As discussed in part one of this series, there are many similarities in online selling and a sales conversation with building rapport and digging for a customer’s problem. Having a real sales conversation is still usually much better than online, but with the popularity of the internet, companies need to find out how to adapt to meet their customers where they are.
Having a large amount of information is usually important to selling online. This is where it differs more from a sales conversation. In a sales conversation, you do not want to give out all of your information at once. But while online, people usually should be able to find what they need by looking on your website where hopefully the information is centralized and sorted. There are some times when this is not the best solution, but people usually want to find all the information they are looking for easily and quickly. Having to email or call someone might be too much of a hassle for them and they might stop looking into the company because of a lack of information and ease of finding it. To show information, there can be blogs or pages with paragraphs or bullet points with information. There also could be a page with frequently asked questions, or maybe even a forum for customers to talk to each other and the company.
Showing confidence in your product is also important. Like in a sales conversation, when it comes to talking about your product (which is late in the conversation), you want people to know you believe in it and it is a good product. Some ways to do this are providing a warranty or return period for the product. This allows them to try it out and see if they like it, and also shows that you have confidence that they will like the product (or else you would not give them that guarantee because there is a higher chance you will get the product returned). This is similar to giving the customer a way out in a sales conversation. It makes them take a step back and think about it and the reason you are offering that and why they are still interested in the product. Reviews are also a good thing to have on a site so users see how other people like the product.
After the purchase has been made, follow up is key, just as it is in a sales conversation. This can be done through emails, even automatically formatted and sent ones. Even though it is not as personal, it still can help. Sweetwater (a music supply company), and probably other companies, actually call the customer a few hours or days after the product is delivered, just to check in and make sure everything is working properly. This shows a high level of customer service and that they really care about the customer and providing them with a product they love. This is how sales conversations should work as well.
In conclusion, there are a surprising number of similarities between selling online and selling in an in-person sales conversation. It is interesting to see how these relate, and will be even more interesting to see how they develop in the future.
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