by ronpass
Why aren't I getting any sales?: The Hidden Sales Formula
2:11 pm in Editorial, Ron Passfield by ronpass
Frequently I’m asked, “Why aren’t I making any sales?” The inquirer then goes on to say how many Squidoo lenses they have built or blog posts they have made.
This question has exercised my mind for some considerable time. One of the problems is that the Gurus tend to tell you about only one part of the overall success formula, whether that be the use of video, the design of lead capture pages, building a list, using Web 2.0, etc. However, they omit to tell you the the overall framework for sales success.
For my own purposes, I have come to express sales success by this formula:
SALES = F (visibility X credibility X demand X presentation)
So sales success is a function of a number of key aspects that have a compounding and synergistic effect that leads to sustained sales.
Visibility without credibility will not get you sustained sales. The credibility also has to be in an area related to the product or service that you are marketing. Hence the emphasis on transparency, honesty and sharing expertise – highlighted in my earlier post, Google is Watching You.
Without visibility, no one will know what you have to offer. Visibility experts suggest you need to:
- use multi-media marketing (to line up with the universal search emphasis of Google and Bing)
- get in front of the traffic related to your product/service – join their conversations wherever they are held (Ning, wikis, blogs, forums, etc)
- use Web 2.0 technology extensively such as Squidoo, blogging, social networking and social bookmarking (e.g. RedGage)
- take sustained promotion action – persistence pays (literally and metaphorically speaking)
If there is no demand for what you have to offer, then there will be no sales. Hence the emphasis on keyword research, Google Insights for Search and overall market research.
Finally, the way you present your product or service will have a profound effect on sales conversions when people actually get to see what you have to offer. Hence the emphasis on creativity, humor, sales page copywriting, pre-sell, bonuses, drip-marketing via autoresponders, testimonials, product reviews, examples and evidence (the ubiquitous ClickBank screenshots!).
I now use this sales formula to reflect on my own sales success or to plan the development and marketing of a new product or service.
As to answering the inquirer, where do you start? The formula gives you four questions that you can use to respond to the inquiry, “Why aren’t I getting any sales?”:
- how are you building visibility online?
- what credibility do you have in relation to the product or service?
- what level of demand is there and is it growing or declining?
- what have you done to enhance the product presentation and elicit conversions?
These questions help the inquirer understand the dynamics of selling online and enable them to identify areas in which to take further action.
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