When I discuss selling with professionals who want to put their business online, they start to squirm at mention of
very word. When I ask professionals WHY they want to put their business online, these are their answers:
"I want to build credibility"
"You need to have a web site to be seen as a legitimate business today."
"To get feedback on my product."
"I want to increase my visibility."
"To establish a professional image online."
"To provide information."
True enough. All of these are good reasons but they are really stepping stones to your end goal. Notice that words "sell" or "market" aren't even mentioned on this list!
If you want to put your business online 'to build credibility', for example, why exactly do you want to build credibility? Yes, you want to establish credibility and trust in your relationships. But why?
Why Are You In Business?
The reason is that you have a product or service to sell. Aren't you in business to make an honest living doing something you love to do? But "selling" sounds crass, aggressive, pushy and decidedly unprofessional to many of us. If that's true for you, I suggest you substitute two other words in your thinking: relationship marketing. In end, results are same if you do it right.
If you do any type of professional consulting, you're doing relationship marketing (or selling) because you want your client to say "yes" to services or products you offer. When a potential client says "yes" to your product or service, you've just made a sale!
No one said you have to be pushy, arrogant, aggressive or obnoxious. Unless you want to go out of business. But you can also go out of business another way: by getting stuck on any of stepping stones to your end goal. Credibility, trust, information are all part of relationship marketing but if you make these stepping stones your end goal, you have stopped short of having a successful business.
