It is often said that the best salesman is one that does not look like he is selling. The best salesman will appear to the customer as a friend and will quickly win over the trust of the counterparty. Then they will give suggestions creating a favorable impression. Once the customer believes they are an ally, they will be more likely to conduct a business transaction with them. This model is called consultation based selling and this is precisely what business forums allow you to do in the case of an online retail business.

Understand who Visits Business Forums:

There are loads of business forums out there and they attract a significant amount of traffic. The traffic includes your competitors, your customers, your suppliers and the public at large. Everyone who is visiting these business forums has something to do with the online retail industry. They are your prospective customers in some way or another. Hence, you must conduct a detailed analysis of the number of clicks each business forum gets and use other matrices of popularity as well.

Locate Your Target Market:

The next step would be to locate your immediate target market. Although everyone is your target market, you must have some priorities in mind. This will help you get quicker results. You need a neutral opportunity to impress your target market and that is exactly what these business forums provide. They will perceive you as a neutral source that is trying to solve problems for other people that belong to the wholesale USA trade.

Show Your Expertise:

Clients all over the world want to deal with competent suppliers who have proven their expertise. Smaller businesses do not get the luxury of verifying your expertise. Hence, you can show them first hand what an experience dealing with you would be like. Client focus and the ability and willingness to solve problems are one of the top traits sought after worldwide by prospective customers.

Do It For Free Before You Charge Them:

It is essential that you do not come off as greedy or overtly trying to sell a service on business forums. The idea is to give them a free sample. Show them your expertise and they are bound to want more. When they ask you for more upfront, that is the time when you start your sales pitch. Any sales effort before they are completely impressed is going to have a detrimental effect.

In short, business forums help you create a public relations effort for building your reputation. You are not overtly advertising your skills, your capabilities and your expertise; you are just using the forum as a platform to display them at an opportune moment. In a business like online retail where a positive reputation is your biggest asset, this provides you with the ability to create one. Hence, business forums are very important tools for communication with the marketplace; use them effectively.

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