This is the age of the virtual customer. Yet, although the Internet has made it perfectly reasonable to land a major client you've never met in-person, it has also created new expectations among consumers.
Today, you must include the online world into your overall sales program. In the old days, people might have formed their first impression by the clothes you wore. In the Internet age, first impressions are formed with the click of a mouse.
The Internet has increased the expectation among consumers that businesses will have a credible online presence. This goes to the heart of selling successfully in a virtual world.
You must factor in online visibility. In the Internet age, the buyer/seller roles are reversed. The prospect now makes cold-calls on the seller. The state of today’s online world and its role in driving purchasing decisions dictates positioning your business for online credibility, while also mastering all the other stages of the selling process.
In the Internet age, the selling process starts much earlier than through traditional selling. It can happen in a web browser when someone looks you up, within an email newsletter that mentions your name, or increasingly on blogs.
Many of us now form our "virtual first impression" of people and companies via our Internet browsers. When you are considering buying from a vendor, many of us will use the Internet to research that company or professional service. If the web site creates a positive first impression, the client is predisposed to considering you from your many competitors. If your website looks like a messy ill-prepared showroom window, the customer is likely to move on to the next ether show room display.
Internet first impressions are not just influenced by how your Web site looks, but also by number of references in the search or how high it ranks a web browser.
You can evaluate your own virtual first impression by typing your name into a search engine. See how your business looks to a potential sales prospect, from the moment your name appears in a Web browser to the moment your Web site loads.
Does your web site load quickly and communicate a positive image graphically and with valuable content? You never get a second chance to make a good impression, and your virtual first impression often means the difference between a shot at your prospect's business, or being shut out.
Comments