Read This If You Want More Sales From The Internet...Consistently

Dear Friends,

Today, I will break down the 4-step sales process you can effectively use while selling your products on the Internet.

Typically it works the best for e-products (online courses, webinars, e-books, consulting services) offered in the B2C model.

You can use this also for physical products. However, you need to adjust it to your situation. For instance: Instead of offering a free report as a lead magnet available instantly, you can provide free samples of your products (the customer pays only the shipping costs) and so on.

Ok, so without further delay, let's jump into the topic.

4-Step-Selling Formula

You might be reading this because one of three main reasons:

1. You're selling your products online, and like every entrepreneur, you want to learn everything that can push your "sales needle" a little bit further or
2. You want to start selling your services/products and want to know where to start or
3. You're interested in the Digital Marketing topic, you enjoy improving the results for your company and want to bring some fresh ideas

If the above sounds like you, then this article is for you.

The 4-step selling process consists of 4 main steps (no brainer! ?? ):

• Get attention
• Get a lead
• Make an offer
• Follow-up.

Now, let's get to the bottom of them.

Get Attention, But Not How You Might Think

Sounds obvious to me, but according to my experience, it might not be evident for many marketers – FIRST, you need to GET ATTENTION.

It does not matter how good a product or service you have. If someone is not listening to you or is not reading your ads, headlines, you're screwed. So, focus on getting the attention first.

Below you'll find the table of typical mistakes and what you should do instead.

I could comment on each of them, but probably you're in a rush and want to get results ASAP, so let me comment on two aspects.

Stop Creating Perfect Content And Killing Yourself For Likes and Followers.

Firstly, I've been taking part in a couple of exciting webinars regarding content creation in social media – the outcome is one: If you want to earn money, DON'T SPEND HOURS on creating perfect content!

Everyone wants to be so perfect that one loses authenticity, time and gets into frustration.

People are "transactional," so if you BRING VALUE, they don't care if you're looking good or not, if you sound perfect or not. Heck! You do not even need to appear on the screen if the information you bring solves their problems.

Secondly, the ENGAGED AUDIENCE COUNTS, not the number of followers (at least it should not be the primary target). Look at the few articles regarding the Facebook, Instagram algorithm to understand the game.

Take the first article from Hootsuite to find out that an average reach for an organic Facebook post is ca. 5.2%, which means that if you have 1.000 followers, your post will reach ca 50 of your followers AT BEST!

Here's How Facebook and Therefore (very similar) Instagram Works.

For the sake of this article, I will stick to the masculine form. No offence.

Imagine, you are "John". This is what FB does:

• Step 1 – Compare "John's" content with the similar ones we have in the database
• Step 2 – Give a try to this content to a couple of his followers (usually less than 5%!) and a tiny portion of this content to a new audience
• Step 3 - Collect the results regarding savings, likes, comments, reply to comments
• Step 4 – Once the engagement is high, spread the content into more follower and more new "lookalike" audience
• Step 5 – Once the results are promising, then "go viral" and push it to "Discovery"- kind of pages

Once we know that our content needs to bring value to our target audience, we can go to the next step.

Get A Lead By Providing Solutions ASAP, Not By Providing Nice Looking Content Free Page

You might want to get a lead to ultimately sell something to him/her. Nevertheless, there might be different ways of getting the lead into your list. You can ask the lead to:

• Call you
• Schedule Appointment To Discuss The Way you can help
• Fill in the Opt-in Form to get a bouns, freebie or discount, etc.
• Register For A Webinar so you can explain in details what you can offer in the long run

I will bust some myths around getting a lead.

As a hobby, I'll tell you that I've made a couple of A/B Tests for different pages, and you know what? A simple page like the one below outperformed the advanced ones. I'm calling it the "Red Button - Show Me How" page. :)

Do you know why it works?

The truth is that people wanted results YESTERDAY, so they need the answer ASAP! The lead (especially the one coming from young generations) expects that he'll get the things without losing a second. THIS IS A VERY GOOD MESSAGE for marketers – no need to create super complicated content and pitch. Try something like the below and test your results. The "Red Button Page" works this way, that once the prospect clicks the button, the opt-in form appears with first name and email address on it to fill in + consent agreement. SIMPLE = GOOD.

Let me know in the comments or send a DM on how it worked out for you!

"READ THIS:..." When You Want To Make A Great Offer

If you're in the business, you hear probably hundreds of times that "To make a good offer, you need a Unique Idea, Amazing Story, Testimonials, 100% Guarantee, Controversial headlines, and all that should be packed in the "Convert Or Die" mindset."

NO, NO, NO!

People are getting crazy when trying to figure out all the above things.

But…

There is a simple rule you should use. Remember, once you finish your work, you're THE CONSUMER! Think like a consumer. How do you behave when looking for an offer? What makes you want to buy something?

There is a simple yet VERY EFFECTIVE formula for your offer.

The scheme goes like that:

HEADLINE: "Read this if you want [RESULTS]"

The actual pitch follows these three steps:

• "Here's what I got"
• "Here's what it will do for you."
• "Here's what I want you to do next."

When My Skinny Doctor Laughed At Me

I have presented you in the article: "When My Skinny Doctor…." how this schema works in practice! Of course, you can make it shorter or longer – it all depends on your audience, intentions, and the value of your product – it works for written pitches and VSL (Video Sales Letter) as well.

Now, let's move forward into the place where the magic happens – THE FOLLOW-UP STEP.

The Magic Happens In The Follow-up Step

Again, I could spend hours elaborating on each of these topics, BUT I will bring to your attention just one thing instead. I think that for the rest of the points, you can make a judgment on your own.

So, the point is that when following-up, you must be obsessed with your offer, and you have to have only ONE TARGET – close the deal. Otherwise, what is the point in following up? You do not want to waste your time and money doing useless things, do you?

Let's be honest. Unless you're coming from a tax administration, you cannot afford to spend 100 PLN, following the lead to pay you back 0.20 PLN. It does not add up.

You need to be pragmatic and choose the proper channels and ways to contact your potential customer.

Be Prepare That Your First 98 Leads Won't Buy Anything From You

You need to be also a long runner – on average (for e-commerce), 98% of potential customers WILL NOT BUY your service or product when visiting your page for the first time!

The money is in FOLLOW-UP, therefore:

1. When collecting the customer details at the checkout, do it in 2 steps:

• Step 1 – collect contact details and obtain consents
• Step 2 – collect the rest of the information needed to process the payment

I think you're getting the point; most customers abandon the cart when it comes to providing card details. If you have everything on the first screen, you're screw when he does not click the "Next" button. In the 2-step scenario, you're getting at least contact details, so you can follow-up.

1. Use automated email and SMS sequences – reminding them about an offer, benefits, and "how it will help him resolve his problem."
2. Use call centers primarily for the high-ticket products and services
3. Use retargeting and present your offer wherever he/she goes on the Internet. By the way, it has been proved that the average customer needs to see your ad for at least 60 days before making the final decision. To give you some statistics around retargeting:

• Consumers 70% More Likely to Convert with Retargeting
• Retargeting cart abandoners can increase the conversion rate up to 26%
• Retargeted ads average a CTR 10x higher than that of Display ads
• 30% of consumers have a "positive" or "very positive" opinion of retargeted ads
• 25% of consumers appreciate being reminded of products they've previously pursued
• Retargeting can lift ad engagement rates to 400%.

To quickly wrap up with this part, let me bust some myths around the follow-up.

Let's Build A Campaign That Sells

All right! So, once we have our 4-step selling formula in place, it's time to pack it around some campaign flows. I'll bring you three typical campaigns that, if appropriately configured, work pretty well.

You can execute them in endless ways, using:

• professional marketing automation tools (Salesforce, Adobe, Google Marketing Platform, SAS, and more), or
• use online services where you can configure it (Hubspot, Click Funnels) or
• use in-built functionalities of e-commerce stores like Shopify or
• install add-ons and plug-ins when running your site on WordPress or Wix

Simple List Builder

The Simple List Builder Funnel is a straightforward two-page funnel that moves your prospect from an opt-in to a thank you page, using an e-book as a lead magnet. Here's how it works.

TripWire Campaign

Tripwire is the practice of offering leads a low-cost product to sell them more expensive products later. "Once a lead has become a customer, they are more likely to become a customer again – and starting with a low-cost product makes more leads more likely to become customers" - source

• There is an Optional Lead Magnet where you offer your product for Free or for a buck and charge a nominal amount for shipping. You then direct the lead to a One Time Offer (OTO), a down-sell, and then onto three additional product offers.  
• This campaign takes your traffic first to an opt-in page to capture their email, then to a sales page where you collect the shipping information about your customers, and they provide their billing details.
• Once they purchase ($1.00 plus shipping or $0.00 plus shipping), they are automatically placed into a follow-up sequence.
• After purchasing your Free + Shipping offer, they are redirected to a One Time Offer Page/Upsell. If they buy the UpSell, they are turned to your offer wall, where they can purchase additional offers. 
• If they don't purchase the UpSell, they are then directed to your down-sell page. If they are buying, they go to your offer wall or the so-called "profit maximizer page." After all, is said and done, they are then sent to your final Thank You Page (TY Page). 
• There are also email sequences attached on the following steps: Opt-in, after abandoned carts, and rejecting OTO or DownSell and TY Offer Page.

VSL Campaign

The VSL Campaign is very similar to the TripWire Campaign. However, TripWire (see above) is more of a campaign where you are trying to gain leads by giving them something either for free, free plus shipping, or a very nominal amount, then push them to buy your higher ticket items. The VSL doesn't use the free or almost free options.

This campaign lists your products at a higher price and is intended as a "sales-type" campaign rather than a "lead-building" campaign.

• A VSL is a Video Sales Letter. VSLs are often used by all sorts of marketers, whether it be selling a product or trying to entice affiliates to sell your product or products.
• Videos convert very well, which is why so many marketers use them.
• The typical way a video sales letter is used is by placing a video on your landing page or main sales page. The page is typically longer in that it contains more information about what you are selling than some of the shorter landing pages without video. 
• A VSL is designed to capture the interest of a specific type of audience.
• VSL Campaign brings your traffic from a VSL page, then moves the leads to your One Time Offer. If they purchase the One Time Offer, they are then sent to your so-called Offer Wall, where you present several additional services or products. On the other hand, if they choose to opt-out from the OTO, you still have the chance to forward them to a down-sell page, still giving them value, but perhaps something that entices them to provide you with a try, just not the complete offer at this time. Once your prospects purchase the down-sell, they are also sent to your additional Offer Wall, bringing them yet another chance to buy.
• If the deal is closed, the lead is entered into a follow-up thank-you sequence over three days. This is more of a nurture sequence where it points out all that is good in the item they just purchased and provides helpful tips to your new customer. 

If You Find This Article Useful, I'll Be Happy To Hear It From You

I tried to teach you some bits and pieces related to a 4-step selling formula that works pretty well, especially when you try not to follow some marketing myths.

Additionally, I have shown you three examples of typical campaigns that fit well both for services and products.

You can execute them on many tools available on the Internet – all depends on the business and your organization's approach to tools you are going to use.

And one more critical thing: Check with your legal department what actions you can execute so you are aligned with GDPR and contact policies within your company!

Share, comment, execute.

Don't give up, don't overthink the simple things!

I wish you all the best! Stay safe and be great!

 Kuba