Don’t Let FEAR Keep Your Business Stuck in a Fog
11 Great Tips to Generate Leads on LinkedIn for 2020
When I launched my first three businesses I did so with a sizable budget to fund my startup costs. But, when I started my consulting business back in 2007 I found myself in a very different situation. For the first time in my life I had no income coming in.
My husband was in the midst of a long season of unemployment after I had already sold my previous businesses. We had three hungry mouths to feed at home, so I was determined to launch my new business leaner than ever before — like as close to zero startup costs as possible.
That’s when I decided to figure out the LinkedIn thing.
LinkedIn is an incredible free tool to market your business. Once I invested the time to figure out how to get better at using it, I was able to track 6 figures of annual new business all came from LinkedIn.
So, if you want to start monetizing LinkedIn here are 9 tips to help you start generating leads for your business:
Lead Gen Tip #1. Have the Right LinkedIn Success Mindset.
Your diamond clients aren’t hiding in mystery marketing land. They’re on LinkedIn. You just need to dig for them Click To TweetThousands of business owners are killing it with LinkedIn, but new clients aren’t going to come flooding in if all you’re doing is logging into LinkedIn to accept connection requests and post a few comments here and there.
LinkedIn will work for you if you put forth the right consistent effort. I love this famous quote:
“Your diamonds are not in far distant mountains or in yonder seas. They are in your own backyard, if you but dig for them.” ~ Russell Conwell
If you’re not sure whether your target market is on LinkedIn watch this video where I share 5 reason why you should be marketing your business on LinkedIn.
Lead Gen Tip #2. Craft a Stellar LinkedIn Profile for Instant FIND-ability and GET-ability.
Keep in mind the user experience on LinkedIn. People will land on your profile in 2 ways. Direct search and an indirect search. Direct search is easy low hanging fruit because they are typically ‘buy intent’ – ‘hire intent’ searches. Potential clients search LinkedIn for the type of person they are looking to hire. This is why you want your profile to be SEO optimized for the right keyword phrases. Your LinkedIn profile should also have a professional looking photo of you. Most people skip profiles where there is no picture or only a logo. RELATED: LinkedIn Marketing Tips – Is Your LinkedIn Photo Costing You Clients?
Indirect search can happen in many ways. For instance, let’s say you post an update on your personal LinkedIn profile and you share a few tips about a frequently asked question you get. Let’s say you currently have 1,200 1st degree connections and 45 of those connections liked or commented on your post. Not only does your post get seen by your 1st degree connections, it also gets eyeballs from the connections of the people who commented on your post. So if your 45 comments each had an average of 1,200 connections then your one post can also reach 54,000 2nd degree connections. You’re bound to get some of those people who saw your content click on your profile to find out what exactly you do. They will skim your profile for all of 3 seconds. If they don’t immediately get what you do, they WILL MOVE ON to find someone else.
So, you don’t want to miss out on this EASY passive lead generation opportunity simply because they don’t get what you do. That’s why it’s so important that your LinkedIn profile captures an immediate GET-ability (and wow factor). WANT TO GET HELP ON YOUR LINKEDIN PROFILE? See how our free and paid LinkedIn Profile Makeovers work here:
Naturally, you want to have the updates you post on LinkedIn reach more people. So, be sure you develop the habit of sending targeted connection requests to grow your 1st degree connections.
Lead Gen Tip #3: Create Customized Connection Requests
When searching for connections on LinkedIn, you are given numerous filters to choose from. This allows you to get really strategic with your search.
You are able to drill down to where someone lives, where they went to school, what their interests are, and so on. With this information, you can take it and personalize your connection requests.
Lets say, For Example, you search for CEO’s and filter by 2nd degree connections located in Philadelphia. Instead of sending a pre-baked template to someone, study their profile and find a way to insert a question about their city in your request.
You can also ask about things like the weather, their sports teams, and much more.
By creating customized connection requests, you break the ice and open up an easy dialogue with the other person.
Lead Gen Tip #4: Don’t Spam Connections. Talk to Them.
Don’t spam your LinkedIn connections. Talk to them. https://bit.ly/2NfUfxB Click To TweetWhen it comes to messaging your connections on LinkedIn there are two common pitfalls occur. Pitfall #1. You send out tons of requests to connect, but then fail to talk to them after they accept. Pitfall #2. You blast straight into a sales conversion. From its inception LinkedIn was not built to be a marketplace to bombard members with advertisements and solicitations. LinkedIn was designed to foster relationships.
If you use LinkedIn to blast straight into solicitation messages to cold connections, you’re just going to burn through those connections.
Instead, just follow the natural sequence of relationship building when having 1-1 conversations on LinkedIn. For instance:
- Customized invitation
- Welcome / build rapport message
- Engage message
- Give value message
- Value follow up message
- Invitation to call, coffee, interview, etc
If you have a well written profile and tagline often times you can go from step 2 straight to step 6, but it’s good to have a 6 step sequence like this to continue the conversation for people who aren’t ready to be a client of yours.
If the idea of messaging people individually feels too daunting, I use a tool called Auto Text Expander to speed my responses to FAQ’s when I’m on desktop.
When I’m messaging people from my mobile I just use the keyboard shortcuts on my iPhone which functions the same way as Auto Text Expander. I can reply 10x faster when all I have to do it type in 2 or 3 letters I set up.
Lead Gen Tip #5: Use Trigger Events to Engage and Re-Engage
Not all of your prospects will be ready to talk about your services immediately. However, they may be ready in 6 or even 12 months from now.
Your goal is to remain in their minds, meaning you’ll need to continue engaging them.
Fortunately, this can be done easily with trigger events. These are situations that will provide a comfortable way for you to re-engage with someone if they’ve shown no interest in your solutions so far.
These situations include:
- they engaged on one of your posts (liked, commented, or shared)
- they viewed your profile
- they’ve published an article on LinkedIn
- they’ve posted a status update on LinkedIn
- they had a job change
- they were promoted
- they engaged on one of your posts (liked, commented, or shared)
- they or their company were mentioned in the news
- they’ve published an article on LinkedIn
- they’ve posted a status update on LinkedIn
By re-engaging in this manner, you are more likely to stay on their radar and be top of mind when the time comes that they need the solution you offer.
Related: Attract Clients on LinkedIn! 12 Things You Can Do in 15 Minutes
Lead Gen Tip #6: Use hashtags to get discovered
When you’re posting an update, whether it’s a simple text update, a picture, a video or audio LinkedIn allows users to follow various hashtags. This way, they can get content on a topic in their feed, even if they don’t follow specific influencers for it.
Additionally, when you post an update, LinkedIn will auto-suggest hashtags, which can give you some inspiration for what to include.
You can also do a quick search a topic in LinkedIn and you’ll be able to see the number of followers on that hashtag.
Lead Gen Tip #7: Use Native Videos
@neilpatel 84% of buyers reported that they had been convinced to buy after watching a brand’s video https://bit.ly/2NfUfxB Click To TweetHere’s an excerpt from SEO expert Neil Patel where he shares the importance of posting videos on LinkedIn to grow your business.
Advantages of Video
Native videos are videos that are uploaded directly to LinkedIn or created on the platform itself, as opposed to embedding videos from other sites, such as Youtube, Vimeo and more.
There are numerous advantages to using native video. According to Neil Patel, “A staggering 84% of buyers reported that they had been convinced to buy after watching a brand’s video.
And that same study found that 97% of businesses believe that their video has helped increase user understanding of their product or service.
That means the right type of video will help you sell and engage more.”
How to Upload Native Videos
To upload a Native Video, go to your feed, and you’ll see a button with a camera icon next to “start a post.
From here, You can directly upload a video between three seconds and ten minutes in length. This will appear directly to your update feed, allowing your audience to start watching your content immediately.
The dimensions of a native video can be from 256×144 to 4096×2304, and the orientation can be Horizontal or vertical, though vertical videos will be cropped into a square in the feed. Native video’s will also loop automatically.
Using Analytics
Another advantage of Native Videos is that, Once you post a video, you are able to see detailed analytics. This includes things such as the number of views, likes, and comments your videos are receiving.
Additionally, you can also see audience insights, including top companies, titles, and locations of your viewers.
You can find these insights in the dashboard section of your LinkedIn profile. This works on both mobile and desktop.
Click the drop-down that says “Me” and scroll down until you see “Posts and Activity.”, which brings you to a feed of every post you’ve ever uploaded to LinkedIn.
At the bottom of each post, you’ll see a breakdown of it’s likes, comments, shares, and views.
With this information, you can begin to understand if you’re reaching the people and companies that matter to your brand.
Lead Gen Tip #8: Get to the Point Quickly in Your Videos
On Social media, attention spans are short, so there’s no time for you to waste. This means that you need to hook your viewers by getting to your point quickly at the beginning of your video.
LinkedIn themselves recommend capturing attention with a hook in the first 0 to 3 seconds.
From there, seconds 3 to 15 should be used to identify the problem or opportunity, and should address one of the biggest pain points of your potential customers, in order to really draw them in and entice them to watch the rest of your video.
After you have successfully hooked your viewers and drawn them in, seconds 15 to 50 should be used to describe the solution. Explain what you’re offering and why it’ll help your viewers.
Lead Gen Tip #9: Use Closed Captions for your videos
Up to 85 percent of social media videos are played with no sound bit.ly/2NfUfxB Click To TweetWhen a video comes up on your feed, it begins playing automatically. However, it is also muted by default.
It’s estimated that up to 85 percent of social media videos are played with no sound.
This makes adding closed captions/subtitles to your videos essential.
Even if your video isn’t heavy on speech, doing so will make them more accessible. LinkedIn even has a closed captioning feature, making it easy to implement.
To add captions:
- Click the video icon near “start a post” and select the video you’d like to upload.
- When the preview shows up, click the edit icon on the top right to see the video settings and then click select file to attach the associated SubRip Subtitle file.”
Lead Gen Tip #10: Make Use of LinkedIn Showcase Pages
@SpielCreative If you have multiple target audiences or brand personas, you need Showcase pages. https://bit.ly/2NfUfxB Click To Tweet
What are LinkedIn Showcase pages?
Let’s ask Darren Travers, who shares, “Showcase pages are add-ons to your LinkedIn company page for highlighting a specific business unit, initiative, product, service, or for targeting unique demographics. They are standalone pages, meaning people can follow them without following your main page.
If you have multiple target audiences or brand personas, you need Showcase pages. With them, you can avoid over complicating your main page and creating confusion for your audience by spreading out your offers and messages across multiple pages.
To create one, simply click ‘Admin tools’ on the right of your company homepage and select ‘Create Showcase Page’ to get started.”
Lead Gen Tip #11: Make Use of Sponsored vs Targeted Updates
If you have a LinkedIn company page, you are able to take advantage of Targeted Updates and Sponsored Updates bit.ly/2NfUfxB Click To TweetIf you have a LinkedIn page for your company, then you are able to take advantage of two powerful features. Targeted Updates and Sponsored Updates.
With Targeted Updates, you can target your content to a specific audience. This is useful for many reasons, such as if you want to show specific content to your investors, and other content to your consumers. However, the segment you are targeting must have at least 300 followers for you to use this feature.
Sponsored Updates: Sponsored updates are paid posts that allow you to reach a broader network. If you would like some content to get even more visibility, or if you want to get your content in front of people who aren’t following your Company Page (or your employees) you can pay to sponsor it.
To use targeted updates:
- Click on start a post from your Company Page
- Click on “Anyone” and you’ll be taken to “Who can see Your Post?”
- Click on Targeted Audience and you’ll be able to customize what audience you want the post to
While Targeted Updates can be used to build an organic following, Sponsored Updates allow you to pay to get your posts in front of a larger audience to further build your following.
These will appear in the your audience’s feed and look like a normal post, the only difference being a “sponsored” label next to your company name.
You are also able to target specific audiences just like you can with Targeted Updates.
To use Sponsored Updates:
- Post an update to your company page and click the “Sponsor Update” button.
- Within the Campaign Manager, name your new campaign.
- Target your campaign by choosing Location, Company, Skills, etc.
- Choose Your payment option. You can select either Cost-Per-Click (CPC) or Cost per 1000 impressions (CPM).
Conclusion
So, there you have it. I just shared 11 tips to help you start generating more leads on LinkedIn. If you’re starting at zero, don’t be overwhelmed by trying to implement all 11 by tomorrow! Bookmark this page to review it each day and decide to implement one at a time until you add all 11.
If you’d like to nail down your LinkedIn profile faster check out our free and paid LinkedIn Profile Makeover services for you here:
QUESTION: What’s one thing that’s been working well for you on LinkedIn? Share With us in the Comments below!
Margin
How to Get Your Business to Run Without You
#1: Know Every Inch of Your Business
Knowing every inch of your business means observing what you are currently doing and asking yourself:- Do I have a clear understanding of what’s important and what’s not?
- Am I simply focusing on each task or crisis as it comes along?
- Can these tasks be systematized?
“Those who are most successful are capable of ‘higher-level thinking’ – i.e., they are able to step back and design a ‘machine’ consisting of the right people doing the right things to get what they want.” – Ray Dalio, Founder of Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fundThis is the only way to create a system that allows you to remove yourself and let the business take care of itself. Principles by Ray Dalio is a great resource to learn more about this approach. As is Work the System by Sam Carpenter. Once you’ve built your machine, improve it over time. Create a solid diagnosis of your goals and the problems blocking their path so that you and your team can stimulate creative solutions. Google was famous for empowering their employees with ‘secret’ information and involving them in Q & A meetings where they could openly discuss anything with anyone. A clear and open communication flow can help you identify bottlenecks, generate better ideas, and build an effective business machine. Would you agree? If so, you may benefit from a mastermind group that allows you to brainstorm core business challenges with fellow CEOs. Get that conversation started.
#2: Determine What Your Communication Strategy is Lacking
Don’t just say: “I can’t transfer my knowledge to my team.” Instead, Ask yourself:- Which team member, and why?
- Is it a problem of time or a lack of shared language?
- Poor follow-through?
- Lack of clarity?
#3: Remove Bottlenecks with Technology
Leveraging technology is the best thing you can do for your business. The benefits are endless: smoother operations, greater customer experience, increased productivity and higher profits. Jetsmarter made it easy for customers to access technology and information by letting them directly schedule their flights through an app. As a result, agents were removed as a booking bottleneck and re-directed towards other tasks. For better or worse, every company is now a software company. There are hundreds of applications that can be used to run business tasks. It’s all about connecting people, processes, technology and data. For your business to run smoothly and be highly adaptable to market needs, it needs digital integration. Use the proper tools to get you from knowledge to action in a systematic way. How can you empower your business with technology? Every industry has different needs. Companies with manufacturing, transport and large investments may need to improve operations and take advantage of their infrastructures. Other companies may want to focus on customer relationships and platforms. Use technology to support your own goals, decreasing the amount of time and effort that you as a business owner need to focus on daily operations.#4: Get Help So You Can Focus on the Big Picture
This means passing along some responsibilities when it becomes highly problematic or time-consuming. In other words: seeking help. Escalation is not a failure — it’s recognition of responsibility. Your business is meant to grow and run smoothly without your constant input. Because it becomes successful only when treated as a separate entity worthy of investment. If time is the problem, get a virtual assistant to help you in a variety of areas, including administration, research, invoicing as well as marketing, sales and operational support. If you have a core business challenge, consult a business coach who can “shift your mindset and perspective on your business which then allows for powerful breakthroughs in the strategic direction of your company.” Seek help.#5: Define the Roles and Responsibilities of Your Staff
Did you know that there is a significant relationship between employee performance and clarity about roles and responsibilities? According to one study: “Role ambiguity, which is absence of clarity for the roles, is considered to be one of the great bottlenecks for the effectiveness of the team.” The research went on to indicate that employers who are clear about performance, evaluation and delivery improve their business tremendously. Not only are employees happier with their own performance; they uplift the entire organization. How clear are you about your expectations? If not, don’t worry, you’re not alone. Almost 50% of employees across different sectors lack role clarity. With start-ups, the problem stems from a fluid environment where everybody has to do everything. However, For larger organizations, it’s due to poor communication. We’re talking about goals, priorities and boundaries. Your Employees need to understand not just how they fit into the puzzle but how the other pieces fit in, too, and how the whole thing comes together. There is a freedom and passion that comes with clarity. This includes you as the employer, CEO or business owner. The only thing you should be focusing on is making the best decisions for your business. Remove all the other noise from your head – you’d be amazed at how many different tasks there are that you can get someone else to do for you. Seriously – here’s 84 examples!Related Video
Conclusion
Are you ready to find out what it means to run a business that is so effective that you can pursue bigger and better goals? It’s possible. Schedule a 30-minute complimentary session today and find out exactly how you’re going to do it.QUESTION: What inefficiencies have you found in your business that have allowed you to pursue bigger and better things? Share with us in the comments below!
How Outsourcing Can Help Small Businesses Keep Up
Did you know that nearly 60% of companies are outsourcing tasks to cut costs? Many small companies are falling behind.
They don’t have the ability to afford in-house specialists to keep up. This is due to fast pace technology making business more competitive. Outsourcing is the main key you might be missing for your company to thrive.
Today, IT and other professionals are very expensive to hire. Leaving small businesses in the dust if they can’t afford them.
The benefits of outsourcing are countless. You can outsource mundane tasks so your in-house team can focus on essential assignments that require time and effort. Outsourcing offers both big and small companies significant money-saving opportunities and the ability to stay ahead of the game.
Three Types of Outsourcing
There are three main types of outsourcing. There are many types of jobs and ways to outsource. The key is to find what is best for your company and your needs.
Outsourcing Professionals
This is the most common type of outsourcing. Many small companies cannot afford to outsource expensive specialists. This includes specialists in accounting, administrative, and legal work.
In most cases, you don’t need an in-house full-time professional to do these jobs. You can outsource work to a company or professional when necessary.
Outsourcing IT Experts
Not only are in-house IT experts costly, but they aren’t necessary all the time. The majority of the work they do can be done from anywhere.
Why not hire remotely a professional that has the expertise in the latest technologies.
From app development, system administration, and software design to maintaining your website. You can find less expensive IT experts around the globe that are a fraction of the price of hiring locally.
Outsourcing Copywriters and Marketers
When it comes to marketing, many small businesses turn to their in-house employees. Creating text and design for pamphlets, websites, social media, and blogs.
There is a lot more that goes into creating a quality marketing campaign than just writing text.
Today, with proper content, a company can go far. Outsourcing professionals in the field can help boost their image and put them in the limelight
Outsourcing Benefits and Risks
Did you know that 47% of companies choose to outsource work to reduce capacity issues? Paying for office space costs a lot more than hiring a freelance professional.
Benefits of Outsourcing
1. More specialized talent. – As a small company, it’s not always possible to hire professional talent. They tend to be costly to hire in-house. With outsourcing, you have access to professionals around the globe at a lower cost, depending on your specific needs.
2. Save Money. – A company may spend $1,252 per new employee training alone. This doesn’t include additional costs of office space and expenses such as sick pay, pension, and others. Also, you have more access to professionals with more experience and knowledge that cost less on average.
3. More transfer of knowledge. – A strong team made of experienced experts can cover everything across the board to keep your company up to date.
4. Higher performance. – Most outsourced professionals work per-project basis. Focusing only on the task at hand without distractions that an in-house employee may have. As a result, they deliver work faster and of a much higher quality.
5. Reduce expenditures on new technology. – Technology is always changing. The moment a company finally has the funds to invest, new technology is on the rise. By hiring experts already using the latest technology, the company doesn’t have to train in-house employees to implement it.
6. Improve in-house productivity. – Allow your employees to focus on the crucial tasks. Keep your business moving forward by outsourcing mundane tasks such as data entry.
Drawbacks of Outsourcing
As with everything else, there are always drawbacks. If you pay close attention, do your research whom you outsource to, and always read the fine print, you should be fine.
1. Loss of control. – If you assign work to an outsourcing company or freelancer, be aware. Without controlling the results, you may find yourself worse off than before. Outsourcing requires a bit of organization and work on your side to maintain quality and move forward.
2. Hidden costs. – If you choose to outsource work to a company, be diligent about what you are signing up for. There is often a small print that may incur more costs than hiring in-house. Always review the contracts carefully. Make sure you are aware of what you are paying for and which added costs might come up.
3. Security risk. – If what you plan to outsource requires sharing personal customer or employee data, it could pose a risk. Always consider what type of work you plan on outsourcing and hire trusted companies and freelancers.
4. Time difference. – Many outsourcing companies and freelancers may be working in a different time zone. This might make it challenging to sync with your schedules. However, with good time management, there are always ways around it.
5. Language barriers. – Remember that many outsourcing companies and freelancers are not native English speakers. This could pose a problem with the language barrier. However, if you do your research well, you can find fantastic professionals with perfect English.
6. Moral dilemmas. – One of the moral dilemmas may be denying someone from your team an opportunity to grow by outsourcing work. The possibility of stumping the growth of your community by not working with a local talent agency. Another issue is that some consumers frown upon outsourcing.
Bottom Line
In essence, the benefits of outsourcing for small businesses outweigh the drawbacks. This is because you need to keep up with the big guys if you wish to grow as a company. The best way is by having experts on your team that many small businesses can only afford in-house.
A small business requires a dream team to advance and keep up. Outsource as much as possible by finding companies, or freelancers on sites like PeopleByTheHour and UpWork. Even small businesses could build a dream team,save money, and keep up with the latest changes in technology.
Which tasks you feel could be outsourced in your company?
Question: Would you outsource to give your in-house team more time to focus on important tasks? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Hristina Nikolovska is the appointed Community Manager at WhatToBecome. Using her extensive background in digital marketing, as well as her social media and public relations experience, Hristina’s passion is helping others stay organized through clear communication and pushing for the realization of projects of every sort.
High Ticket Sales – 9 Ways to Sell When You’re Not the Lowest Price
High Ticket Sales Secrets ~
Selling high ticket products and services is a great way to speed your sales growth, but what do you do when your prospects or clients start to quibble your price?
Answer— you show them the true value of what you’re offering instead.
If your prospects are telling you they like your product or service, but that it’s too expensive, you probably haven’t sufficiently communicated the value of what you’re offering.
Here are nine different ways to help you 10X the value of your services or products, so that 100% of the right prospects buy.
Remember — price isn’t the only thing affecting a purchase decision.
1. Leverage the false economy principle.
The old adage of ‘you buy cheap, you buy twice’ can be a powerful one.
Promoting the quality of what you offer is a viable way of justifying charging higher than your competitors. And the same goes for services or software — the better the build, the less customers will need to spend on support and fixing issues.
You get what you pay for — and that holds true across the board, from selling million dollar Senior Living communities to selling $100,00 Elite coaching-mastermind groups.
When you’re selling high ticket products, highlight the longevity 
and the reliability of your product — “You can buy it for less elsewhere which might seem cheaper in the short run, but it ends up being most expensive in the long run because you’ll have to replace it over and over again.”
If you’re selling high end services, highlight the high return on investment of what you’re offering — “Let me show you how we get you results and even 10X the ROI.” Now how’s that for a powerful sales statement?
2. Win them with awesome ‘gotta-have’ features.
Another way to convince prospects is to highlight the features they get with you that they can’t get anywhere else. It’s a simple, yet effective way to communicate value in a way that’s easy to understand.
This comparison guide from Pipedrive is a really comprehensive (and honest) look at CRM features:
By pitting Pipedrive’s features against that of its major competitors (Salesforce and Zoho), they are letting prospects decide for themselves what service they need based on the essential features.
Feature-led selling is a great way to get someone to buy, especially if they have a non-negotiable feature they can get from you that they can’t get from anyone else!
Speak to your loyal customers and users and ask them what cool feature or service you could add that would transform their experience with you.
It may give you an idea of how to 10X your value. Keep constantly updating and renewing your product and service offering to ensure that you are are the best and most complete offering on the market.
3. Highlight experiential value.
Is there something that you can offer that no one else does right now? Have you got any features in development that are going to change the game? Are you going above and beyond and offering people a VIP customer experience?
This is all about showing your customers value by highlighting your uniqueness, as well as making a big deal about your stellar customer experience.
Speed of delivery – In some cases, customers are often willing to pay more if they can have the product sooner. Just think about the popularity of Amazon Prime — people will actually pay a monthly fee just to get their products quicker when they need them. Same goes for services — the ability to get started on a cleaning or service contract sooner can be worth its weight in gold for busy customers.
Personalization — People love products that they can customize and call their own — always offer this as an option if you can. Dropshipping and print-on-demand shipping models are a cost-effective way of offering mass personalization options and variants to your customers, without the need for a bespoke workshop.
For someone selling services, a bespoke contract might be a way to fulfill this same need — or just invest in great customer service and email marketing to personalize their interactions with you and your brand.
Emails can be a great way to remind people they are due another visit to you, or even wish them happy birthday from you and your team!
4. Harness social status.
In Europe where the roads are more narrow and the gas is more expensive, they love small city cars. Car brands Skoda, SEAT, and Audi are all owned by Volkswagen and many of their cars share the same components. And yet, the small Audis sell at a higher price due to the perceived value and status of having those four rings on the hood.
Why?
Social status — people love to buy into products and services that make them look & feel good in front of other people.
This is where you want to embrace the ‘soft sell’ and display customer reviews in prominent positions both offline and online.
You will also want to use language in your sales literature that sets you up as the premium or ‘go to’ supplier in your area.
Highlighting other big hitters or locally respected people and brands who have come to you already is a great way to increase your social credibility.
5. Let your customers sell you for you.
Go one up on reviews: in-depth case studies and testimonials are another great way of bringing your value or the value of your products to life. Invest in some user-generated content to put sales messages into the hands of your customers.
Why not shoot a customer happiness video to showcase your biggest advocates?
Platforms such as Feefo and Trust Pilot are reasonably easy to implement on websites and provide an easy to understand rating system for customers. Creating a community of happy customers will help with social proof, but you will also need to address your branded literature to ensure an aura of quality and value pervades your brand. Some standout customer quotes and stories should be your go-to value propositions when talking to an unsure prospect.
6. Tell a story.
Features and benefits appeal to logic. Storytelling appeals to emotions. Click To Tweet
Spend time looking at how luxury brands market and sell their products — they often fall back on age-old techniques like storytelling to help communicate the social status of their brand.
Keep this in mind when creating sales literature like brochures, flyers, leaflets, and landing pages.
https://twitter.com/CHANEL
Sometimes appealing to people’s imagination and sense of wonder works better than being practical about it. (It’s why beauty salons and spas invest so much time and money in creating an ‘out of this world’ impression and experience).
A good story transforms your brand message from ‘boiled chicken’ to going viral. Click To Tweet
Storytelling isn’t just for eCommerce. It also catapults service based business like agencies, brokers, consulting firms, law firms – even home builders and more.
What is your story? What emotional felt need does it tap into your customers?
“Effective storytelling ignites a revolution behind your brand.” Click To Tweet
7. Pile on the prestige.
People love buying into history and provenance. Make a big deal about your origins, and always highlight the human story behind your materials, suppliers, and vision.
For service-led businesses …
Highlight the prestige of your education or experience, or mention any significant awards and mentors who’ve helped you along the way. Showing that you’ve ‘been in the game’ for awhile can help convince people you are a serious contender.
8. Give value to the community.
Ethical buying is important to vast swathes of the population — tap into ethical consumer trends by communicating your ethical credentials during the sales pipeline. Encouraging your customers to pay more for a good cause e.g. responsibly sourced materials or responsible labor practices is a great sales tactic when price rears its head.
Even service businesses can leverage this strategy by having an awesome corporate social responsibility program, or using ethical supplies and suppliers.
Seek out partnerships with charitable organizations and certified bodies to add legitimacy to the causes you support. It’s not cool to use causes as a cheap way of getting more sales — you need to actually be committed and engaged.
9. Talk & write like you mean it.
Producing content to show you’ve got your finger on the pulse will help demonstrate the value in buying from you. People are much more likely to buy from suppliers and service providers who they follow and engage with on social media.
Ensure that you are ready to engage with customers across a diverse range of channels, whether they choose to call or tweet you.
You can show your customers you understand and care about the same things they do. So if for example you’re selling men’s watches, consider writing some content around men’s lifestyle and fashion to show you connect with your audience in a meaningful way.
Part of connecting with your audience is using an appropriate tone of voice and a brand that resonates with that audience. Sometimes, a stand-out content or ad campaign can grab the attention of customers and have them buy into you as a business. So, there you have it! Now be sure to take the time to implement these 9 steps into your business … OR
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💬 QUESTION: What is one question about high ticket selling we didn’t cover in this article? Share your comments below:
Contributing Writer, Victoria Greene is a branding consultant and freelance writer. On her blog, VictoriaEcommerce, she shares tips on e-commerce and how companies can improve the way they represent their brand. She is passionate about using her experience to help brands improve their reach.
