Success at building and operating an on-line business hinges upon your recognizing one very important fact. That is, that operating an on-line business is no different than operating an off-line business.
The only difference may be that you use on-line methods to put your marketing on steriods. If you understand that premise, then you also acknowledge that you really should also employ methods and tools used in the off-line world. If you use just on-line tools you severely limit your businesses growth potential.
Of all the tools available to you, one of the most effective is the telephone. This tool will often allow you to accomplish things impossible if you just use email and/or a website. With the epidemic of unsolicited commerical email, many people delete the majority of unrecognized email. With a website, you have to motivate your prospect to decide to visit your website.
Using the telephone gets you around both of the above obstacles. Your prospect doesn’t have to determine if your email is something he should respond to. Instead he has to decide how long to spend talking to you. If you call without what your prospect considers good justification, he will resent it. However, if your call offers the solution to a pressing problem or need, he will be glad that you called. The fact that you called will also show that you have a lot of drive, determination, and that you take your business seriously.
Using the phone, your prospect doesn’t have to visit your website because you took your message to him. You can now supplement the call by asking him to visit your website. You can also, ask if it’s ok to send more information by email. If he says yes, he will now be looking for your email and pick it out of the sea of email from little-recognized names and email addresses.
Before, I get myself in too much trouble, I do need to point out that it’s not acceptable to just call up every webmaster whose phone number you can locate. Rather, you need to have a *very* good reason for calling. It needs to be something the person should be *very* interested in. Otherwise, you just create ill-will and may kill all potential for future business dealings with this person.
What are some valid cases where you should employ the most under-utilized “internet marketing tool” – the telephone?
– To offer a very special joint venture deal. This needs to be a deal that will leave the person thrilled that you called. This needs to be a deal where even if the person turns you down, he will still think about it for days. This should *not* be just to ask the person to join your affiliate program at the regular commission. It should not be to ask the person to mail an endorsement to his list for an affiliate program you joined or reprint rights you purchased (and which he can just as easily purchase). This need to be a rare, and special joint venture.
– To introduce yourself and offer to partner with the person on a project. When you discover a person that would be perfect for jointly developing a product with you, it makes sense to call them so they can feel the sincerity and excitement in your voice. You need a good explaination of why you know this person is the perfect business partner.
– To announce a sale to an existing customer, or to announce a sale someone you know uses the product you offer. If you are calling to save them money, most people will not object to your thoughtfulness…. even if they do not want the product right now.
– To share that you have a mutual business acquaintance who thinks that you should work together. This is an indirect referral. The acqaintance give his ok for you to use his name/recommendation in calling the prospect. This is almost as good as the acquantance calling his friend and suggesting he talk to you. The problem is that the other person may never call. So, if you can get permission to “name drop” they you have your foot in the door and should initiate the contact.
Business on-line is all about relationships and human interactions, just as it is off-line. The really big sales, and the really big deals will rarely happen without you physically talking to the prospect. To distinguish yourself from the average marketer, you therefore must not overlook this very powerful “on-line marketing secret.” Don’t abuse it, but do start using it today. The positive results will really surprise you.
Willie Crawford has been teaching Internet marketing for
over 9 years. Take advantage of his uncanny insights and
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