We need to talk. (Did you just cringe a little?)
Don’t worry.
I’m not breaking up with you.
What we need to talk about are your selling strategies.
One of them in particular. The one where you kind of just throw something up for sale and hope like hell someone buys it. (We’ve all been there, but you can’t stay there.)–
Scenario 1
:: You decide to create a new service that you’re really excited about offering to the world, so you plot out the details, spend a few hours making the best sales page you can make, sit back with your cup of hot cocoa…and then hit publish.
You hope someone sees it, and hires you.
When they don’t, you get frustrated and down on yourself, and you can’t figure out what went wrong. You assume they don’t need what you have to offer…so you go back to the drawing board. Again. You feel like you’re spinning your wheels, and never getting anywhere. You’re devastated.
Scenario 2
:: You decide to write that eBook you’ve been itching to get out of your system, so you come up with an outline, and then spend weeks and weeks, or maybe months and months writing the best damn eBook you can possibly write…and then hit publish.
And you hope someone sees it, and purchases it.
When they don’t, you get frustrated and down on yourself, and you can’t figure out what went wrong. You assume they don’t need what you have to offer…so you go back to the drawing board. Again. You feel like you’re spinning your wheels, and not getting anywhere. You’re devastated.–
Scenario 3
:: You decide to offer an online workshop that you think will really take off, so you figure out all of the technology you need, all of the material you hope to cover, and what you want to charge…and then you hit publish.
And you hope someone likes it, and signs up. Hell, you hope many someones like it and sign up.
When they don’t, you get frustrated and down on yourself, and you can’t figure out what went wrong. You assume they don’t need what you have to offer…so you go back to the drawing board. Again. You feel like you’re spinning your wheels, and not getting anywhere. You’re devastated.—
I have good news, and I have bad news. Which do you want first?
What’s that? You want the good news first?
Okay.
The good news is that it isn’t you.
The bad news, on the other hand, is that you just don’t know how to sell you.
It’s the difference between two boxes with the same exact contents inside–let’s say the contents happen to be a super duper, fance pants, high-tech blender.
Both boxes contain the exact same blender inside.
The box on the left is a cardboard box plainly labeled “blender.”
The box on the right, however, has super duper fance pants packaging and printing, with sexy photos of the blender and the perfect sales pitch highlighting the right benefits and features, making anyone with a smoothie fetish go absolutely gaga.
And that’s the difference between you and the next guy–you’re equally good at your craft (you’re the exact same blender), yet he’s rolling in sales while you’re barely scraping by.
It’s not because he’s better than you–it’s simply because he’s got better packaging than you.
He knows how to sell himself better than you, because he’s got a few tricks up his sleeve that you might not know about.
(On that note, I’d like to add here that yesterday, I purchased one tube of toothpaste over another, because the one I purchased described its flavor as “Kiss Me Mint,” while the other was just “Mint.” The way you present + position yourself and your product MATTERS when you want them to buy from you–and not the next guy.)–
So now, let’s take it a step further.
Let’s imagine you both have the same fance pants packaging, and you’re starting off on a perfectly even keel. Now who’s going to have more sales–you or him?
The answer: Whoever is able to make people buy TODAY.
Here’s the thing–when given the choice to buy today or tomorrow, most people will pick tomorrow. That’s just how it is.
However.
You need them to buy today. Because too often, tomorrow never comes. And then neither does your sale–even when what you had to offer was a perfect fit for them.
Whommp whommmp whommmmmmmmmmp.
So, how do you encourage them to buy today?
You make ’em an offer they can only get today.
People *hate* to have regrets. And if they know that tomorrow, they might be kicking themselves for passing up something great you offered them *today*, they’ll buy today.
Even if they weren’t planning on buying today. Or buying what you have to offer at all, frankly.
You aren’t the only one who procrastinates, dahling. Your customers do, too.
It’s your job to help them not.