How Do You Attract That Absolutely Perfect Buyer?
You have a real business. You've been successful at it. You have great relationships with customers and those that interact with you and what you do. The problem is haven't done this thing that you do so well offline successfully online.
I cannot stress enough, and I tell this to many of my customers as we begin working together, "You've conquered the hardest part." The biggest challenge in any business is finding an sizable group of prospects that will listen to your message, connect with that message and then make a purchase.
If you are a speaker, for example, and you successfully book speaking engagements, you understand your market and what it takes to get hired as a speaker. You've gotten the proverbial phone to ring. Your model works. The key now is how best to take that same approach and get it to convert online.
Let me share with you what a successful coach did a while back that woo-ed me into becoming her client. One of my customers invited me to attend a presentation that her coach was giving. I had previously shared with her that I was looking for a coach so she knew I'd be interested.
It was an intimate dinner with about 30 to 40 people. I arrived early and was able to meet the speaker before hand. We spoke a bit and she struck me as likable. She gave a very compelling story from the stage that resonated with me. She wasn't a spectacular speaker and I stress this because eloquence is NOT always necessary. What was most important is that her message connected with me, a small business owner, and I thought, "She has overcome struggles like I am experiencing building my business. I can learn from her."
So what was her call to action at the end of her presentation?
- Buy my book.
- Attend my upcoming conference.
I'm a very analytical buyer. I don't buy on impulse. She was offering the conference at a discounted, but it didn't interest me. I wanted her $20 book to see if she was for real. Notice that I didn't buy the book because I thought it would give me some life altering insight for transforming my life and business. I bought it to decide if she was someone I wanted to hire.
What's really impressive is she got me to pay her to market to me.
When someone who knows what they're doing online offers you a book, e-book, webinar presentation, online course and some other online resource, they are offering you a chance to sample their work. They aren't thinking, "Here's the solution to your problem...end of transaction." The resource may have the complete solution and it addresses the exact problem the customer needs solved. Yet many of those taking your resource are using it to learn more about you. They are using it to decide if they want to hire you.
And if you do it right, they will even pay you money to learn more about you.
Many buyers aren't looking for a do-it-yourself solution for their problem. They are researching possible options. Your resource and those your competitors offer are what a good buyer uses to check you out. If they run their business efficiently, should they really be learning all it is you teach in your book or e-book and do it themselves? Not really.
Even if your resource is super and gives a full step-by-step, it's not the most efficient and effective approach for getting it done. You don't get the value that comes with having you, the expert, do it for them. I've had many customers that first meet me through one of my YouTube how-to guides. They are online resources that walk through specific solution for a marketing campaign funnel or membership site building tactic. What happens as they go through my how-to is they realize how complicated what they want to do is. That makes it easy for them to decide this is something they want to outsource. And since I've proven to them I know how to do it, I'm the person they want to hire.
So as you build your online resource and that can be a full blown e-course, you have to think about your current buying process. If you are doing well, you must already be running prospects through a education process that enables them to get to know you and what you do. It has to be sharing with them information similar to what it is you would share in an e-book or webinar.
The key then is to map out what you do offline and come up with an effective alternative that gets prospects from, "Who are you?" to "I want to do business with you."