Marketers and businesses in general very often make a serious mistake when trying to grab their customer's attention: they pitch.
Of course you as a business owner have to sell something to stay profitable. But what if instead of selling, you first educated your customer? What if there was a way in which you could grab someone's attention by teaching them something of value to them, rather than talk only about your business, your need to make a sale, your desperation to make it work?
This is the new trend that successful business owners are following and it involves delivering valuable content to your prospects, rather than deliberately selling them a product or service through a corny and outdated sales pitch.
There is a process in which now businesses are getting the attention of potential buyers and it could be outlined like this:
Generate Curiosity
So you have your product or service which you want to offer to your potential buyer. You know it is an excellent product or service not just because you sell it, but because you use it yourself, or in other words, you are a product of your product. So how do you generate curiosity with this new model? An easy way to do it is asking questions.
For instance, let's say you own the small bakery around the corner. Let's also say that Mother's day is just a few weeks away and typically it is a high season for you. However, for the last couple of years, sales haven't been so good despite the season. You want to increase your sales and obviously your revenue. The best way you know how to do this is by placing ads in your local newspaper or even run a small ad campaign online. So you decide to run a campaign this year to try to raise sales to a decent level.
But how do you generate curiosity asking a simple question? In the case of our imaginary bakery, the ad could go something like this:
"How would you like to surprise your mom with the best cake you've ever made? We are giving free baking classes for Mother's Day. Call us and reserve your spot. No commitment needed. Limited spots available. Call us at 1-800-353-BAKE"
Now, even if this is not the greatest sales copy for an ad, what you want to focus on is the fact that you are generating curiosity in your prospect's mind. This could make someone go: "Hmm. A cake would be a nice surprise for my mom, especially if she knew I made it. And even though I can't even boil a pot of water, these guys will teach me how to make a cake for free..."
There are several aspects in the ad shown above that you might want to consider:
Deliver Valuable Educational and/or Informational Content
Now that you have your prospects attention, the next step is to deliver first something of value to them. Your part of the deal (the sale) will almost automatically come later.
This step is important because it makes it clear to your prospect that it's not about your agenda. You are not talking about your circumstances, how bad sales were last year, how expensive this ad campaign is, how bad you need to increase your sales, etc. At this point it's all about them, not you.
So going on with our bakery example, the way you would deliver education to your prospect is through the baking lesson you advertised. Deliver what you promised: baking lessons with no buying commitment. This doesn't mean however that there is nothing in it for you. The ad didn't say that the person reading wouldn't have to fill out a form before taking your class. This is where the next step takes place: you start a conversation in order to build a relationship and trust with your prospect.
Start a conversation to build a relationship and trust with your prospect
Typically, the way to do this is through a series of emails. That's why it is so important to build a list of prospects (leads). And the emails don't have to be long, detailed or complex. Neither do they have to be daily. So long as you do it regularly (maybe once or twice a week), the relationship will begin to grow.
Again, the important thing to keep in mind here is that these emails should not be just a worn out pitch trying to convince your prospect to buy from you. Like before, it should be primarily about them. Give your prospect valuable information, valuable tips that you find related to your industry (which is why they joined your list in the first place)
At first this may seem only like a "give relationship" in which only one side is getting value out of it. But this giving of value to them is what builds a relationship and then your prospect starts to see you as an authority about the things you talk. They can sense that you know what you are talking about, and they respect you for it.
This is what ultimately will make your prospect buy from you almost anything you offer them, as long as it is related to the valuable content you have been giving them.
In our bakery example, maybe you don't sell a whole lot of cakes during the baking class, but what you did is you demonstrated that you live up to what you promise: you gave a free training with no commitment to buy. Perhaps you could ask for a small contribution in order to pay for ingredients and materials and they get to keep the cake, but other than that, it was basically free to them.
However, you have now their contact details, which with time, will turn out to be more valuable to you than what the baking class was to them. The reason for this is that every now and then, it's OK to send out emails with promotions, special offers, deals, etc. Do you see how valuable this is to you? You are sending out promotions to really targeted people, who are pre-qualified, who trust you and know you. Now, how valuable can THAT be to your business?
Take Care of Your Customers
So you finally got your prospect to buy from you. But is he or she already a real customer of yours? Well, that depends on your goals. If you are looking to make a quick sale and never hear about that person ever again, why even bother growing a relationship in the first place?
But if things were done right in this process, the person who bought from you, did so because they trust you, like what you sell, they know that they are getting worth more the money they paid, and maybe they bought from you because they got to know you in person and they like and believe in you.
So how do you take care of your customer? Simple. Keep giving them valuable information. It really is that simple.
Obviously you still have to take care of the usual day to day activities like handling customer complaints, questions, phone calls, etc. That's just part of any business. But to take care also means to stay in touch with your customer, be aware of new trends in your industry and keep offering them the kind of information that made them even consider joining your list in the first place.
The important thing to highlight here is that it is much more efficient (and cheap) to sell to a recurrent customer, than trying to find new ones all the time.
Do It Again
Finally, I would like to presume that you want to grow your business even more. Hey, who wouldn't like to do so? Right? So the way to do this is a simple repetition of the steps described above. Remember that at first, it may seem like only your prospect is getting value out of the relationship, but with time, things will definitely get even. It will really be a win-win situation.
Always remember this: first you have to give in order to receive. And what you give out in value to the world, comes back to you ten-fold, usually in the form of sales to your business.
If you would like to know more about these and other valuable techniques, come join our community of entrepreneurs, in which we are guided by mentors who have started from scratch and that are now making a full time income working online.
Marketers and businesses in general very often make a serious mistake when trying to grab their customer's attention: they pitch.
Of course you as a business owner have to sell something to stay profitable. But what if instead of selling, you first educated your customer? What if there was a way in which you could grab someone's attention by teaching them something of value to them, rather than talk only about your business, your need to make a sale, your desperation to make it work?
This is the new trend that successful business owners are following and it involves delivering valuable content to your prospects, rather than deliberately selling them a product or service through a corny and outdated sales pitch.
There is a process in which now businesses are getting the attention of potential buyers and it could be outlined like this:
Generate Curiosity
So you have your product or service which you want to offer to your potential buyer. You know it is an excellent product or service not just because you sell it, but because you use it yourself, or in other words, you are a product of your product. So how do you generate curiosity with this new model? An easy way to do it is asking questions.
For instance, let's say you own the small bakery around the corner. Let's also say that Mother's day is just a few weeks away and typically it is a high season for you. However, for the last couple of years, sales haven't been so good despite the season. You want to increase your sales and obviously your revenue. The best way you know how to do this is by placing ads in your local newspaper or even run a small ad campaign online. So you decide to run a campaign this year to try to raise sales to a decent level.
But how do you generate curiosity asking a simple question? In the case of our imaginary bakery, the ad could go something like this:
"How would you like to surprise your mom with the best cake you've ever made? We are giving free baking classes for Mother's Day. Call us and reserve your spot. No commitment needed. Limited spots available. Call us at 1-800-353-BAKE"
Now, even if this is not the greatest sales copy for an ad, what you want to focus on is the fact that you are generating curiosity in your prospect's mind. This could make someone go: "Hmm. A cake would be a nice surprise for my mom, especially if she knew I made it. And even though I can't even boil a pot of water, these guys will teach me how to make a cake for free..."
There are several aspects in the ad shown above that you might want to consider:
Deliver Valuable Educational and/or Informational Content
Now that you have your prospects attention, the next step is to deliver first something of value to them. Your part of the deal (the sale) will almost automatically come later.
This step is important because it makes it clear to your prospect that it's not about your agenda. You are not talking about your circumstances, how bad sales were last year, how expensive this ad campaign is, how bad you need to increase your sales, etc. At this point it's all about them, not you.
So going on with our bakery example, the way you would deliver education to your prospect is through the baking lesson you advertised. Deliver what you promised: baking lessons with no buying commitment. This doesn't mean however that there is nothing in it for you. The ad didn't say that the person reading wouldn't have to fill out a form before taking your class. This is where the next step takes place: you start a conversation in order to build a relationship and trust with your prospect.
Start a conversation to build a relationship and trust with your prospect
Typically, the way to do this is through a series of emails. That's why it is so important to build a list of prospects (leads). And the emails don't have to be long, detailed or complex. Neither do they have to be daily. So long as you do it regularly (maybe once or twice a week), the relationship will begin to grow.
Again, the important thing to keep in mind here is that these emails should not be just a worn out pitch trying to convince your prospect to buy from you. Like before, it should be primarily about them. Give your prospect valuable information, valuable tips that you find related to your industry (which is why they joined your list in the first place)
At first this may seem only like a "give relationship" in which only one side is getting value out of it. But this giving of value to them is what builds a relationship and then your prospect starts to see you as an authority about the things you talk. They can sense that you know what you are talking about, and they respect you for it.
This is what ultimately will make your prospect buy from you almost anything you offer them, as long as it is related to the valuable content you have been giving them.
In our bakery example, maybe you don't sell a whole lot of cakes during the baking class, but what you did is you demonstrated that you live up to what you promise: you gave a free training with no commitment to buy. Perhaps you could ask for a small contribution in order to pay for ingredients and materials and they get to keep the cake, but other than that, it was basically free to them.
However, you have now their contact details, which with time, will turn out to be more valuable to you than what the baking class was to them. The reason for this is that every now and then, it's OK to send out emails with promotions, special offers, deals, etc. Do you see how valuable this is to you? You are sending out promotions to really targeted people, who are pre-qualified, who trust you and know you. Now, how valuable can THAT be to your business?
Take Care of Your Customers
So you finally got your prospect to buy from you. But is he or she already a real customer of yours? Well, that depends on your goals. If you are looking to make a quick sale and never hear about that person ever again, why even bother growing a relationship in the first place?
But if things were done right in this process, the person who bought from you, did so because they trust you, like what you sell, they know that they are getting worth more the money they paid, and maybe they bought from you because they got to know you in person and they like and believe in you.
So how do you take care of your customer? Simple. Keep giving them valuable information. It really is that simple.
Obviously you still have to take care of the usual day to day activities like handling customer complaints, questions, phone calls, etc. That's just part of any business. But to take care also means to stay in touch with your customer, be aware of new trends in your industry and keep offering them the kind of information that made them even consider joining your list in the first place.
The important thing to highlight here is that it is much more efficient (and cheap) to sell to a recurrent customer, than trying to find new ones all the time.
Do It Again
Finally, I would like to presume that you want to grow your business even more. Hey, who wouldn't like to do so? Right? So the way to do this is a simple repetition of the steps described above. Remember that at first, it may seem like only your prospect is getting value out of the relationship, but with time, things will definitely get even. It will really be a win-win situation.
Always remember this: first you have to give in order to receive. And what you give out in value to the world, comes back to you ten-fold, usually in the form of sales to your business.
If you would like to know more about these and other valuable techniques, come join our community of entrepreneurs, in which we are guided by mentors who have started from scratch and that are now making a full time income working online.