The Importance of Patience In Marketing Services

It's been said that sales quotas (whether they be weekly, monthly or quarterly) are one of the biggest obstacles to effective sales performance.The rational is that the pressure to meet the deadline causes sales people to attempt to "hurry up " the sales process.They typically do this by presenting their solutions way too early in the process.

As all of us know who have attended any sort of comprehensive sales training program in the last 10 years, presenting your solution before you have uncovered the key problems and made the prospective client lust after your solution (ok perhaps a bit of hyperbole, but you get my point) is one of the biggest obstacles to success in selling.

This issue has implications and lessons for the world of marketing.This is what I mean.When I review marketing materials, sales letters, websites and so forth, I ask the logical question "What do you want the reader to do once they've finished reading this?" The answer is invariably that they would like the reader to call to learn more about their services.

When you think about it, that is a huge request.Consider this, someone you don't know, who you've never spoken with, receives your letter or visits your website.What are the odds that based on what they read they'd want to actually talk with you?

OK, perhaps if they're desperate they might.But really, come on, how many of your prospects are truly desperate?The reality is that it's extremely unlikely anyone is going to pick up the phone based on a sales letter or some copy on a website.Why?They're afraid of being sold something.

As it's often been said, "We love to buy stuff; we just don't like being sold." So why do we persist in having a marketing strategy that revolves around the hope that people will "call us up" after they read our sales letter or visit our website?Because it seems like it's quicker.We don't have any patience for anything that has more than one step to it.But what we perceive as the quickest way to make sales is really an illusion.The reality is that we're making life harder (not easier) for ourselves.

Much the same way as the sales rep thinks he can expedite the selling process by cutting to the chase and just telling the prospect about how wonderful his services are, consultants and small business owners think that they can likewise speed up the process by having the call to action be call me now!And they're invariably disappointed.

So what's the alternative?When it comes to marketing your services it's crucial that you think of it as a two-step process.Step one is How Can I Get People To Express interest in what I do?Step two is: How can I convert large percentages of those who have expressed interest to buy my services?

Thus the "selling" is done in step two, not step one.(Except that you naturally have to "sell" prospects on expressing that initial interest.) So if this makes sense, why are so many people reluctant to do it?

Simple.It adds another step to the process.It adds a bit more time.And we're just not very patient.As I've said countless times before, marketing isn't complicated.(Although some of us seem compelled to make it so.) It's simply a matter of thinking about marketing your services using two steps.

Not one.And that requires patience.Hope this give you some good food for thought.
About the Author

Mark Satterfield is the founder of Gentle Rain Marketing.

The firm specializes in helping clients get more business Quickly, Easily, with No Cold Calling.Get the FREE report that describes the system you can implement in less than 30 days at http://www.gentlerainmarketing.com

How To Avoid The Big Newbie Marketer Trap

One of the best ways to make an enormous amount of cash on the Internet is by selling your very own product. The reason its the best way is because every one that you sell, you will get 100 of the profits.

If you were just an affiliate selling other peoples products then you would only get a commission which can be 50 or 75. Now thats still a pretty good little deal... selling somebody elses products and you get a 50 commission. But if it was yours, you can have ALL the profits and DOUBLE your income.

Let me put it this way... If you sold one 100 product everyday... You get 50 commission as an affiliate... thats 1,500 a month and 18,000 a year. Not bad eh But now think of how much you would receive if it was your product... 36,000

Much better isnt it That could make the difference between you slaving away at your job and then working Affiliate Marketing in your spare time or quitting the 9 to 5 grind and working full time in Internet Marketing and living your life on your own terms.

Theres also other benefits to selling your own products. You can find other Affiliate Marketers to sell for you. I know that you are going back to only making 50 of the profits because you are giving 50 to your affiliates for each sale they make but its worth it because you wont have do all of the work trying to send traffic to your site on your own.

You can focus on other parts of your business and let your affiliates send you the sales. Plus all you need is one really good marketer that knows what theyre doing and you can make a lot of money.

But I must warn you If you have done very little marketing in your life, I would suggest that you dont try to create your own product just yet. Its good to learn the ropes of Internet Marketing first before you jump into selling your own product.

You will need to learn how to find hungry niche markets that have a problem that you can bring solutions to. Its smart to find a market first before you create a product. You may come up with an idea for a product that you think is amazing and SHOULD sell like crazy but how do you know for sure Doesnt it make sense to test the market first to see if they are a buying market before you put in the hard work of creating the product

Once you find a potential market, you can build your website and test it by selling affiliate products. You would send traffic to your site and see if people buy. If they dont, then you can test by changing to another affiliate product to see if that does the trick.

If you start making sales, then you can go on to create an even BETTER product to help solve your markets problem. On the other hand, if no matter what you do you cant make many sales, then chances are that your market isnt a buyers market and its probably time to move on.

Then you just do some research in other markets and repeat the process until you do find some buyers.

I know not making sales is disappointing and frustrating but dont you think its better to find out as an affiliate instead of finding out after you have invested so much time, money and energy into creating your very own product

Ok so I have pretty much told you that the best way to make money on the Internet is by eventually creating and selling your own product. But if you dont have much experience in Internet Marketing, you should start off as an affiliate and sell other peoples products.
About the Author

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