It doesn't matter whether or not you have your own
product to sell...despite all the opinions to the
contrary. Me and a whole mess of others have made
money promoting other peoples' products.
Sales people are among the highest paid people in
the world because nothing happens until a sale is
made.
But there's one sale that you rarely, if ever,
hear about. It's the most important sale there is.
It's the one sale that, if not made, will never
make you any money.
And that sale is YOU. You have to be sold on the
product - whether your own or not - before you can
effectively promote and sell it to others.
You should be completely, totally and utterly sold
on the product or service itself. You should have
a total confidence in the product or service you're
offering to others.
Yep, the first sale to your success is selling
yourself. That's the first step.
Step 2 is communicating that confidence to your
audience.
Funny thing, though, we find that the very
definition of money is...
An idea backed with confidence.
The product or service is the idea. Do you have
total confidence in the product or service that
you're offering to others? If so, are you effectively
communicating that confidence to others so they, too,
gain confidence in that product or service?
See, the 'confidence' part of the definition of
money is the most difficult part to master. There
are many, many parts and steps to confidence.
'Confidence' could be said to be 'the taking of
the correct actions and overcoming the barriers
toward a known and acceptable goal.'
Though confidence itself is a bit deeper than
that, going through the correct actions and blasting
through those barriers that pop up will give you
confidence.
The more and the bigger barriers that you overcome,
the more unshakable your confidence becomes.
Making mistakes and failure are two of those
barriers that pop up...and quite frequently at that.
They teach us what the wrong actions are. They give
us character. They teach us, by default, how to
succeed.
But that still doesn't teach you how to communicate
your confidence to your audience so they, too, gain
your confidence...or at least enough confidence to
take some kind of action. (That 'some kind of
action' could be signing up for a free ezine, asking
for more information, leaving their email address
for something free...or any other step in a multi-
step marketing campaign.)
I can't teach you how to communicate your
confidence in a short article, but I can teach you
some basics you can use today to help you increase
your sales.
BASIC 1: Read the sales letter you have for one
of the products that you're offering to others.
Only read what's actually written, and pay
particular attention to your headline. Does your
sales letter make YOU want it?
(If you don't have a sales letter for every
product you offer, you should write one and lay
everything on the line, tell the whole relevant
story and create want and curiosity.)
BASIC 2: Your audience buys results, not products.
Does your sales letter tell over and over, and in
different ways exactly how the product or service
will enhance their lives? Bullet points are good
for doing that.
BASIC 3: People decide to buy for emotional reasons,
then they seek to justify their decision with
facts and logic. That's one thing your bonuses and
guarantee are for.
BASIC 4: Curiosity Rules. You lead your reader
through your copy with curiosity. You let them
know what the product or service is, how their
lives will be made easier quickly, how simple it
is, that they can do it, and how to get it. You
never tell how it is done. (Very few exceptions)
BASIC 5: Building credibility boils down to getting
personal and almost intimate (not sexual) with
your reader. Let him or her know how to contact
you, how you've helped others - preferably with
testimonials, but not necessarily if your product
or service is brand new. (That's covered in a
different article altogether.) Tell them about
yourself in such a way so they trust you.
BASIC 6: Ease of order and quickness of delivery.
The easier it is to order, the more orders you'll
get. The quicker the delivery, the more orders
you'll get.
BASIC 7: Does your whole letter convey your own
personal confidence in what you're offering?
It better.
About the Author
Russell Burnham, Ph.D.
A Kickin' Home Study Course on Working the Web
http://buttkickincourse.com/