Author Archive | Lawrence

Long story short – people buy based on the benefits, and then they justify their decision based on the features. That’s why you need both to sell.

No one buys a lawn mower because it has a big engine – he buys it because he can cut his lawn in half the time and spend twice as much time golfing. He buys it because he can cut even the tallest grass without stalling out and making himself look like an idiot for not cutting his grass sooner. And he buys it because something this big and powerful can only make him look bigger and more powerful to his neighbors and his wife (or so he hopes).

But when he’s bragging about his new mower to their next door neighbor, he’s talking about how much horsepower that baby has, how it’s made out of the same metal as the space shuttle, and how a team of 4 inspectors go over the entire mower three times before it leaves the factory.

These features are his justification, and they’re nearly as important as the original benefits that made him buy in the first place. They’re the reason he can justify the thousand dollar purchase to himself and to his wife, and justify why he doesn’t return it for something smaller and cheaper they can actually afford.

Now let’s put this whole features and benefits thing on steroids…

Features are useful, but by themselves they won’t sell a thing. Benefits are terrific, and by themselves they will sell stuff. But without the features, you’ll get a lot of buyer’s remorse and refunds.

BUT… if you add EMOTION to the equation, you put your entire selling process on steroids. That’s because while people think in terms of logic (or to be more accurate, they believe they are thinking in terms of logic) it’s their emotions that weigh in most when it’s time to make a decision.

Emotion SELLS.

Thus, the more you can tap into your prospects’ emotional wants, the more they will respond to your offers.

And the best way to get at their emotions is to go all the way. Don’t stop with just the obvious stuff, dig deeper.

Let’s use an example: You’re selling a weight loss product. You could say, “Take this pill, lose weight.” Losing the weight is the direct benefit of taking the pills. But that’s what everyone in the marketplace is saying. Plus, you’re not tapping into your prospect’s emotions, are you?

Instead, dig deeper and find the indirect benefits. What happens when they lose weight?

• They have more energy
• Stamina increases
• Higher self esteem
• More confidence
• Better dates with sexier people
• More outgoing and social
• Looks better
• Feels better
• Stronger
• Better able to take on life’s challenges
• Less jealous of others (now they’re jealous of YOU)
• Happier
• Healthier
• Live longer
• And so forth.

NOW you’re tapping into the REAL emotions behind losing weight.

Take it one step further, and put them directly into the picture. Don’t tell them they’ll have more confidence. Instead, ask him to imagine what it will be like when his confidence is so high, he can walk into a room of beautiful women and ask the most gorgeous one on a date, and she’ll say YES.

Or ask her what it will feel like when every eye in the room turns towards her – knowing all the men want her, and all the women wish they were her.

Now THAT’s tapping into emotion.

And that will get you the sale every time.

You may have noticed that Internet marketing goes through phases where everyone seems to be jumping on the same bandwagon. That wagon might be the latest, greatest social network. It might be paid newsletters or membership sites or video marketing or…

You get the point. There are times when it seems everyone is coming out with a new product that does basically the same thing as the previous dozen products, and they’re all competing against each other for customers.

This is when you can be a copycat or smart cookie. Let’s say the newest, greatest thing is $10 a month paid newsletters. (Yes, I know that was a number of years ago, but this is just an example.)

The copy cats observe that courses on how to write and sell little newsletters for small prices to lots of people are selling like hotcakes. And because they’re copycats, they create their own courses and jump into the selling fray. The competition gets stiffer and stiffer and soon underhanded techniques are being used, prices are being slashed, and everything is downhill from there.

Just like the copycats, the smart cookies watch to see what’s happening in the market. But instead of jumping in like everyone else, they sit back and ask, “What do these people need that I can provide?”

In the case of the paid mini-newsletters, there are now tons of customers who bought or are about to buy the newsletter courses who are going to need:

• Membership software
• A list of profitable topics
• A list of places to find their prospects
• Content for their newsletters
• Sales copy for their sales letters and sales videos
• Etc.

And this is what the smart cookie does. She doesn’t try to compete with the dozens of people selling the “how to” courses on mini-newsletters. Instead, she looks to see how she can complement what everyone else is doing.

In this manner every customer of ANY product teaching how to run these newsletters becomes her target prospect. She’s not competing with the course sellers. In fact, she’s often working hand in hand to provide their customers with exactly what they want and need to make their new businesses work.

The customers are happy. The people selling the courses are happy. And she’s rolling in the dough because she took a step back from the fray and asked, “What can I do to complement this trend, rather than compete in it?”

Next time you notice a trend, don’t compete. Instead, find ways to help both the sellers and the customers of this trend, and watch your bank account grow as you fulfill customer’s needs and desires.

If you’re selling big ticket items, you’re leaving a tremendous amount of money on the table if you’re not sending your prospects something in the mail. Think about it – anyone and everyone can send an email, but how many sellers reach out via the postal mail to give their prospects something tangible they can hold in their hands?

Better still, “snail” mail can’t be deleted at the click of a button. And if you make it enticing enough, physical mail gets read and acted upon.

So what should you send to your prospects? According to Dave Dee, you should send a packet of info that includes the following:

– A checklist. For example, if you’re selling a service then you would send a checklist entitled: 7 things you should look for when hiring a _____. This way YOU set the buying criteria and you tell the prospect what to look for.

Now here’s the trick – at least ONE of those 7 things must be something that ONLY YOU do. Maybe you provide a service no one else provides, or you do it in a way like no other. Or perhaps your guarantee is unparalleled. Or you offer a free bonus service that everyone else charges for. Or perhaps you have qualifications or proven results that no one else has.

Whatever it is, it has to be something that only you have, so that when they go to compare you to others, no one else measures up to you.

– Include a newsletter of your own. It should be 2 pages long, customer oriented and include:

• Bullet point tips – these could come from your website or your book – no need to write new ones
• 1 article which could again come from your website or your book
• 1 cartoon (get someone on Fiverr to create this)
• 1 big mistake that people make and how you correct it
• Your picture

– A micro sales letter that sells them on the next step in the sales process, whatever that might be. If it’s making a small order, making a phone call, visiting your website – whatever it might be, you want to move them along in the sales process.

If they don’t respond to this package, Dave Dee follows up with these 3 sequential mailings.

First, he sends a gourmet cookie and a letter in a box. He uses a box so the cookie doesn’t get crushed. His letter begins, “As you can see, I’ve included a cookie. Why have I done this? I wanted to catch your attention. As you can see this is a gourmet cookie. It’s different, just like not all (Your profession, service or product) are created equal…” And then he reiterates his offer. This engages all of their senses and who doesn’t love cookies? Is anyone going to throw this in the trash without at least reading it? Highly unlikely. Are they going to remember it (and you) in the days to come? You bet.

Next he sends a fortune telling fish. It’s simply a little plastic fish that moves in your prospect’s hand. You can find these on novelty sites. Depending on the movement of the fish, it tells you something. The chart that goes with it says if it moves up, it means the prospect is going to call you. If it moves to the left, he’s going to hire you today. If it moves right, he’s going to buy your product, and so forth. No matter how fish moves, it’s a similar call to action

The third mailing is an Aspirin with another letter. This letter starts off with, “Do you still have this problem? We can make your headache go away…”

And if Dave still doesn’t get the response or sale he’s looking for, he then follows up with a year of monthly newsletters.

It sounds like a lot to put together, but once you have the system in place you never have to deal with it again. The newsletter can be timeless, so you can continue to run the same 12 issues. And the sales letters stay the same for as long as you’re selling the same product or service.

Your follow up system doesn’t need to be this elaborate, but one good point to take away is this – acting differently from everyone else and being more creative will get you noticed and it will get you business.

Carl was brand new to his niche. He had no authority, credibility or following. He knew no one. Yet within weeks he had sales, clients and JV partners. How did he do it?

By being just a little bit sneaky, yet still 100% ethical and above board.

Carl knew he needed an incentive to get people to join his list. He also knew he needed something to immediately build his credibility online, so people would trust him and buy from him.

What he wanted was something like an online calling card that would educate, entertain and subliminally sell both himself and his forthcoming products and services.

So he decided to do something that might sound a bit strange – he interviewed himself.

That’s right. He wrote down a list of questions from his niche that he knew he could answer really, really well.

Then he recorded his answers to the questions. And while recording, he streamlined the questions, deleted one that didn’t work and added two more that he thought of.

Then he found someone on Fiverr who had a voice that could easily pass for a newscaster or radio personality, and hired him to read the questions he’d written onto an mp3.

And finally he hired someone else on Fiverr to put the recorded questions together with his recorded answers, along with 5 seconds of professional fade-in music at the beginning and 20 seconds at the end.

Now he had his interview. And anyone listening to it would think he was most definitely an authority with a great deal of expertise. Plus he sounded a little bit like a celebrity, which didn’t hurt either.

Carl used this interview to build his list. He also sent the interview to potential JV partners and prospective clients, as well as podcasters. As a result, he received numerous invitations to be interviewed, to do guest posting and to do joint ventures.

And because he sounded like a true authority, his list opened his emails and clicked his links, too.

Please note: Carl never misrepresented himself. He never claimed the interview came from TV or radio. Had someone asked, he would have told them he hired someone to interview him. But interestingly enough, no one but his wife ever asked.

That’s another perk of being viewed as an authority in your niche – prospects already view you as the expert, so you don’t need to prove yourself. Instead, you can focus your time on where it belongs – helping your customers solve their problems.

You know webinars are a great way to sell products. Hop on a webinar, talk for 30 to 60 minutes and sell some products right there on the spot. Then rinse and repeat as many times as you like, buddying up with a different list owner each time. It’s simple, it’s fairly easy, and the more you do the better you’ll get.

But for many marketers, it’s scary to get on the Internet and talk to tens, hundreds and maybe even a thousand people at one time. “Me? Talk for an HOUR? To PEOPLE?”

Here’s something to consider: You don’t need your own list to run webinars. If you have a great product or service, you can go to list owners and split the money with them. What an outstanding way to get access to other people’s lists and make money doing it!

And most list owners love doing webinars because it’s almost hands off cash in the bank for them. All they do is send out one or more emails to their list, and you do the rest of the work. This means that webinars are an excellent way to get your foot in the door with people who have big, active lists.

Another thing to consider is that webinars mean almost instant and highly targeted traffic for you. Your partner promotes your webinar to their list and their people flock to your site to sign up.

Webinars create instant products in themselves. You can SELL your webinar if it’s packed full of good info. Think about that – what better way to create an instant product than by talking to an audience for an hour?

Or you can give your webinar recording away as a list building incentive of your own.

Plus, webinars can be REPLAYED to make even MORE sales. Again, you record it once and you can set it up on your own website to make more sales. You can also let your list-owner partner put it on their site as well, or send more traffic to your site to listen to the webinar.

And here’s the kicker you probably never even considered: Webinars are one of the best ways to build your own list. You partner with someone, they send traffic from their list, you get (for example) 500 sign-ups and 150 of those attend the webinar. 15-30 of the attendees buy your product, and now you have sales AND a new list of 500 people!

Webinars provide quality traffic, high conversion, partnerships and quick product creation for both free and paid products.

Webinars are truly great for selling products because nothing gets people more excited to buy your product than hearing from you – the expert – on how they can achieve their goal.

And they’re also one of the best ways to build your list.

Imagine if you do just one webinar a week or even once per month – how much more you could accomplish in your business… Believe in yourself and go for it!

If you market to Internet marketers, you might consider the following: 60-80% of your prospects are currently going through or have just gone through a major life change.

Maybe they were downsized, fired or retired. Maybe something at their job changed and now they want out. Maybe they’re going through a divorce or mid-life crisis. Maybe they have money problems or the opposite – They’ve come into money and want to invest it into an online business.

People who are suddenly looking for ways to make money online have experienced a major shift in their life. They’re probably unhappy with the way things are. They’re looking for guidance on how to make a change. Many of them want money FAST – as in yesterday. They want solutions now. They want to push a button and have it done for them. And if that’s not possible, they want to be told EXACTLY what to do to make it happen.

You can use this information to better communicate with your prospects, to let them know you know what they’re going through, and to show them that it can indeed be done.

And you CAN offer them “push button” solutions, too. The legitimate kind. As an example; “We’ll set up your WordPress site, create your first product in 3 different formats, build your squeeze page, write your autoresponder series and so forth, all for “x” amount of money.” That is truly a push button solution, because they push the “buy now” button and you do everything for them.

Of course, it will be too expensive for many, so you can also offer a downgrade, like this: “Too expensive? Then we can teach you how to do it yourself.” By offering two dramatically different price points, you can appeal to both the people who can afford the real push button method, and those who will have to invest their own work to make it happen. In fact, by wording your offer this way you will often get more sales. Your second option will look so low in price compared to the first option, they will find it difficult to say no.

Another great way to market to new Internet Marketers is to offer micro-continuity products that anyone can afford. For example, instead of charging $100 for your product, charge $9.99 a month. Then give them the option of receiving the entire course now for $89 more. Most will opt for the monthly charge, and a percentage will go for the $89 option because they don’t want to wait.

Once they’ve signed up as members, market other affordable products to them inside your members’ area. Plus, make an offer of a big ticket coaching program where you work with people personally.

You might use the Pareto principle when marketing to the Internet Marketing Community. 20% of your prospects are knowledgeable and perhaps even making money online. The other 80% are new, don’t know a great deal and haven’t yet made their first Dollar, Euro, Pound, Yen, Franc or Rand.

Which brings up my last point – unless you specifically target one geographical area, your market is GLOBAL. Yet the needs are very much the same. People who lose their job in China or Switzerland or Brazil or The United States all have the same concerns and fears – “How do I pay the bills and provide for my family now? What if I can’t? What if I fail to land on my feet?”

It’s scary for them, and what they want most of all is someone to take them by the hand, alleviate their fear and show them the way out of the dark and into the light.

The need for money is universal. Your target market is in distress, and they’re desperately hoping you can provide the very real and legitimate guidance that will see them through their financial crisis. Do so, and you will never want for business or income yourself.

Even small changes can sometimes improve your new subscriber opt-in rate dramatically, resulting in thousands more opt-ins that you would have otherwise gotten. Here’s how…

• People photos – Response tends to increase if there is a photo of a person. And since both women and men respond better to a picture of a pretty woman, that’s what you’ll want to use.

• They eyes have it – Have the woman looking directly at the action you want them to take. In this case, you want them to click the button to opt-in, so this is where she should be looking.

• Tools rule. For your incentive, try offering a tool instead of a technique. People believe if they have to tools pros use, they’ll perform like pros. Just look at all of the terrible golfers with high end clubs and you’ll see this is true. Your tool might be a piece of software, a comprehensive guide, a secret website and so forth.

• Lists of tools are even better. For example, the 5 best resources for losing weight or the 3 best resources for doubling your opt-in rate. A list of tools has actually been proven to convert higher than some things of much greater value, such as a free coaching session.

• Video isn’t the incentive powerhouse it once was. Know that the perceived value of videos has gone down considerably. Offering free videos for their opt-in does not work like it used to. Offering tools or a list of resources tends to work better these days.

• Curiosity lights a fire. In your headline offering your free incentive to join your list, use curiosity. For example: “The only 3 pieces of exercise equipment you need in your home. Hint: they all weigh less than 5 pounds.” Obviously what you’re going to reveal is unexpected, and thus they become curious enough to find out.

• Use a two step opt-in. On the opt-in page, have a button to get the free list, report, etc. Then have a new box open that asks where you should send it and a box for their email. This two step opt-in works better than the old method of having the opt-in form right there on the squeeze page.

If you’re not already doing these things, try all seven and you might easily see your opt-in rate double.

Here’s an experiment for you to try. If you don’t already, get a year’s worth of issues of any one magazine. If possible, make it a business magazine such as Entrepreneur. Now go through each issue of the magazine and see which full page and half page ads repeat month after month, and which ads are only there for one month before they disappear.

Notice the difference between the two types of ads. The ones that appear once and never appear again tend to be feature based and devoid of emotion. The ones that appear month after month are benefit and emotion based.

Why is that? Because ads that run month after month are working. Those that run once and never run again aren’t working. And ads that only highlight features without benefits or emotions do not work.

Now then, there are hundreds of different emotions and you can’t hit every one of them in your ad. So which are the very best to target? According to author Robert Imbriale, you can’t go wrong when you include as many of these 5 motivators as possible into your sales process:

Fear. Fear of missing out, fear of making a mistake, fear of loss, fear of failure – all of these things can work in your favor to get the sale. Show your prospect what will happen to them if they don’t buy your product. A life can completely change and take an entirely different course simply by making the right decision at the right time. Let them know how your product can make that difference, and then show them how awful it would be if they didn’t take that next step.

Every market has a set of fears that is shared by a large percentage of your prospects. If you have the solutions to those fears, or even to just one of those fears, you simply need to tap into the fear and use it to market your product.

For example, use news stories to tie your product in as the solution to a fear. You might use the story of a man who once had everything, got laid off and is now homeless. “Don’t let this be you. Buy our course on how to start your own business today and never worry about your future again.”

Love. Are you surprised? Real, genuine social contact is at an all-time low. Most people don’t even know who their neighbors are. Families are no longer living close to each other. Television and the Internet has become a poor substitute for human contact.

More than ever people need a sense of connection, and you can provide that connection in a myriad of ways. Have a video blog (vlog) where you speak directly to your audience. Host calls and interviews. Create a community around each product, through a Facebook page or forum. Do live calls where people can ask you questions. Become the expert in your niche that your prospects feel they KNOW, and you will get their business.

Example phrases to use:

• Join us
• Meet people just like you
• Be a part of
• Connect with others

Want to take it even further? You’ve heard it a million times – sex sells – and it does. Incorporate a sexy message into your marketing and sales will go up.

Words to use:

• Join us
• Meet people just like you
• Be a part of
• Connect with others

Free Things and Hot Sales. This one needs very little explanation – everyone loves to get a great deal. So for example, if you can offer your latest product on sale with an older product thrown in for free, you’re probably going to make a lot of sales.

Give something away to build your list. Give something else away to get referrals. Give away tidbits of good info. But don’t give away the store. Offer special deals that are time limited – if they snooze, they lose. Your customers will learn to buy quickly or miss out – a good way to combine hot sales with the #1 motivator above – fear.

And one of the most potent of all freebies – the free (or nearly free) trial. Let them try your $197 product for just $10, and then 3 easy payments of $67. Or your monthly membership for just $1, and then $39.99 a month starting in 30 days. Yes, you’ll get cancellations, but you’ll also get a great many sales, too, as more people get to experience your product and decide they want to keep it.

Easy Money. You’d think this powerful motivator couldn’t be applied to every business, but if you try, it’s nearly always possible. For example, if you’re selling a dating book for guys, you might talk about how much more confidence they’ll have when they’re able to date beautiful women – confidence that will greatly enhance all aspects of their lives, including their ability to make money, get a promotion, etc.

If you’re selling an organic gardening guide, you might mention that with their greatly increased yields they’ll have tons of produce to sell beyond what they need for themselves. And of course organic produce is in high demand, so it’s a money maker. If you’re selling a weight loss product, you might talk about how much more energy and confidence they’ll have, leading to more productivity and better opportunities, and so forth.

Be their fairy godmother and make wishes come true. Everyone has dreams. Everyone wants something. Show your prospects – better yet, prove to them that you can grant their wish when they purchase your product, and you’ve got the sale.

Don’t believe it? Think of the one thing you want more than anything else. Now imagine I can prove to you that you can have that very thing, and the way to get it is to simply purchase and use my product. What’s it worth to you to make your dream come true? Probably just about every cent you have.

Here’s your task: Find a way to incorporate four or all five of these motivators into your next sales piece, and watch your response soar!

Quickly now – why do people buy from you? “Find a need and fill it, and you’ll be rich,” right? Probably not. People rush to buy what they want, they often delay to buy what they need. Think about it…

Look at food – does anyone need spicy nacho corn chips? No. They need fruit, vegetables, grains and meats. They don’t need corn chips or snack cakes or cookies or candy. But what do they buy? Junk food. LOTS of junk food.

No one needs fast food, either. 5 minutes of planning in the morning and you can pack a nutritious lunch that’s actually GOOD for you. But what do millions of people do? They stand in line or sit in a drive-thru to buy a meal that is likely to make them feel bad, both after they eat it and again when they step on the scale, all because they WANTED the fast food. They didn’t need it. They would be better off without it. But that doesn’t stop them from going out of their way to get it because they WANT it.

Now then – are you selling to people’s wants, or their needs?

They need to brush their teeth, they want to have a sexy smile. They need to add gas to their car, they want to get to work without being stranded by the side of the road. They need to make money, they want to be rich without working. They need to lose 50 pounds, they want to have the energy to keep up with their kids during the day and still connect enthusiastically with their partner at night.

Are you in the Internet Marketing niche? Marketers need to get traffic, have products to sell and maintain an outstanding reputation online. But marketers WANT to make more money, have more time, worry less, work less, stress less, and be the envy of their ex-coworkers and a hero to their family.

See the difference?

Success is found when you sell what people WANT, not what they need.

You’re about to Skype into a potential JV partner, or talk to a big affiliate on the phone, or meet your fellow marketers at a conference. Making this connection is important – it can mean the difference between years of working together to build your businesses, or not. So, what can you say or do to make them trust you?

Should you try to impress them and wow them with your expertise? Should you be funny and outgoing? Or act like you’re extraordinarily successful?

Really, the answer is none of the above. That’s because the first step in getting people to trust you is to show them how interested you are in them.

Let’s say you’re about to speak to a business prospect. Decide in advance how you’re going to feel about this person. Before you even meet, choose to find them interesting, intriguing, loveable and kind. When you do, you’ll be making them feel as important as they are.

Ask to hear their story. “So tell me how you got to where you are.” Let it come across in your words. “That’s fascinating, tell me more about that.” “I love hearing your story, tell me what happened next.”

Make your energy and your words positive because no one likes to be around negative people.

Another example: When you see who’s calling on caller ID, get happy and think how fascinating they are before you answer the phone, especially if you’re initially annoyed at the interruption.

Creating a positive experience for the other person will naturally lead to the connection you seek.

Connection occurs in those moments when someone else feels understood by you. When they feel that you “get” them. You might use phrases such as, “Me too!” “I thought I was the only one!” “I didn’t realize you enjoy that, I like it too!”

In that “me too” moment, you help that person remember that they are not alone in this world, and that there is at least one other person that “gets” them.

The more “me too” moments you can create, the more points of connection you create.

Here are more tips for creating connections that get people to trust you:

Get permission before offering them your advice. They might be simply telling you their story and not looking for your feedback, so don’t assume. Invite them to consider whether they want you to participate. You might say, “That’s really interesting. I have an idea that might be helpful to you, would you like me to share it?”

In sales, the word “no” is seldom respected. So ask permission before making a presentation of any kind: “It will only take 5 minutes, if you don’t mind my taking that time to share this with you.” Asking permission shows respect and indicates that you think of them as an equal, not someone to be dominated.

Ask for feedback. When offering them information, ask what they think and how they feel about it. “I’d love your thoughts. “Can you tell me your opinion?” “I feel strongly about that, how do you feel?” “What would you do in a situation like that?” “Have you ever done something like this before?”

Be helpful, even if they’re not ready to buy right now or do a joint venture or promote your product right now. Share resources with them, introduce them to people who can help them, and find ways to be an asset to them, not a liability.

Using these methods you’ll build connections, trust, and you’ll grow your network exponentially, thus growing your business.