Joe's Café - Internet Marketing - Part 4

So, down at Joe's place the other day. He asked me how things were going in the internet business and I told him how his advice was helping me to forge forward by applying some of the ideas he had given me.

I told Joe that things were definitely improving since I got into up-selling and cross-selling as he suggested. By the way, if you missed his suggestions, you can still find them here ...

http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...tem-works.html
http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...-part-2-a.html
http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...-part-3-a.html

"Yeah, that's like kinda Lateral Thinking", he said.

"Lateral Thinking?", I reflected.

"You know: where you take an idea from one field, problem or situation and apply it to another. You have taken a few of my ideas and applied them online - that's Lateral Thinking."

"Oh yes", I responded, "that's right! Actually, it makes me wonder: would your business benefit from some online presence do you think?"

"Hey - I don't know. Tell me a bit about what you do and how you do it." Joe poured the brown stuff as we sat down for a little chat. He peered over his glasses with an expression that seemed to suggest some interest.

"OK, well, the first thing we would do online is find a niche with proven buyers; and then, of course, we need something to sell to them ... " I began.

But Joe interrupted, "Hey, come-on now: I figured you Internet Marketers might know a thing or two about selling, but isn't that just plain common sense? I mean, why do you think I sell coffee here?"

Yes, I could see he understood his niche alright.

"Well, hold on a moment Joe, because then you need to get them into a lead-capture system where you can follow them up."

"You spam them?", he barked.

"No - I hate spam." I shot back.

"Hey, everybody hates spam: I guess that's why we stopped selling it way back in the 60s."

For a moment he looked skyward and seemed to be pondering life in the 60s before eventually asking me to continue.

"Yes - OK - go on - I'm all ears."

"... we send them really good quality stuff - a Newsletter with great info in it and we make our sales pitches in there.", I continued.

"I see. So how do you think I would benefit from having a website? Do you think I could get people to drink more coffee or eat more doughnuts by having one? Wouldn't it take me time and effort to maintain? And wouldn't I be better off just spending that time doing what I know delivers results?"

And, as I sat there contemplating those questions, I realised that, yet again, Joe had taught me another lesson: concentrate on the things you know deliver results and ignore everything else. There is probably nothing I can teach Joe about selling, but as I reflected on the lesson, I realised that there was still a lot more he could teach me.

Will