interview

interview

interview

interview

5 Easy Tips For Increase Your Site’s Sales – With Sara Sutton Fell

Posted on Sep 22, 2009 - 7:00 AM PST

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FlexJobs has over 10,000 subscribers who pay to access its job listings. In a world were online job listings are usually free, how does FlexJobs get thousands of people to pay for access? And, more importantly, what can YOU learn from FlexJob's sales process?

That's what I invited Sara Sutten Fell, the site's founder, to teach.

The FULL program

Prefer audio? Great! "Right click" here for the MP3 format.

(Can't see video? Go to Mixergy.com)

Video excerpts

About Sara Sutton Fell

sara sutton fell of flexjobsflexjobs logo

Sara Sutton Fell is the founder and CEO of FlexJobs, a subscription job listing service that hand-selects all its telecommuting and online jobs. Before that, she founded JobDirect, which sold to Korn/Ferry for $30 million in 2000.

5 tips from this interview

#1 Have a phone number on your site

FlexJobs phone number

Not only does she say that 95% of the people who call the company end up buying, but having the number on the site increases conversions on the site. Sara told me that sometimes people call her number and just hang up. They don't need to talk, they just want to make sure the company is real.

#2 Highlight your media mentions to give your site credibility

FlexJobs - highlight your media mentions

Bloggers often put down traditional media and pretend it doesn't matter, but for customers, seeing that your site appeared in "old media" communicates trust and credibility. If you click through FlexJobs.com, you'll see links to many news shows and publications that the site appeared in. (In the interview we also talk a little about HOW she gets all that media.)

#3 Leverage trusted associations

FlexJobs BBB

Sara is the second online marketer to tell me that having the Better Business Bureau's logo increases sales. Chance Barnett said the same thing.

#4 Offer a money back guarantee

FlexJobs - money back guarantee

If your product is good and you haven't oversold it, you won't get many requests for refunds.

#5 Build a recurring revenue model

FlexJobs - recurring billing

Increasingly, I'm hearing from online marketers that getting customers to sign up for monthly billing is not much harder than getting them to pay once. Listen to how Gideon Shalwick does it.

Full program includes

- See how FlexJobs transitioned its site (and customers' expectations) from free to paid.

- Hear how Sara started her first company, including the story of how she had people drive around the country getting college students to her site.

- Learn how she manages her schedule to get the flexibility to spend time with her family.

Suggested comments

- How helpful was the text of this post? I'm always trying to isolate useful ideas in the text, but I'm a little concerned that the ideas I pulled are too tactical and maybe a bit obvious. Let me know.

- Beyond the 5 tips I highlighted, what was most valuable to you?

- Do you have any other feedback for me on this interview?

  • briteguy
    Again another fantastic interview Andrew. I keep thinking about freemium model doesn't work for startups these days, as:

    1) there are too many crappy sites out there trying to monetize on google adsense
    2) you won't get the motivation to improve the service, if there is no monetary incentive

    So I do like her way of doing business. High quality content and superior service, key to success.
  • Great tips and a great interview. Well done, all.
  • loumindar
    Good interview. I especially enjoyed hearing Sara talk about the thought process she went through when FlexJobs changed their revenue model. She's an impressive young lady and a smart business person.
  • A subscription model is a very smart way to make revenue. A model like this is what I want to implement,
    you do need to provide good quality content though.

    Another insightful interview as always Andrew.
  • Jaime
    Awesome! This is an excellent interview. I visited Sarah's website and already know of many, many friends that can benefit from FlexJobs. Does Sarah have an affiliate program?
  • The text was good but would have liked more information on how each entrepreneur gets his/her start
  • Sara-

    You said you faced the chicken and the egg problem by serving two markets, and that you pursued job hunters first, employers second.

    I will be facing the same conundrum shortly with my own launch.

    When you went live to hunters, how did you handle the experience of them registering, searching, and leaving empty handed and bummed? Anything you would have done differently with that style of launch?

    Sweet interview, thanks for sharing your bumps and bruises with us all.
  • Hi Casey,

    Good question. The main thing that made it easier was that when we went live it was as a "beta", and we were upfront that we were only going live to job-seekers at that time, not employers. We positioned it so that they had an opportunity to get in early. Also, it was free, so they had little risk other than a bit of time getting registered.

    I hope that helps. Good luck with your venture!
  • aaronwulf
    Putting a toll-free number on the site was a good piece of advice! Keep the great interviews coming, Andrew!
  • aaronwulf
    Putting a toll-free number on the site was a good piece of advice! Keep the great interviews coming, Andrew!
  • Great tip about HARO!
  • Boris
    "5 Easy Tips For Increase Your Site’s Sales – With Sara Sutton Fell"
    "For" should be "To"
    "In a world were online job listings are usually free, "
    "were" should be "where" .....This is my first visit. These errors seem very unprofessional.
    We are judged competent by our correct use of language!
  • Good interview if you have a service-oriented online business, it was nice to hear how she balances her home life with business life.
  • As one of the many internet-based job seekers, I found it very interesting to hear what goes on from the other side of a job board site/company. And I agree with the whole subtext of the conversation which is that Craig's List sucks balls. I'm definitely going to investigate the site and may likely sign up to see what's in store for me. Perhaps you've opened my mind to something new.
  • The questions you had about family in the interviews are nice. I like hearing how other people fit in "life" with their experiences trying to grow businesses. It's a very tough balance, and sometimes I've wondered how entrepreneurs maintain a life and sanity in the building process, or if they are making sacrifices in order to make a successful business. For some I imagine it's very personal, but I find it easier to connect with people when you get to know more about them, not only in business, but if life as well.
  • How would this include for the real estate and investments sector?
  • The text made me consider watching the video. Otherwise I would have skipped 60-munutes video without thinking. In other words the texta is a great marketing for the video. :-)
  • chrismanfrank
    Really enjoyed this interview. It makes you think about how much untapped potential there is in all the smart, educated women who drop out of the workforce to have kids. What a great business.
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