| I was absolutely shocked when I checked out
a new client's website. He is an author who wants to sell more books.
But he doesn't have an online shopping cart!
He expects people to call his 800 number and give him their
credit card number over the phone.
He also asks people to send checks to his post office box.
While both calls to action might seen normal, they are so
1980!
In today's world, people expect to pay online. And you as
an author should have an online shopping cart in place to take their money.
Here Are 7 Reasons to Use a Professional Online Shopping
Cart & Stop Taking Orders by Phone
1. People live in dozens of different time zones.
Do you want to answer the phone at 2 a.m. your time because
someone in England is having her first cup of coffee and wants to order your book?
2. People shop on weekends.
I don't know about you, but I'd rather be out in my kayak
on a weekend than sitting by the phone waiting for a book order.
3. Telephone tag.
Let's say you just appeared on a talk radio show and people
are calling to order your book. They will get a busy signal since you can talk to only one
person at a time. You'll find that you have to call back a dozen people. If this happens,
you run the risk of playing telephone tag – and possibly never connecting with them.
4. Expensive phone charges.
When you return phone calls, you risk paying long-distance
rates including international phone calling rates. Your cost of taking the order just
jumped through the roof.
5. Too much time, not enough money.
When you take orders over the phone, you have to be nice.
There's nothing wrong with being nice, but you have to engage people in a conversation:
How's the weather? Where are you calling from? How long have you been interested in this
topic? If you don't ask questions like this, people will think you are rude and might not
want to buy your book! This all takes time. Is your time worth money? Well if you take 10
minutes to call someone and accept the order, you could be out $20 if you charge $120 an
hour for consulting services. Now, if you have to make a lot of book order sales calls,
you can be out hundreds of dollars.
6. When you only take order over the phone, you have to
sell the person, not just take the order.
Many authors are not comfortable selling on the phone. Or
they are bad at asking for the order. You could blow the sale.
7. Too many mistakes.
It is all too easy to misspell the person's name, mailing
address or credit card number. I call this unintentional dyslexia. You think you typed in
"54" and you said "54" to the client, but you really wrote
"45."
If you had an online shopping cart, like
MyEasyOnlineStore.com which is used by many authors including myself, you'd solve all
these problems!
5 Reasons to Get a Professional Online Shopping Cart Now
1. Online shopping carts take orders 24 hours a day, seven
days a week, without you being present.
2. It can handle multiple orders simultaneously.
So if you get flooded with orders, your buyers won't get a
busy signal on the phone. Instead, they'll get a confirmation note from the shopping cart
that the order has gone through.
3. You can spend your time make money and creating new
products, or providing services to your clients. You won't spend time verifying orders.
4. No mistakes.
People will type in their information correctly. If the
credit card info is wrong, or if information is missing, the shopping cart will alert the
buyer immediately.
5. Online shopping carts protect you from fraud.
If the card isn't valid, the shopping cart won't let the
order go through. On the other hand, if you get a bad check in the mail and you deposit
it, your bank will charge you a fee. If you already mailed the product, then you will have
lost the price of your product as well as the postage – and your time. |
