First off, get your mind out of the gutter. We are talking about “Valuable Demonstrations” here not problems with your private parts. You can easily sell more stuff by giving up front value to your audience. I see the same mistake all over the internet. Ads that say “if you pay me, I will show you how to do this” are starting to be more and more of a turn off. Plus, if you are just a one trick pony, then you really have no perceived long term value to them. It’s with that in mind, that I encourage you to shift how you are selling online. The biggest names in internet and social media marketing have already made these changes, my advice to you, is to follow suit. “Adapt or Die” as my friend Stephan Garner would say. From this point on, if you are prospecting clients in any way, be it, online, in person, on the phone or whatever, you have to start giving them Valuable Demonstrations on why you are the go-to person for their needs.
Case in point. If you have a squeeze page up, with a free video offer for opting in, that’s great. But assuming once they see a 3-5 minute FREE video, you can immediately ask them for money to buy your shit, is over the top. I guess you can, if you are one hell of a persuasive writer, but for the other 99% of us, we have to take a few more steps before we can just ask for money. I think of internet and social media marketing, no differently then I think of face-to-face or phone marketing. I put a human element to it. If you just met a random person on the streets that ask you for directions, just down the street, and you try to sell him some super deluxe latest GPS product, you are going to miss a sale. You missed the chance to demonstrate your value by just giving them free directions and asking them if can you follow up with them later to see if they made it to their destination safely. NOW that’s value.
If your landing pages are converting but you are not getting sales, then you need to survey your list and find out why they did not buy. Don’t be afraid to ask them the tough questions like; What did I do wrong? Was the video of value to you? Did you learn anything new? Did I suck? They will be more than happy, in most cases, to give you all the feedback you need, sometimes more than you want.
If you are immediately asking for money at the end of your money magnet, and they are not buying, you need to spend more time creating good will and bonding with your prospects. In this particular scenario, at least they landing page is converting and you are building a list. Give good will to the list. Give them other videos or e-books that you have lying around, that you are no longer marketing. Send them more items of VD so that they can see, first hand, that you are a valuable asset to them.
Once you create the bonding and trust you need with you list, you will notice you get more opens, more click-throughs and so on. It’s at this time, once you see your good will being built from your VD, (Valuable Demonstrations) that you can present them with an offer that is a solution to their needs. Often times we try to sell something that we want our customers to have, but not necessarily what they themselves want or need. This can cause friction and drop-off.
This process is simple and effective. It also allows you to sell multiple items over time to people you have created trust with. It creates a culture, a relationship a true bonded feeling that they know you. This method is how you create long term money in the online marketing game.
With all that in mind, what do you have in your mind, or that you have already created, that you can share with your lists and clients? What do you have that they could actually benefit from? What ever it is that you just thought of, give it to your list. Give them good will. Give them valuable demonstrations and they will give you money for forever, because you have value.