Self Employed Success

Wouldn’t you love it if you could close every sale with a new customer in 30 minutes or less?

But that rarely happens. A sales cycle can last up to six months, depending on how much research the potential customer has done before he or she comes to you.

Before customers are ready to sign on the dotted line, they first must go through a well-researched route to purchasing products and services, called the Buying Cycle. You need to nurture these potential clients and help them along this route to ultimately choosing the solution you’re offering them.

Studies show that 79% of website visitors aren’t ready to buy. They’re somewhere else within the buying cycle. They may not be aware of the scope of their problem, and may simply be in the early stages of researching a possible solution.

Even if they’re not ready to buy, it doesn’t mean there isn’t an opportunity for you as a business owner. If you continue to educate them and nurture those leads – wherever they are in the buying cycle – you’ll be at the top of their minds when they’re ready to buy.

The Buying Cycle

The typical buying cycle goes from having an awareness that there is a problem, to evaluating the possible solutions, choosing one solution, and then implementing it. It ends with a long-term, meaningful relationship with a customer.

Here’s a detailed explanation of the buying cycle — what actually is happening in your prospective customer’s world:

1. Acknowledge there’s a problem they need to solve. Something is broken – either a physical product, like their washing machine, or a process in their business – and they need to fix it.
2. Make a decision to fix this problem. They have to decide if they want to tackle this problem now or wait.
3. Determine exactly what results they want. What’s their end goal? What outcome or results do they want after purchasing and implementing a solution?
4. Gather basic information. They’re searching for companies that can help them, and often doing this research online. Perhaps they’re asking friends or other business owners who’ve had similar problems about their chosen solution.
5. Identify possible solutions or vendors that will give the result or results that they want.
6. Compare those solutions or vendors.
7. Select a vendor/product.
8. Negotiate the deal.
9. Make a purchase decision. This can mean either signing a contract or making a direct purchase.
10. Implement the solution. Your relationship doesn’t end with the purchase. Now you have to help them use your product or service wisely to get full results.
11. Forge an ongoing relationship. This allows for repeat business from the same customer and ensures ongoing customer satisfaction and word-of-mouth referrals.

Recognizing where your customer is in this buying cycle is key.

When a customer first makes contact with you, have a set of questions ready which determine where he or she is.

• “Tell me about your situation?”
• “Have you looked at other solutions?”

Their answers to these questions can show you whether they’re still early in the buying cycle, or if they’re close to making a decision.

Pick Marketing Techniques Based on Buying Cycle

Choose different marketing techniques for each phase of the buying cycle.

For instance:

• A well-designed website can help customers early on in the buying cycle by allowing them to gather information.
• A free whitepaper outlining possible solutions and comparing them helps mid-way through the buying cycle.
• An email campaign helps prospective customers through the pre-purchase process, and later forges an ongoing, repeat-buying relationship near the end of the buying cycle.

Supplying content for each stage tells your customer, “We’re ready when you are.”

If they’re early in the buying cycle, back off and let them explore, but be available to answer questions. If they want to discuss possibly buying from you, be available for a phone or in-person meeting, and have marketing material ready to help them make a choice from among your offerings.

By being aware of the different stages in the buying process, and thinking about what questions your customer are asking at each stage of the cycle, you can provide a prospective customer with the appropriate marketing technique at the right time.

No! No! No!

I got an email from a student the other day who said he wasn’t going to launch his class because he found out that a competitor had a similar new class.

Do not give up on your dream just because someone else has a twin idea.

It happens all the time!

There’s even a word for it: Zeitgeist. It means that the culture and climate of the times often produce ideas that are in alignment with each other.

I often see two or three products come on the market at the exact same time that eerily resembles each other. No one “stole” the idea from the others; it was just the right idea and the right time — for more than one person.

There is abundance all around us. You will draw the right students to your class not just because of what you teach, but who the teacher is (that’s you!). Every teacher designs a unique class based on the way they perceive the topic, and their own knowledge and experience. People will attend your class because you’ve designed it with them in mind.

When it comes to marketing to multiple niches, I have two words of advice:

1. Go ahead! There’s nothing wrong with targeting multiple niches. BUT…

2. Pick one and become a leader in it, then move on to the second one.

If you try to go after too many niches (target audiences) at the same time, you will wear yourself out. It’s exhausting and doesn’t use the “best of you.”

When you go after too many niches simultaneously, your marketing time and money is scattered too broadly. Say for example that you want to go after “salespeople in the pharmaceutical industry” and also want to go after “salespeople in the auto industry.”

Their appears to be a common denominator (salespeople), but the two industries and the two selling styles are dissimilar.  You would have to connect with both industries simultaneously, which means you can’t really focus all your time, energy and marketing money on just one target. Scattered focus equals scattered results.

In my article, The Problem With Niches, I said that the whole purpose of choosing a niche is so you can find a central place that potential clients congregate. Find ALL the places where auto industry sales people congregate: meetings, magazines, conferences, classes…especially those that are specifically focused on the niche you’re going after. Center your marketing attention on those areas first. Once you become known and recognized in that niche, then move on to other industries or other niches.

Read the complete Why Marketing Fails blog series here:

• Why Marketing Fails: Introduction
• Why Marketing Fails #1: Market Research
• Why Marketing Fails #2: Follow-the-Herd Marketing
• Why Marketing Fails #3: No Follow-Up
• Why Marketing Fails #4: Blindfold Marketing
• Why Marketing Fails #5: Niche Exhaustion
• Why Marketing Fails #6: Lack of Repetition
• Why Marketing Fails #7: Not Tracking Success and Failure

There are some people in the world who love the challenge of “cold calling” — that is to say, you enjoy calling people who you have never met, have never had any contact via email or phone, and asking them whether they need your product or service.

But what about those people who contact you and ask about your products and services? They’re interested in your services, your classes, your mastermind groups. Do you follow-up with those warm leads?

Most small business owners will make at least one follow-up phone call or email to a prospective customer. But if they don’t get a response back, they often drop the whole thing. You don’t want to feel like you’re being a pest.

But you have to remember two important things:

1. The prospect called you. They want to hear from you.
2. There are many reasons why a prospect might not call you back.

Let’s look at both reasons

In the first place, the prospect contacted you. They are interested or they wouldn’t have gone to the effort of leaving a voicemail or sending an email. People who take action, even these seemly simple actions, are motivated and interested.

In the second place, just because they don’t return your phone call or email doesn’t mean they’re not interested anymore. Think about your own life for a minute: I bet you’re a very busy person and there’s always something going on that needs your attention. Items on your to-do list slip off, including returning phone calls and emails. Well, your prospects are just like you! They’re busy, they’re time-constrained, and they’ve got to put out fires first, before they can take on another task.

I’ve done an unscientific test over the past six months. I’ve continued to call and email people who have expressed an interest in me and my business, just to see what happens. Amazing! In nearly every single case, the prospect was grateful that I took the time to continue to follow-up, even though they hadn’t replied to me.

So why hadn’t they replied to you?

In short, life got in the way:

• A family member died and they had to go out of town to take care of funeral and house-selling tasks for a month.
• A child was preparing for a big college-entrance exam and needed a lot of extra time and attention.
• They were working on a big proposal for a prospect and put everything else on hold until the proposal got out the door.
• They had never gotten my reply email (a spam filter had captured it).

…And any number of other reasons. All legitimate.

How often should you follow-up?

Here are the rules of thumb I work with when I get a prospect call or email:

• First contact: we follow-up within one business day
• Second contact: we re-try three days later, always via phone (darn those email filters!)
• Third contact: 10-14 days later, both by phone and by email

In marketing and sales, being shy or lacking confidence is a killer for your business. If people express interest in you, now is the time to connect with them, repeatedly if necessary, and not avoid it.

Read the complete Why Marketing Fails blog series here:

• Why Marketing Fails: Introduction
• Why Marketing Fails #1: Market Research
• Why Marketing Fails #2: Follow-the-Herd Marketing
• Why Marketing Fails #3: No Follow-Up
• Why Marketing Fails #4: Blindfold Marketing
• Why Marketing Fails #5: Niche Exhaustion
• Why Marketing Fails #6: Lack of Repetition
• Why Marketing Fails #7: Not Tracking Success and Failure

Aly and I had lunch with my Mom and Dad at a trendy fusion restaurant with a highly creative menu. While we were happily trying Turkey Wraps with Butternut Squash inside, what did my Dad have? A steak sandwich and a Coke.

“Dad,” I said, “Why not try something new?”

My Mom chimed in:

“Because we won’t eat what we don’t understand.”

I cracked up laughing because it seemed such a preposterous and over-the-top statement, especially since Aly was sitting next to me trying quinoa for the first time.

But on the way home I got to thinking: maybe she’s right!

Aly had asked the waitress: What Is Quinoa? She gave him a full description of what it was, how it was cooked and how it would taste.

She took the mystery out of this new item and made Aly feel safe in trying it.

It’s not just men —  it’s all of us — who won’t try something new unless they feel safe about it

When you’re explaining to your customers the service or product you’re offering, you must help them to understand everything that’s involved with it:

• what it does
• what it doesn’t do
• who it’s for and who it’s not for
• who are you and why should they listen to you
• what it costs
• how much time they’ll have to invest
• what to do if they don’t find it valuable
• what outcomes to expect
• how to buy it
• what will happen after they buy it

Some love the risks, others are more cautious

There are two types of buyers:

Some buyers are risk-takers and love to have the newest, latest thing regardless of whether there might be some glitches. They want to be the first to have an item, a new experience, be the beta tester for a program. Often these are the customers who already know you and trust you, so in their minds, the risk isn’t actually too high. But they still won’t buy if they don’t understand a feature, a benefit, or if the price seems too high for the benefits they’ll get. You need to help them see that the price is equal (or less than) the benefits.

Next are those customers who don’t want to be “bleeding edge” — but they do want to get in on a great service or product that will help them. They have to think about it, weigh it in their minds. They can take days and weeks to decide, so you have to keep your offer in front of them, and answer any questions they have. They might call you, or email you, or put a question in your blog post comments. They might text you ,or communicate via social media. Your job is to be present on whatever channel they use to communicate, and answer their questions thoroughly so that they understand the offer completely.

Because customers won’t buy what they don’t understand. So that’s the focus of your marketing.

So the next time you’re at a restaurant and you see “chicken dancing in a white wine reduction” — ask them whether they mean a glaze or marinade, or whether they mean a gravy!

Do you have a story about a time you walked away from an offer you didn’t understand? What comes up for you when you try to put together your words around your service or product? Please share your stories, questions and comments on my blog…I’d love to hear from you.

Whatever your business model, whatever your industry, your clients are crying out for your leadership. They want you to bring a community of like-minded people together to share creative ideas and solutions. They want to hear what you have to say on the subjects which are most important to them.

They don’t want to be brainwashed or bamboozled. But there are a lot of gurus out there who are talking loudly and urging people to believe that there is only one way to get the life you want: their way. You and I know there are many paths, many creative ideas, many elegant solutions to help people create the life and business of their dreams.

But if you don’t get out there and share your knowledge, wisdom and humanity with your clients, they have no choice but to listen to people who say, “There’s only one way.”

In the film, The American President, there is an incredible soliloquy on leadership:

“People want leadership. And in the absence of genuine leadership, they will listen to anyone who steps up to the microphone. They want leadership. They’re so thirsty for it, they’ll crawl through the desert toward a mirage, and when they discover there’s no water, they’ll drink the sand.”

What your clients want is to connect with you and your ideas.

They need to hear your voice and your unique ideas. Social media is a great way to do that. By blogging, by having conversations on Facebook and Twitter, by posting your videos on YouTube and your audio podcasts on iTunes, you share what you believe in with others who want your leadership on these topics.

Networking, giving speeches, teaching classes, and writing books are other great ways to spread the word. Design a webinar or run a mastermind group. Be creative.

Be the leader they seek.

If you believe strongly in something, don’t wait for someone else to step up and share their thought leadership. YOU are a thought leader, too. If it’s important, get out there and talk about it.

• If there are rules that need to be broken — break them.
• If there are better ways of doing things — show us.
• If there are injustices in the world — fix them.
• If there are things you’re passionate about — talk about them with your community.

And if there isn’t a community yet, create one.

As Seth Godin says, “You don’t need permission from people to lead them. But in case you do, here it is: They’re waiting — we’re waiting — for you to show us where to go next.”

So go out there in any way that appeals to you, find others who think and feel like you do, and create a community. Step into your leadership role. We’re waiting for you. And we want to follow you.