Getting the Conversation Going Online
by Danny Brown on February 12th, 2008
Think back to the last time you received a sales letter or email from either a marketing company, or a supplier or service provider eager for your business. If you can recall it, there’s a strong chance that it was because of the way it was written, as opposed to the actual content.
With the Internet and online sales opening up the business world like never before, it’s becoming less and less frequent that business people are meeting face-to-face to discuss possible deals, purchases, etc. Instead, email has become the new form of contact, and the sales web page the new form of advertising. However, that doesn’t mean that you necessarily need to keep everything business-like in this media.
When you have a good relationship with a client or provider, what do you think the biggest reasons are? Sure, there are the normal ones like price and product, but a major part of your success is down to the way your business relationship is with these people. They like coming to you because you treat them as a normal person, and you have a friendly conversational tone in any business dealings.
So why not transfer that to the way you communicate in other forms? After all, when you stop and think about it, the very nature of a conversation is encouraging two or more people to actively talk to each other. It also encourages interaction; so, if you suggest an idea, you can have immediate agreement or suggestions. Once this agreement in a conversation is reached, you move onto the next part of the conversation.
Shifting a conversational approach into your emails or website can have just as big an impact on you and your business. A conversational tone is more likely to engender an emotional response, just like it would if you were face-to-face with someone. You know how people always complain about how misconstrued an email can be, because you can’t judge the tone? This is where implementing your personality can make all the difference.
It’s fairly easy to do as well. Although not every phrase or comment will translate successfully, using everyday phrases and words of your own will soften email or web copy. Imagine you’re talking to the person on the phone – you know yourself that you’d handle the conversation a lot differently, but why should you?
If you would normally say “Hi John, it’s Tony here, I need to tell you about something great” on the phone, that can work with an email. It shows that you still value your client or customer as a person, and not just another sales number. It also shows that you’re relaxed enough around your clients to keep a friendly conversational tone, and they’ll naturally respond to that.
This can transfer itself to potential new clients as well – after all, friendliness and professionalism can go hand in hand, and make a big difference to your sales and success.
