Business Development Center

Spring has sprung.  The birds are singing as they busily build nests and do their mating dances.  Yeah, it won’t be long before the flowers bloom, and grass starts growing.  You know what that means…grass needs mowing.  When you parked the riding mower last fall, you knew that it would be a miracle if you could get it through another summer.  You’re going to need to replace old “Betsy” sooner or later, and start thinking about the features you want the next mower to have.

Well, you haven’t tried starting the old mower, but hey, it’s raining cats and dogs outside.  With nothing better to do, you head for the mall and find yourself among a line of shiny lawn mowers with a wide variety of prices and features.  What are the advantages of each one compared to the difference in costs?

Yep, not every customer that walks through your door is ready to make a purchase.  Maybe they’re still in the “thinking about it” stage.  Yeah, when you think long enough, you usually talk yourself into doing it.  That’s why it’s important to treat every customer’s question with respect.  You never know when a properly answered question will lead to a sale.

Here are some tips to keep in mind for effectively answering customer questions:

1. A Question is the Sign of a Potential Sale.
Yeah, if a customer is taking the time to look you up and ask questions, you’re dealing with a high level of interest.  Don’t take it lightly.  A prompt and quick response laced with the added benefits of the product will go a long way toward closing a sale.

2. Make it Easy to Ask A Question.
There’s nothing more frustration than having a simple question and having to move heaven and earth to get an answer.  Make it easy for your customers to ask questions. Make your website question friendly and include a phone number with all of your sales material.

3. Organize – Set up a Frequently Asked Question File
What questions have you emailed answers to sixteen times this week?  Keep a file with those repeat questions.  You’ll be able to copy and paste the answers into responses. Hey, your customer will be happy and you can spend time doing something else. Everyone wins!

4. Get Back – Quickly
How many times have you shopped around while waiting for someone to get back to you?  Yeah, it’s easier than ever on the web.  Customer attention spans are ever shortening with the vast global competition at their fingertips.  Don’t dilly dally – get back to them pronto!

5. Make Every Question a Sales Opportunity
When someone asks you a question, you’ve got their attention!  They’re waiting for an answer that is important to them.  Yeah, it’s the perfect opportunity to expand your response to include benefits of the purchase.

Questioning customers wear a badge that says, “Buyer on Board!”  Read it and pay attention.  Often a little nudge will mean a sale to tally at the day’s end.  Think of it like this…learning to effectively answer customer questions is a low-cost and effective way to boost your profits this year!

List building is one of the most important parts of any online business. By building your own list you have the opportunity to try selling your products more than once. You also have the benefit of being able to offer your subscribers other products, and services when they become available.

So just how would you capture those leads and make them profitable for you?
Here are your 5 simple steps to setting up your own profitable lead capture system.

1) you will need your autoresponder setup, ready to accept your subscribers. To make it easy on yourself you can pre-load it with messages to send your subscribers from the outset, to remind them that they are on your list. Useful, informative and educational messages sent once or twice a week automatically will keep your list subscribers interested.

2) Setup an irresistible offer page, giving something of value to your potential subscribers for filling in the form to subscribe. This page needs to be as powerful as any sales page where you are charging for a product, as you will want it to convert as many visitors to subscribers as you can. Outline the benefits of what you’re giving away, and even the benefits of the information in your preset messages (you did setup those messages right?).

3) Most autoresponders allow you to set a url (website address) to send your subscribers to after they subscribe, you should send them to a thank you page, and let them know if they need to confirm their address before they receive the first email from you. If they do need to confirm (they should, this is called double opt-in and may help save you from spam complaints), let your new subscriber know they will only get the email with the gift link after they confirm their subscription to your list.

4) Your first email to your new subscriber should contain the download link for the free gift you offered for subscribing. The ideal situation here is to send them to a web page to download. This page can also contain a special offer, sometimes called a one time offer (or OTO). Make this an unmissable deal related to the subject matter of your emails. Let the subscriber know they will only see this offer right now, if you do not have a special deal to offer, you can instead add a link to a product you sell as an affiliate, but make use of this valuable backend sale opportunity.

5) Keep sending traffic to your offer page and keep those subscribers coming. Join JV giveaway promotions which are happening all the time to put your gift in front of more and more people. Make sure you keep your subscribers by sending them regular informative emails, and it helps to give them more free gifts on a regular basis.

Words of advice, your list can be your own personal goldmine, but don’t treat your subscribers as your personal ATM. Your list subscribers are people just like you, treat them as you’d like to be treated. Now get out there, and start building your subscriber list, using your new lead capture system, and watch how your profits increase as your list grows.