How to sell online, Part 2
Sell what? On what? To who?
I guess the first thing you have to find out would be “What should I sell?”
You may already have an idea or a business plan. It might be a existing business that you would like to expand, or a hobby that you think the world is ready for. This part of “How to sell online” is more of a questionnaire than a how to.
I am going to pull a story from a business that I was involved in before the internet was available for selling, and use it as a model to see how it would translate to online selling. The company sold Mercedes-Benz auto parts by mailing out catalogs to Mercedes Benz owners.
The company started out small, selling only to owners of mid 1980’s model Mercedes-Benz 300D Diesels and grew to a thriving business over a decade. Staying with a relatively small highly specialized customer base the company saw constant growth. Then one day the owner set his sights on expanding into newer model Mercedes parts, and poured all his resources into a new 190 parts and accessories catalog, spending a small fortune in the nineties, $250,000, on the new catalog and mailing lists. The catalog was beautiful and was mailed out after a year of production. Then, the shelves were stocked, the phones were manned, and nothing happened. The phones did finally start ringing, but instead of incoming orders, it was parts distributors collection’s departments. The company was soon bankrupt.
OK what does this have to do with online selling?
It has everything to do with an online business! The more things have changed, the more they stay the same.
In 20/20 hindsight this business owner didn’t catch on to one important detail. The customer group that owned the old simple diesel Mercedes liked to work on their old cars, and the owners of the entry level more sophisticated 190’s were yuppies that couldn’t work on their own car if they wanted to.
In short he assumed that this business plan would work on any customer.
The moral to this story is FIND OUT WHO YOUR CUSTOMERS ARE! “Be the customer.”
Do as much research as possible, next week we will talk about how to find “The customer.”
I guess the first thing you have to find out would be “What should I sell?”
You may already have an idea or a business plan. It might be a existing business that you would like to expand, or a hobby that you think the world is ready for. This part of “How to sell online” is more of a questionnaire than a how to.
I am going to pull a story from a business that I was involved in before the internet was available for selling, and use it as a model to see how it would translate to online selling. The company sold Mercedes-Benz auto parts by mailing out catalogs to Mercedes Benz owners.
The company started out small, selling only to owners of mid 1980’s model Mercedes-Benz 300D Diesels and grew to a thriving business over a decade. Staying with a relatively small highly specialized customer base the company saw constant growth. Then one day the owner set his sights on expanding into newer model Mercedes parts, and poured all his resources into a new 190 parts and accessories catalog, spending a small fortune in the nineties, $250,000, on the new catalog and mailing lists. The catalog was beautiful and was mailed out after a year of production. Then, the shelves were stocked, the phones were manned, and nothing happened. The phones did finally start ringing, but instead of incoming orders, it was parts distributors collection’s departments. The company was soon bankrupt.
OK what does this have to do with online selling?
It has everything to do with an online business! The more things have changed, the more they stay the same.
In 20/20 hindsight this business owner didn’t catch on to one important detail. The customer group that owned the old simple diesel Mercedes liked to work on their old cars, and the owners of the entry level more sophisticated 190’s were yuppies that couldn’t work on their own car if they wanted to.
In short he assumed that this business plan would work on any customer.
The moral to this story is FIND OUT WHO YOUR CUSTOMERS ARE! “Be the customer.”
Do as much research as possible, next week we will talk about how to find “The customer.”
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