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Customer Management - The key to online sales success ! by David Espino
In the increasingly competitive online auction environment, auction sellers are getting squeezed by increasing costs, increased competition and restrictive policies by the venues that host their auctions. What is the most powerful way to combat these growing trends? In this article we’ll look at the most powerful marketing concept that most people fail to implement. And it’s not some esoteric, complicated formula, but it is so rarely used, it might as well be! One of the most overlooked areas of business, whether offline or online, is the customer list. Many people new to marketing fail to see the inherent value in their own customer list. Even a casual online auction seller will accumulate customers at a fairly rapid rate. If these customers had a pleasant buying experience, they have stepped over the line to discover a good seller with good sales practices. As an online auction seller, you have overcome the #1 barrier to online sales. What is the #1 barrier to online sales? Trust. Once you’ve gained a customer’s trust, they are so much easier to re-contact and make a new offer to because the trust factor has already been overcome. When you re-contact previous customers, you are doing what marketers call "working the backend." The backend consists of all of the marketing efforts you make to re-contact your customers and get them involved in a new product or service. Back-ending is so seldom used in business that some "master marketers" make a fortune by advising businesses on how to profitably "work the backend." With a properly compiled customer list, you can:
In my collectible toys business, I send out an e-mail to over 700 customers and I post a message on my website’s Message Board, (over 350 members) telling them that my website’s online store has been restocked with new products. I often sell 85% of my stock literally overnight! This is the power of having a properly compiled customer e-mail list. What are some of the tools that allow you to do this? Check with your Auction Management Service, many of these popular services offer this service. Mine does and I use it constantly, each time I restock my online store. Other options for keeping a customer list and bulk mailing to your customers are:
One of the most profitable things you can do to right now is to get your customer names and e-mails into a database / list that you can mail to using one of the tools mentioned above. You will enjoy higher ending bids, lower costs and a higher, more liquid cash flow.
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