Menu Close

How to Make Sales Online (5-Step Process)

how to make sales online

If you hope to succeed in social entrepreneurship (conducting business with a social/environmental mission), then you must learn how to make sales online. Even if you aren’t engaged in traditional e-commerce, you may eventually need to acquire new clients, launch crowdfunding campaigns, form strategic partnerships, and/or create additional revenue streams. Your online sales and digital marketing skillset will make or break you in each of these scenarios.

5 Steps for Sales

Eden Fried provides a 5-step process for selling online courses in a brilliant post on Persuasion Nation. By making some slight tweaks and additions to her process, we believe that it can be applied to a wide range of sale-oriented activities, such as fundraising and partnership sourcing. Here is our take on Eden’s 5-step process:

1. Connect

The first step in online sales is connecting. You need to find ways to reach your target audience through online channels (see below).

  • Social Media
  • Forums
  • Search Engines
  • Referrals
  • Paid Advertisements

Before you begin outreach campaigns, it is essential to define your target audience by creating user personas. Our free guide on marketing plan creation will help get you started:

5 Steps for Sales: How to Make Sales Online

2. Educate

Once your target audience is aware of your brand, you will want to begin educating them with useful content. This informative content should help your audience solve specific problems and position your organization as a credible resource. Here are some educational content mediums:

  • Blog Posts
  • Videos
  • Infographics
  • Podcasts

You may be wondering what problems you can solve with a blog post… Here are some possibilities:

  • Unresolved questions about your industry or region
  • Ways to support your target beneficiaries
  • Guidance on your target audience’s jobs to be done
  • Lists of relevant resources on audience interests

3. Convert

After establishing initial trust with your audience, it is time to convert them into leads. You can accomplish this by offering supplemental resources in exchange for email addresses, as well as other pertinent information. Potential resources include:

  • Checklists
  • Guides
  • eBooks
  • White Papers
  • Worksheets
  • Reports
  • Mini-Courses
  • Webinars

Similar to educational content, supplemental content should help your audience solve specific problems. Conversion strategies perform best when you integrate supplemental content offers into your top-performing educational content. For example, you could offer a downloadable Instagram checklist as part of a blog post that covers Instagram marketing.

how to make online sales: content marketing

4. Engage

Once people give you their email addresses, you should send them a series of engaging emails to increase credibility and trust. First, you should email them the resource that they initially requested (e.g. an Instagram checklist). After the initial email, it is useful to follow up with an email or two that provides additional solution-oriented content (e.g. Instagram photo tips). In addition to educational content, the final engagement email should include a brief teaser to build anticipation for the product/service/opportunity that you are about to pitch.

  1. Requested Resource
  2. Value Add
  3. Value Add
  4. Value Add + Teaser

You will want to prepare your messages before you begin collecting leads (step 3). Additionally, engagement is easiest when you create automated email sequences with a mass mailing service, such as MailChimp or ConvertKit.

5. Pitch

The last step in closing online sales is pitching. You must persuasively communicate the benefits of your primary product/service/opportunity. Similar to engagement, pitching consists of a four email sequence:

  1. Pitch
  2. FAQs
  3. Reminder
  4. Limited Offer

In the first email, you will want to convey key offer information, such as the unique features of your product/service/opportunity. You can strengthen your pitch by including customer testimonials. Additionally, you need to include a deadline for your offer. The second email should answer common questions, as well as address potential objections, and the third email should remind people of the upcoming deadline. Finally, your fourth email will provide a persuasive “last call” for people to get your limited offer.

How to Make Sales Online in Unconventional Scenarios

While this process makes sense for product/service sales, you may still be wondering how these strategies might be applied to other activities, such as crowdfunding campaigns and partnership sourcing. Steps 1 and 2 will essentially be the same in these situations. However, you will want to make slight alterations to the final three steps.

how to make sales online: crowdfunding and partnerships

Since crowdfunding campaigns require coordinated timing, you will want to perform step 5 at roughly the same time for all of your leads. This may require you to extend the length of engagement for leads that you acquire early. You can do this by providing consistent value adds through a weekly newsletter until your crowdfunding campaign goes live. Additionally, you can use strategies to gather a lot of leads in a short timespan by running paid advertising campaigns in step 1.

Since partnerships require higher levels of interpersonal interaction than product/service sales, you will want to augment step 5 by requesting a call or face-to-face meeting in your pitch email. Since you may have unique specifications for partners, you will also want to collect additional lead information in step 3. By collecting pertinent information, such as people’s job functions and company sizes, you can narrow your list of potential partners.

Make Sure to Deliver Value

On a final note, it is important to ensure that your product/service/opportunity meets, and ideally exceeds, people’s expectations. Since retaining customers requires less investment than acquiring customers, you will want to ensure that your buyers, donors, and/or partners remain satisfied.

Hopefully, this post provides a new set of tools for your social entrepreneurship arsenal. If you are ready to take your digital marketing to the next level, please consider downloading our Marketing Plan Creation Guide so you can design an expert marketing strategy for your social enterprise.

Apply Our 5-Step Process to Generate Online Sales for Your Social Enterprise!

Intelligence

How the Private Sector Can Replace USAID

As the U.S. Government reduces the footprint of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the private sector can replace...
Read More
How the Private Sector Can Replace USAID
Intelligence

RSB Sustainable Aviation Fuel and Startups Reducing Carbon Emissions in Aviation

The aviation industry is one of the fastest-growing contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. However, the sector is also at the...
Read More
RSB Sustainable Aviation Fuel and Startups Reducing Carbon Emissions in Aviation
Opportunities

24 EdTech Jobs and the Skills You Need to Get Them

The education technology (EdTech) industry is booming, offering exciting career opportunities for people passionate about transforming education through technology. Whether...
Read More
24 EdTech Jobs and the Skills You Need to Get Them
Opportunities

How to Start a Business If Graphic Design Is Your Passion

If graphic design fuels your creativity, why not turn your passion into a thriving business? Whether you dream of designing...
Read More
How to Start a Business If Graphic Design Is Your Passion
Intelligence

Top 5 Countries Poised to Benefit from the Energy Transition

The global shift toward renewable energy is reshaping the economic landscape, creating new opportunities for countries rich in natural resources...
Read More
Top 5 Countries Poised to Benefit from the Energy Transition
Opportunities

Business Opportunities in Recycling Components of Green Technologies

As green technologies continue to expand, the demand for effective recycling solutions for their components is becoming a critical area...
Read More
Business Opportunities in Recycling Components of Green Technologies
Intelligence

Solving Any Business Problem with AI: 7-Step Process

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing the way businesses approach problem-solving. From enhancing decision-making to automating repetitive tasks, AI offers a...
Read More
Solving Any Business Problem with AI: 7-Step Process
Intelligence

Top 10 Technologies Social Entrepreneurs Should Learn

In today’s fast-paced world, social entrepreneurs are leveraging technology to drive impact and solve pressing societal challenges. Understanding and utilizing...
Read More
Top 10 Technologies Social Entrepreneurs Should Learn
Intelligence

Top 7 Skills to Succeed as a Social Entrepreneur

Social entrepreneurship is a dynamic field where innovation meets social impact. To thrive in this space, social entrepreneurs need a...
Read More
Top 7 Skills to Succeed as a Social Entrepreneur
Intelligence

8 Methods to Make Efficient Social Enterprises

Efficiency is critical for social enterprises striving to maximize their impact with limited resources. By adopting strategies that streamline operations...
Read More
8 Methods to Make Efficient Social Enterprises
Opportunities

Entrepreneurship Opportunities When China Youth Unemployment is High

High unemployment can be a daunting challenge, but it also presents a unique opportunity for young people in China to...
Read More
Entrepreneurship Opportunities When China Youth Unemployment is High
Opportunities

22 Recession-Proof Social Enterprise Ideas

During a recession, social enterprises play a crucial role in addressing societal challenges while also contributing to economic resilience. Here...
Read More
22 Recession-Proof Social Enterprise Ideas
Intelligence

How to Start a Business When You Have No Ideas

Starting a business can be an exhilarating journey, but it often begins with a fundamental challenge: finding the right idea....
Read More
How to Start a Business When You Have No Ideas
Opportunities

23 ESG Jobs and How to Land Them

As businesses increasingly focus on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues, the demand for skilled professionals in this field is...
Read More
23 ESG Jobs and How to Land Them
Intelligence

Adapt to AI Impact on Search Volume Using Semrush

As AI continues to reshape the digital landscape, one notable shift is the decrease in traditional search engine query volume....
Read More
Adapt to AI Impact on Search Volume Using Semrush
Intelligence Opportunities

10 Largest Problems for Social Entrepreneurs to Solve by 2050

As we look toward the future, the world faces a myriad of challenges that will require innovative solutions. Social entrepreneurs,...
Read More
10 Largest Problems for Social Entrepreneurs to Solve by 2050
Intelligence

Turning Customers into Repeat Buyers: Strategies for Social Entrepreneurs

For social entrepreneurs, building a loyal customer base is crucial not only for financial sustainability but also for advancing their...
Read More
Turning Customers into Repeat Buyers: Strategies for Social Entrepreneurs
Intelligence

Cultivating Sustainability: 7 Innovations Reshaping the Food Industry

In an era of increasing environmental awareness and concern over food security, the global food industry is undergoing a profound...
Read More
Cultivating Sustainability: 7 Innovations Reshaping the Food Industry
Opportunities

Revitalizing Urban Spaces: 10 Creative Uses for Empty Storefronts

In many cities, empty storefronts have become a common sight, symbolizing economic challenges and shifts in retail landscapes. However, innovative...
Read More
Revitalizing Urban Spaces: 10 Creative Uses for Empty Storefronts
Intelligence

Building Tomorrow: Exploring 7 Sustainable Construction Technologies

In recent years, the global construction industry has undergone a significant transformation, fueled by a growing emphasis on sustainability and...
Read More
Building Tomorrow: Exploring 7 Sustainable Construction Technologies
{"slides_column":1,"slides_scroll":1,"dots":"true","arrows":"true","autoplay":"true","autoplay_interval":2000,"speed":300,"lazyload":""}
Affiliate Disclaimer

In compliance with the FTC guidelines, please assume the following about all links, posts, photos and other material on this website:

Any/all of the links on this website are affiliate links of which Social Sector Network, LLC receives a small commission from sales of certain items, but the price is the same for you.

Please support our social entrepreneurship education efforts by purchasing products and services through our affiliate links.

Leave a Reply

Share via
Copy link