It is a fact that around 98% of visitors to your website are not ready to take the next step with you.
Nothing to do with you, they're just not ready!
Perhaps they read something you wrote on Twitter and clicked through to your website...
Or even if they search Google for what you do and come to your site that way, do you think they are sat, credit card in hand, and ready to buy?
Nope...
Not even close my friend.
Think about your behavior the last time you searched for a product or service online. Trace your steps, and your thoughts...
Count up the number of points of contact. I bet you'll be surprised.
If we are just not ready to commit to purchasing on our first visit to a website, then every business owner in the land has a problem...
Our website is beautiful and shiny and has clear calls to action to "buy our widgets."
But nobody is buying?
I am not suggesting that you won't get some people ready to commit. Heck, if you throw enough mud at a wall, some of it will stick, right?
What I am saying is that you can be smarter with your marketing. Much smarter.
Much, much smarter...
Before I tell you exactly what you need to do, I would like to share a short scenario with you.
The following is true, and based on actual events.
Jayne has been in business for many years. She is skilled at what she does and loves her profession.
She hates selling. Sound familiar?
Marketing has always sat uneasily with Jayne. Perhaps down to when she unwittingly allowed a double-glazing salesman into her living room who sat for 3 hours espousing the benefits of his double-glazing.
Yes, 3 hours!
She remembers him vividly, a slight, balding man in a cheap brown suit bouncing up and down on a small window frame on the floor of her living room, yelling "Look, it won't break!"
He labored every point like he was reading from 'A Guide To Sleazy Bastard Sales Techniques for Arseholes' - Not a real book by the way - As far as I am aware 😉
And eventually came up with a price that was not only out of Jayne's reach, but it was also downright extortionate.
Now that wasn't the worst of it...
He refused to leave.
He tried every psychological trick in the book to convince Jayne to make a commitment.
Being the kind and naive person that Jayne was, she just smiled politely throughout the whole ordeal whilst grimacing on the inside, until something snapped and she forced the guy out of the door.
'Never again' she thought as she closed the door.
Have you ever experienced this type of high-pressure selling?
Slimy car salesmen, double-glazing, timeshare reps.
I am not casting aspersions here, there are no doubt plenty of polite, honest people in these professions that operate with integrity...
I just haven't come across very many.
I am sure we have all encountered our fair share of "Sharky" salespeople in our time.
What this did to Jayne was make her afraid of anything even mildly resembling selling in her business. It repulsed her.
'My good character, integrity, and quality of what I do will be enough,' she would think to herself.
This is a serious problem for us business owners...
How do we do more genuine, honest business without being pushy?
If you're like Jayne and hate pushy sales techniques, but are keen to grow your business, then you're going to LOVE my approach to marketing.
The good news is the answer to this, and the very first question about improving conversions with your website is the same.
The answer is honest-to-goodness value.
If you were expecting some shiny new object or marketing fad... Sorry to disappoint!
In my last article, Solving Your Client's Pain I spoke about the importance of leading with value in dealing with the client's 'arm falling off' issue.
This is tied directly to that same concept...
Deliver honest-to-goodness value to potential customers and help them with their challenges and problems without expecting anything in return.
Once we have solved the 'arm falling off' point, we can begin nurturing that person into becoming a lead and a lifelong ambassador of our brand and business - Without being 'salesy'.
How do we do this? Email.
How do we do this at scale? Email Marketing Automation.
Email is the marketing tool we use to deliver our lead magnet that fixes the arm falling-off issue. And we then continue the conversation by offering additional help.
The beauty of this approach is in its simplicity and scalability.
With the right ESP (Email Service Provider) you can create a sequence of emails that go out to new contacts over a pre-determined period of time.
Now, instead of losing 98-99% of people who visit your website into the ether, you can engage with a larger percentage of them, by email.
More importantly, using email nurturing sequences, you can nurture new relationships and create sales for your business on autopilot.
Of course, our big goal is to convert these potential customers into leads and clients, but it is our genuine desire that we actually help these people...
We lead with value.
In helping, we demonstrate the quality of what we can offer.
Those who are a good fit for your business will approach you; those who are not will not.
Of course, inside your email sequence, you need carefully nested calls to action and offers of help in the form of your paid services.
That's ok. The difference, you are not selling - You are helping.
And exactly like Jayne says, your good character, integrity and the quality of what you do WILL be enough.
And not a double-glazing salesman in sight.
Next Steps
If you want to leverage the techniques described here, sign up for an ESP (Email Service Provider) that focuses on marketing automation.
Be aware that most say they do marketing automation, but they do not. The one I use and highly recommend is ConvertKit.
You install a snippet of tracking code on your website, and hey presto! You can start collecting email addresses from your website visitors.
Inside ConvertKit, you create an 'automated workflow', so as soon as your visitor submits their details, the magic begins to happen.
You deliver a series of emails designed to help and build relationships... On Autopilot.
I will cover this in more detail soon, but the crux is that you build an automated workflow that sends a sequence of emails over time.
Perhaps one straight away, then an email a day later, then the next day, then the next. And so on and so forth...
The first email immediately delivers the lead magnet, and the others demonstrate your awesomeness. Each includes the option to work with you or buy your products or services.
Where it gets exciting is you can then customize everything according to behavior. If the contact visits this page on our website - send this. If not - send this...
And very soon the whole thing becomes an amazing way to lead with value and help people with the things that are most important to them.
Marketing automation is powerful. Use it wisely.
