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Are you absolutely beside yourself –
giddy with delight because Web 2.0 has finally arrived to help you sell more,
sell faster, make you richer, smarter, sexier, and lower your triglyceride
levels?
Whoops, I’m sorry... do you even know what Web 2.0 is?
Web 2.0, in a nut shell, is the latest evolution in the online experience. The
World Wide Web is now... ready... here it is: a tad more interactive,
technologically speaking.
I know, that’s a big whoop for some of you, but for others it’s equivalent to
the coming of the messiah (for either the first or second time, depending on
which operating system you’re laboring under).
Is Web 2.0 a Boon or a Bane for Consumers and Countries?
For most marketers, their company’s website has been a rather static billboard
of sorts. But now, thanks to the technological capabilities afforded us under
the sobriquet of Web 2.0, a website can provide visitors, prospects, customers
and selected victims, with a certain degree of “give and take”.
You can talk to them, they can talk to you; you can learn more about them, they
can learn more about you; they can “experience” you, you can “experience them” –
in short, the level of communication through a computer screen has been
enhanced.
Some though fear that Web 2.0 will enable online marketers to become even more
intrusive and annoying... or liberating. China, Saudi Arabia and other
fundamentalist and ideologically illogical regimes could be in for a big-time
headache.
Nevertheless, Web 2.0 will eventually give way to Web 2.5, then Web 3.0 and 4.0
and so on, until ultimately, long after we’re all dust, a computer screen will
become a real – not virtual – portal into whatever exists on either side of the
screen.
Actually, there probably won’t be a screen anymore; it’ll be more like a
turnstile. Yes, the veil will have been lifted. And the tag line, “Reach out and
touch someone”, will then have reached its fullest potential.
Here’s the Problem... Nothing has Really Changed
Web 2.0 will not sell your product or service for you. Web 2.0 will not negate
the importance of salesmanship in print, in video, in audio, or any permutation
or combination not yet assembled.
All the “old” requirements and admonitions about how to sell, and sell well, are
still in full force.
The Top 10 Steps to Sell Your product – Even When Using Web 2.0
1. You need to identify a qualified market – those who are ravenously hungry for
your product or service. Throwing mud on the wall and praying it will stick,
won’t work – never has, never will.
2. You need a hi-quality product or service that will satisfy your market’s
hunger, or fix their pain. No snake-oil scams permitted.
3. You need to know how to grab your market’s attention in a stimulating and
compelling way, so they know your product or service exists. Waiting for the
phone to ring is not a marketing strategy.
4. You need to prove your product or service’s value, unequivocally detailing at
length – why and how your product is worth the price asked. Nothing is obvious
when it comes to selling.
5. You need to make an irresistible offer. Why must your target market buy your
product or service – and buy it now. Not to buy and not to believe is everyone’s
natural first choice.
6. You need to remove all risk – by offering a solid, confidence-building
guarantee. “Trust me” is not a guarantee.
7. You need to anticipate all possible objections, and overcome them. And don’t
think for a moment there won’t be any. There will always be objections and
concerns – especially for a first-to-market product or service.
8. You need to ask for the order! Bashfulness and timidity has no place in
sales. Ask, and only then shall you receive. Forget this, and you can forget the
sale.
9. You need to clearly explain what your prospect must do, step by step, in
order to buy, subscribe or inquire. Lead them to your order page.
10. Take nothing for granted.
Web 2.0 is a tool – another road to get you to market. It will not replace
salesmanship. It can though make online marketing and sales more effective... if
you know what it takes to wrap up a sale in the first place.
Barry A. Densa is a freelance direct response
copywriter. Visit
http://www.WritingWithPersonality.com and see how Barry can compel and
persuade your prospective customers to either buy, inquire or subscribe through
“salesmanship in print”.
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