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Should
You Fire Your Web Site?
If your Web site
isn't doing its job--selling--why
are you keeping it on your
sales team?
HomeOfficeMag.com, by James
Maduk
Ask yourself
this: If your Web site were
one of your salespeople, would
you keep that employee on
your team? In other words,
is your Web site doing its
job--selling?
Almost every viable
business today has a Web site
that serves a number of purposes.
Even a basic Web presence
ensures a visitor that the
company is for real and still
in business. At larger companies,
the IT or Web department controls
the messaging, content, look
and feel. Support may have
a section to offload customer
service. Highly integrated
businesses may even tie distribution
and the supply chain to the
site, allowing customers to
check their orders.
It doesn't matter
if you're the only "salesperson"
or you have a dedicated sales
team; brochures, product sheets
and a shopping cart system
aren't enough to build any
online or offline business.
You want your Web site to
engage, enroll and compel
customers. You want it to
qualify prospects, present
solutions and close sales.
You want it to grab a visitor's
attention, create some interest,
build desire and get the visitor
to take some action. You know--the
stuff that salespeople do.
Getting
Leads
Is your Web site getting good
leads? Not all Web site visitors
are created equal. Don't assume
that just because they happen
to be on your Web site they
are interested in buying your
product or service. There
tends to be four types of
Web traffic:
- Browsers: people who
might have arrived on
your site by mistake,
curiosity or another form
of general marketing.
These visitors come with
no intent.
- Suspects: visitors who
have already made a decision
to fix a problem but still
haven't decided on a solution.
These groups are looking
for something but aren't
sure what they want.
- Prospects: visitors who
know both the problem
and the solution and are
making a decision on who
is going to supply the
solution. Where are they
going to access the solution?
- Customers: those who have
already made the decision
to buy from you and want
to place an order.
Navigation
Does your Web site navigation
qualify or disqualify your
traffic? The navigation of
your site must be able to
identify and direct the leads
that it receives into the
appropriate part of your sales
process. Does your site map
the accepted AIDA (attention,
interest, desire, action)
sales process to each of the
types of visitors?
Browsers and suspects
need to see a strong USP (unique
selling proposition), have
their attention grabbed and
interest created. Prospects
want to know what's in it
for them. You want to build
desire by conveying real benefits.
Customers want a fast and
simple way to do business
with you online.
Presentation
Does your Web site give good
presentations to the right
people? Like any good Error!
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your site has to be tailored
to its audience. The content
that builds desire for one
personality style may confuse
or bore another. Your sales
presentation, the content,
should be specific to the
various buying styles of your
visitors.
Closing
the Sale
So your site does the presentation,
but does it ask for the order?
There must be a point of action
with a specific decision for
the visitor to make. Is the
purpose of the site to make
sure that the visitor fills
in a survey, follow-up or
request-for-info form? Is
it to make sure that they
join the site by subscribing
to a newsletter? Perhaps you
want the visitor to call in
to book an appointment with
a live sales rep, or even
better, to complete the entire
sale online using your e-commerce
system. Make sure your site
asks for the order.
If you need help
determining your Web site's
weaknesses, there are many
applications available to
help you track page hits,
page views, length of visit
and so on. Most important,
you want to know where the
customer was in the sales
process when they came into
the site and where they left.
Imagine the next
sales meeting when it's time
to look at the sales funnel
and your sales forecast. You'll
go through the numbers, looking
at the number of current opportunities.
How many new leads were added
to the sales funnel? How many
of those suspects are qualified?
How many presentations were
done to the qualified prospects?
Finally, how much business
is going to close this week,
month or quarter?
Salespeople aren't
paid for what they know. They're
paid for what they sell. Should
you include your Web site
on your sales team, or should
it be replaced?
--end--
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