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Why Aren't People Buying From You?

Guest post by: Maribeth Kuzmeski

Article Overview: The reason most entrepreneurial ventures fail? Quite simply, they overestimate the number of people that will buy what they are selling. As entrepreneurs, how can this doomed fate be avoided?

Why Aren't People Buying From You?

The reason most entrepreneurial ventures fail? Quite simply, they overestimate the number of people that will buy what they are selling.

As entrepreneurs, how can this doomed fate be avoided?

If increasing sales is a continuous struggle for you and a relentless concern, consider which of the following issues you may be experiencing: 1) Potential buyers don’t want what you have; or 2) You haven’t clearly defined the benefits of what you are selling to potential buyers.

For some, the immediate assumption is that people aren’t buying because they don’t want what you have. The facts are readily available indicating whether anyone is visiting your website, how many are actively inquiring about your services, who is responding to your advertising, referring others to you, attending your events, and ultimately, if people are buying. However, it may also be assumed that there are potential buyers out there wanting what you have, but they just don’t know YOU sell it or the benefits. How can you determine which it is? What is your compelling offer? What is your benefit statement? Do people really know what you do? Does it resonate?

If you are sure that you have a valuable offering, then quantify it. Relying on gut feelings or intuition works until you have the ability to quantify. At that point, you must, at least in part, rely on data. So how and what data should I track?

Today, marketing strategies, employees, consultants and lost opportunities are too expensive NOT to test and measure what is working. Use Google Analytics to measure activity and track traffic going to your website. Measure direct mail, advertising and marketing responses by asking everyone who responds how they heard about you and match this to your sales conversions. Track the number of referrals you are receiving. Conduct a survey using SurveyMonkey.com (free) as well as formally ask clients a series of questions about your offering and messaging. Draw conclusions from your trending sales data. Another option is to create an advisory board of clients, strategic alliances and industry leaders. Ask them what they think of your offering, your pricing structure and your messaging. Then, put it in a simple spreadsheet and analyze the results and responses monthly (if not more frequently).

If your messaging isn’t working, then change it. If your offering isn’t compelling enough then change it. After you analyze and quantify the value of your services and the compelling nature of your messaging, you will have direction. Without looking at the data, you are relying on intuition. And although intuition is often right, if held too long without results it can be extremely detrimental. Never rely on assumptions when you can rely on hard facts to show you where you stand and where you can improve.

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Article Tags: data tracking, Maribeth Kuzmeski, Red Zone Marketing, sales, sales tracking, selling, website traffic



Related Forum Posts
Re: Did you buy into the iPhone 3G craze? - Kevin, Arent you the EBay guy?? oh well, we all make mistakes....like me buying new tires at Active Green & Ross after I blew out a tire on the 401. I let the guy scare me into the sale and then when I took my care into my mechanic he told me I got hosed....and to never let anyone scare you into buying stuff again.... anyway, I'm glad you got the new battery in any case. I think we will soon be able to go completely without contracts so we arent held hostage... J
Kevin, are u an ebay expert? - [quote="TheRainmaker":3j4dw900]Kevin, Arent you the EBay guy?? oh well, we all make mistakes....like me buying new tires at Active Green & Ross after I blew out a tire on the 401. I let the guy scare me into the sale and then when I took my care into my mechanic he told me I got hosed....and to never let anyone scare you into buying stuff again.... anyway, I'm glad you got the new battery in any case. I think we will soon be able to go completely without contracts so we arent held hostage... J[/quote:3j4dw900] Are you an Ebay expert? If yes do you have any report on your expertise?
Re: Why Some Websites Sell and Others Don’t? - There is myth that if you build websites people will come. It is never through, you need to do a lot of things to make your website to work. You have many models of attracting traffics to your site. PPC Article Marketing SEO Press Release Banner Ads Forum Posting Classified Advertising Media Buying Solo Ads and a lot of more. If you are not doing any of the above your websites will just be one of the millions of the unknown sites in cyber space
building a list - Good advice Martin... I've traveled down this path and learned that once you get through that brief learning curve, you'll find that it's well worth it. As you build your highly targeted list, you can trickle in your new offerings over time via 'broadcasts'. I use Aweber too, they have excellent support and a great rep. Buying a list? I'm not so sure about that... You'd really have to do some research to find a quality list service. Whether you buy a list or not, I still think setting up a auto-responder should be a priority, your list will GROW.
Re: Kevin's Case Study #3 - Promoting something you can't try - I agree with ltrahan. People generally have to see it to believe it these days. I know I would want to.


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