As promised, the first of many ideas that were put forward by Seth Godin in his London talk.

When you’re looking around in a store, and the sales assistant comes up to you and says “Can I help you?“, most of us respond in the same way. We smile at them, and tell them we’re just looking.

The sales assistant just missed an opportunity. At that point, there’s nothing they can do other than mumble something about “let me know if you need any help” and slide away, leaving you on your own.

So why do most sales assistants use a line that has a 99% failure rate?

If the same assistant walked over to you, saw you were looking at paperback books, and told you that there was a whole section of the bookstore with a 3 for 2 pricing offer, wouldn’t you be interested? Chances are you’d take a look at what was on offer. And if the selection was good, chances are that you’d end up buying more than you originally intended.

If you’re selling products or services through your website, then you probably don’t have an online sales assistant. Chances are that most of your visitors are arriving at your main page, and what greets them there has three roles: to entice them to stay, to make them want to read more, and to get them to actually click their mouse.

If the first thing your visitor sees is a statement of your company’s mission, where you’re based, or that you’re dedicated to making the world’s fastest, cheapest or most effective product, then what happens? They have to actively find out if you offer what they’re looking for.

If, on the other hand, the first thing they see addresses their needs, problems and presents them with a solution, you’ve already achieved your first goal.

Don’t make your visitors work for you.

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