Article Surfing Archive

Can a 10-year-old teach you anything about Internet marketing? Until recently, I didn't think so. But let me tell you what happened...

My 10-year-old son Ben and his sisters wanted to attend a musical theater class. The total price tag? $1,590!

I said they could go, but they'd need to earn the tuition money.

Well, the kids are the published authors of a children's book called 15 Reasons I Love My Dad. It retails for $14.95. Their proposal - go door to door and sell their book until they raised the $1,590.

They decided to give people an incentive to buy the book now by running a 'neighborhood special' and offering it for only $10.00 instead of $14.95. In doing so, they created a reason for people to take action.

Ben wrote the first spiel:

"Hi, I'm Ben and I'm the author of 15 Reasons I Love My Dad, a fill-in-the-blank book that lets children show their dad how much they love him. I'm running a neighborhood special today. You can get the book for only $10 instead of $14.95. Would you like to buy one?"

Ben journeyed out into the world of door to door sales'and sold five books to the first 13 people he talked to. His sales conversion rate? 38%!

Ben wasn't too happy with this. Afterall, eight people didn't buy his book. So, he sat down with his partners to make some changes.

The kids rewrote the spiel. They added a reason why by telling their prospect they were raising money to attend a musical theater camp and they started handing the book to the person as they talked.

The combination of the reason why and putting the book in the hand of the prospect increased their conversion rate. The kids talked to eight people and sold four books. Their conversion rate? An impressive 50%.

But they still weren't satisfied. They wanted more people to buy their book. I tried explaining to them how in the Internet marketing world, I'm happy with a one to two percent conversion rate when I first start out. They looked at me like I was crazy...The thought of knocking on 100 doors and only selling two books did not appeal to them at all!

After some review, they decided that simply asking a person if they wanted to buy a book made it too easy to say no. So, they added a stronger call to action at the end. And, they started going out in groups of two:

"Hi, I'm Ben and I'm the author of 15 Reasons I Love My Dad. (Hand the book to the prospect.) It's a fill-in-the-blank book that lets children show their dad how much they love him."

"And I'm Cassie. We're raising money to take a musical theater class. We're running a neighborhood special today. You can get the book for only $10 instead of $14.95. How many would you like to buy?"

The next time out, they went to eight houses and sold six books. Conversion rate? A whopping 75%!

No one bought more than one book but instead of being told, "No, I'm not interested" most people responded by saying, "Ohhh, I think one is enough..."

Granted, the kids have only sold 15 books and they've got a way to go to reach their goal of selling 159. And, their numbers are too small to conclusively say that each little change was directly responsible for the corresponding increase in sales. But, assuming their results are valid, what Internet marketing tips can you learn from a 10-year-old?

First, set a goal. Know what you want to accomplish.

Second, create a plan for accomplishing your goal. Adding a deadline always helps.

Third, start somewhere and then make changes to improve your sales. They can only get better.

Fourth, give an incentive to take action now - offering a limited time special or a limited number of items for sale creates a sense of urgency.

Fifth, tell your prospects the reason for your offer.

Sixth, have a strong call to action so people know exactly what you want them to do.

And seventh, know your numbers. Make changes designed to improve your conversion rate and then monitor what happens.

And there you go. Real world Internet marketing lessons from a 10-year-old.