Jonny, teach me some online sales techniques and strategies to increase sales because I need to get more of my leads to say ‘YES’ to the offers I make in sales letters, emails and social media posts.
This is a query that I hear from members of Team Sofa, subscribers to our VIP Newsletter and home business owners that I speak to frequently.
People like us that run a business that involves selling a product or service, often become incredibly frustrated when we get some form of interest from our:
- Social media promotional posts
- Email marketing messages
- Newspaper ads
And then, these seemingly interested leads…
Disappear into a witness protection program!
It’s happened to all of us before and if it hasn’t happened to you yet – it will!
What causes this sudden shift from slightly interested to non-responsive?
Life!
Here’s the reality…
Over the last 25 years, the volume of marketing messages that people are bombarded with on their phones, TVs and billboards has increased by a factor of x2000.
This has become blatantly obvious to me and members of my team over the years, and in this regard, I’m convinced it’s going to get worse.
As creative minds bring new concepts, products and services to the marketplace, we are all going to get plugged deeper into the marketing-matrix.
But, I have some good news for you…
Recent tests that we have been conducting have resulted in a dramatic increase in the % of leads that relentlessly chase us to get their hands on our products and services.
I would like to pretend that I meditated on top of a mountain somewhere and came up with an ingenious strategy or tactic to achieve this but I haven’t.
In all honesty, I have recently started applying and combining some strategies that I have been aware of and ignored for years.
Learn from my mistakes and take heed of this valuable lesson.
Whenever you learn new tactics and online sales strategies like what I’m about to teach you, ALWAYS…
Start Using Them – ASAP !!
Years ago, I can remember listening to seminars where Tony Robbins and Jim Rohn would say that most people are motivated by one of two factors:
- Desire for gain
- Fear of loss
The desire for gain is a motivator that takes someone towards their goal/desire.
The fear of loss is a motivator that helps them to get away from their fear.
And, what we noticed in a number of recent marketing experiments that involved sending out postcards containing a websbite address to print advert leads, proved to be fascinating.
The landing page that had verbiage that appeals to the ‘towards’ motivator, out-performed the landing page that was designed to scare the prospect into the the consequences of not taking action.
Interesting!
It is commonly taught in marketing circles that the fear motivator is the most effective out of the too.
Now…
I’m not disputing this, but in nearly all of my marketing tests, the desire to gain (towards) motivator works best for me and my team.
There’s a lesson to be learned here…
Don’t take anything that you read in books, listen to on podcasts or in seminars as GOSPEL.
You must always…
Test, Test and Test Again!
You will be amazed at the number of techniques that marketing gurus say will not work – that actually work really well.
So, let’s get back to the issue of people seeming interested in your products and then becoming unresponsive.
It really doesn’t matter how busy and preoccupied that people appear to be, there is something about the human psyche that remains consistent and there’s something that you can start doing today, to get more ‘Yes, I want to buy’ responses from your customers.
You see…
Another critical concept that I picked up at a marketing seminar years ago and recently combined with the desire/fear motivators in the marketing tests, is based on research conducted by NeuroScientist, Paul Mclean.
McLean posits that all human beings have a brain that has been developed over a many millennia, and is comprised of three major parts:
- The Reptilian Brain.
- The Mammalian Brain.
- Neo Cortex.
The Reptilian brain gets stimulated to act when confronted with issues to do with safety, reproduction, securing shelter and other primal human-evolutionary instincts.
The Mammalian brain gets stimulated when emotional considerations needs to be acknowledged.
The Neo Cortex get stimulated when conscious thought and self awareness are key considerations.
Here’s where things can get incredibly confusing for most neophyte marketers…
If you are anything like me, you will have read books and been to sales/marketing seminars and come across the following recycled message:
People make decisions based on emotion, not logic.
I have also found this to be true but made the mistake of trying to appeal to emotions and became frustrated when leads took longer to convert to paying customers.
Let me give you an example by asking you a question…
Why do men and women like to buy sports cars such as Lamborghinis and Aston Martins?
Well that’s easy Jonny, it’s because they want to get around town quicker, be more efficient and turn up to meetings and appointments on time.
Ha 🙂
In the vast majority of cases these purchases are emotional NOT logical and the real motivation is how these purchases make them feel, examples might include:
- They feel proud like they have made it – Neo Cortex
- They feel sexier – Reptilian
- When they witness the reaction that they get from others, it appeals to their ego – Neo Cortex
Stay with me here, because, if you can get this, it will change your sales conversions and put…
More Money In Your Pocket!
Actually, let me give you a practical example of how to put this to work.
Yes, I’ve listened to your feedback from our newsletter Q&A emails, the weekly calls and emails and I’m going to start using more of these types of examples when sharing offline and online sales techniques with you from this point onwards.
So…
Let’s say that after getting to a point where you need to earn more than your 9-5 is paying you, you decide to start a home based business to earn an extra income.
You know that you are not interested in:
- Selling courses and ebooks or
- Selling physical products as an Amazon affiliate
- Dropshipping
- …and numerous other home business ideas that you will have been pitched over the years
You already have an interest in skincare and you already spend a portion of your income on moisturisers, cleaners, toners and make up etc.
Making new friends and joining a community is also something you would like to do and you have come to the conclusion that selling skincare as a rep for a direct sales or network marketing company is something you could easily.
After searching online, you have come across our Get-em, Keep-em and Grow-em strategy, you join a company that is a good cultural fit and you start thinking of ways to find new customers.
Now…
You know that there is a chance that your prospective customer, like you, already uses some form of skincare products.
There’s are a number of reasons why they are using these products, some of which might include:
- to look healthier and more youthful/vibrant
- to address an issue that they have such as fine lines or wrinkles
What you need to do here is to think about their real motivation – peel that onion!
Why do they want more vibrant looking skin?
Why don’t they want a face covered in fine-lines and wrinkles?
Here’s where you combine neuroscience with marketing – you’re going to love this ;0
If you want to stimulate a response that results in someone reacting or taking an immediate action to buy your products, which of the three brains should you appeal to?
Congratulations, you are correct: the Reptilian Brain.
So, to appeal to their Reptilian brain, what should you be discussing in your marketing and sales messages?
Anything that involves:
- Sex or reproduction
- Safety
- Security
So, after thinking about this, you decide to appeal to the sex/reproduction aspect of the reptilian brain and you have decided to focus your adverts, posts or sales letters on looking more attractive to the opposite sex or an existing partner.
You’re on the right track BUT…
PLEASE: Don’t do what a member of my team did recently and make judgements based on what you think they want based on their demographics.
I won’t mention her name for obvious reasons but I couldn’t believe it when she said…
My target demographic is women over 40 years old. It’s likely that they will already be married with adult children. Is there any point in me focusing messaging on this sex/reproduction reptilian stimulus?
My response:
Women in their 40s want to look appealing to their partners and are often more sexually active than women in their 30s. Ask any man over 40 he’ll probably tell you that they’re often more demanding at 40-45 than 30-35 😉
Millennials – bless them.
I digress…
What I’m trying to say here is that if you can start peeling back the onion and thinking about the real, lower-level psychological motivators behind superficial, surface-level desires, you will speak to people in a way that is powerful, more engaging and..
Sell more stuff!
Let’s get back to the scenario…
You now decide to write an advert that you will use in your local newspaper and online to drive people to your website promoting your skincare products.
Your advert looks something like this:
“Who Else Wants Healthy Vibrant Skin That Leaves Single Guys Instantly Attracted To You” – For More information go to: www.madeupwebsitename.com
Now, before you say anything, I agree….
This is a crude example.
BUT, I want to drive home the importance of appealing to your prospect’s core desires.
Are you with me?
Good!
You place the advert in your local newspaper and a few days later, interested prospects leave their email address to request more information.
You have generated leads – so far so good.
Here’s what is more important…
You have generated leads using messages that appeal to the Reptilian brain.
So what?
Well…
These leads are going to be 10x more responsive than leads that your competitors will be getting.
This is marketing gold – if I were you, I would bookmark this page NOW and come back and re -read this post at least once a week.
One of your leads, Sally, receives an autoresponder email sequence consisting of the following information:
- A link to a blog post you have written about a natural, bio-available source of Vitamin C that promotes younger looking skin making women look more fertile.
- A link to a video by an industry expert that reveals the fastest way to detox the kidneys and liver which will result in you having more vibrant looking skin that triggers a subconscious, evolutionary response in men that see you as an ideal candidate as the perfect mate to have children with.
- A link to another post about combining MSM Sulphur with Camu Camu and Neem to give you a flawless complexion that a supermodel would be jealous of.
- An invitation to speak to you about how you can help them to achieve their skincare goals or a link to buy the product.
What you’ve done here is appealed to the Reptilian brain in 2 out of four messages and appealed to the Mammalian brain and possibly Neo Cortex in the third message.
Once again, the examples given above are crude with the focus being on sex and reproduction, and if you’re easily offended – try not to get too bent out of shape.
What I’m doing here is giving you an example of how to structure your messages to appeal to core subconscious desires.
Are you getting this?
Interestingly, here’s what’s likely to happen next…
As I mentioned earlier, only 10% of people who read well-crafted messages that appeal to surface level desires/goals will take action…
That’s fine!
But, by using this Reptilian-brain messaging, you will probably find that:
- 30-50% of these leads will either buy or indicate that that they want to work with you
- they will stay around longer as customers and be more likely to reorder
- they will be more engaged when it comes to your future marketing messages
It really is a simple as that.
So, finally…
If you currently have a business that sells products or you are thinking about starting a new business to generate an extra income, please come back and re-read this post.
You have just learned a critical tactic which should help you to sell products online and offline successfully.
I can honestly say that out of all of the online sales techniques that I have come across to increase the number of “Yes, I want to buy” responses, this is by far the most effective strategy that both me and members of Team Sofa are using.
Speak to these lower-level desires in all of your marketing and you will increase the number of sales you get.
Don’t take my word for it – Try it 😉
For the 10% of you who are proactive and ready to take your online/home business to the next level, sign up for our VIP mailing list below for more great tips more information and I’ll see you on the other side.
Till next time.
