I don't normally venture into Sitepoint's Startup Website Marketplace but yesterday I thought I'd wander in, have a look around and make myself comfortable. It was like a school playground! Seriously, if you ever doubt yourself as a seller of websites, have a look at the offerings on sale but also check out the dialogue between seller and buyers. Some of the sellers are clearly schoolkids who don't know how to do business.

How Not To Handle Customer Queries

To illustrate, here's an exchange I had via PM with the seller of this golf site:

Me:

You say that the content is unique, but all I could find were links to articles on Goarticles and links to news items on Google news. Is there some unique content somewhere that I can't find?

Schoolkid:

Hi,

The site comes with a very easy to use admin that you can add any other content you like to each and every page of this website to make the site as unique as you like it.

Thanks
Jamie

Me:

So the site doesn't already come with unique content?

Schoolkid:

The site is unique made 100% .. not sure of your angle here if its just to discourage people or if its to gt me to change my listing to not unique when in fact it is .. but whatever the reason the site is unique, ..

Thanks
Jamie

Me:

I'm talking about the content on your site. Content comes in the form of articles, posts etc. I couldn't find any content on your site. I found links to content on other sites. I was wondering whether you had any content on your site or whether it was just links to content on other sites.

Schoolkid:

silence

Talk about defensive! Jeez, all I wanted to know was whether there really was unique content on the site or whether it was just links to other sites. I guess it was just links to other sites then! I don't think he understands the concept of unique content. Which is fair enough, just don't claim something that is untrue.

My comment was removed

Service - Go The Extra Mile

But the point I am making (badly) is that this guy is your competition in the marketplace. If you can provide a better service than him, you will get more sales. When I say service I'm talking about what you do for the buyer over and above the mandatory. For example, you may offer to install everything for them. This is not strictly necessary, but providing a high quality service with 'extras' like this will differentiate you from the amateur and unprofessional crowd.

I'm also talking about the quality of the dialogue between you and the buyer. Don't get defensive! Be honest and helpful. Buyers will trust you more if you do, and it helps the whole sales process go smoothly.