In my "So I Sold to an Axe Murder" post the other day, I wrote:

Some visitors will be looking for solutions to related problems. If you're not slaying the dragon that's standing in front of them, many will leave. But if you can quickly get them to realize that the dragon's brother (one that your product slays) is standing behind them, you may make the sale anyway.

Over at John Carlton's blog today, Kevin Rogers wrote a little bit about how to do this:

The key is to discover, within a few casual questions, what you can provide that your guest may not be consciously considering.

And you are not delivering a hard close... just a helping hand. Very important.

...

You can achieve the same result by creating valuable stuff (from good advice, to detailed reports helping them achieve goals) your prospects hugely appreciate... but don't know they want yet. The magic happens when they realize you really are that dude who knows what's going on... and you're happy to deliver the goods.

Kevin's post was about his experience as bellman. In his case, it was all about how to make the final transaction -- the tip -- as big as possible.

As an internet marketer, when someone arrives at your site, there's no guarantee that a transaction is in your future. But even when it's a question of if rather than how much the same principles apply. Give value. Build goodwill. And let 'em know they have the opportunity to get more of that good stuff for a price.

In fact, sometimes it is about maximizing the transaction that's coming up. Let's say you offer a deluxe version of your product. If your prospect doesn't know what kind of value you deliver, they're more likely to take the "safe" option and get just the features they know they need than if they have good reason to believe that the deluxe version is packed with value.

Not everyone who arrives on your website will be looking for what you're selling. But if you go out of your way to give them something valuable that points them toward your product, you may be able to make the sale anyway.