The Five Step Sales Process

Anyone who has ever tried to sell something through a website knows that it’s not as easy as it sounds. There’s a definite science to selling online, and in this short article I’ll outline the five step sales process that all successful online marketers use.

Although some businesses may thrive on selling one product at a time, most thrive on drawing customers in with a promotion, and then motivating them to buy other things once they get there. You just bought some jeans? How about a new belt and some socks too? Those weren’t the jeans you were looking for? How about these cotton slacks instead?

In the online sales world, we call this upselling and downselling – drawing your customers in, making the sale and then upselling them to another complimentary product, or not making the sale but downselling them to something different.

This is known as “The 5 Step Sales Process” (or 4, or 6 … depending on how you structure it. But for now, let’s stick with 5).

Components of the 5 Step Sales Process

1. The Sales Page
2. The Upsell (or OTO –“One Time Offer)
3. The Downsell
4. The Exit pop-up
5. The Thank You Page

Not all of these components need to be there for online sales success. Other steps can be added – some omitted. It will depend a lot on what you’re selling and what you’re able to sell along with it or in place of it. The more comprehensive your sales process though, the better chance you’ll have of going from surviving to thriving in your online business.

Flow Chart of Sales Process:

sales process chart

Sales Process Engineering

The Sales Page

Here’s where you pitch your primary product. Main components of the sales page include:

- Eye-catching Headline
- Comprehensive product information
- Testimonials
- Free Bonuses (if any)
- The purchase link or button … etc.

There’s a real science to creating an effective sales page … a topic I’ll cover in another instalment of this series …

The Upsell

You’ve made your sale! Hurray! The customer has their wallet out and is in the buying mood, so now is no time to let them simply wander off. It’s time to UPSELL! Here are a few ideas:

- A complimentary product (You bought shampoo. How about some conditioner too?).
- Add on services and Upgrade (You bought web hosting. How about a website design package to go along with it?)
- Advanced Level (You bought level one Thai Massage Training. How about Level 2 and our advanced Thai Massage Teacher Training course too?)

The important thing to remember about upselling is to offer your new customer a “One Time Deal” (known as OTO) … a special discount or offer that they can only get right here and right now!

The Downsell

This one is a little different from the Upsell. Your customer isn’t fresh off a purchase and may or may not be in a buying mood. The only thing that you know for sure is that your first product offer didn’t hook them. A few things to try on the downsell.

- the same product at a reduced cost
- a similar but different product
- a free trial

The Downsell is a softer approach. You still want to make a sale if you can, but at the very least, you want to generate a contact/lead that you can market to in the future.

The Exit Popup

Some people don’t like exit popups – that little window that pops up when you try to close the page that says “Wait one Second …” Personally I use them sparingly, but they can be a good way to capture a lead that would otherwise slip away. A couple of good things to offer here are:

- a deep discount
- a free trial

The Thank You Page

You need to give your new customer instructions on how to collect their purchase. Here’s where you do it!

There’s a lot of dimensions to a successful online sales process. I’ll be picking apart all the steps in the sales process in some upcoming articles, including the ever-important optin and lead capture process.

But first, the Squeeze Page – the first step in building your potential customer list …

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Part 1: The Five Step Sales Process
Part 2:  The Squeeze Page – the first step in list building
Part 3: Email List Management – your key to online business success
Part 4: Automatic Responder – why you need to use them