Selling Services Online
Many people (and companies) seem to believe that in order to sell something online, you have to have a product. Whilst that might be helpful, I have personally found it far more profitable to sell high value services instead. The difference between selling tangible goods and a service is simply that there is no stock and generally no real overhead, other than web hosting, which is so cheap these days, that it's hardly even noticable. The services that you sell online don't even have to be your own - in fact, it's often been my experience that selling other people's services can be more profitable than selling your own! Here's why. When I first started out promoting services by using web sites, I was selling an IT recruitment service that was owned and operated by my brother and I. This meant that we had all of the overheads of the IT recruitment business to contend with and of course, all of the adminstrative elements too. The web site was a tool of the business and had to pay it's way. By refocusing on the web site, rather than the recruitment business, we were able to change the way we did business altogether. I've since left the recruitment industry but still run several recruitment oriented sites. A couple of years ago, bought a new domain name and changed the orientation towards generating client employer enquiries - something that most people in the industry would consider to be impossible. However, that web site does indeed generate client enquiries and it costs me nothing at all to run. All I have to do is take the enquiry by email or telephone (using a 3rd party answering service) and then pass it to one of my many contacts in the recruitment industry who then pay me a share of their fee - usually between 25% and 50% - which means that for taking an enquiry, I can earn from £1000 to £10,000 at a time. But that's not all. The deals I negotiate with recruitment service providers usually involve me earning a commission not just from the first sale, but from all ongoing sales with that particular client, so it becomes another passive income stream. This means that one enquiry can be worth many thousands of Pounds at a time - and these fees are there for the asking from a very wide variety of companies. Now let's be clear. The companies I deal with often (though not always) have web sites of their own. The fact is that by concentrating on web promotion, I'm often able to capture a visitor that other web sites miss. It's all down to how you present and promote yourself. The biggest mistake most companies make is that they simply produce an online brochure - and as we know, brochures NEVER sell, they only tell. Done properly, a web site should include a call to action. This means that you ask your visitor to do something when on your site. Now naturally, you cannot ask them to buy a service costing thousands of Pounds, but you can ask them to call you, or to complete a form or something else. Lots of opportunities to earn significant commissions are all around you, right on your door step and that presents YOU with a great opportunity to make money. I really don't know many business owners, no matter what size the business is, who would not pay a commission to somebody for introducing new customers. It's important to understand that you don't have to sell the end product - you only need to sell the idea that you can provide the service, either directly (if it's your business for example) or indirectly via a recommendation based on specialist knowledge. So, one of the first areas you should look to for your inspiration is an industry of which you have at least some knowledge, so that you can build a web site that creates credibility. Once you have decided on your target market, put together a web site, choose a good generic domain name and just get started. You don't even have to identify the service provider at this stage. My usual way of doing things is:
The reason that I don't find the service provider first is so that if the site doesn't work as I expect, then I don't let anyone down by making promises that I can't keep. Put simply, it's easier to negotiate a great on-going commission deal with a prospect's name in my hand! I hope that's whetted your appetite for some of the wonderful opportunities that are quite literally, right on your doorstep. Most Internet marketing gurus ignore this extremely valuable secotor because despite their claims, they really don't know that the opportuntiy exists! That's how great they are at marketing. They ignore the most basic premise of business - most times, it's right in front of your nose. Anyone can do this. Anyone! |
