10 Tips To Using Your Website As A Storefront For Product Sales

A customer walks into the store, browses through products and shelves, picks up items, inspects, considers the prices, chooses a product and takes it to the cash register to pay. 

Now if you want to sell your products online, then your site must be enabled for e-commerce, where you must have the following features:

1. You need to provide plenty of content and product description like sizes, dimensions, colors and comparisons with other similar products. 

It must allow the customer to choose a product, get a clear pricing and shipping costs on the product, complete the transaction and get an order number, and/or invoice confirmation via email. 

Allow your customer to choose a shipping method.

2. You must tell the customer if the item is in stock or delivered against order. Ideally, you should have an email contact or live help if the customer has a question. 

 Most importantly you must respond immediately! 

If you want to provide your own live chat and help desk services on your website, specialized softwares are available for purchase.

3. Be sure your customer service links are large and clearly marked, so your client does not have to dig around to find information.

4. Provide an ‘about us’ section or a section about your policies. If you have privacy statements and customer satisfaction policies, your customer will feel better about shopping in your store.

5. You probably want to have customer quotes and references on the storefront page, as well, to let your prospective client know that others are happy with your service.

6. Provide an FAQ with information about your return-back policies, guarantees, shipping prices and insurance charges if any.

7. If you are so inclined, you can offer a print catalog if the customer prefers to order one from your storefront and shop in the privacy of their homes.

8. Do not annoy your customers by presenting products that are marked ‘sold’ or pages that say ‘under construction’ or ‘coming soon’.

9. Do add new content frequently, so your returning customers will not be bored by seeing the same products they saw four months ago.

10. If your site has got a date tag or has current references, be careful to change these references frequently so you don’t give the perception that nobody is attending or reading your site.

 Checkout my store front on Amazon here. Stay safe and Have a nice day.

5 Guaranteed Tips To Increase Sales

As a Publishing entrepreneur and by doing publicity for my clients, I’ve spent years studying the art of selling.  The techniques that follow aren’t difficult to learn, but they require discipline and practice. Your most important skill as a business owner is your salesmanship. Having the best product or service means nothing if you can’t get anyone to buy it, so to ensure the success of your business you must develop the ability to generate revenue – “salesman-ship”. Here is a brief outline of 5 techniques I’ve developed for increasing sales:

1. USE THE PHONE –Absolutely the cheapest, most effective, and efficient way to find customers is by phone. Yes, “cold-calling”.   
   

Write out a script for this before you call, so you don’t sound vague.  Introduce yourself, your company, the purpose of the call, and give a brief “benefit” of your product/service to the client. ”What will you do for his/her business?”  Be brief, to the point, and have 10 possible objections you might get, answered in your script. This way you’re prepared for the customary “brush-off.”  Always try to get a firm commitment to a meeting.  This call is not to “sell” the client, it’s to get a face-to-face meeting to establish credibility – and then to sell him/her. Would you buy from a voice on the phone? No.  You want to see the vendor and listen to his offer.

2. SHOUT IT FROM THE MOUNTAIN TOP – You should always be looking for new customer, and I’ve found that giving seminars, teaching, guest speaking at trade shows and organizations, or writing an article for your trade magazine or business journal establishes you as an “expert” in your field.   

People like to buy from experts because it reduces their fear of making a bad decision.  Everyone can overcome their fear of public speaking, so find the method that works best for you and do it.  

 As a desperate step, join a Toastmaster’s group near you or take a night course at a nearby Adult School.

3. ASK QUESTIONS – Most salespeople think that the first meeting with the prospect is the only chance to make a sale.  WRONG!  Before you go into your “pitch” ask questions, take notes, what are your prospects goals, challenges, etc.  Helping a prospect solve a business problem creates a “win-win” relationship and closes more sales than you think.

4. AVOID “PRODUCT DUMPING” – Telling your prospect all about your product/service before you know their needs is a mistake made by 95% of salespeople. This is an inefficient selling method and upon reflection, your client will lose faith in you.  

  Some clients on several occasions get some advice and good feelings, but still no sale and that’s alright. Be apt to get “word of mouth” referrals from them, which will outweigh what you might have made if one simply “sold” them a service that wasn’t an answer to their problem. Remember that nothing adds more to your credibility than a referral from a satisfied prospect.

5. KNOW YOUR NUMBERS – Selling is a numbers game, and you need to learn your “selling ratios.” How many prospecting calls do you need to get a meeting, and how many meetings to get a sale.  This allows you to manage your cash flow by forecasting your sales. It also tells you how many calls are needed to increase your sales revenue.

Stay safe,  Happy selling and have a wonderful day.