The Profit Power of Relationship Selling

One very common, and profit killing, mistake I often see concerns perspective. What many marketers don't understand is they're NOT selling products and services. They are selling themselves. Understand and accept that and you'll see a huge difference in your business success.

What's probably the #1 issue prospective customers have with online businesses?

If you guessed, trust, then you'd be 100% correct!

People are highly skeptical and mistrustful of just about everything. They believe along the lines of if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Or... the simple fear of being scammed or taken for their money. Of course lots of people are wary about identify theft, too.

And all those issues can make it very hard to sell anything.

One solution lies in learning to effectively sell your self.

We all look for someone we feel can be trusted. How many times have you gone out and bought something because a friend said it was good? We all do that every day. That's why referral business is so powerful.

There's nothing worth more than somebody telling another person about a new restaurant and it was the best food they ever ate. You don't think the person they told is going to try it at least just once?

And think about it, it didn't cost that restaurant one dollar of advertising. Just a happy customer telling a friend. That's trust!

Granted, online it's a little harder. You're dealing with people you don't know. So the element of trust isn't there, yet. You can recommend the greatest product to them all day long, but without the element of trust, you'll have little chance to make the sale.

So this is where you have to use some brain power to earn that trust. To do that, you have to first sell your self as someone who's trustworthy. There are many ways you can do this.

The one thing you must realize is you should NOT bring up anything to do with sales too early in your marketing relationship. Don't give them the link to your product to buy it, no matter what you've put in your initial contact with them. You have to make them want you to send them more info. You have to make them write back to you and tell you how much they appreciated your honesty. Once you have their interest, then you can start to send them your offer or offers.

With selling Internet marketing products, most people get involved in programs hoping for that big score. The problem is, most people have no idea how to promote their program and don't know how to go about getting that information.

As a result, they are left out on their own to fend for themselves and ultimately, as what happens 95% of the time, they fail. It's not because they didn't put in an honest effort, though there are some who don't do that, but it's because they just didn't have the right guidance.

This is where you come in.

When you approach somebody you want to approach them as an expert in your area the best you can without being less than honest. The first thing you want to do is explain the program to them in complete detail. Many people don't want to do this because they're afraid that they'll be giving away too many secrets.

The truth is... there is so much to learn about any one area that it would be impossible to teach someone everything. Advertising techniques alone can take years to learn. So don't worry about this. Approach the person that you have knowledge. Make them understand that you know what you're talking about and more importantly that you know what you're doing.

Consistently provide high quality information. Make them aware that you're there to help them, and in time you'll gain their trust. Then you can enjoy the fruits of your labors.

Copyright (c) 2007 Quick Turn Marketing International, Ltd.