I Have To Do WHAT?
By Kent E. Butler   ©2004 All Rights Reserved

You have to SELL; or you must have a partner who can and does. Otherwise, you have no hope of succeeding in an online business. You can survive dirtside without knowing how to sell. But if all you want to do is survive, work for somebody else. You'll be happier and most likely earn more money.

You may craft the finest doohickeys that have ever been. You may have endowed your doohickeys with freebles and karps that "they" always said could never be done. But unless the world learns of your achievements and demands to have them, you'll just sit there gazing lovingly at your creations while you slowly starve to death. Case in point: Many, if not most, people think Steve Jobs invented the personal computer, founded Apple, and put PCs into offices, schools and homes around the globe. They're about one- third right. He helped put PCs everywhere, he co-founded Apple, but he had nothing significant to do with inventing the PC. Credit sloppy members of the mass media with perpetuating the Steve Jobs myth - they don't check the facts: Steve "The Woz" Wozniak is the certifiable-genius engineer who invented the personal computer. The keyboard and the monitor were his ideas, too. But The Woz was very shy and had no interest whatever in marketing and sales. For that, he needed Jobs. Actually, Jobs needed The Woz, who didn't much care if his computer ever sold or not, he was working for HP. But Jobs convinced him of (sold him on) the potential, and they co-founded Apple. Jobs did extremely well for long enough to make "Apple" synonymous with "computer". He was a promoter, a hustler, a salesman. Put the negative connotations of those words away. A promoter, in this context, is simply someone who promotes something to be sold. "Marketer" is usually the preferred term. A hustler - someone who's "out there" doing things - hustles around looking for prospects (known as prospecting), and a salesman presents the product and closes the sale. Jobs got nearly all the publicity, which The Woz preferred, so he's the one most people know. My dad had a photograph, over his desk, of an abandoned factory -- rusted machinery, broken windows, weeds and trash everywhere. Desolation. The caption was "Nothing happens until somebody sells something.". He was a fine engineer, and a darned good salesman, too. By now, I suspect you're convinced you must 1) learn to sell, or 2) sharpen your skills, or 3) abandon the idea of an online business. I hope it's not the third option, because selling can be lots of fun and very rewarding, both in satisfaction and monetarily. Don't tell me you "can't get no satisfaction", because I know you can.
Here are some of the basic qualities and skills you'll need to excel in sales online (or dirtside): >> Integrity - They are surely in the minority, but there are uncounted tons of sewer rats and pond scum online; we don't need any more. If you are not honest, ethical and totally straightforward, please stop reading - now - and go play in the traffic - rush hour preferred. The rest of us, the great majority, must always resist the impulse to denigrate the competition. ("Squeeds? No way! They're just junk compared to our doohickeys!") To do otherwise is to make yourself look bad - deservedly. >> Enthusiasm - Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm. If you don't have it, you're in the wrong business. Find something that excites you. >> Empathy - You must understand what your prospect wants. (People are only *customers* after they're made a purchase, before that, they're *prospects*.) You must understand your prospect's wants, needs and fears. >> Product Knowledge - You have to know your product or service inside out, backward and forward, and top to bottom. Otherwise, you won't know what to present, what to emphasize, or what is unique about your product (Not only are they great doohickeys, they also have freebles and karps!). Note: you Must find something that is unique: Why are you different, better, more desirable? >> Presentation - Pulling it all together and showing it to best advantage to your prospects is Presentation. A professional chef is quite concerned with presentation, for example (called plating, in the kitchen). If the food doesn't look as attractive as possible, it won't taste as good. Online, your presentation is your website (one page or 200, makes no difference): design, text, graphics and arrangement. It's also your sales letters, press releases, links - really everything. It all reflects you and your products or services. What do you want it to say? The ability to sell, and your success in doing so, are heavily dependent upon your attitude. If you believe you can, and prepare yourself to do it, you will most likely succeed. "Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens." - Carl Jung

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KENT E. BUTLER has worked at home since 1994. He edits the Home Based Journal, a free business ezine providing useful info on a wide range of relevant topics. It takes a whole person to wholly succeed. Are you a whole person? Join us! Read an issue and subscribe at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HomeBasedJournal

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