Make it super easy for people to buy

We spend a lot of time trying to get people’s attention, trying to get them to come along to our website, come into our shop, or pick up the phone. Sometimes it would be better to pay more attention to getting them to buy when they get there. Otherwise, what’s the point?

I already like chocolate

I was messing about on Twitter the other day, when I noticed someone talking excitedly about the chocolate festival happening in Brighton the next day. I was intrigued. There was a helpful link through, so it should have been easy. There was even a tweet from the festival organisers saying ‘buy tickets here’ with a link. Unfortunately, it took me another 7 clicks to get to the page to buy tickets. And this page didn’t tell me where it was, and confused me even more by telling me it was cheaper to buy the tickets on the door.

So I gave up and ate a caramel wafer instead. I already like chocolate, I have at least £5.75 (the price of a ticket) in my bank account, and no plans for Saturday. They could have sold me a ticket there and then.

Sell it to them when they have the urge

We’re all guilty of this. I am. You (probably) are.

What we need to do is get the customer right there and then and sell them something. Even if it’s just a little thing. We need to make it super easy for people to buy something from us, whether it’s chocolate tickets, a boiler service or a new pair of gloves.

We all spend more time on getting people into our sales funnel than we do converting the people who have shown some interest. Americans are much better at this than us. They’re not so shy about making the sale. We could all be a little bit more like them.

Here are some things to do to get better at this

Have a dedicated sales page on your website to get people to buy something there and then. Send people to this, not your homepage. If you sell tickets, send people directly to your Eventbrite page, or to a page for that particular event with the Eventbrite buy button on the page.

Look at how Jill Edwards does this for her comedy courses. Jill makes it super-easy for people to buy.

If you sell complex stuff like business advice or consultancy services, make it super easy for them to get to know you and to get a meeting.

When you describe your services, make sure you have a call to action on each page of your site which encourages them to phone you to talk.

You’ll notice that I’m constantly inviting people to get in touch for a coffee and a chat, because it’s only by meeting me and talking about your business that you’ll buy something from me.

Suggest that you could meet with them as the next thing to do. Set up a time for them to book a Skype call, tell them when you’ll be available for coffee meetings. One guy I know sets a time when he’ll be in a certain location in central London, and has a form on his site to book a time for an initial chat. Super easy.

Think it through from your customers point of view

You know your website really well.  You probably think that it’s obvious, because it’s obvious to you. But remember that it’s not necessarily clear to someone else.  They’ve maybe never bought anything like this before.  They don’t know you, and they don’t know what to do.

Test out your calls to action on someone who doesn’t know your business.  Find a friend who is in a completely different area of work and ask them what they would do next.  Ideally, find a 12 year old to do this, as they won’t have any preconceptions and are more likely to be honest with you than your adult friends.

If you’d like some help

One of the things I especially like to do is help people to work through the buying pattern of their customers, and make that path very smooth.  It’s amazing the effect it has on increasing sales and getting sales faster.

If you’d like some help making this happen for your business, then you should book one of my decision making sessions. And if you’d like some ongoing help to completely revolutionise your business, you probably want some ongoing business advice and coaching.  Let’s get together for a coffee and a chat and we’ll see what we can do

Photo credit – Bodo from Flickr on a creative commons licence