Stop Sabotaging Your Sales

Stop Sabotaging Your Sales
Copyright 2004 Bob Leduc
http://BobLeduc.com

Do your web pages, sales letters or personal presentations
include subtle distractions that unnecessarily cause you to
lose sales?

Sometimes prospective customers get distracted during the
selling process by outside interruptions. You cannot control
those. But many sales-killing distractions are caused by
what you put in your web pages and other sales messages
...or by what you say in your personal presentations.

Here are 3 unnecessary distractions you may be creating that
sabotage your sales - and how you can avoid them:

1. Requiring Customers to Make Unnecessary Decisions

Design your selling process so prospects do not have to make
unnecessary decisions.

Some prospects have difficulty making a clear decision when
they have several options. They often react by
procrastinating and never making a decision ...and you lose
the sale you already made.

Tip: Promote only one product or service at a time. You can
develop separate promotions for each product or service you
sell. You can even combine several products and services
into one package. But always limit your prospect's buying
decision to "yes" or "no". Don't distract them with a "which
one" decision.

2. Diverting Your Customer's Attention to Something Else

Don't include anything in your selling procedure that can
divert attention away from your selling process.

For example, I often see sales oriented web pages that
provide clickable links to other web sites with the
testimonials. Why would any marketer want to send
prospective customers to another web site in the middle of
their presentation?

Some prospects will never come back. And for those that do,
the flow of the selling process was interrupted - reducing
the likelihood of closing the sale. Clickable links have
many advantages ...but not when they are in the middle of
your sales presentation.

Tip: Review what you usually say in live sales presentations
and what you include in your web pages and other sales
messages. Look for unnecessary diversions you may have
included - and get rid of them.

3. Presenting Unpleasant Surprises

Avoid including any unpleasant surprises in your selling
process - especially near the end.

For example: Many websites do not mention shipping charges
until the very last screen of the shopping cart. This
unpleasant surprise is one of the major reasons why
customers abandon online orders. You can avoid this by
always including the shipping charge wherever you list the
price.

Tip: An unpleasant surprise can kill a sale. But a pleasant
surprise can help close a sale. For example, adding an
unexpected bonus immediately before your prospect takes the
last action to complete a sale will usually eliminate any
last minute hesitation.

Don't ask your prospects to make unnecessary decisions.
Avoid diverting their attention away from your selling
presentation. And don't alarm them with any unpleasant
surprises.

It's hard enough to get a prospective customers attention
once. If you distract them unnecessarily with something else
you may not be able to get their attention again ...and you
will lose a sale needlessly.

Bob Leduc spent 20 years helping businesses like yours find
new customers and increase sales. He just released a New
Edition of his manual, How To Build Your Small Business Fast
With Simple Postcards ...and launched *BizTips from Bob*, a
newsletter to help small businesses grow and prosper. You'll
find his low-cost marketing methods at: http://BobLeduc.com
or call: 702-658-1707 After 10 AM Pacific Time/Las Vegas, NV