Make it Great

Okay so since I have been in business, I have seen it all when it comes to catching a sale. I have seen some positive ways to catch a sale and some negative ways. I think the gray area in it all is, how far should you go to get a sale.

Here are some things I have learned.

If someone emails or calls you interested in your products but doesn’t answer your emails or phone calls in return, move on. Maybe after a month or so, send them a postcard when you “drizzle” on some other prospects who kind of dropped off the face of the earth. I would send out postcards to all the prospects who asked for information or got in contact with me but nothing came of it, every 3 months or 2-3 times a year. This is something new, I am trying since I don’t like to bother people, but sometimes people do get busy and need reminding about your business or product.

You will always get people who will want to order and get you all excited and giddy thinking about the sale, but they never order or answer your emails or phone calls. This is to be expected. Why do people do this? Lack of funds, lack of interest, or maybe they just changed their mind about ordering from you. Whatever the case, don’t worry about it, you will get lots of these “hopefuls”.

If someone mentions, they want to join a business that is similar to yours, like if you are on a forum/message board and someone says they are looking to sell (insert your product here), send them some information. I show emphasis on some because sometimes we get so excited we talk too much or oversell. If you have a website, send them the link along with a few facts about your company/product and a way to contact you. Let people do their own research to find out if your business or product is right for them. That way if they do join you and find out it isn’t what they thought, they only have themselves to blame due to lack of research.

Sending someone a full page of information about what you offer looks desperate in my opinion, especially since most of the time it is copy and pasted straight from a website. So why not just send the link to the page and few sentences about what is on the page? It is so much easier and takes about 2 mins. to do. That way if they fizzle off, its okay. Only give your all for serious prospects, those that email you back, call you back and actually communicate!

Don’t give away to many things for free or low cost. People are always looking for a sale and want to save a few bucks. Yes, offering a few bucks off of a product may get you the sale, but you also lose money. We are in business to make a profit so obviously everyone can’t get 50% off all orders or you would be broke. I only offer discounts when it will benefit me, such as, bring more traffic to my site, bring more sales or as a Thank You gift.

I see this so much with people in the candle business, someone will say “I want to try such and such scent, I love candles and can’t wait to buy some from you!” and then the distributor will go and send them a whole votive and never hear from them again. Some distributors even hand out votives at stores. Now, you can get sales from this, but it doesn’t always work.

Think of it this way, if you send them a votive, what incentive do they then have to buy one? Yes, they may burn the votive and enjoy it, but that doesn’t mean they will buy another one from you. People try things all the time, that’s why people like Sam’s Club, free samples. But the difference is, they give you a small sample, a little bait. If you like the small sample, which is barely enough to satisfy your craving, then you will get the whole bag often times. This is the same idea, we should have when we give out samples. I give out “scent samples”, this is a crushed votive in a 1×1 or 1×2 inch zip lock baggie.  This is just enough for them to smell the scent and decide if they want to order it. It costs me close to nothing to do and I get my product in their hands.

Remember this, if you always have to beg people to buy your products or always feel burnt out due to no one buying from you, then try a different approach. Re-evaluate your products, make sure they are products people need or want. Make sure the pricing is competitive and not over priced. Check out the quality, compare your product to other similar products. Constantly check to make sure you are up to date with what is going on around you. Example, if you sell business cards, make sure you have fresh designs, great graphics to give people a reason to choose you over someone else or even consider you. If everything is up to par, then try a new advertising strategy. There is more then one way to skin a cat or chicken!

Told you working from home takes actual work!

Jarmelia Ladson