Wise warriors, advice on how to promote an e-commerce store selling a commodity

8 replies
Hello All,

Just got my first out of country client. It's a small business selling printer toner online through an e-commerce store. My purpose of this post is to get insight from the brilliant people reading this and hoping the valuable insight we hopefully will receive from the respected and seasoned warriors will serve as a great learning tool for everyone. ( Best case scenario would be if it turned into a live case study)

PLEASE provide a detailed, succinct and to the point response to the questions:

1. What immediate 3 things would you implement or take action on to create sales for this business and how would you do it ( within the first 30 days )

2. Which 3 things would you implement or put in place short term (30-90 days time frame)

Those are the questions i would like to receive advice on ( i hope that we can all learn from the replies) . Now let me share some facts about the business that will give you some basis to provide your advice on.

- The client is located in the Mid-West USA ( i'm in Canada)
- They are an online e-commerce webstore, selling black and color Toner for all sorts of laser printers ( all brands, makes ). They do not sell inkjet cartridges.
- They also have a local store/warehouse they service by local delivery or pick up
- $70,000 annual revenue from the e-commerce store. They have a list of about 500 customers that have at least bought once ( they have email/address of these customers)
- $90,000/annual revenue from the local business (delivery and pick up). They have name and address of about 1800 customers but no email addresses
- The owner has been in the business for a long time, more than 10 years.
- No local website in place, just have the web e-commerce store
- No social media in place ( facebook, linkedin, youtube, G+)
- Has built his local business on the back of Fax blast marketing that has not been working for the last year. He has been doing that for 6 years now...and stopped now.
- He has done Google adwords...for the last 6 months..and basically breaking even on it.

So there are some obvious things that should be done.. ( initiate social media, create a website, email marketing campaign to existing customers, direct mail offer to the local clients)... But let's hear from the Guru's on the warrior forum! i'll try to answer any additional pieces of info requested.

I really hope we can all learn from the collective wisdom

Talk soon,

Kam
#advice #commodity #ecommerce #promote #selling #store #warriors #wise
  • Profile picture of the author bsbear
    Breaking even on adwords for someone no experienced is good. I'd find a true adwords/PPC expert and get them to increase your ROI. That would be a positive long-term growth for your business, and would increase your profit.

    Otherwise, invest in high-end SEO. If you are promting a website and want long-term success... SEO is your game.
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    • Profile picture of the author ewenmack
      Hi Kam,

      Great questions and opportunity for you.

      Think strategically by thinking through the whole sales process.

      And these 5 ways to increase profits for any business.

      Leads
      conversion
      bigger dollars per sale
      more sales per customer
      lift margins

      Then you put in place measurements to monitor
      your improvements in each of those 5 areas.

      Now you have your foundation laid,
      it's time to work on those five areas to lift performance.

      Working on all 5 at once and bumping up performance
      will have you compounding results.

      Much more powerful than adding.

      If optimizing each of those 5 areas,
      there is no need to spend more money on marketing.

      Get better performance out of existing spend.

      There's numerous ways to tweak each area.

      That list would be too long for here,
      but I think you will know lots of ways to
      work those 5 areas.

      Best,
      Ewen
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      • Profile picture of the author kmalikis
        Ewenmack,

        Thank you for the great information. Yes i agree with you. I think i recall reading something to that effect from Jay Abraham. I'm not an adwords expert...but i do think i can definitely help in putting offers out to their existing client list and i will think about each and every one of those 5 areas you mentioned.

        By the way...i've been reading your comments on the forum and they are very valuable, keep sharing.

        Kam
        Originally Posted by ewenmack View Post

        Hi Kam,

        Great questions and opportunity for you.

        Think strategically by thinking through the whole sales process.

        And these 5 ways to increase profits for any business.

        Leads
        conversion
        bigger dollars per sale
        more sales per customer
        lift margins

        Then you put in place measurements to monitor
        your improvements in each of those 5 areas.

        Now you have your foundation laid,
        it's time to work on those five areas to lift performance.

        Working on all 5 at once and bumping up performance
        will have you compounding results.

        Much more powerful than adding.

        If optimizing each of those 5 areas,
        there is no need to spend more money on marketing.

        Get better performance out of existing spend.

        There's numerous ways to tweak each area.

        That list would be too long for here,
        but I think you will know lots of ways to
        work those 5 areas.

        Best,
        Ewen
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7131289].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author kmalikis
        Ewen,
        Thanks for your input....great stuff! I do recall reading something to that effect from Jay Abraham. ( The compounding effect of small incremental improvements in different areas ) I will certainly look at those 5 areas very closely.


        I have been reading your comments and feedback on the forum and they are very valuable. Keep on sharing your wisdom.

        Kam


        Originally Posted by ewenmack View Post

        Hi Kam,

        Great questions and opportunity for you.

        Think strategically by thinking through the whole sales process.

        And these 5 ways to increase profits for any business.

        Leads
        conversion
        bigger dollars per sale
        more sales per customer
        lift margins

        Then you put in place measurements to monitor
        your improvements in each of those 5 areas.

        Now you have your foundation laid,
        it's time to work on those five areas to lift performance.

        Working on all 5 at once and bumping up performance
        will have you compounding results.

        Much more powerful than adding.

        If optimizing each of those 5 areas,
        there is no need to spend more money on marketing.

        Get better performance out of existing spend.

        There's numerous ways to tweak each area.

        That list would be too long for here,
        but I think you will know lots of ways to
        work those 5 areas.

        Best,
        Ewen
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7131314].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author TimD
    Hi Kam,
    Thanks for asking and for being generous with your information so we can help. I have two immediate reactions to your question given what we know.

    1. First, spend some time with them on their house lists. Their house lists are valuable twice over. They are buyer lists. And they are lists of buyers who are happy with your client. That makes them gold. Are they currently mailing to their house lists with offers - offers for additional products, offers for discounted products, offers for special or seasonal products, offers for complementary products. Andrew Cavanaugh used to run seminars telling prospects he could show them how to use existing assets to cut their marketing budget in half. The secret was to use their house list and mail to it more often.

    2. Second, I'd get really clear on their sales process and their customers' purchase process. I'd literally map it out step-by-step.
    a. customers search on these search terms
    b. they find us on page one of google
    c. our desc tag in Google positions us like this in our market and makes this promise to people who click
    d. they click on our link and it takes them to which page
    e. does that page pay off our positioning and our promise
    f. is the call to action prominent and supported by proof and have they reduced friction to buying by offering guarantees or certifications or buy back programs or whatever
    g. do they support the decision to buy on their shopping cart page, is it easy to buy, etc.

    Also, don't overlook their walk-in sales and what you can do to support those using the internet. Remember that 75% or whatever of people who buy locally search online first. Map out that process too. I just did this with a manufacturers rep for hvac and solar power systems in Seattle. They said they didn't make any sales on the internet. So I asked them to step me through their sales process. And then I asked, is there some point in your sales process that is currently a bottleneck where we could standardize or automate something and it would help you make more sales or make them faster. And they said they can't sell to their wholesale customers during the day because only their sales people have access to availability data and they are all out during the day. So I suggested that we create data sheets that their wholesalers can download when they need the info during the day. They loved it.

    So rather than think, can I build a site, or a facebook fanpage, or an adwords campaign. Ask, how do you sell? What keeps you from selling more or faster. Let's see if we can standardize, automate, and scale that.

    Hope that helps.
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    • Profile picture of the author kmalikis
      Tim,

      Thanks for the great insight. Yes...you and i are on the same page as per your 1st point....i will be implementing an email campaign/offer to get them to buy more by the end of the year and offering them an incentive (15-20% discount)

      I know nothing about direct mail...but i want to test an offer to 100 people by mail.

      I do agree with you that the in house list and the e-commerce customers combined are my best alie in making a positive impact.

      Tim, i also have some what i consider to be a genius idea on re branding my client...but don't want to mention it on here just yet. (the thing i'm afraid of is not being able to deliver or implement this idea). This idea would be in the mid term category 30-90 days time frame.

      Yes, the sales cycle deserves more attention. I will look into that also.

      Appreciate your comments and feedback. Please keep checking this thread...i need more ideas.

      Kamran


      Originally Posted by TimD View Post

      Hi Kam,
      Thanks for asking and for being generous with your information so we can help. I have two immediate reactions to your question given what we know.

      1. First, spend some time with them on their house lists. Their house lists are valuable twice over. They are buyer lists. And they are lists of buyers who are happy with your client. That makes them gold. Are they currently mailing to their house lists with offers - offers for additional products, offers for discounted products, offers for special or seasonal products, offers for complementary products. Andrew Cavanaugh used to run seminars telling prospects he could show them how to use existing assets to cut their marketing budget in half. The secret was to use their house list and mail to it more often.

      2. Second, I'd get really clear on their sales process and their customers' purchase process. I'd literally map it out step-by-step.
      a. customers search on these search terms
      b. they find us on page one of google
      c. our desc tag in Google positions us like this in our market and makes this promise to people who click
      d. they click on our link and it takes them to which page
      e. does that page pay off our positioning and our promise
      f. is the call to action prominent and supported by proof and have they reduced friction to buying by offering guarantees or certifications or buy back programs or whatever
      g. do they support the decision to buy on their shopping cart page, is it easy to buy, etc.

      Also, don't overlook their walk-in sales and what you can do to support those using the internet. Remember that 75% or whatever of people who buy locally search online first. Map out that process too. I just did this with a manufacturers rep for hvac and solar power systems in Seattle. They said they didn't make any sales on the internet. So I asked them to step me through their sales process. And then I asked, is there some point in your sales process that is currently a bottleneck where we could standardize or automate something and it would help you make more sales or make them faster. And they said they can't sell to their wholesale customers during the day because only their sales people have access to availability data and they are all out during the day. So I suggested that we create data sheets that their wholesalers can download when they need the info during the day. They loved it.

      So rather than think, can I build a site, or a facebook fanpage, or an adwords campaign. Ask, how do you sell? What keeps you from selling more or faster. Let's see if we can standardize, automate, and scale that.

      Hope that helps.
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  • Profile picture of the author kmalikis
    Hi All,

    What are your thoughts on starting some sort of affiliate program on behalf of my client?

    I have no experience with this..but here is my thinking:
    - My client sells Toner ( high percentage of customers are small business or even home businesses)
    - Now these customers have clients of their own.
    - What if the incentive for some of them is....earn the cash to buy all the toner you will ever need and more! by referring your customers to us! Just click here to join our affiliate program and you will be credited with "x" percent of the total your direct referrals buy from us. You will be paid in "cold hard cash" or you can choose to purchase our products at 1.5 times the value you have accrued in your affiliate account?

    - Do you think something like that could work? pros / cons

    Keep the ideas coming please

    Kam
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