So, the age-old quandary with sales is this: how do you promote sales and secure new business without alienating the clientele?  In days past there were very few methods to promote sales.  You could hire a salesperson and pray he was persuasive and non-affronting.  You could pay for an advertisement and hope to hit the target audience and convey a convincing argument.  But no tool has ever existed that provides the kind of influence that a website does.  It’s an advertising, networking and selling tool that works for you, even when you’re not working.  It has the ability to promote your sales and secure new business without alienating the clientele.

Ensuring that a website does all three of the aforementioned processes is the real trick.    So many times we forget the sheer power that a well-designed website can have.  Having a website these days is almost an after-thought; simply an affirmation of a business’s legitimacy.  But a well-designed website?  A well-designed website based on a call to action can make the difference between a new client and a lost client.  So which do you want?  It seems like an insultingly simple question with an obvious answer, but have you asked the hard questions lately?

Is your business growing because of your website, or is it simply “there”?  How can you tell if you’re earning business because of your website?  What’s your return of investment on your website?  Do you consider your website an investment?  Do you have the time to even bother redesigning your website?  If you’re unsure about the answers to these questions, then join me weekly as I discuss developing effective websites from a sales perspective, and explain in simple terminology how to make a website that ultimately increases your sales.

In the meantime, what questions do you have about using websites as a sales tool?  Do you believe that a website can bring you business?

I was talking with a wedding photographer recently that was trying to figure out the right call to action to use for a series of Google AdWords ad campaigns. My suggestion was to offer something that might be useful to a bride in exchange for an email address. The photographer could prepare a short PDF on the subject of how to pose during the photography session to get the best results.

The photographer was thinking about an offer of a free “parents’ book” with the purchase of a wedding photography package.

That’s too much, too early. Think about it for a moment: the bride clicks on an ad and sees an offer that makes an assumption that she will hire the photographer for the wedding and after the event, when photos are being prepared, the photographer will make up an extra book for her parents.

Aren’t we kind of jumping ahead in this relationship?

I suggested thinking about it like dating. When the person clicking on your ad first comes to your site, you only just met after a nominal introduction that suggests there might be some potential there. Do you ask for a date by suggesting you’ll cook dinner for her on your anniversary?

That’s what I asked the photographer. Her response: “Creepy.”

Don’t be creepy. Make your call to action one that fits the state of the relationship as it stands. There will be plenty of time to cook her dinner later.