The Online Upselling and Cross Selling Franzy
Here’s a story that is getting all too common as various online marketers thrive to get a purchase from you as soon as you show some kind of interest in the shape of a registration for a Webinar or a Free Report. Today I signed up for a Webinar which I really wanted to attend. Immediately I was diverted to a whole bunch of sales letters for stuff that I just did not want and guess what… I did not even receive confirmation of my Webinar registration.
By subscribing to your Free Give Away, your site visitor just wants one thing, you’ve guessed it…your Free Give Away! You have started this relationship on a high by promising something that will be helpful, offering a solution or the framework of a solution for their business. You have made the first step in initiating a conversation based on “know, like, and trust”, the three pillars of people doing business with you.
Your first reward is to receive this person’s email address, and believe me this IS a privilege! So why blow it by trying to sell them something right away? You may get a small percentage of success but you will also annoy so many of your subscribers that they will, as I did, unsubscribe on the spot. All your efforts to get these people on your email list are wasted because of your obsession for an immediate sale.
Permission marketing is the buzz word these days, and it is indeed the best way to establish a reliable following of prospects who will eventually become paying clients. But what your need to understand is the permission to market is in no way permission to ram your product down your subscriber’s throat as soon as they establish contact with you.
All online marketers must remember this: whether you are selling an offline product or service, or you have an online business, only 5% of your prospects are ready to do business with you right now. By spamming them and trying to sell to them as soon as they request your free information, you confuse and annoy them…you have burnt the next step in your sales process and lost them for ever.