The discussion of Bonazle in the comments section here made me wonder how a few of my fellow online sellers feel about community on a sales site. I have made my feelings on the topic known in that I feel like community aspects are not useful to me, but I may be alone on that opinion.
I’m not talking about external community and networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, FriendFeed etc, where you are interacting with other sellers like yourself but rather whether an important element of the sales process for you is the social aspect.
To get you started:
- How involved to you like to get with each individual customer and how well do you like to get to know them?
- How involved are you with the community of sites you already sell on? (Amazon and eBay messages boards, blogs, profiles and About Me pages, etc)
- How important are these social aspects to you and how your run your business?
If you have a few seconds and could jot down your thoughts in the comments, I would appreciate it.
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Don’t do Amazon. Don’t do eBay boards they are a time waster and get nasty. Used to do Answer Center Stores Board several years ago until they got nasty and you needed a posting ID.
I sell warm fuzzy hopelessly romantic Victorian repro cards, prints, bible mottos etc. My customer demographic is warm fuzzy hopelessly romantic women and the men who adore them and don’t mind shelling out $10 for an extra ordinary card that will delight the women they love.
The personal touch is what leads to multiple item purchases and return customers. The personal touch, remembering names, grandkids, where they live and what he bought for her last year (I have an excellent database) is what transitioned my repeat buyers to my website when I wanted off eBay. That is money in my pocket at very little cost in my time.
When I was on eBay it was very easy for me to template a personal sounding email at all stages of the sale. It paid off, over and over.
If I am on site during a Bonanza which is the whole point of the exercise, I can point a potential buyer at an item after very few questions. By spending an hour online being nice to a bunch of people I can build a reservoir of goodwill and when the occasion arises that something out of the ordinary is called for, they come to me.
An example, a refugee from Ike whom I met in my booth during my first Bonanza came back a month later & bought a spectacular card for the friends who gave them shelter, plus three other cards. Good sale, since she was pleased with her purchases she may tell friends and so it grows.
Don’t do Amazon. Don’t do eBay boards they are a time waster and get nasty. Used to do Answer Center Stores Board several years ago until they got nasty and you needed a posting ID.
I sell warm fuzzy hopelessly romantic Victorian repro cards, prints, bible mottos etc. My customer demographic is warm fuzzy hopelessly romantic women and the men who adore them and don’t mind shelling out $10 for an extra ordinary card that will delight the women they love.
The personal touch is what leads to multiple item purchases and return customers. The personal touch, remembering names, grandkids, where they live and what he bought for her last year (I have an excellent database) is what transitioned my repeat buyers to my website when I wanted off eBay. That is money in my pocket at very little cost in my time.
When I was on eBay it was very easy for me to template a personal sounding email at all stages of the sale. It paid off, over and over.
If I am on site during a Bonanza which is the whole point of the exercise, I can point a potential buyer at an item after very few questions. By spending an hour online being nice to a bunch of people I can build a reservoir of goodwill and when the occasion arises that something out of the ordinary is called for, they come to me.
An example, a refugee from Ike whom I met in my booth during my first Bonanza came back a month later & bought a spectacular card for the friends who gave them shelter, plus three other cards. Good sale, since she was pleased with her purchases she may tell friends and so it grows.
Two thoughts on this:
One point is that for people who are looking to b, it seems to me that it boils down to the age old “Do I want to buy my stuff from the mom and pop store down the street or from Walmart?” Of course, many people answer Walmart for price alone, but when price is not a consideration, I’d imagine that the majority of people appreciate the increased trust/quality that tend to correspond with knowing that the entity you’re buying from is a real and friendly person, rather than a “must get this sale done so I can make next sale”-type of business.
My other thought is that there are many people in the world (e.g., everyone at Kaboodle) who enjoys talking about shopping so much that they do it without any intention to sell whatsoever. They just like to socialize about the types of items that interest them, because they’re friendly people who realize that you can learn a lot about a person by the stuff they like. I doubt any of those people are visiting a blog like this one that’s focused on sell sell selling, but check Kaboodle’s traffic and you can see that many of those people exist.
Two thoughts on this:
One point is that for people who are looking to b, it seems to me that it boils down to the age old “Do I want to buy my stuff from the mom and pop store down the street or from Walmart?” Of course, many people answer Walmart for price alone, but when price is not a consideration, I’d imagine that the majority of people appreciate the increased trust/quality that tend to correspond with knowing that the entity you’re buying from is a real and friendly person, rather than a “must get this sale done so I can make next sale”-type of business.
My other thought is that there are many people in the world (e.g., everyone at Kaboodle) who enjoys talking about shopping so much that they do it without any intention to sell whatsoever. They just like to socialize about the types of items that interest them, because they’re friendly people who realize that you can learn a lot about a person by the stuff they like. I doubt any of those people are visiting a blog like this one that’s focused on sell sell selling, but check Kaboodle’s traffic and you can see that many of those people exist.
I was that refugee from Ike, and I when I needed something special, Henreitta is the first person I thought of. Why? Because of thne previous communication we had. I could have just as easily picked up a cheap card at CVS, but didn’t.
I spent years as a financial advisor, building my own book of business in a strange town with no personal market book to start with. How? Networking, networking, networking. Simple communication. How many times did I put myself in the right place for someone to ask, “What do you do?” A simple answer, they start asking questions, when they needed advice, the simple communication came back to mind.
If networking and communication were not important, why are there so many websites devoted 100% to that very thing? Why are blogs posting about places to promote like PlumDrop, etc.?
I do not spend hours and hours chatting away in my booth. I pay it forward in the forums, and communicate with potential buyers. This communication has created several attheboutique “fans”. One example has purchased from me three times already, all three large items. Why? He says because I was helpful, considerate and willing to communicate, and understand his “fears” of sellers he had previously dealt with.
Sure I get “drive by buyers” too at Bonanzle, but the ones that keep coming back, and build my “bread and butter” book of business are those that have shared communication with me.
Phaedra
I was that refugee from Ike, and I when I needed something special, Henreitta is the first person I thought of. Why? Because of thne previous communication we had. I could have just as easily picked up a cheap card at CVS, but didn’t.
I spent years as a financial advisor, building my own book of business in a strange town with no personal market book to start with. How? Networking, networking, networking. Simple communication. How many times did I put myself in the right place for someone to ask, “What do you do?” A simple answer, they start asking questions, when they needed advice, the simple communication came back to mind.
If networking and communication were not important, why are there so many websites devoted 100% to that very thing? Why are blogs posting about places to promote like PlumDrop, etc.?
I do not spend hours and hours chatting away in my booth. I pay it forward in the forums, and communicate with potential buyers. This communication has created several attheboutique “fans”. One example has purchased from me three times already, all three large items. Why? He says because I was helpful, considerate and willing to communicate, and understand his “fears” of sellers he had previously dealt with.
Sure I get “drive by buyers” too at Bonanzle, but the ones that keep coming back, and build my “bread and butter” book of business are those that have shared communication with me.
Phaedra