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You Have to Connect to Sell

Written by: Cheryl A. Clausen

Article Overview: Do you have something lots of people need and want? Great. How will they know about it? How will they know to buy from you?

You Have to Connect to Sell

Do you have something lots of people need and want? Great. How will they know about it? How will they know to buy from you?

The easiest way to increase sales is to identify a group of people who already want what you have to offer. However, you could have the exact thing every man, woman, and child in China is desperate to get and not sell one. Why? You can’t sell anyone anything if you don’t have a way to connect with the people who want what you have to offer.

Once you know who already wants what you have to offer the next step is to figure out how you can make your paths cross, so to speak. Will you interact with these prospective buyers face-to-face, through the written word, through the spoken word, through images, through mutual connections, or all of these ways? If you don’t have a way to connect with this group of people they aren’t a realistic group of buyers for you.

There are lots of ways you could connect with these potential buyers; however, you must evaluate your ability to make those connections happen. You have limited resources. Your resources include your time, your actions, and your dollars.

Plus there has to be a payoff from your connections. Whatever way you choose to make that connection with a potential buyer you must be able to track and measure your payoff from each connection. Then you can focus on the connections that work, adapt the ones that could work better, and stop the ones that don’t work.

Don’t overlook the value of your time and energy. Identify ways to make connections that require little, if any, direct action from you. Make your points of connection as automatic as possible.

Automated connections provide several benefits for you. When things are automated they get done. They get done consistently. And it’s very easy to track results and make adaptations for improvements. From the ready buyers perspective their needs are met quickly and consistently. It builds their trust and confidence in you and strengthens the connection they have with you.

Develop a plan for how you’ll connect with ready buyers. Make those connections happen automatically. Use those connections to build a relationship and sell more than ever before.

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Article Tags: adaptations, china, confidence, images, improvements, limited resources, man woman and child, mutual connections, perspective, prospective buyers, ready buyers, spoken word, woman and child



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Your advantage over others - Sell using your USP - unique selling proposition. Why should people buy from you, instead of your competitors? Think about it, why are you so great? It may be a hard question, but finding the answer can multiply the effectiveness of any advertising or marketing activities you undertake.
Re: When do entrepreneurs retire, if ever? - Why would you ever retire when you love what you are doing? Sell the business and start another one maybe - but retire - NEVER! You should all read, The 4 Hour Work Week - By Timothy Ferris. He talks about building your business so that you can take mini 'retirement's throughout your life, instead of saving it all up for when you are old. Great concept - what do you think??
Re: SES Toronto - Day 1! - ...oh and even though it's 21 secrets, why do you have [quote:1gz722fe]Tip #22: Use Your Thank You Page to Sell[/quote:1gz722fe] on your blog? Are you holding out on secrets or are you adding your own? Hope to see you at the next conference!
standing out - Hi Sara, I have always felt that just being a capable women in business automatically helps us stand out and have an advantage in a male dominated industry. If you want to impress a man in his business you must exude confidence about your ability to meet his company's needs. As far as standing out, I would seek as much media attention as possible to the fact that you succeeding in a male dominated business and highlight why your uniqueness is special. How your perspective for handling clients is fresh and competitive. I would walk into functions full of men and make sure I got to know everyone. Connect yourself with something identifiable that relates to the industry. Create a personal brand with a theme that resonates with the organization and the men in it. A theme of power, efficiency, attention to detail etc.
Some online business suggstions debunked - 2. Sell photos on stock photography sites --- I tried this, couldn't even get in the front door. But then, I'm apparently a lousy photographer... However, if you do get in, I think you only get something like 25 cents a download... 8. Build services atop Amazon Web Services ---I've been an Amazon associate for a loooong time, selling books, and business has been lousy since the beginning. Nobody reads anymore...I do get a few DVD sales every now and again... but frankly I make much more money though Google Ads on my site. It took several months for that to build up, but now as my website has more readers those ads are starting to pay off, whereas there's been no corresponding jump from Amazon ads on the same pages...


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