
There’s your offer and your bonus, everybody is happy, everybody wins.
And I think that’s at the heart of my unease about the whole online selling process. I want to know that I’m making a good offer that provides real value in return for the money I want to earn.
It’s not that I can’t sell, I can because I do it every day in the natural course of events.
What I’m really worried about is my ability to produce or select a quality product that will be of value to the customer. I should have that concern. All the time. It’s right to be focused on providing value. Not the value I perceive but the value the customer will derive.
So it turns out what I imagined was an impediment is in reality an advantage. If I’m always checking and checking again that I’m providing real value then it can only help me.
As for the technical details of how to sell online, that can all be learned (in a few hours) and the experience gained from taking action allows for refinement further down the line.
I’ve been giving out recommendations for resources you can use to learn the basics without the hoopla. Use them as a short-cut if you want to avoid making the costly mistakes I’ve made.
Two down, six more objections to overcome. Then I have no excuses for not taking action.
Posted in General
Twitter: blogandlearn
says:
Interesting, here’s what I do with regards to selling (doesn’t always apply to every niche but certainly this one for me). I only ever recommend or review products or services that I’ve used or reviewed in detail. If it’s not something I like or that I think has benefit then I have a hard time getting excited about it and I won’t promote it.
Much like yourself here, I try to just product material that helps others freely as I learn. Then sometimes I come across a product or ebook I really like, I buy it, try it and confirm it’s really useful and only then do I promote it.
With a lot of eBook type products that you might consider becoming an affiliate for, it’s not unusual to find that they are collections of articles that the writer has written in the past. Now, if that’s all thats being offered then you have a very easy choice, either spend the time looking through their archives or spend the asking price for the book.
The better eBooks out their on the top internet marketing websites do have the usual collection of previous posts but have a lot more on top, things like recorded interviews, additional unseen new material, a lot of links to resources they use and a lot of interesting personal insight. These are the ones I’m happy to use and promote.
I hope you can see what I’m trying to put across here, basically my recommendation would be to only promote things you’ve tried and like. I hear what you are saying about not paying for endless products but if you find someone you trust and know that the products they are offering are going to speed up your learning curve, I’m all for spending the $10 or $20 to gain from their vast experience.
We all have to use our own judgement with internet marketing and as long as we don’t have false expectations of immediate success then it shouldn’t be seen as all bad. It’s a learning curve and like any business requires a lot of hard work and investment of our time.
Once you begin to make money you’re in the position to be able to carry on doing and repeating what you’re doing or create a quality product or service that will help others do the same, there’s really nothing wrong in doing that providing you are honestly providing a good service or product.
Chat soon
Robert
.-= Robert Love´s last blog ..What Makes a Great Newsletter? =-.
Hello again Robert and wow! Responses like this are a huge encouragement in the early days of no traffic and no sales.
Some real value added stuff there, especially the note that not ALL content on the Internet is a waste. Of course that’s true but when you are kicking yourself once again for getting suckered into the latest magic formula it gets too easy to write off the whole industry.
Indeed if I think about the purchases in which I’ve found genuine value, given my situation and level of expertise (costing anywhere between $4.95 and $97) in comparison to some of the big ticket stuff costing up to $3K (I kid you not!) the real proof lies in the fact I’m now devouring the cheaper stuff and ignoring the bank breakers. And finally I’m making headway.
I totally agree on your stance of knowing what you are selling and I have been and plan to continue applying that benchmark. It drives me nuts to see all the super-affiliates pushing a certain very high cost system right now. It isn’t even complete and 60% is locked out yet they KNOW it’s a great system. So great I’ve asked for a refund at the same time others are clawing at the door to get in. Enough said for now.
It has taken me about 6 months to come back down to earth since first encountering Internet marketing. I have a tough job ahead. But compared to the day job? It’ll be fun. And creative, which makes a huge change. It’s such a shift (for me anyway) to stop relying on others to provide me with a wage and to go out and carve my own earnings using my own plans, making my own decisions and using my own initiative. But it’s a step I have taken, I’m there now, genuinely. Wish I;d started at 18 years old, like some do.
Thanks again for a valuable contribution.