Despite all the flack that social media gets for spreading fake news and moral decadence, we can all agree that the medium has made it easier for people to do business.
These days, we now have social media vendors or merchants doing well for themselves. With the right product and good marketing skills, you can make a lot of money online without a physical location.
Every product you can think of has at least a thousand other vendors on social media. The competition is so stiff that all vendors should be doing everything possible to make sales, right? Unfortunately, so many are selling the wrong way and don’t even realize it.
You post a picture of a nice pair of sneakers you want me to buy. Your caption describes how it is the best thing since sliced bread and that you can deliver it to me at whatever location I like, only for you to end the caption with “DM for price.” Okay, let’s assume I’m sold on the offer and decide to ask for the price in the comment section
It’s presumptuous for vendors to believe their offer is so juicy that every single person that comes across it will indeed DM for a price you could have added to your caption. Or a price you could have put on the product image so potential buyers won’t have to ask too many questions.
Here’s why 99.9% of potential buyers will skip your page and patronize another vendor.
1. It’s a big turn off
Think about it. These are total strangers that have probably never patronized you before so it’s wrong to be leaving orders for them. Apart from that, you can’t trust the attention span of buyers to be long enough to bring them into your DM for further enquiries. Most will move on to the next vendor and assume you’re not ready to do business.
2. It might come off as a red flag
There are so many scammers posing as vendors on social media and people have got their fingers burnt a lot. One of their tactics is to lure unsuspecting buyers into their DM and convince them to make payment for goods to be shipped. There’s nothing on your page that shows you are one of the good ones, your potential customers flee.
3. There are one million other vendors
Don’t have the delusion that your business is so unique. There are one million other options and people will gladly move on at the slightest sign of unseriousness or friction.
If you are a social media vendor or planning to be one, please let’s do better and avoid this mistake. It could be one of the reasons you are not closing as many sales as you should.
