Let’s have a heart-to-heart conversation about sales.
I was honored to recently be featured in an article titled The 9 Biggest Sales Secrets of 2018 alongside a number of amazing experts. In the article, I share a marketing and sales trend that is actually holding many entrepreneurs back from unlocking their success.
Both new and veteran entrepreneurs too easily fall in love with the idea that the internet is magic and miracles can happen through social media. Practically everyone nowadays thinks:
“Oh, all I need to do is create something amazing while sitting behind my computer screen and I will generate amazing sales. All I need is an email funnel or a kickass video. All I need is to send out a newsletter and write a blog once a week.”
Well, yes and no. It’s a little bit of Column A and a little bit of Column B.
First of all, stop using your computer screen as your sales security blanket.
Actual interaction with actual humans still pays high dividends for minimal efforts. In my experience, having real-world interactions with people (even just getting on a phone call or having a video chat) not only generates more sales, but also more enjoyable sales, and—icing on the cake—it leads to higher value sales.
The more you actually talk to human beings, the more money you make.
Listen, robots are great. One day they’ll rule the world and we’ll all bow down to them. But for now relying too much on automation is killing too many people’s sales efforts. You have to know what sales game you’re playing.
Ok, I will.
Robots and automated funnels work wonders if you’re selling an $8 widget. For you to build a successful business and make your margins, you have to market to the masses. You’re playing a numbers game. The more people who see your ads, the more you’ll make.
Buying an $8 widget is a low barrier for customers to jump over. It’s easy to whip out your credit card and make that purchase. They don’t need much, if any, hand-holding to make that decision. This is where your automated funnel and excellent copy will help you win the day.
But here’s where the problem arises…
Too many entrepreneurs are wanting to play in the high-ticket sales sandbox, but they’re playing a low-ticket sales strategy.
You can’t expect your target market to whip out their credit card with the same ease and enthusiasm for an $8,000 purchase as they do for an $8 purchase. And your sales process should reflect that.
Here’s the thing. Your email funnel and automation can still serve you in the high-ticket game, but only up to a point.
My hope is that this article will help you clarify which approach will serve you best for your business model and hopefully help you get over your fears around sales so that you can start grabbing more of those high-margin, high-ticket items, you sexy beast.
Where Automation Works Wonders
No matter what “high-ticket” means in your industry—maybe it’s $700, maybe it’s $70,000, or $700,000—automation is great for building awareness of your brand.
This helps facilitate a kind of frequency effect for your business. The frequency effect is basically an influence psychological principle that means the more often people see someone or interact with someone, the quicker they develop feelings of trust towards that person.
The same can happen for your brand. The more often they see it and interact with it, the more they trust it. This is where automation kicks major booty. It builds up the frequency effect.
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Once your audience gets into your funnel, automation is great for indoctrination. By indoctrination, I simply mean that this is your opportunity to build and instill the beliefs and perspectives you want your future clients to associate with your products and services.
So, if you’re selling photography, for example, indoctrinating your ideal client means teaching them to understand that their image leads to better business, how personality needs to show through their photos and if it doesn’t, then it’s going to fall flat.
That’s what you put in your automation to teach them, and how you indoctrinate them to the mindset of, “Oh, I’m learning new things about this field that I didn’t realize before!”
You’re using automation to frame you as that trusted, educated advisor for your prospects.
DANGER, WILL ROBINSON…
It’s right around this time when everybody wants to ride the automation pony straight into Salestown.
They want to just sell through automation – staying behind a screen. Everyone wants to flash a “Buy Now” button and have the big bucks show up in the bank.
Really and truly, in the high-ticket game, your goal is to get them onto a phone call or, my personal preference, a video call.
Your prospects face a bigger psychological barrier when you ask them for 10 grand in just an email.
Don’t get me wrong, it does happen. But you increase your sales chances when you have that single phone call to connect, to have that emotional interaction with that person. And, as much as we like to see the magic of the internet happen in front of our eyes, I promise you, there is so much more magic that happens when you sell to an actual person:
- You get the sale.
- You can sell it more often because you can increase your closing rate.
- Your relationship with your client improves because you’ve had interaction and connection.
- They feel more connected to YOU (not an email).
and then, oh, oh, this fifth one is amazing…
- Your referrals increase exponentially.
Yeehaw!
Because of that fifth step, you don’t have to worry about or rely so much on automation and advertising because your clients just send you more clients!
I’ve been able to run my six-figure coaching business predominantly based on this method. And honestly, it’s not even a method, it’s understanding the power of relationships.
Getting people into your funnel has value, but your funnel is not the end goal.
The funnel is the warm up. The sales call is the business.
So, next time you’re hoping to make the sale, I challenge you to do a video call. I promise it’s a game changer.
P.S. This article was originally posted as a video on my Facebook page.
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