For beginners just starting to sell online

"In the beginning" A getting started guide for online selling.

The online marketers basic starting plan....

Part 1.

 

 

 

This business plan is designed for those entering into the crazy world of online sales. Specifically those in D.S (Direct Sales). There are certain steps you can take to help ensure your businesses success..

At this point we are assuming you have either signed up to sell a product for a company like Avon or Tupperware or you have something of your own to offer as a product or service..

You can apply these steps to a social profile like a Facebook Page or a website.

Step 1

Facebook is still the most popular and widely used social app out there so YES It is still a great avenue for reaching people with your message. One of the first things you should do when you start out on this new sellers journey is to join many Facebook groups.. And I mean MANY as in 10 - 20 daily for your first 30 days.

Search for;

networking, work from home groups (with less than 5000 members), business, help wanted, promote as keywords for the groups you are looking for. Also look for groups that focus around your business niche.

Step 2

You will need a way to gather contact information for follow ups and emailing / postal campaigns. If you think you can get by without gathering contacts and just picking up sales by posting  your website.. your success will be short lived..

You can ‘capture’ contacts with a capture page or a contest that gathers contestants information

Step 3

Gather your contacts

Post your new capture page or contest in all those groups you’ve been joining, on your wall and any other social platforms you might use.  

A couple of notes

Make sure you are tailoring your posts to the type of groups you are posting in. If you are in a ‘work from home’ group you will want to post about your business opportunity as well as your products, if you are in a jewelry group, post images of the jewelry you have available and ask people what their thoughts on the item are. Take the time to read the description of the group and the pinned post if there is one. This will save you a ton of headache and wasted posts.

Step 4

Reaching out to your new contacts

You will now have a name and email address (at least in most cases) that can be used to contact your prospect. We suggest using your personal email server to send personal emails when you are first starting out an upgrading to an automated system once you are too busy to keep up.

Note * use Facebook for personal relationship building. Don’t spam people with your information to much there with personal messages, tags etc.. When you are contacting a prospect on Facebook, you do not want them to feel like a ‘sale’ but more like a potential friend. Form relationships and your business will grow as a result.

Use your emails to build these relationships as well but include a signature or a little piece of business/product information in each one.

Step 5

Set up a series of emails that will help you sort out your clients from your potential clients and cold leads.

Start with a ‘Hello My Name is” or other type of introduction email

Hello xyz, we spoke on Facebook in the abc group! I really like whatever you posted about or what we chatted about. ...

Hello xyz, you filled out my form to receive more information on abc...

Hello xyz, you participated in my contest for abc…

I”m really thankful we got the time to chat and connect. I value the friendship we are building here is the information  you requested…

I thought you might also be interested in this opportunity like I was

If you enjoyed the contest you might also enjoy this ..

This will open a door or close one.. They will reply and you can keep the conversation going, hopefully close a deal or sale. They may not reply at all, in this case try 3 more times personally and then sort them as a ‘cold’ lead and do not focus your time there. You will add them to a mailing list in the future to receive specials and offers automatically.

Always remember to make sure those that do reply,  understand that your newly formed friendship is much more important than any sale they might bring you. In fact it actually IS since word of mouth advertising really IS the BEST advertising you can receive.

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You can also join our newbies group on Facebook