Never Sell Your Services From Your Website

Never Sell Your Services From Your Website

I realise that the headline might sound a little strange; to say that you should never sell your services from your website sounds counter intuitive does it not?

Surely the whole point of your website is to do exactly that; to sell your services?

Actually no, far from it.

Let’s think about another sector to take our minds away from our own businesses. Often we are far too close to our own business to allow us to stand back and see the wood from the trees.

Instead, let’s think about the car sales market. Let’s think about Audi, BMW and Mercedes, for example. You take your pick of your favourite marque… for me, Audi wins at the moment, but that’s just a personal choice.

If you look at any of these car brand websites, what do you think they are selling?

Do you think it is cars?

I don’t. Now I am a bit more interested in this than perhaps you might be, because it is all about marketing ultimately.

As an aside, my daughter said something very interesting recently about cars and the marketing of cars. She said that car manufacturers must make a lot of money because there are more car advertisements on the television than practically anything else (bookmaker websites apart maybe). I think she has a good point.

However, the car websites and advertisements rarely sell the car. They sell the lifestyle, the experience, the change that owning this car will have on someone’s life. All of this is designed with one thing in mind; to get you to a showroom to take a closer look and to get you inside the car.

Yes, they do mention price, and they do mention economy and all of these other details that you need when purchasing a car, but no one buys a car without looking at it in the flesh, so they sell the visit to the showroom and the test drive. That is what car websites ultimately are selling.

It may please you to know that your service is no different from a high priced car. Before any of your clients purchase you and your services, they will need to test drive you. Not physically of course, but in terms of wanting to speak with you about their current situation to discover if they think you possess the necessary skills to help them.

How can they buy you before they know more about you?

The simple truth is, unless you really are selling your service based solely being the cheapest in your market sector, you can never sell your service from your website. You must sell your ‘test drive’. Selling your service solely on price is, in my opinion, always the wrong choice.

When it comes to selling from your website, these are the things you should focus on selling:

  1. A free initial telephone call with you so that your prospects can find out more about you and you can find out more about their needs;
  2. A free guide explaining your services in more detail;
  3. A brochure; or
  4. A webinar about topical matters relating to your service.

Please would you do something for me?

Take a look at your website and see whether you are trying to achieve the impossible. Are you making the mistake of going into the details of your services, including mentioning the price and how your client can start the transaction with you? If you are, I recommend testing the approach above. It should lead to many more chats with prospective clients which in turn will lead to more new clients.

In the next blog post I will discuss why detailing the price of your services on your website is another big mistake to make.

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