Seth Godin’s post today, “ How to Lose“, reminded me of my own recent shopping trip. I walked into a store and asked for a 32. They tried to sell me a 34. I remember thinking, “If I wanted size 8 shoes, would they offer me a size 10 instead?” Seemed crazy at the time, but I guess it wasn’t.
The point is, offer your customers what helps them, not what helps you. If you don’t have it, send them to a store that does. You’ll build trust and make a connection.
Image via Wikipedia
In the 1970s, I was volunteered by my mom to help hand out voting literature for The League of Women Voters. I don’t have exact figures, but I noticed that more people took the materials when we asked “Are you going to vote?” than when we said, “Do you want some literature? ”
Making a public commitment increases the chances that someone will do something. In fact, according to a recent Marketing Sherpa article (October 14, 2008), a social scientist named Anthony Greennwald conducted a scientific survey of this phenomenon in 1987.
He found that if he asked potential voters on the eve of the election whether they would vote (and why or why not), they all said they would, and 86.7% of them actually did, compared to 61.5% of the general populace.
If you want people to donate to your cause, have them stand up and say so. If you use an order form in your direct marketing package, put a big “YES!, I want to order” at the top.
I’m in a book! Two actually. I’m on the inside cover (along with 1,399 other people) of Seth Godin’s new book, Tribes, and a contributor to the Tribes casebook live on his blog today.
Tribes (the book) is Seth’s latest, just released today. I was lucky enough to get an advance copy, and was struck by several things (after I finished looking for my picture!).
He talks about how in the old days, the money, and the power, and the reach was all concentrated in a few hands. If you weren’t a big corporation or didn’t have lots of money, you couldn’t get access to the microphone, the newspaper, or a TV ad. Now, we all have the same tools. We have blogs, we have YouTube, we have Twitter. Anyone with an idea can spread it. We can all be leaders, we just have to be brave enough to lean into the wind (even if it’s blowing in our faces).
We don’t have to sell “average things to average people”, or try to appeal to a “mass market” (selling to everyone doesn’t work anyway, especially if you’re a small business), just those who want something remarkable. More about Seth’s book.
The e-book, the Tribes casebook, grew out of a project on Triiibes (Seth’s online social network). We all pitched in and contributed. There are studies of how companies can build their own “tribe” (followers who passionately believe in what they do), such as Apple, and also what happens when a company treats its employees, and customers badly (destroying their tribe). How tribes are built, stay together, form their own “languages”, even succeed in the midst of a terrible war.
You can get the Tribes casebook for free by clicking on the picture of the fire.
1. _____ Is your site mostly one color?
2. _____ Is it easy to read? (What size and color is the font? Does it show up against the background color, or blend in?)
3. _____ How long does the site take to load? Do you have to wait to see the images?
4. _____ Is the copy about you? Or about your customers?
5. _____ Does the copy talk about what problems you solve?
6. _____ Is it easy to contact you? Phone? Email? Address?
7. _____ Is it easy to navigate your site?
8. _____ Do you have an ideal customer? Or do you “sell to everybody”? Hint: Selling to everyone is selling to nobody.
9. _____ If you do have an ideal customer, who are they? Can you describe them?
10. _____ Are you remarkable? Does your site explain why?
Got a product demo? Want to put it online and strut your stuff for potential prospects? Here are some tips that will help the leads roll in.
1. Skip the Flash intro on your home page – it slows down the user and It’s distracting.
2. Send people directly to the demo page (fewer steps = more click-throughs)
3. Click here (and here) and here… use images, buttons and text. Have more than one place to go forward (people click everywhere). Track the clicks so you know which spots are hot
4. Make the demo button larger than the rest of the type on the page.
5. Lead visitors through the process and make it clear what you want them to do.
6. Have an outsider (or better yet, a group of customers) test the demo and the site for you, so you can see whether your site is easy to navigate and instructions are easy to follow.
7. Skip the “how-tos”. Focus on the “what” and “why”. Tell people what they will gain by using your product and why they should use it.
8. Ask them to register for more info or a free trial, but NOT in order to view the demo. Make the registration process short and offer something else in return (a newsletter, an update, a list of resources).