1. What’s the Difference in Selling Online and
Selling Offline
Anytime someone decides the time is right to start an online business, it’s exciting. However,
that excitement can quickly turn to frustration if you don’t understand the difference in selling
online and selling offline and therefore they try to do things in their online store the way they
would in a traditional store.
When you walk into a traditional store, you are greeted by a sales person, and they ask if they
can help you. They also do something else and that’s close the sale. If you aren’t sure or you’re
hesitating, a good salesperson will have you walking out with the item before you even realize it.
When a visitor comes to your online store, there’s no one to greet them, no body to help them,
and definitely no one to close the sale. Therefore there’s little if no pressure, and online can
become a great place to go to price compare, learn more about products, and just look around
without feeling the pressures of a traditional store.
Many people hate sales pressure and in a traditional store the most common way that feeling is
eliminated for the customer is through natural dialogue with the potential customer that builds a
sense of trust.
Online selling doesn’t allow for this. You do not have the opportunity to create that two-way
dialogue with someone. People land at your website and there is no two-way dialogue just the
reading of the message, which feels impersonal, and does not lend itself to building trust.
On as many as 90% of all sites what you’ll find is some type of standard sales script “We offer…
We do….” “Don’t wait..” What’s wrong with doing this? The problem is that long before the
visitor has even understood about your business or considered making a purchase, and long
before any trust is built,.
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2. A visitor comes to your website because they have a problem and they are looking for answers.
You may be surprised to learn it’s easy to fix the one-way communication, impersonal nature,
and lack of trust on your website. Here are just a few ways to draw your visitor into your site
further.
Create a site that’s easy to navigate and lets visitors choose what’s right for them
Show your solutions, offer free samples, test drives, and make the visitor feel comfortable
Most importantly, add live chat to your site so visitors can talk directly with a human.
If you do nothing else implement the live chat and watch your sales grow.
© 2011 Apptivo Inc. All rights reserved.