American Express

Posts Tagged ‘Marketplace’

It sounds like a silly concept, doesn’t it? I mean, it’s your business, so you know your own products or services inside out, right? It’s amazing how many
businesses get caught up in the design process of their Internet presence and
lose sight of what it is that they are actually promoting online. Quite often,businesses get so involved in wondering how their Web site looks that they actually forget about what it is they are promoting, whom they are targeting,and why they are even promoting it online in the first place.

Can you see how the key components of the foundation work together? So, what are you promoting? Is it simply your products/services? Yes, this is what you want your customers to purchase, but selling to someone online is a lot different from selling to someone face to face. There are so many factors
that play an influential role in encouraging an online user to take the next step and engage your business and its offerings.

Each of these factors typically tie into your most fundamental (and often overlooked) online objectives.To illustrate, let’s assume that you are promoting Product X, which is a highly specialized piece of equipment with a hefty price tag. You are not the only competitor in the market that offers Product X, but your version of the product is slightly different from the rest. So why should someone buy your product? This is where you have to wrap your head around what you are promoting, while differentiating it from the other options that users have within the marketplace.

The emphasis of modern selling is to develop what is known as relationship and consultative selling. Both of those adjectives will be explained in more detail in the following chapters. Suffice to say at this stage that it is much easier to win new business from a person who you have developed a relationship with rather than a complete stranger.

We have all heard sales people brag that they do business with X, Y and Z company. I have tried over the years to sell to companies, to the private sector and the public sector, to government bodies and institutions, to homes and flats, and I have never achieved a sale. I have only ever made a sale to another person. So your marketplace is no different from mine.Selling is about relationships, trust and earning respect. In building relationships you must become a good ambassador of your product or your company, and to do this you will need six vital ingredients:

1. Business knowledge
2. Industry knowledge
3. Company knowledge
4. Product knowledge
5. Sales skills
6. Attitude