People love to buy ... but they hate being sold to

An experience I've had recently with a persistent salesman confirms the old principle that 'people love to buy but they hate being sold to'.

This person phoned me from a web design company in a foreign country and asked if I would like to do a joint business venture with his firm. His proposal was that I would get clients in New Zealand and his company would do the web development work at an attractive price ... and I would make a nice profit on each job.

Nothing wrong with that. I'm already outsourcing some of my web development work. But I like to choose carefully the people I outsource to. I'm always open to someone approaching me and making a proposal ... but at the end of the day I like to make the choice. Nothing turns me off faster than someone who is too pushy with their sales pitch.

Unfortunately, this guy was very pushy. He phoned me a couple of times and I guess I have myself partly to blame, by giving him a glimmer of encouragement that I might be interested in his services. But when he rang me back a third time, that was the end of it. He was being too pushy.

His company may be offering just what I need. But his pushy manner has turned me off.

So, the moral is, don't make this mistake in your own business. On your website, don't be too pushy with your sales copy. Let people browse. Give them plenty of information. Spell out the benefits of what you are selling. Offer a free report or something similar of genuine value, in return for an email address. Follow up regularly but don't sell too hard. Give lots of information. When people are ready, they will buy. They will feel they have made the decision themselves. They won't feel they have been pushed into buying.

And that makes all the difference.