Learn to Sell Apparel Like a Pro!

I got an email the other day with “Scared Shirtless?” as the headline from a supplier in the promotional products industry.

After a quick chuckle surrounding the play on words, I found myself more than a little curious so I clicked through. I opened the email and was invited to a webinar where I could “Learn to Sell Apparel Like a Pro!” Now I’m thinking, ‘well since I get paid to sell apparel, that makes me a pro…I’d better check it out to make sure the other “pros” know what they’re talking about’. In any event, the value proposition was there, I would get FREE tips for apparel sales.

With a simple headline I was “pulled” in, I wanted to find out more, I was curious, I was engaged and I couldn’t help myself. The headline didn’t try to “push” me to buy anything…there would be plenty of time for that, an abundance of opportunities for me to buy something once they got me to the site…books, cds, mp3, videos, etc.

If the headline had just offered me “10% Off This Great CD Set To Sell More Shirts”, I would have deleted that email in about a half-a-second.

It can be argued that headlines may be more important than the content itself because if they never click through there is no chance of conversion. So the goal should always be to get them to click through, but then make sure you can deliver or they won’t be coming back.

John Zalepka

We have all heard the many success stories about how average everyday people are just crushing it (you know making million$) with social media. The great news is that these average everyday people are using the very same social media platforms that we all have access to, and the best part is that most of them are FREE!

However, just having access to them for FREE! does not guarantee you anything.

It is the equivalent of having a FREE! gym membership and expecting to have six-pack abs because you go to the gym once or twice a month. You need to put in the hard work necessary to really get in shape.

Similarly, your FREE! social media membership will only benefit you in direct proportion to the amount of hard work you put in.

This is how I’m getting started…

I believe that the best way to get started is to concentrate on your core. Much in the same way it is important to have a strong core when working out, it is important to have a strong core when starting out in social media…my Core 4:

Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, YouTube

Studies have shown that people only believe about 15% of online advertising, while they believe 90% of their peer reviews.

Get your accounts up and running and start connecting with people. But whatever you do, don’t start selling (adverting) right away. Instead, start posting great information (content). Information that your customers and prospective customers will find useful. Try to become THE source for when people need information about something in your industry. Become the local celebrity expert! We’ve all seen people become famous recently just because of something “crazy” they posted on social media. But really aren’t they just positioning themselves as the expert of ‘how not to jump off your roof onto a trampoline while riding a bicycle’?

After you have connected and engaged your friends / readers / followers / subscribers by providing great content, they will start to give you back their information and hopefully start to refer you to others who may find your product or services useful by retweeting, reposting, liking, etc, etc, etc.

Make sure to put links back to your website where people can get more information and make a purchase; only then will you be able to capitalize on your hard work on the Core 4: Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin & YouTube.

So let’s get started!

John Zalepka