I’ve spent a fair amount of my life selling things.  I’ve sold tangible things like electronics, I’ve sold service base commodities, I’ve sold necessities and luxuries alike.  But the one constant in sales is the stigma.  There’s always a stigma about salespeople.  The stigmas vary, but they range from general dislike to outright disgust, and can make the sales process difficult and cumbersome.  But stigmas aside, sales are what make companies profitable and provide paychecks for every employee. Ultimately, they fuel our economy.

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?