Making money online and offline mainly comes down to this. You give somebody value and they will give you money in exchange. So, if you want more money you need to give more value.
There are many ways to give value, but the three ways I give value to others is by offering services, offering entertainment, and offering information. These are the three most common and ethical ways to give value to others and get some cash in return.
So for example, if you are an experienced boxer you could offer online and/or offline training services. You could charge your students a reasonable monthly fee or you could charge them by the hour. Or you can sell an information product that teaches people how to become better boxers.
If teaching is, not your thing then you can just record videos of yourself training, sparring or participating in organized fights. You can then display ads on your website or on your YouTube videos.
If you want people to spend time on your website and buy your stuff, you need to make sure that you’re a credible source. In other words, you need to be an expert or at least very experienced in your niche. If you just started boxing last month, I don’t recommend starting a boxing business unless you are going to let your viewers know that you’re not an expert, but you enjoy the sport, and you want to share your experiences with them.
You can create a zero to hero business. Start from scratch and learn as you go and people will be able to follow your path and see what it takes to start from nothing and become a highly experienced boxer.
I’m just using boxing as an example but you can create an online/offline business based on any talent or passion you may have.
One of the keys to success is giving value. If you’re not giving value then you’re probably not going to be successful.
There are scammers out there that are making lots of money online but those kinds of businesses usually don’t last long and they usually require a lot of work because once you scam somebody you will lose their trust and they will stay far away from you. Some people will even go out of their way to damage your business.
So, always remember to give people as much value as possible and they will happily give you money in exchange.
Gain and Retain Customers by Giving Exceptional Value!
It may seem obvious but if you offer your customers exceptional value for money, you will gain new customers AND retain existing ones. Unfortunately, not everyone seems to realize this 🙁
I don’t know whether it is just me but I do get the feeling that many online sellers are more interested in lining their own pockets than providing a top-quality service and superb value for money.
Now, don’t get me wrong, we all need to make a living BUT the ideal business transaction is one where everybody involved wins and that means both the seller AND the buyer.
Regardless of what you are selling, be it tangible or intangible products, there is always a way of going the extra mile to give your customer that little bit extra. The benefits to you and your business will far outweigh any small cost that might be involved.
For example, let’s say you are selling a tangible product online and it requires batteries. Instead of shipping the product without batteries, include them in the package. Batteries are incredibly cheap and you don’t have to send your buyers the top of the range Duracells! If they weren’t expecting them, it makes a nice surprise especially if you include a note pointing out that you have included them as a goodwill gesture.
Some years ago that was a seller on eBay who would include a handful of sweets with every package that he/she sent – for all I know they are still doing it. How much effort/cost did that take? Hardly anything but nearly all of the seller’s feedback comments referred to the sweets and ‘what a nice gesture’ they were.
If it is appropriate, why not consider including some form of intangible digital product with your sales? There are numerous ways of wrapping a digital product around a tangible one – an eBook about the product, a training video explaining how to use it, an audio CD detailing how to get the best results from the product and so on. Digital products are extremely cheap to reproduce and again whenever the buyer gets something more than they are expecting, it gives them a pleasant warm feeling inside 🙂
At the end of the day, the ideal situation is to make your buyers feel like the money they have spent with you is the best they have ever spent and that they have really been looked after. It doesn’t matter if they are spending £5 or £500, they have chosen to give their money to you and you should respect that and ensure that they receive fair value in return. I like to give my customers fair value and then some!
Take my recently launched SimplyWholesale.co.uk website… Anyone that has joined in the past month received access to hundreds of pounds worth of products and resources on day one (which is already great value for money given that membership costs from just £3.08 per month) but I diddon’t stop there. All members have also received the following ‘extras’ over the last few weeks, all at no extra cost:
- Almost 200 new wholesale offers from UK wholesalers
- An 80 minute AdSense training video (normal price about £15)
- ‘Be Found’ ebook by Martin Pickering (normal price £7.95)
- ‘Lazy Mans Guide to Making Big Money’ eBook by Martin Pickering (normal price £19.95)
- Special wholesale pricing and free shipping on orders for PowerBall products available to members only.
- Entry into a free prize draw – one member walked away with an iPod Nano (not bad value for his £4.99 membership fee!)
It would be very hard for any member to claim that they hadn’t received their moneys worth which brings me to another benefit of giving great value for money – refunds – you won’t get asked to give them!
Think about it, if your customer has received unbeatable value for money, they aren’t going to ask for their money back are they?
Bottom line – offer real value to your customers and you will keep them coming back. It is far better to have a customer that is happy to buy from you again and again as opposed to offering a sloppy deal which makes you a few quid but means that the buyer will never buy from you again…..
