Your online salesman

Not too many people see the value of the Internet as a means to leverage their presence. Many of our local entrepreneurs look at websites as an expense. To some, it is a desperate facelift to invite gullible customers to buy unsold inventories and a cheap venue for corporate vanity.

To an extent, I do agree that the Internet has been used for the wrong reasons and we cannot blame some businesses that avoid marketing or sourcing through the Internet. This is not something uncommon here, in fact, the same thing is happening in most parts of the world.

Conversely, a lot of people have had their successes using the Internet and became very rich in a very short period of time. But how did they standout from all the rest? What did they do to their websites that made them what they are now? But isn't it too late to get into the dotcom craze amidst all the millions of giants out there with their names almost an institution?

The reason why we find a lot of successful companies in the Internet everyday is because they believe in its power. A small company, which believes in the Internet, sees millions of people everyday as their potential customers and keeps on looking for ways to get through even a minute of their attention.   

Second, they are able to see in vivid colors what customers want and have designed their websites to make people buy or avail services from them. Third, they have optimized the Internet as a means to relate with their customers easily and to make available after-sales information to keep them coming back to their website thereby generating loyalty in the process.

If your intention is just to establish online presence then it becomes an expense. It becomes a profit center when you leverage your presence by making your website your marketing executive.

Your online marketing executive speaks for your company and therefore it should have all the elements needed of a salesman. Like a salesman, it should be able to effectively communicate your products and services by creating a good copy of your website content. 

I've seen a lot of companies with a wide potential for growth but are disgraced by unintelligible copies of their website. I think it is better to have no website at all if only to present your company poorly.      

Like your typical salesman, your website must be presentable and neat. It should not be overly dressed up with graphics and animations that distract the attention of your customers. As always, the rule of thumb is to give straightforward information on your products or services to your customers rather than to show off.

Further, your website must be able to transmit about your solutions effectively right away rather than just purely being informational. You see, unlike conventional sales presentation, your worldwide web customers can immediately dismiss your virtual salesman immediately.

Like most salesmen do, your website should replicate a follow-through activity. It has to have a feedback mechanism to attend to product or service issues but most of all it must be able to keep track of visitors, whenever possible, obtain at least their email addresses. Some companies go as far as getting freebies in return for a little survey on customer preferences.  

Once you have established web-based customers or prospects, it is important to communicate to them regularly. These can be in a form of newsletters or personal emails from you which may contain some information about an improvement of your product, new products available or perhaps other useful info or website links that may be needed by your customers.     

If you intend to really have a website get an appointment with as many professional web developers. Present your needs comprehensively, compare their capabilities and examine each of their portfolios.

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