Do You Need To Be Good At Selling To Be Successful In IM?

13 years ago

I think you can succeed without a sales background or sales interest.

Sales is a pretty natural part of life; you sell yourself to your spouse on your first date, you sell movies to your friends as recommendations, you sell yourself to employers, you sell your parents on letting you have a dog/pocket money/a later bed time etc when you're very young.

So some people may not know the "assumptive close" etc, but that doesn't mean they don't know how to sell.

I think a sales background definitely helps people deal with the rejections that come before/as well as the sales.

Katie

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Katie

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Matt Morgan

13 years ago

This is an interesting question, but you can be successful in Internet marketing/ make money online without being brilliant in selling.

Yes, you can learn the art of selling, or even the art of persuasive copywriting, or you can pay somebody /outsource to do this.

You can be a marketer/manager where you outsource all your tasks,
-product creation
-website design
-ebook creation
-graphic designer

and generate some traffic to them websites (You don't necessarily have to be able to sell to generate traffic)

You can have a hot product (ebook), some targeted traffic, and you can make sales. If all the elements of your marketing funnel is done effectively (or you get others to do it), then there is no reason why you shouldn't sell.

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Myecodesk

13 years ago

I certainly think it is possible, but it depends what area of internet marketing you are in. For example people some IM pros use their natural sales talents to their advantage, building list and selling products.While others just rely on their technical ability to rank high and get enough traffic to make conversions.

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Chris Worner

13 years ago

Coming from a background in door to door sales, I can tell you that even timid people can make sales(Even a blind squirrel can find a nut)

However, I'd say there is way more skill in pre-selling simply because even if you have the worlds best sales page, if your prospects haven't been properly pre-sold, your sales will only be a fraction of what they could be.

Chris

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Chri5123

13 years ago

Originally Posted by KatieWilliams

I think you can succeed without a sales background or sales interest.

Sales is a pretty natural part of life; you sell yourself to your spouse on your first date, you sell movies to your friends as recommendations, you sell yourself to employers, you sell your parents on letting you have a dog/pocket money/a later bed time etc when you're very young.

So some people may not know the "assumptive close" etc, but that doesn't mean they don't know how to sell.

I think a sales background definitely helps people deal with the rejections that come before/as well as the sales.

Katie

Awesome post Katie!

Never really thought of it this way but you are bang on I think!

Originally Posted by Chris Worner

Coming from a background in door to door sales, I can tell you that even timid people can make sales(Even a blind squirrel can find a nut)

However, I'd say there is way more skill in pre-selling simply because even if you have the worlds best sales page, if your prospects haven't been properly pre-sold, your sales will only be a fraction of what they could be.

Chris

Totally agree with you ^

I was not the most pushy sales person even a bit timid myself but that never stopped me making the $$$'s in fact it helped!

Door to door sales eh?

Bet IM is a walk in the park compared to that mate!

Chris

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oneplusone 13 years ago

I think you need to be a decent psychologist
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EliteIM

13 years ago

The basic principles of marketing would always apply in Internet Marketing too, since it is just marketing in the virtual world. As such, some background in marketing does help

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Michael Curran Smith 13 years ago

Salespeople tend to understand PEOPLE and their motivations and what makes them BUY!!!

And we tend to be very entrepreneurial as well. I did sales for over 10 years, but I'm even more at home in marketing and running an online business.

I think when people "get" the running of a business part of the game, and the numbers, and the scaling part the sky becomes the limit.

AND...I love writing sales copy rather than cold calling all day long

GM
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- rxtricky 13 years ago
  
  I think you can become good at IM without having prior knowlage of sales, but i think you have to learn sales to be good at IM!
  "every master was once a disaster" (T Harv Eker)
  
  I studied courses by T Harv Eker and Tony Robbins and that gave me a massive advantage because i now know why people think the way they do and the psycology beind the thinking. Mike Dillard's magnetic marketing helped me a lot too.
  
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NateRivers

13 years ago

It will definitely help. If you're asking because that's a weak area of yours, I would buy the books "Influence" and "My Years in Advertising". If you can't convert traffic, your blog and the traffic you create are essentially a waste of time.

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Ryan Johnson 13 years ago

It's not a requirement. If you're not sales type, I wouldn't worry about it, as it might help you identify more with your customers.

I keep the process simple. There's a lot of work behind each step, but if you focus on what you're trying to achieve with each task, it becomes easier.

Promote a product or service that is in demand.
Make it easy for people to buy.
Put it in front of people.
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- Michael Curran Smith 13 years ago
  
  Learn copy writing skills, it's not sales but it is salesmanship IN PRINT
  
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  M Thompson 13 years ago
  
  No you don't, but it will take longer to succeed if you are doing your own products.
  
  I hate selling so I don't do it very much I prefer to show people what i have and let them make a decision...
  
  so instead of saying "buy this is brilliant and will change your life" I'll usually say.. "excuse me , if you have a minute would you care to look at this, it's really rather good... sorry for the interruption"
  
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  JoshuaZamora 13 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by Garage Media
  
  Learn copy writing skills, it's not sales but it is salesmanship IN PRINT
  
  Hes on point! Having good copy goes a long way this is something i myself will be dedicating time to learn.
  
  So yes i think IM can be learned by anyone
  
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  Dave Rodman Banned 13 years ago
  
  NO, you don't need to be a good salesman in order to be good in IM. My online sales ability FAR OUTWEIGHS my ability as an offline salesperson.
  
  My problem offline was that I was always selling other people's products. And since I didn't put together that product, I knew it wasn't exactly the way I would like it to be. So when people told me a reason why they didn't want to buy, I kinda thought to myself "Yeah, I can kinda see that". Obviously, since I sell my own stuff and CHOOSE what I want to sell, it's a lot easier for me to put everything I have into it.
  
  Online things are a lot easier anyways. Usually the problem with offline salespeople is they don't follow-up, ask for the sale, etc. Online, these things are more mechanical (part of any good salesletter) and automatic (upsells and autoresponders).
  
  Finally, I think the concept of a good offline salesman are REALLY overrated. I was at a regional bank and won salesman of the year for revenue into the bank. But honestly, the only reason I won that is because like 3 guys left the bank and I inherited a few pretty monster deals that closed. Sure, I kept them there, but that's easy....getting them in is the hard part.
  
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theturd

13 years ago

from personal experience ..... no matter how good your product actually is it doesn't mean squat if you can't SELL it .... I am horrible at sells and that is my biggest problem to overcome..... and i still haven't by the by

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Floyd Fisher

13 years ago

Yes, you do need to be good at selling...it's just like anything else.

And yes, it's a skill anyone can master.

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Chris Dolan

13 years ago

Sales skills definitely help. But are not a pre-requisite - since you can by and large outsource tasks that involve sales skills, for example hire a copywriter do prepare your sales letter, emails, and even WSO text. You can hire a programer or writer to make your product, and you can hire a designer to design and build your site.

Sales comes in to play in analyzing the needs and working out how to solve them, and present them in a way that helps people recognize they have a need, and how your solution will improve their life and solve that need.

But just being good at sales doesn't guarantee success online either.

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Michael Curran Smith

13 years ago

Great post! This thread has some awesome information on it. I just want to agree with Mr. Thompson...the pre-sell is sooo important. It has to appear like you're saying..."this might be kinda good"..."check it out".

Then let the sales page do the selling. This warms them up, conversions will double at the very least. Even better -- get them on a list, conversions with increase 5x.

Copy writing and pre-selling may appear different but they are both the same art form...one is a soft sell and the other is the "closer"!

GM

P.S. Yes, this stuff is true "art"! Good copy is amazing to read, it literally pulls money out of people's wallets.

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jackcanbera

13 years ago

Being good in selling in an authentic way, from my experience, means also to have right mind sets. Such as mindsets of serving, listening to the other and many mores. These skills and mindsets are good to have for having a successful business for the long run in my opinion.

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Ken Er

13 years ago

You don't have to be good at selling in order to be successful in internet marketing. You can hire copywriters to do that. Here's a good one: Best Content Writing Service: Your search for content ends here. Btw, it is not my site. It is my friend's site.

I would say having a list is important in order to be successful in internet marketing. You guys must have heard, the money is in the list, although you can still make money online without a list.

Another tips for you guys: If you are in the internet marketing niche, here are a fews ways to grow your list:
http://www.warriorforum.com/warrior-...-each-day.html
http://www.warriorforum.com/warrior-...uaranteed.html
http://www.warriorforum.com/warrior-...ittle-9-a.html
http://www.warriorforum.com/warrior-...list-free.html

These are some of the tactics I used to grow my internet marketing list

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Chri5123

13 years ago

Cheers for all the replies guys,

Yes, it seems even if you are not the stereotypical salesman you can still adjust your content into a softsell and do very well using your own style.

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Chri5123 13 years ago

Originally Posted by CyndieAlicuben568

IT's possible if you are brilliant in selling.

Not sure what you mean?

What is this response in relation too?
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Monja

13 years ago

chris,
i think you need to be a good observer and you need to try it out. i do not have a sales background but i´m sure it would have helped. it can never be wrong to know more. but it is all about marketing and observing. i often see interesting commercials on TV and i think - that´s a nice game or offer and something i could give my users, too. then i just go ahead and simply do it - if successful = do again, if not = adjust a little

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Chri5123

13 years ago

Originally Posted by Monja

chris,
i think you need to be a good observer and you need to try it out. i do not have a sales background but i´m sure it would have helped. it can never be wrong to know more. but it is all about marketing and observing. i often see interesting commercials on TV and i think - that´s a nice game or offer and something i could give my users, too. then i just go ahead and simply do it - if successful = do again, if not = adjust a little

Sounds like a good plan and it looks like we do the same thing when we are meant to be relaxing watching TV.

I agree though the MOST valuable thing you can have in IM is the ability to spot niches and openings - if you get this right the products seem to sell themselves.

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JackTriggs

13 years ago

No you don't...just leverage people who have those skills

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Do You Need To Be Good At Selling To Be Successful In IM?

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