A Well-honed Sales Process Can Make All The Difference

Selling you product online may seem straightforward, but the inexperienced online marketer can usually makes some fundamental mistakes - and those mistakes can make or break your business. When selling online, there is a definite sceince. It's known as the five step sales process. Those step are:

1. Promotional (sales) page
2. Upsell
3. Downsell
4. Exit
5. Thankyou

Depending on your business, some of these may be skipped, and others added. But for the most part, these are the main components of a solid online sales process.

Sales or Promo Page

This is the first page your potential customer sees. It's where you outline your
product's functions and features and make your best sales pitch. Some things to
include here are:
- Winning Headline
- Product features
- Testimonials from previous customers
- A payment/purchase link

Upselling

You've made a sale! Great! ... but you don't want to loose your momentum. As the saying goes, "strike while the iron is hot." Your new customer is in the buying mood. Don't let them just walk away. Try to sell them something else, like:
- Something complimentary
- Upgrade to Higher quality product or more comprehensive service
- Or Additional services

When upselling, you need to make a special offer that they cannot otherwise get
elsewhere. This is known as a "One Time Offer (OTO) " a special discount or
deal that they can only get at this very moment.

Downselling
OK, so your customer didn't make the purchase. This is no time for feeling sorry
for yourself. Maybe it wasn't quite right for them. Maybe they wanted something similar, or maybe the price was a little too much for them. Give it another try. For instance, offer them:
- A bigger discount
- a similar product (of lesser, or better quality)
- the good ol' free trial!

Downselling is a real art. It means understanding your customer, and what they
want. Your experience will payoff here. If people don't buy the product you're offering, then what do they usually buy instead? If you don't know the answer,
then offering a free trial gives your customer a chance to try out your product,
and it also gives you a chance to get to know your customer - what they think of your product, and if they don't like it, what they would rather have.

Exit Popup Windows.
It's that (annoying?) little window that pops up when you try to close a page.
Though most people don't like them, they can still be a good way to capture a
lead if you don't overuse them. A couple things to offer here are:
- another discount
- and of course, that free trial!

The Thank You Page
After buying, you must send your customers to a thankyou page. That's where you tell them how to get the product they just bought. You can also sneak in another promotion or 2 here, if you are subtle about it. It's also another chance to ask them to sign up for your newsletter or product update emails.

Successful online sales takes much more than just a sales page with a purchase
link. A little time spend studying the psychology of online purchasing, and the mechanics of a well-orchestrated sales process can pay huge dividends for your
business. Over the next couple weeks, I'll be going through all the steps in the
online sales process. Stay tuned ...

By: Yogacharya Michael

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Mike Deslippe is a writer and successful online entrepreneur, promoting his own books and online training courses in the fields of personal and professional development. To read more form Mike, visit www.myfusionhqreview.com/