By Willie Crawford
When I brainstorm with clients on how
to improve their
on-line businesses, one of the thing I
always ask myself
is what are my struggling clients doing
differently than
the big on-line successes. That generally holds the key
to them improving their businesses. Today I thought I
would share with you some insights into what the "Big
Guys" do that the struggling internet marketers usually
don't. Some of these things may seem obvious. However,
many people observe the obvious, realize what they need
to do, and then do nothing. Those who succeed act upon
their observations.
The model that you can observe a lot of the on-line
successes using can be referred to as the funnel model.
More accurately, you can call it the funnel and filter
model. You want to attract as many suitable prospects into
your funnel of influence as practical. You want to have as
many potential customers as practical raise their hands and
identify themselves to you. They all enter the wide "mouth
of the funnel." Then as you continue your dealings with
them, you better-qualify them and filter out the unsuitable
prospect. At the bottom of the funnel you end up with your
most desirable prospects. These are the people who will
develop into your best long-term customers.
Practically everyone I consults with focuses primarily on
the mouth of the funnel. They look at ways to attract new
prospect.... ways to get more website visitors. They focus
on how to get more subscribers, or how to keep these
subscribers. The flaw with what many people are doing and
that I hope you are not doing is that they spend a
disproportionate amount of resources on getting people
into the funnel. After getting people into the funnel and
qualifying them, many on-line businesses then spend too
little resources cultivating relationships with their most
desirable customers - those who have already made purchases
from them.
Your process for getting people into your funnel should
focus on pre-qualifying prospects from the very beginning.
That means structuring your offering that entices them into
your funnel so that they are aware of your ultimate objective
right from the start. For example, if you sell a $497 video
series that teaches them step-by-step internet marketing,
mention that on your webpage where you ask them to join
your newsletter. That accomplishes two things. I adds value
to your newsletter because anything written by someone who
can put together a $497 videos set, is perceived as more
valuable than something by someone who hasn't produced a
product of similar quality. It also plants the thought in the
backs of their minds that maybe they need your $497 videos.
When you first make contact with a prospect, you would
have to be a superior salesman, with amazing web copy, to
sell them high ticket items right from the start. It *is*
done, but your average internet marketer can't usually
do it. So you do what the big guys do, you sell them
an introductory product first. This introductory product
accomplishes the following:
1) It lets the customer see the quality of your material.
For that reason, even if it's a $9.95 ebook, it should
contain some very valuable information. If the $9.95
ebook is good, they will naturally assume that your higher
priced products are even better - and they should be.
2) It gets the customer comfortable with spending money
with you. After a customer has gotten over the mental
block of spending money with an on-line merchant once,
all subsequent sales take only a fraction of the effort.
3) It gets their name and email address on your list and
gives you permission to follow-up and offer them other
suitable products. Once they have made that first purchase,
you do have a relationship them. They now know who you
are and are more likely to read subsequent email from
you, and more open to what you have to say.
5) It shows you want types of products or services they
are interested in and are likely to buy. It tells you
what types of products to offer them later.
You don't have to get them into the funnel with a
low-cost lead product, you can do it by giving them
a freebie in exchange for their email address. You can
even just ask them to join your mailing list. However,
these methods of getting them on your list does not
qualify them as thoroughly as getting them to make a
small purchase.
Once you get them into your funnel then the process
involves getting them to make subsequent, more expensive
purchases. You don't get them to make more expensive
purchases just because the profit margin is higher.
You get them to make more expensive purchases because
you acknowledge that they do need the more expensive
items to run successful businesses. If you aren't
offering your customers these items, then they are
just buying them from someone else. You did all that
work to make them comfortable with the process of
buying thing they need from you just to drop the ball
when your hard work is ready to pay off.
The big guys know this process and build a system that
acknowledges it. They offer a line of "backend"
products that they know their customers need and want.
The struggling businesses work very hard to get customers
to make the initial purchase. They then either forget
that customer or offer him additional "$9.95 ebooks."
That's a loosing proposition! You customers who buy
the $9.95 ebooks are also buying $49.95 ebooks, and
$197 courses, and $997 seminars. Your ultimate goal,
if you want to join the major leagues should be
to position yourself to offer these higher end products.
You need to offer a full line of products that cover the
price spectrum.
We observed at the beginning of this article that
many people can see the obvious but most don't act
upon their observation. The "big guys" started out
as newbies too. However, as they learned from their
mentors and predecessors, they applied what they learned.
Not only that, but they continue learning and applying
new knowledge. That's why they attend so many gatherings
and spend so much time networking. They continue to
learn from each other and continue to refine their
entire sales process. That very same "funnel" process
that I just explained to you.
Now that you know exactly how the "big guys do it"
you have no real excuse not to succeed as they do. Now
you can become one of the big guys.
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