3+ Ways to Make Your Website Your Greatest Salesperson

It’s the first thing people look at when researching a company, yet almost always overlooked when considering their sales team.

Your website can easily be your top sales performer and the greatest “hire” you’ll ever make. Consider what Claire Emerson of Copyblogger says,

“Your website doesn’t take breaks, it won’t call in sick,
and it’s focused on getting the results you want.”

Are you overlooking the sales impact your website can make?

3 Ways to Make Your Website Your Greatest Salesperson

1. Interview Your Website.

That may sound corny, but think of it this way: did you interview the salespeople you have on your team now? Of course, you did!

Start by creating a list of “interview questions” that you can use to evaluate your website. For example,

  • Does your website know and display everything about your print business that it should?
  • Are you reviewing your website’s success on a regular basis?
  • Do you offer your website “training” (i.e., content) on the questions your print buyers are asking?
  • Does your website promote and use all of your current product offerings, services, and pricing?

When you hire an employee, you give him or her your time and attention to help improve their effectiveness. The same is required for your website.

2. Build Trust Through Social Proof.

In today’s digital age, consumers can order whatever they need with a few clicks of a mouse and have it delivered right to their door in a matter of days. The majority of these orders are placed without ever having to speak to a salesperson.

So, how do these buyers trust the retailers they’re ordering online from? They use social proof.

If you’re not familiar with social proof, it’s basically establishing proof of the “Come on; everybody’s doing it” argument. Retailers, small businesses, and you are proving the successful experience of buyers gone before and showing prospects that they can trust you.

Reviews, testimonials, and case studies have to prove this for you on your website. Be sure to include these on your custom sliders, your home page, custom pages, and more. Remember, your website has to sell the fact that buyers can trust your business even if they never meet one of your team members face to face.

Pro tip: An easy way to establish trust on your website is through a blog. A blog shows your audience that you understand their challenges and enjoy answering their questions. An excellent blog will help build confidence in your print buyers, build relationships with them, and increase sales. And, best of all, blogging doesn’t have to be hard — it can be done for you.

3. Know Your Customer

If a business doesn’t understand its customer, it doesn’t matter whether the consumer interacts with the business online or in person.

It’s easy to review your products and services through the lens of “Does this meet the needs of our buyers?” But how many businesses run their websites under that same kind of scrutiny? That kind of scrutiny begins by asking yourself some questions, such as:

  • What does your print business want from its website? What are the things you want it to do for you? (Keep in mind that you’re hiring your website just as you would an employee to sell for your company.)
  • How will your website address your visitors’ needs? What changes have to happen to meet and anticipate those needs? The most successful way to sell printing is to invite visitors in with content and give them a path to order online from you. Does your website offer both of these?
  • If you fired your entire sales team and your website had to do it all, how would you reach your audience? How would you present your products and services?

Just as you wouldn’t hire a new salesperson and throw them into the deep end without making sure he or she had all of the information they needed, the same should be true of your greatest salesperson – your website. Invest in making it great!

[BONUS!] Additional Ideas for Making Your Website Your Best Salesperson

Here are a few more practical tips to invest in your website and make it your top seller:

  • Welcome your visitors. If your website visitor walked through your printing firm’s front door, the first thing they would most likely experience is a welcome from your friendly staff. Do the same on your website. Welcome them. Tell them you’re glad you’re here. It’s your digital smile and hello that will make a great first impression.
  • Consider some website swag (free stuff!). Your salespeople most likely have promotional items they give away to prospective clients, such as pens, notepads, calendars, etc. What does your website give away to welcome in your audience that has your branding on it? Offer free resources (such as artwork layout templates, white papers, etc.), and put them front and center on your website.  Pro tip: Use these resources as lead magnets and gate them. “Gating” a resource simply means your user must give you their email address in exchange for the resource you’re offering.
  • Make sure your website is self-guided. Every time anyone comes to your website, you want them to do something. This may mean you want them to sign up for your email newsletter, submit a lead form for your free resource, or order online. Whatever action they take, it’s your job (and your website’s job) to make it easy. Keep challenging yourself to make things easier to understand and more clear.

It’s time to start thinking of your website as more than just a glorified brochure and start treating it as the round-the-clock employee that it is. And good news, unlike your current sales team, you can try out your website salesperson free by clicking below!

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