Client Magnets Official Blog

Archive for the ‘Closing The Sale’ Category

You’ve made a sale.  The customer’s credit card has been approved, you’ve booked their seat or ordered their product, and you’ve added your new customer’s email address to your newsletter list.  You’re already tallying your net profit in your mental bank register, and you’re resting comfortably in the pleasure of another sale well-done.

Not so fast…

If there is any time lapse between the closing of the sale and the delivery of the customer’s product or service, at some stage you will need to address the “buyer’s remorse” phenomenon.

If your customer falls under the weight of buyer’s remorse, he or she might have feelings of guilt associated with a high price tag, credit extension, or disapproval by others.  The client might begin to fall off of their “purchase high” and start to consider their new, reduced spending power; or they might wonder if they should have done more research or waited for a better, newer version of your product or service.

Your job is simple:  you must keep buyer’s remorse from ever showing its face…by using a Stick Strategy.

A Stick Strategy is simple.  It involves offering a gift that fulfills your customer’s need for instant gratification, and then staying in touch with them to reinforce the benefits of their decision, until they receive the product or service that they purchased.  In other words, remind them regularly that they’ve made a good decision.

Example of a High-Cancellation-Risk Sale:

A motivational speaker offers two types of events:  a 1-day workshop and a 2-day weekend seminar.  She starts marketing and taking reservations for the 1-day workshop only 6 or 8 weeks in advance.  But for the weekend event, she starts accepting bookings up to 4 months ahead of time.

Her customers who book 4 months prior to the 2-day event are much more susceptible to the effects of buyer’s remorse.  A lot can happen in 4 months – people move, their family situations can shift, their employment might change – and that might prompt them to eliminate her seminar from their new schedule.

It’s especially important that this business owner stays in contact with her weekend seminar customers during those critical 4 months – to make sure that those clients remain interested and on-board, without regrets.

Follow these simple steps to keep your waiting customers on-board:

• Immediately following your customer’s booking, make a good-will gesture (e.g.  a digital report, an insider preview of your service, a free sample, coupons to use in the meantime, or anything that will reinforce their spending decision as a good one).

• Keep a list of people who have signed up for one particular service, and use that list to send industry tips, answers to commonly asked questions, or special bonus offers throughout their wait – and be sure to reference the date of the upcoming service in every piece of correspondence.  This will keep their interest piqued, their energy levels high, and will shoo away that bothersome remorse bug.

• You can also send a friendly note part-way through their wait. A simple “Hello, can’t wait to meet you at the conference,” or, “Here’s the seating chart and your nametag.” can boost their obligation to the commitment that they’ve made.

• Keep customers-in-waiting involved. Maybe you’re thinking about making an addition to your service – send a note asking for their opinion on the change.  Or, ask them for feedback on the booking process.  In short, make them feel that their opinions are important.

Maybe you have felt buyer’s remorse yourself.  If you have, think about how much better you might have felt if you’d gotten a free gift right away, or if someone had contacted you to ask for your input.  Would you have been more willing to “Stick?”

Make your customers stick with you…all it takes is a healthy dose of communication and a little dollop of good-will glue.

Bernadette Doyle created Client Magnets Ltd to help self-employed people solve one of their biggest business problems: attract a steady stream of clients. If you’d like to receive invaluable tips and advice on how to attract clients with ease, register at http://www.clientmagnets.com

Imagine that you own a designer clothing store.  You operate the register, taking money from customers and bagging up their items.  While you’re managing the flow of incoming money, you notice that the majority of visitors spend a significant amount of time thumbing through racks and trying on outfits – only to walk out of your boutique empty-handed.

If you could stop those people in the parking lot and ask them why they didn’t buy, without scaring them away from your establishment forever, would you do it?  If you found out that your product was perceived as low quality, you’d look at your designers more closer, you’d check the quality of your garments, right?  Or if you learned that the styles you offer aren’t current enough, you would reevaluate your stock, wouldn’t you?

There are two points of truth to be drawn from this example.  First, the majority of your sales pages visitors will click away without buying…that’s statistical.  And second, you may never know exactly how to solicit more sales unless you ask for feedback from non-buyers.

The prospect majority (the ones who haven’t purchased) are a valuable trove of information for the improvement of your conversion rate.  When you can use what they tell you to compile a list of common objections, you can then use that information to revamp your website, your FAQ page, or any other aspect of your business.

You might know how to ask for feedback from paying customers, but how about those who have merely previewed your product?  Here are some pointers for getting plenty of constructive feedback from non-buyers:

• Maintain a low-key tone. The language that you use in your feedback request should be one of curiosity…an unassuming appeal.  Make it clear that you only want to know why they chose not to buy.

• Be honest. Be frank with your prospects.  In your request for feedback (most often done via e-mail), let them know that you’re new to the business, or that you’re working on redesigning your website, or that you’re throwing around the idea of editing your product list.  Let them know that their opinions will be priceless in your effort to make the experience more pleasurable for future customers.

• In your written request, remind recipients of your website address. That way, they can revisit and refresh their memories, in case they have forgotten your business’ specifics.

• Offer a no-strings incentive in exchange for feedback. Never use a feedback request as an attempt to make a sale.  Instead, offer a one-time gift (like a free report) that requires no obligation.

• Do not interrogate prospects. Never use the feedback that you receive as ammunition to get them to buy at a later time.  When you receive feedback, simply say “thank you” and use it to make improvements.  Do not personally pursue the prospect.  Curiosity may drive them back to your site (to see if their feedback was utilized), but if you hunt them down, you will drive them away.

• Send feedback requests as soon as possible (within a week of the prospect’s first visit).  A person’s motivation is highest right after they’ve visited your site for the first time.  If you allow time for that motivation to fade, you will be less likely to receive feedback (and less likely to feed the fire of interest in your product).

You’ll probably be astounded at the amount and quality of feedback that you’ll receive.  People all have opinions – but will rarely voice them unless they’re invited to do so.  Many times, they’re so glad to have the opportunity to be heard, that they will be honest and blunt – perfect for your goal of gathering business-changing information.

Asking for feedback can seem a bit strange, even intimidating, at first, but once you receive your first dose of eye-opening criticism, you’ll be glad that you took the time to question the departing majority.  And you’ll learn to see objections for what they really are – opportunities for improvement and optimism for future conversions.

Bernadette Doyle specializes in helping entrepreneurs attract a steady stream of ideal clients. If you want to get clients calling you instead of you calling them, then sign up for her free weekly e-zine at http://www.clientmagnets.com

What is the purpose of a sales page?

Too often, we misunderstand the purpose of the sales page itself, and consider it to be a simple finish line.  We concentrate on getting prospects to the sales page, but forget about the importance of getting them through the sales page.

The fact is, that about fifty percent of sales are lost at the ordering stage.  If prospects still have misgivings or unanswered questions after reading through your opt-in page, they’re likely to bail out.  Or, if your sales page is too complicated, they’re not likely to invest the energy into deciphering it.

Consider what improving your sales page can mean for your business plan – you can increase your conversion rate by fifty percent without sinking more money into marketing, and without working to drive more traffic to your site.

People could be turning away from your sales page right now.  That means that your best course of action would be to improve your sales-in page immediately – before you adjust marketing, revamp a homepage scroll, or optimize your site for the search engines.  Really…stop the presses and analyze your sale page.

Here are the major points you’ll need to get started:

• Make it possible for people to purchase your product any time of the day, any day of the year. Don’t complicate the system with preliminary phone calls or e-mails.  Make it easy for prospects to pay with PayPal or their credit cards, without the need for making contact with you.  Making purchasing possible while a prospect’s motivation is high is important for strengthening your sales page conversion rate.  You can give your visitors the option of placing an order by phone (some people still feel uneasy about using credit cards online), but don’t make that their primary option.

• Keep it super-simple. You can’t take anything for granted – including your prospects’ levels of literacy.  Maybe English is their second language, or maybe extensive vocabulary and complex sentences scare them away.  Ask a ten-year-old child to read and comprehend your sales page.  If the child can’t grasp it, then simplify it.

• A testimonial will go a long way toward that final click. Including the words (and maybe a photo) of someone who experienced great success or satisfaction with your product or service can help to seal other deals.

• Title your order form/page in a non-threatening way. Acceptance Form, Registration Form, and No Risk Acceptance Form are some good examples of headlines that reassure.

• The text on your order page should be written in your prospect’s voice. For example, “Yes, Dr. White, I’m ready to start enjoying the benefits of XYZ Fiber today.”

• When you involve your prospect in the ordering process, they take ownership, they feel responsible and in control, and they’re less likely to jump overboard.  Utilize things like check boxes and drop-down menus to make them feel that they have invested in the process, and you’ll contribute to higher conversion.

• If you’re offering any kind of a guarantee or return policy, the order form is the perfect place to reinstate that offer. It’s a good idea to write this part in the prospect’s words also.  For example, “I understand that if I am not completely satisfied, I can return…”

• Set up an autoresponder to send out an e-mail immediately following a customer’s order. In the e-mail, reinforce the wonderful decision that they’ve made.  Include an additional testimonial, and convey the confidence that you feel in their ability to experience the same success and/or satisfaction.

When designing your sales page and order form, put yourself in your prospects’ shoes.  Try to understand that money-spending is a fragile decision for a major portion of the population, and that it’s your job to instill buying confidence, erase misgivings, and answer questions.  You can’t be there…but you can take the action that gets the transaction…with a first-rate sales page!

Bernadette Doyle is a marketing specialist who helps entrepreneurs become client magnets and attract a steady stream of their ideal clients. If you’d like to receive invaluable tips and advice on how to attract clients with ease, register at http://www.clientmagnets.com

Remember the telephone conversation?  In this, the cyber age, the telephone conversation has become, for most, an antiquated form of communication.  However, that doesn’t mean that it holds no value.  To the contrary, its value is so great that often the ring of the telephone could be mistaken for the cha-ching of a cash register.

If someone takes the time to call you on the phone, they’re at least somewhat interested in what you’re selling; they want you to convince them that their positive opinions about your product are correct; and they want you to dispel their fears.

People call on the phone for one of two reasons.  Either they want you to convince them to buy, or they want to cross-examine you to satisfy their own curiosities.

Either way, when you answer the call, it’s up to you to take gentle control with questions that will work to convert:

• If someone calls and indicates that they are somewhat interested in your product, try to refrain from spewing a rehearsed list of features and benefits.  They can find the facts on your website, or in your brochure.  They are calling because they want to be nudged in the direction of purchasing (whether they know it yet or not).

• The person asking questions is generally the party who holds the most control.  If your caller starts with a question, politely indicate that you will gladly answer that question if they will allow you to check some things with them first.  This is called a “staller” or a “framer.”  This puts the “ball in your court” and you can ask them the questions that will direct the conversation in a conversion direction.  You will rarely experience success if you spend the phone call answering questions that are being continuously fired at you.

• Ask, “What was it that attracted you to the program?”  Listen carefully and make note of these early “likes.”  Answers to this question will reinforce the caller’s belief in your product, and will give you valuable feedback for future marketing efforts.  Be sure to reference these points again later, reinforcing that your caller’s instincts as correct.

• Ask the caller what kept them from booking directly from the internet.  The answer will give you the opportunity to dispel fears and calm misgivings about your product.  You can also use this information to adjust your marketing approach for the future.

• Begin questioning about what the prospect found appealing, then move to questioning about misgivings, and end with reinforcing the positive.

• Remember to only convince prospects that your product is a perfect fit for their problem if it truly is.  Selling under false pretenses is not only sleazy, but it won’t work to build, or forward, your good reputation.  It doesn’t matter how great your product can be for the right person, the wrong person will never give it 5 stars, a thumbs-up, or a good review.

• Make a list of questions that you would commonly use during telephone conversations.  This will eliminate stumbling, awkward silences, and nervousness when dealing with callers.

As we move further into the information age, fewer and fewer sales are booked over the telephone.  Nevertheless, when a phone call does ring in, it’s better news than ever.  People are only picking up the phone as a last resort for being convinced.

When handled correctly, telephone calls can significantly impact your conversion rates…for the better.  People ask for information, and give information, because they want to hear that they’re right about their likes, and that they have nothing to fear from their misgivings.

Open up that phone line.  Take control of the questioning.  Gently convince, dispel, and reinforce.  Use the call to turn that prospect into what they’re secretly hoping to be – a client.

Bernadette Doyle is a marketing specialist who helps entrepreneurs become client magnets and attract a steady stream of their ideal clients. She publishes a free, weekly newsletter for trainers, speakers, coaches, consultants, complementary therapists and solo professionals. If you’d like to receive invaluable tips and advice on how to attract clients with ease, register at http://www.clientmagnets.com

There is one business skill, above all others, that will offer you the ultimate financial security in an unsecure world. Whether you want more time with your family, or to travel around the world or make a contribution to an organization that’s dear to your heart, truly mastering this skill is what will make all of your dreams, desires and goals absolutely possible.

You might guess that the key is to learn the different strategies and techniques that you can use to attract more clients to increase your income.  And, while this is true, it really goes much deeper than that. It is the ability to attract the types of clients you want, paying the fees you want, whenever you want – that is the truly amazing skill.

Here are 7 tips to help you work towards achieving that skill …

•    Figure out what your market really wants. Visibility alone will not bring you all the clients you want. Just getting the word out about your offering isn’t enough. People buy according to what they want, not what you think they need. There’s a big difference. For example, no one needs a cigarette; they buy them because they want them. No one really needs a huge flat screen 40” TV, but people buy them because they want them. You won’t increase your clients if your offering doesn’t match up with what the market wants. So you’ve got to get good at figuring out what your market really wants.

•    Focus on the people who have raised their hands. Instead of trying to sell to everybody, center your attention on those people who have already expressed an interest in what you’re offering. Then develop a method of converting those raised hands into paying business.

•    Focus on quality, not quantity. Let’s say you want to make a million dollars. Would you rather have 100,000 people paying you $10 each? Or would you rather have 10 people paying you $100,000 each? The quality of your offering allows you to charge a premium rate, but service fewer, better clients, to make the same money. In any market, at anytime, there is always a percentage of buyers who are willing and able to pay a premium amount for the solutions you can provide.

•    Follow the steps. Getting new clients is a combination of a sequence of steps that work together to get the end result. If you skip or break any one of the steps, the whole thing falls apart. It’s so important that you do all the right steps in the right order to get the results. I share those exact steps that worked for me 14 years ago, and the same steps that I’ve used in the past few years to reinvent my business over and over again.

•    Make it easy for clients to say yes. Make the intangibles of your business tangible by explaining what it is that you do and how clients stand to benefit from that. Show them how all the risk is taken away and think about ways to make your offer irresistible

•    Think and act like a winner. Even if you’re in transition, focus on where you’re heading, not where you’re starting from. Surround yourself with other winners who will motivate and inspire you by joining a mastermind or getting a mentor.

•    Systematize the process so that it is not totally dependent upon you. Create systems so that people can automatically express interest and opt in, even if you aren’t working or interacting with them at the moment. This was the critical factor in me breaking through the million dollar barrier last year. Save Yourself Time, Energy & Money by focusing on your area of expertise. Put technology and other people in charge of the other details that only distract you and bog you down.

Bernadette Doyle is a marketing specialist who helps entrepreneurs become client magnets and attract a steady stream of their ideal clients. If you’d like to receive invaluable tips and advice on how to attract clients with ease, register at http://www.clientmagnets.com

How to align your SPECIALISM with a hungry reachable niche who WANT what you offer.

This is both art and science and in this call you’ll meet Pete Bennett who will show you insider secrets for locating your hungry crowd online and small tweaks you can make immediately to generate a flood of new traffic and sales.

It’s My Next “MARKETING* MASTERMIND Call…”

Tuesday, 30th March, 2010

8:00pm UK Time (3pm EASTERN, 12 noon PACIFIC)

TOPIC:  *Finding Your Hungry Crowd*

This call is FREE for my hundreds of Marketing Mastermind and Stepping UP! members. They also get the CD and transcript of this call at no extra charge, plus a ton of other member benefits – such as access to our online members forum.

Not a member?  Then join the Marketing Mastermind Group today so you can take advantage of this call and all the other member goodies each and every month.

http://bit.ly/SellingSuccess

I look forward to “meeting” you on the call.

Best Wishes

Bernadette Doyle
www.clientmagnets.com

PS – Even if you can’t make the call, all Mastermind members receive a FREE CD of the call as well as a digital version of the audio and transcript! Take advantage now.

http://bit.ly/SellingSuccess

FREE TELESEMINAR

How to Create & Sell High End Products & Programmes

Several of my clients have been experiencing BIG breakthroughs recently – largely because they are launching and selling high priced products and programs. The best thing of all is that the results are FAST. One client sold her first $12,000 the very next day after her first coaching call, another had a $20,000 week using this strategy.

We really can’t keep this a secret any longer – I actually believe we have a DUTY to share with you how they are getting results like this, so we’ve put together a special call to show you how it’s done.

Here are the details …

Thursday 25th March

8pm UK time, 4pm Eastern, 1pm Pacific

On this call, you’ll discover:

• How much YOU are leaving on the table by not having a ‘Rolls Royce’ offer in place

• The 3 biggest mistakes people make when designing and launching big ticket offers

• How to create a CASH FLOW SURGE in your business THIS week. (It’s easier than you think when you have the right strategies)

• How to find and attract the ‘premium’ clients who are willing and able to pay top dollar for your very best services

• Why you can’t sell these products and programs like you do other services – the key sales strategies that make the difference

If you’re ready to SKYROCKET your income in just a few short weeks, this call is for you!

Register NOW, and attend for FREE

http://bit.ly/SellingSuccess

See you there!

Best Wishes,

Bernadette Doyle
www.clientmagnets.com

P.S The beauty of creating programs like this is it really does enable you to work with the VERY best clients and serve them at the HIGHEST level. You are missing out if you’re not doing this, so make sure to join us on this call and find out how it’s done http://www.clientmagnets.com/cashflowsurge/

You may be fully aware of the tremendous difference that your services make to an organization or an individual, but you have to find a way to link that difference to end results.

One of the really important things you need to do in your business is identify the results you achieve.

One way that you can ascertain the results you’ve helped a client achieve is to go back and ask them. If your contact has told you that since they used your services or product, they got X number of results, find out the implications of those results – in terms of time or money.

I did some negotiation skills training for a client, who told me, “it really made a difference.” That’s all fine and good, but I asked them to quantify what difference it made.  In their case, they were able to measure what their goodwill budget had been the year before compared to the current year, and I was able to get a statistic from that.

If you’re a coach, and you’ve been able to save a particular client 2 hours every week in their work week, that’s valuable time over the course of a month or two. But, if you factor those hours at the rate that client gets paid, it could work out to your helping the client make additional thousands of dollars a year.

You have to look at what you’re doing in terms of increasing sales, or reducing cost, or saving time, and then work through it that way. Calculate what the net benefit is for the client. Always remember, clients make the decision to buy something based on the benefits.  You may need to do a bit of research to make those connections.

Think of yourself as a salesperson who is putting together a presentation that quantifies all the benefits. Or, as a bit of a lawyer, arguing in court and putting together a case. You have to bring together different pieces of information and statistics to make your argument.

It’s not that you’re stating you are definitely going to help a client save this amount of time or money, but you’re getting people to think in terms of end results for their business.

To get your potential clients those results, you must first prompt your existing and satisfied clients for a specific answer about how your service benefits them. Be willing to go back to your contacts and talk to them about the difference you’ve been making. Ask them to quantify it.

They won’t think about it until you ask them. But, by asking the question, you’re also raising your value in their eyes too.

Bernadette Doyle is a marketing specialist who helps entrepreneurs become client magnets and attract a steady stream of their ideal clients. She publishes a free, weekly newsletter for trainers, speakers, coaches, consultants, complementary therapists and solo professionals. If you’d like to receive invaluable tips and advice on how to attract clients with ease, register at http://www.clientmagnets.com

You know that you’re the best, but your customers need to believe that too. There are several ways for you to gain their confidence and trust so you can earn their business.

Sway potential clients in your favor by taking away the risk of doing business with you and making your offer irresistible.

•  Offer a  guarantee. Personally, I have a guarantee when I’m offering my products or workshops. There is some grey area here, however. Some of my higher-value coaching services are more time intensive for me and don’t include a guarantee. The reason I don’t offer one is that I don’t want to give people an opt-out clause. When these high-caliber people step up in a big way and want to get the results that a high level coaching from me can deliver, I want to know that they’re fully in the game.

It’s a big challenge to make a massive transformation or a big leap in business. You don’t want clients like these to be running for the door or the emergency exit the moment the going gets tough. So, in some cases, guarantees are counter-productive and could actually end up helping clients resist what you’re offering.

So, you have to decide whether or not a guarantee is right for your market.

•  Alleviate their fears. Sometimes people won’t sign on or purchase something because they’re skeptical that what worked for other people won’t work for them. You need to show them how, even if they may have failed in the past, this time they will succeed. Include additional follow-ups or features that your competition doesn’t provide to show that you can help them accomplish their goal or fulfill their need. Be creative and really give some thought as to how you can remove the risk for your potential clients.

•  Make your offer irresistible. Pile on so much value that there is just no way they can lose. Include all the things your targeted clients could possibly want so that they just can’t pass your offer by.

There are few different ways to do this. Quantify the benefits of your services. For example, if you’ve got a program where for a $1,000 investment, your client will be able to make or save $10,000 in the next three months, you need to tell them that. Don’t assume that they will figure that out. Quantify the benefits specifically.

If there isn’t an easy financial comparison in your business, you do need to dig a little because this can really help you and help your clients. They will be able to wrap their heads around what you’re offering and make an informed decision because you’re giving them all the information they need.

The more you quantify, make your offer irresistible, and remove risk, the more successful you’re going to be.

Bernadette Doyle is a marketing specialist who helps entrepreneurs become client magnets and attract a steady stream of their ideal clients. If you’d like to receive invaluable tips and advice on how to attract clients with ease, register at http://www.clientmagnets.com

“System Secrets” – How to run a million dollar business while working just 3 days per week

If there aren’t enough hours in the day to do all you want to do, you NEED systems that make things happen automatically. Over the past 12 months, we’ve been SERIOUSLY investing in systems and I want to introduce you to my ‘systems’ guru – Beth Schneider. Beth has played a key part in enabling me to run a million dollar plus business while working just 3 days a week.

*MARKETING* MASTERMIND Call…
Tuesday, 23rd February, 2010,
8:00pm UK Time (3pm EASTERN, 12 noon PACIFIC)

If you want to discover one or two simple processes that put much of your repetitive work on auto-pilot and have your business running like a well oiled machine tune into this call.

This call is FREE for my hundreds of Marketing Mastermind and Stepping UP! members. They also get the CD and transcript of this call at no extra charge, plus a ton of other member benefits – such as access to our online members forum.

Not a member?  Then join the Marketing Mastermind Group today, so you can take advantage of this call and all the other member goodies each and every month.

I look forward to “meeting” you on our call.

——

Bernadette’s Marketing Mastermind is a special members’ group set up to provide ongoing information, support and motivation to people who want to attract more clients and build a successful business. Already over 450 members strong – and growing – we want YOU to join us and have more success, money and fun in your business. You can read about the Mastermind group here: http://clientmagnets.com/marketingmastermind