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| English: Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
The Art of Using Email to Sell
Selling by email is different than selling on a sales page. Sales letters have to work under the impression that they have just one shot to make a sale and have to hammer in all the benefits and go for an instant close. Email on the other hand has the benefit of a relationship and ongoing contact.
Here are a few choice tips on how to use email to sell effectively.
=> Relationship First, Sales Second
Aim to first build trust and reader loyalty. This is what will get your emails opened time after time. Once your emails are getting opened and you have your reader's trust, then you can safely make sale after sale without alienating your list.
If you sell too much without first building trust, readers are more likely to tune out than buy.
So how do you build this trust?
Provide first class, unique, original content that directly benefits the reader. Every time they read an email from you or buy a product from you, they should be better off. Do this consistently and readers will start to believe in you and your products.
=> Using Multiple-Email Sales Techniques
As mentioned earlier, email allows you to use tactics that just don't work with sales letters.
Once of these is the Problem > Problem > Problem > Solution formula. Simply put, you send a series of emails about just the problem without offering a solution (yet). You can provide a lot of value by just explaining the problem. Then you finally offer an innovative and powerful solution.
For example, say you run an investment newsletter. You might send this series of emails:
1) Why most people can't beat the stock market index
2) Why most people choose poor money managers
3) Why most people can't retire by 60 even if they manage their investments right
Then, in the fourth email, you finally reveal your product about smart investing.
If you have strong readership, by the time readers get your "solution" email they'll be dying to get their hands on the product. Build up the problem while providing value, then provide the solution when they're already ready to buy.
=> Other Email Sales Tactics
Another effective way of generating sales is to use teleseminars. Use a teleseminar to demonstrate knowledge in a particular arena, and then use emails to follow up and close the sale.
Finally, every once in a while offer a sale. Perhaps it's your birthday sale, or a favorite day of the year sale; whatever the reason is, just a few times a year offer a sale of 15% to 30% off. You'll make much more than the amount you lose on discounts.
These are just a few tactics that can help you increase your email sales. Start by building the relationship with your list; then use one of these methods to bring in a nice stream of sales.
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