Selling on Flevy: Some Guiding Principles

Are you an author on Flevy?  Here are some guiding principles to know and follow that will help you maximize your sales over the long term.

Know the Hierarchy of File Types.

PowerPoint > Excel > Word > PDF.  By far, the most popular file format purchased on Flevy is still PowerPoint.  Read this guide on Presentation Design to optimize the look and feel of your presentation for high sales.

Whenever Possible, Upload an Editable Document.

This is related to the previous guiding principle.  Whenever possible, upload a version of the document that can be edited (e.g. PowerPoint, Excel, or Word).

Try to Upload More Documents.

If you have more documents, your sales increase across all your documents.  There are several reasons why this is the case:

1. Increased credibility.  Having more documents makes you appear more credible.  This is particularly the case if all your documents are related to a particular function (e.g. all focused on Lean Six Sigma), as it creates the impression you are a subject matter expert in this field.
2. Customers tend to purchase from the same author.  There is customer loyalty.  If a customer purchases 1 document from you and finds it useful, she is likely to purchase more documents from you.
3. Customers tend to purchase related documents.  Customers will often browser the author’s profile page to discover other, related documents.
4. Increase presence on Flevy.  With each document you add, you add another way for people to find you on Flevy.  Once they find one of your documents, it’s very easy for them to then view all of your documents.

Use Consistent Design and Branding.

Have a consistent look and feel across all your documents added more professionalism and credibility to your documents.  It is fine–and encouraged–for your to brand your documents to your firm name.  (We even recommend you include a slide within your document about yourself or your firm, along with contact info.)

Here are several examples of authors with consistent design and branding across all their documents:

• Team Neosi
• LearnPPT
• STRATICX
• OEC
• OEConsulting

This also strengthens your brand presence and recognition on Flevy, as customers browse the site and come across your work multiple times.

Write a Detailed Document Description.

Length of your document description matters.  We suggest at least 200 words.

Make sure you give the customer a good sense of what topics are covered.  These topical keywords are important for a number of reasons.  They help establish your credibility, improve your on-site (flevy.com) search results, and improve search engine SEO for your document page.

Make your description informative, but not “salesy.”  In addition to the topics covered, mention the document’s benefits, its usages, and whether it includes supporting materials.  State whether the document is intended more for instructional/educational use or more to be used as a template.

Break your description into paragraphs, so it’s easier for people to read and digest the information.

If relevant, we suggest also including a brief author bio, along with document reviews/feedback.  Here are some good examples to follow:

• Fiaccabrino Selection Process
• Complete Guide to Strategic Planning
• Hoshin Kanri – Strategy Deployment

Your document description is a reflection of the quality of your document.  If it is sparse, riddled with misspellings, and poorly formatted, this is a turn off to your potential customer.  Your document description is also a reflection of your business expertise.

Complete Your Profile.

Go to your Account Profile section, and fill out your “Display Name” and “Background.”

• Display Name.  Either use the name full name or your firm name (e.g. Flevy Consulting).  With your “Display Name” completed, customers will see your “Display Name” instead of your username.
• Background.  Your “Background” is shown on your author page and helps establish your credibility as a subject matter expert.  We recommend including the following:
  • Functional expertise (e.g. Corporate Strategy, Logistics, Change Management)
  • Years of experience
  • Experience working with blue chip names (e.g. any Fortune 500 company)
  • Project experience
  • Professional certifications and affiliations

Price according to the Market.

Pricing is always a tricky area.  We only have 2 rules around pricing: 1) it must be at least $20; and 2) you cannot sell the same document elsewhere at a lower price.  Other  than these 2 rules, we do not impose any other restrictions and will never change the pricing of your documents without your consent.

When deciding on a price, keep these facts in mind:

• The average price of a sold document on Flevy is $45.  The average transaction value is $65.
• 80% of all transactions are $100 or less.
• Flevy is an open market, so take a look at how other similar documents are priced.  Don’t over- or under-price yourself.

The good thing is you can change your price at any time, so you can experiment with pricing.

Do you have 5 or more documents on Flevy?

Create Document Bundles.

Once you have 5+ documents, you will be able to create document bundles on Flevy.  A “bundle” is a set of related documents that you can bundle together at a discounted price.  Creating document bundles encourages customers to buy more of your documents.

Take Advantage of Our “Author+” Features.

We offer Author+ features to select authors.  There are 2 core Author+ features:

• Free Documents.  A powerful lead generation feature, this feature allows you to collect leads directly that you can nurture to sell your documents or any of your own non-Flevy offerings (e.g. consulting services).  Here is what a typical free document lead-gen page looks like: https://flevy.com/download/strategy-development-and-execution-primer-85. After someone completes the lead-gen form to request your free download, you will receive an email with the person’s contact information. We promote these Free Documents heavily on social media.
• Articles.  We will publish your business articles to our business blog (this blog).  In the current process, articles are manually reviewed and published to our blog.  This is not an automated process.  These articles are promoted heavily on social media, including posted in several targeted LinkedIn groups.

If you choose to enable either of the above 2 Author+ features, you will also gain access to 2 additional features:

• Expanded Profile Page.
• Contact Page.  Your contact page includes a contact form, plus the option to include social media links.

Here is an example of an author with all Author+ features enabled: Operational Excellence Consulting.

We may be adding to this article periodically.  Last update: 12/29/2015

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