Sales Channels
Are you using all the sales channels you can with your business?
When it comes to getting new business and more prospects you need all the help you can get... and in this lesson we'll look at how to communicate your business by using additional sales channels at no cost to you or your business.
Online sales channels
A few weeks ago we finally took the plunge on this website to add an affiliate scheme.
This means people put a special link on their website that links into this one.
If that visitor then buys from this site the original website owner gets a % of the sale.
We pay 33% of each sale
Why do we do that?
It's unlikely we would have got that sale in the first place because the visitor was on another site at the time. But by paying a third of the sales value means we keep 66% - and that's more than we would have received without the sale.
When some people start these schemes they only pay a very small sum. Maybe only 10%. But this is not a large enough incentive for people to go to the effort of changing their website and promoting your products.
Affiliates are a sales force for your online business and they need to be rewarded as much as normal sales people.
You can also earn money from your website by checking out my scheme
If you do start one of these schemes for your own website it doesn't stop once you have set up your scheme.
You still need to motivate your new sales force with examples of emails they can write to their customer email lists and special offers they can promote. So treat your new online affiliates like you would if they were regular sales people.
Telephone sales
We have not tried this at all but we understand from people on the forums that this also works very well with the right offer.
To make this work you pay a small fee for experts to make calls on your behalf to potential customers to sell your products.
They have the contacts already and you need to provide a script the telephone sales person will work through with answers to all objections and general questions.
The investment always pays for itself so this may be something to consider.
Member get member
This works well offline as well as online and is very powerful.
Many of the credit card companies use this tactic all the time. Simply explained, you reward your existing customers for introducing new customers into your business.
Like the previous example it's worth paying well to reward your customers as a new sales force.
If they are a satisfied customer they will tell new prospects great things about your business.
These are the best sales people you can get because they have already tried and tested your products and are likely to know your company and business very well.
People like unbiased reports of companies they can use.
You should develop an offer (it can be a cash reward, a % discount from a future sale or a gift of value that your customers want)
Email marketing channel
Not strictly a sales channel but a great way to keep your company in the minds of your customers and prospects.
If you have a website it is vital you capture the email addresses of people who visit.
The chances of people coming back to your site from memory are almost zero.
To capture an email lead you'll need to offer an incentive such as a free report or a valuable download for people to be motivated to join your list.
You can also buy lists of emails to send messages about your company. This will work for offline and online businesses.
(By the way we don't sell our email addresses to anyone or give them away)
Final thoughts
You need as many sales people as you can find.
Whether you take these ideas or not anyone you know can be a sales person for your business.
Also provide business cards to everyone you know.
You never know when someone may ask one of your friends about a product you may be selling.