Internet marketers hear this a lot of time from online marketing guru. The Money is on the List.
When I started a couple of years ago, I could not understand what this means. It took a while to sink in. However, what I found out is that it’s not much as the numbers that you have on your list, but the customers on your list. If you have a list of 100,000 but you only have 1 buyer, did it prove that the money is on the list? Exactly my point.
People working their online marketing should understand that the ‘list’ that most guru tells you is nothing but what traditional salespeople call their ‘prospect’ list. Nothing happens until you make those people on the list become your customer.
The money is on your customer – they just haven’t given it to you yet. This maybe a contrarian concept that you don’t hear from your favorite guru, but, as soon as you adopt this concept, the shorter it is to get to your ultimate destination – your success.
Ask any successful salesman what quality makes up a successful salesman. If they’re one of those value oriented salesman, they will tell you that a good salesman have good listening skills. A good salesman tries to understand the need of the prospect before jumping in with his offer. He qualifies his customer by finding out if the prospect is a good fit for his product. That’s separate him from mediocre salesman.
How do we apply this to our online sales strategy? Qualify your list. When you create your marketing strategy online, you must already have a list of things your prospect have in mind looking into your offering. These trigger points must be communicated on your sales page, blog, squeeze page, etc. It enables you to filter the people that are going to be your prospects. In essence, this plan targets your future customer.
If listening skills are necessary for the traditional face to face sales, relationship building is your key in the online world. Internet’s second phase of re-engineering have presented the users with the capability to use the web as means of true communication. The initial phase of internet was filled with a shaky business model. Lots of companies created their electronic version of their business, created ecommerce, e-shops, e-etc. With the success of MySpace, FaceBook, Technorati, the internet embraced the idea of giving the internet users the power to express themselves. Web 2.0 and social networking.
A new wave of using the internet as a medium to communicate your message. Few salespeople and marketers are using this medium yet. I am reminded by a saying that says like this, ‘The old may be right, but the young may not be wrong’. The kids that used MySpace, Friendster to create their web pages and communicate to their friends have taught the grown-ups on how to use the internet medium to express themselves. The kids send blog whatever they want to say with their friends, the grown ups who are smart, uses this platform to express their expertise.
By the way, the kids who are using MySpace, Friendster or Facebook, some of them have graduated from college and is still using them to communicate to their friends. They are now using this as a platform for their sales and marketing strategy. Ask your kids how many friends do you have on MySpace or Facebook. You’ll be amazed at the numbers and I can guarantee you that they don’t know all those people. That’s creating a list!
I’ll discuss this more but the gyst of what I want to share is this – The Money Is On Your Customer, Your List are your Targeted Prospects.
Communicate your message, establish your credibility, serve your solution. That is your key to your future customers.