12 reasons why potential clients and customers won't immediately buy from you

One of the quotations I use in my workshops is by Jay Conrad Levinson and it's this:

"Marketing is not an event, but a process . . . it has a beginning, a middle, but never an end, for it is a process. You improve it, perfect it, change it, even pause it. But you never stop it completely"

The reason for this is that marketing is about keeping in touch with your target audience in a sustained way to ensure they know who you are and feel good about your business at the point when they (or their friends, families or colleagues) are about to buy.

Marketing promotions seldom resonate the first time round and here's why:

1. They were away and didn't see it in the first place
2. They have a huge pile or post and paperwork that they need to get through
3. They don't yet know you or your business well enough
4. You have not yet earned their trust
5. They have more questions but have not got round to asking them
6. They are not interested in what you are offering at the moment
7. They don't have the money at the moment
8. They didn't understand the benefit of what you are offering them
9. This particular ad or marketing offer was weak
10. They don't read the marketing vehicle you chose
11. Your website was unimpressive with old news and poor usability
12. They were going to respond ...and then they forgot

I don't think any of those sound unreasonable do they? These are the many reasons that we too fail to respond instantly to something which actually interests us. How many of us bookmark items on Etsy and Ebay that you may, or may not buy later?

The thing is if you know these are the reasons people are not going to buy from you the first time they hear about your business you need to do things to mitigate those reasons like:

• Repeat offers, e-mails, door drops, newsletters, adverts and so forth
• Build relationships on social media
• Have an excellent About Us Page
• Make sure you have testimonials on your website/marketing material and encourage those Google Reviews
• Think about putting an FAQ page on your website
• Where appropriate offer them the opportunity to pay in instalments
• Make sure your website is responsive so it works well on smartphones
• Measure and monitor your advertising and marketing activities, ditch those which are not effective and try new things

I hope that helps – onwards and upwards! It's easy when you know how - or know someone who does ;-)