5 Secrets to Selling Products & Services to Your Audience

1. Know your audience.

How can you tailor information to your audience if you don't know who they are? In almost every article, book, or manual on publicity and marketing you'll hear this one--and yet few people heed it. When I spoke at the Los Angeles Gift Show it became evident that many retailers and buyers didn't know their audience. Fellow speaker and communications expert Kare Anderson (http://www.sayitbetter.com) polled over 60 exhibitors and discovered that only 2 felt they knew the type of person they were targeting. Huh? How can they sell products to people they can't even profile?

To serve your market you'll want to know what problems you can solve for them, and more specifically what your audience longs for. Most of us have what we need, but desire more or less of what we have--or we yearn for something different or better. A poem by the Japanese Haiku master Basho describes this essential state of the human condition--this longing for something other than we are or have.

Even in Kyoto- Hearing the cuckoo's cry- I long for Kyoto.

Give people what they are longing for and you will find a permanent place in their hearts.

2. Test, test, then test again.

Many webmasters don't test your shopping cart on different computer platforms (Windows, Mac, Linux), with different browsers, or with various computer configurations. This is essential!

The $10,000/hour speaker discussed above insisted that the shopping cart on his website worked from his computer, though he admitted that he'd heard from a number of people it was often *down.* I tested it on my Mac and Windows PC with both Netscape and Internet Explorer and couldn't get it to function at all.

Understand that I'm no techie (biggest understatement of the year) so these were the most basic of tests, all done from a marketing vs. technical standpoint. If you are your own webmaster, have your friends and associates test your ecommerce sections, and your website in general, before you unleash your brilliance on the world. It's amazing all the things that can go wrong on a web site, including things that you or your tech help hasn't thought of. While it's impossible to go through every conceivable configuration, it is possible to take care of all the major ones.

3. Take the annoyance out of shopping.

In other words, make buying from you a pleasure. I was on a *professional marketer's* site to scope out a product he sells for $97. I muddled my way through a century of copy before I could get to the actual *click to buy button.* I know he and other Internet marketers like him think this direct marketing technique (long copy, addressing every objection, the illusion of giving away meaningful information) really sells the product--but it doesn't work if they don't make it easy to get the product in the basket.

After about 5 minutes of clicking forward and backward, I gave up. (By the way, women have less patience on the Internet than men). Chalk up another lost sale for him.

Use the fewest number of clicks to get a buyer to where they're going (to the checkout). This means in navigating forward, toward the final sale, or backward to add more items to their cart. Don't have your potential customer waste time and effort trying to figure out where or what to click, because they won't--they'll simply leave. Model yourself after amazon.com who makes the process simple and easy.

Also, explain every step of your ordering process so that people feel confident of where they are going and what they can expect from you. This means everything from screens that verify the information is correctly filled out on forms, to email messages confirming and precisely explaining the shipping method and timeframe.

4. Don't sacrifice image for speed.

Think about it. If someone is paying you a substantial sum for your services and your website comes across like a poor pauper, do you think they'll retain their confidence in you?

It's important to concern yourself deeply about the kind of image you're projecting before you slap something up on your website that you'll be sorry for later. Donald Rumsfeld, our current Secretary of Defense, former chairman of the *transition team* for President Ford, and the former White House chief of staff, gives this advice, *Think ahead. Don't let day-to-day operations drive out planning. Plan backward as well as forward. Set objectives and trace back to see how to achieve them. You may find that no path can get you there. Plan forward to see where your steps will take you, which may not be clear or intuitive.*

Some questions to ask to help you get clear:

Is what you're offering soft or hard-edged enough for the kind of audience you want to attract? What are the qualities your audience is looking for from you? Is what you do completely clear? Are the products you sell filled with knowledge and information (or in the case of 3-D products originality and true value) your buyers can't get from your competitors? Do you make it easy to buy? Remember that most information can be found elsewhere, but your wisdom cannot.

5. Your website image must match everything you *do, say and are.*

Create continuity, in person, on paper, and on the Internet. You must come across as professional, trustworthy, and knowledgeable. When I was interviewing people for my book, *Sell Yourself Without Selling Your Soul,* I turned to the expertise of a professional PR listserve to which I subscribe. One woman, whose knowledge and online manner I'd come to admire, was first on my list to call. I visited her website to research her background before I contacted her. I was baffled to find little dolphins and other silly-looking characters that had nothing to do with a theme or anything else for that matter, on her site. Needless to say her esteem dropped in my eyes. I never called.

On the other hand, my client Leslie Kirk Campbell, Founder of the Ripe Fruit School of writing, took the time to ruminate over her website for months. She carefully chose photos that gave her potential clients a real sense of her as a teacher and leader. She poured over hundreds of testimonials to select just the right ones that captured the essence of taking a class or going on a writing retreat. And she thought intensely about what it was that people whose creativity was stifled, stalled, on brief hiatus, or in full roar, would need from her. Her site isn't *perfect* and it's still in evolution, but the basics for what her audience needs are there. See what she came up with that represents her teaching/living style and her love of language at: http://www.ripefruitwriting.com

A Wall Street Journal article about the best Southern pork barbeque,illustrates my point. Restaurateur Wilbur King who got started doing mail order Bar-B-Q by sending care packages of his *Kingston, N.C., 'cue to displaced locals,* said that he didn't want to make his website too slick. *People have an image in their mind, and if it's not three rednecks over a pit in the woods, they think it's not the real deal.* Smart marketer this Bar-B-Q salesman.

Another great example of how look and feel serenely match is Feng Shui expert Shannon Lee Turner's website. Visit at http://www.tranquilspaces.com to get a sense of how the content, images, design, graphics, and services are completely congruous. Besides offering classes and business or residential consultations, Shannon also has a free weekly newsletter called *Feng Shui Tips.* You'll get many fascinating ideas about how to run your business better with insights on structuring your environment. Her newsletter also perfectly matches the sensibility of her business. To subscribe to the list, send your name and city of residence to mailto:tips@tranquilspaces.com

I look forward to getting this one in my mailbox. It always contains both wise advice and a beautiful quote or poem. By the way, there is no archive of the past tips so the only way to get them is to subscribe.

6. BONUS TIP! Don't give your customers too many choices.

Potential customers will log off if they're confronted with a dizzying display of decisions. Case in point, a friend of mine was looking to buy the Herman Miller Aeron chair on a site that advertised it for a great price and free shipping. First he needed to choose a size. Then the color of the frame. Then the color of the material. Next, the color for the arms, and the size and type of casters, and on and on! He decided he couldn't make a decision unless he saw the darn chair.

The solution? Offer a few of the most popular standards first. Then note that any of the items can be customized. It's your job to help guide your customers to the optimal answers to the most common asked questions--before they're asked. Since you're tracking your most popular items you can let people know what has worked best for others. You're helping them make an intelligent decision. In other words, simplify the thinking and ordering process so it's a quick and easy process.

Back to my original point. While the ordering process is crucial, the look and feel of your website may be more important than you think. It's a surprising fact that people remember feelings more than the specifics of what you say. Make sure your online image matches your expertise and the feeling you want to leave with people. Warrant that every step someone takes on your website is in the direction you want them to go. Finally, take the time to ensure that their journey is the guided tour you want them to take.

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