It started with tires. That was the first time I noticed that there are a LOT of tire commercials on TV and a lot of tire ads in the newspaper. But you don’t notice them – until you need tires.
It’s the same with all cars, be it a used Camry in Albany, NY
or any of the new-model cars. It seems that every other commercial on TV is about new cars. But you don’t pay attention to them until you are looking for a new car. Then suddenly EVERY commercial is one you watch. When purchasing a new car you should get a car vacuum to help with cleaning.
Of course, if you already have a car brand preference, then you tend to only “see” those commercials. You may even replay them just to be sure you got all the details on your potential car.
Then there are the car sites. Kelly Blue Book, new cars, carmax, auto-trader. If you’re truly looking at cars, you will be searching each of those.
As you narrow your search, you will only focus on the brands that interest you. But when you are looking and wanting those details depends on timing.
And when the timing is right, you will buy your next car. After that, you’ll go back to not searching the online sites or watching the commercials. You won’t need what they are offering at the present time.
So how does the concept of timing apply to marketing your online business? What you sell and when you sell it is all about timing.
You may send an email to your list, telling them about your latest product. But if they don’t need it right now, the timing is off and you won’t sell many products.
Likewise, if another product, perhaps from a bigger name in the industry or with more emotions tied to its sales, has recently been released, then you may not sell many products.
It’s all about timing. And that’s the importance of follow-up in your sales cycle.
Smart car sales professionals know that a timely phone call, a postcard, a letter, or an email can make the difference in whether or not you see that prospective car buyer again. The same applies in your business.
By setting up an automatic set of email messages spread over a period of time, you are more likely to remind the prospect of your product when the time is right. That’s one of the reasons we send 10 messages on the first 10 days after someone has asked for more information about the product. That’s when they are looking for that type of information and therefore, it’s more likely the timing is right for them to buy.
Timing also means that you should not beat yourself up if people are not buying your product on the day you announce it. It could be the timing is not right. Be patient and follow up.
Finally, because timing determines when they are interested (although you can help create that interest with good marketing), you want to be available when they are ready.
One of the strangest trends in recent years online has been the “scarcity” tactic of offering a product for a week, then taking it off the market. What are the chances everyone who could buy that product is ready for that product during that one week. Sure you can sell more because of the fear of loss, but that’s not how you build a long-term business.
Instead, have a steady site (generally your main blog) where people know they can always find you. Have a list of your products, with links to each of them. Be there for them so that when the timing is right, you ARE the solution!
If you don’t yet have your autoresponder follow-ups written and in place, then you need Autoresponder Basics. If the timing is right for you today, pick it up now!
This is a great article (as usual) but my only concern is that I might have alot of customers like you that will take 20 years before the “timing is right” – LOL…I don’t think I can write that many autoresponders. Seriously, you have such a great way of taking life stories and showing us how they apply to our marketing and business strategies. It makes things so much easier to learn!
Terrie
I have to admit, it is a little scary when you consider the “what if” they don’t get ready to buy before I need the money! But what I’ve learned from YOU is to think positively. After all, we KNOW they need our product – or we wouldn’t have created it. It’s just a matter of being in front of them at the time THEY recognize they need it. That’s the whole purpose of marketing – being in front of our target market when they have the desire for what we’re selling.
One other thing I noticed about car marketing, once you purchase a specific car, you start to see them everywhere. When we purchased our first Honda Pilot, I thought I was getting a unique car . . .and then I noticed there were lots and lots of them on the road. . . and especially in the parking lots!
I think this goes along with online marketing, too. Once you purchase ONE program about say, “membership sites,” you start noticing their are a ton of them around.
Love your insights, Jeanette!
Thanks, Theresa. I agree. It’s like learning a new word. And suddenly you hear it everywhere. Then you wonder how you’ve lived this long and never noticed it before. There is actually a scientific principle of attenuation, but that’s beyond this blog!
And yes, I’ve seen three other red cadillacs since I got mine!
I actually was taught that by a car salesman, who, of course, put it in a different light – telling me that his car was the most popular car out there and hadn’t I noticed all the Hondas (it was a Honda) and naturally after that I did notice Honda after Honda. So you are right about people noticing our products especially when they are looking for one like ours.
Thanks, Theresa, for reminding me of that event – this kid ended up being my very favoritist car salesman EVER.
Terrie
When I sold horses and horse services, I used a variety of optin pages to send the same auto-responder sequence. No matter what they were interested in, a particular horse, horse training, or farrier work. I was able to keep in contact with them because they had raised their hand. They may have wanted a blue roan mare originally, but after the follow up emails, decided they wanted a black gelding when it came time to buy.
They sometimes wanted to buy a horse, but could not afford the purchase, so they would have me train their own horse up so make it ridable.
Sometimes they were in the market for a horse because their horse was lame. Once they discovered I did remediable foot care, they purchased my farrier services.
These sales did not happen overnight usually, but by keeping in contact, they would eventually phone me or just come to see me because they knew I had a solution to their problem.
Dale – what a marvelous example of the power of timing and followup. I think it makes it especially interesting because few people think about applying internet marketing principles to the horse business! Brilliant!
This is really good advice. I am going to clean up my “products” pages starting now and add a few at a time. The implementation can be SO frustrating because it seems random. For instance, a few months ago, via my career site I got two calls from people who saw an article I wrote a long time ago. They had nearly identical questions related to their careers. One of them even recommended a friend. That was a nice month!
I had been offering this service for years and these people were the first, and possibly the last, to take advantage. Some coaches had advised me to close down the site, let alone the offers and I’m glad I didn’t listen.
I have the same experience now and then. Out of the blue I’ll sell several copies of a product I haven’t mentioned or advertised for months (or years). I think it has to do with the search engines and the way they shake up their results. But sometimes when I ask how someone found me, I learn that they bookmarked that site the first time they saw it – years ago – and were just waiting for the right TIME to buy it!
You are right to set up your product pages and have them ready. You want to be available when the timing is right for them!