179: The Secret to Great Selling Is Building Rapport

Melissa:

Hey. Hey. Hey. I hope you guys enjoy these, what I'm calling podcast shorts for my burnout to all out community. This is just a little peek behind the curtain of the coaching that goes on inside of my programs. We're bringing to you Some of the best nuggets and coaching I'm giving, within hot seats of all of our different programs, whether it's our LinkedIn Method Academy, our mini mastermind business basics all the way up to our higher level mastermind. If you're hearing some of these questions and you're like, man, I wish I could get my burning question answered by Melissa. Hey.

Melissa:

Guess what? You could be featured on my podcast. If you've got a question that you want answered and you submit it to my team and we pick it, we will bring you here to the podcast for our podcast shorts and, do a hot seat with you. Where can you submit your questions? Send them to team burnout to all out .co. We'll make sure we drop that in the show notes for our podcast shorts, and I hope that You guys find as much value in these shorts as our clients do inside the program. Need some effective tactical advice that actually helps you get results and makes a real difference in your life and business? You've come to the right place. If you're finding yourself here today, it means you're getting ready to gain serious traction in your business, rapidly multiply your income and impact, and you're ready to make it happen while living all out. Guys, I'm Melissa Henault, your trustworthy corporate dropout turned 6 figure business burnout turned happy and healthy CEO of a multimillion dollar online business, and you're listening to the burnout to all out podcast. On this show, we're serving up innovative growth strategies, simple implementation methods to put them into practice and action stimulating inspiration tailored specifically for the modern entrepreneur.

Melissa:

Let's dive in.

Annie:

I wanna say that there's a test product offer in a beta test and on Friday, and I haven't heard anything from anybody. Some people have reached out to me to know more about it, but those I've sent out information to, they haven't said anything. So I'm hearing Quakers and but my win is that I'm still holding the space. I know it's coming. I'm not losing my marbles over it. So I think that's a huge deal for me. So my question for today is, I was thinking of doing follow ups in, like we talked about yesterday in messages, and I wondered if you could review what I wanna say And give me some pointers on whether this sounds good, or should I change it, or should I be focused on a particular thing. Just whatever you think is appropriate.

Annie:

So this is what I was thinking. Hey, whoever. Just following up on the offers I sent you earlier. The program is gonna be opening up to the public, So I wanted to make sure if you had any questions that they would get answered. So don't hesitate to reach out to me. Okay? Thank you. This is going as a voice message. Does that sound okay?

Melissa:

Yes. Help me understand. Can you take me through the conversation, like, with 1 particular person? So give me a scenario. Do you give like, put a lead in your mind Anne, take me back to your 1st interaction with them. Take me on your customer journey.

Annie:

So when somebody comes into my ethos, Either I connected with them or they connected with me, I let them know immediately that I'm building this community of like minded accountants. And so then the next thing I would do is to follow-up with that is I'll ask them a question about what is one thing in your business or career that you could use more support in. Because, obviously, as part of the community, I want to serve everybody in wherever they are, not just to sell my services. So then I would link them with other things that they're interested in. But if they say they're interested in client acquisition or they wanna do marketing. So I offered I'm sharing with them the program that I'm I've just built. So that's how they ended up with my messages who showed interest that they're interested in these services, and I shared them. I asked them.

Annie:

I asked their permission. If they were interested, then I would share that or put them on a list. And then when my program was ready, I sent them information that, you know, this program is ready to go, and let me know if you have any questions. So from point on now, I'm at that phase where they haven't communicated anything with me. Now I wanna know what to do next.

Melissa:

Okay. Awesome. So what I'm hearing is kind of, like, top of funnel through your beta is that it's been through network growth, discovery in the DMs, And then when you uncover a need for product or service and you ask them if they'd be interested in taking a look, when they say yes, You've positioned your product or service, but then from there, you haven't been able to close. Right? So a couple things, and I think this is important for everyone to hear. And the first one is that, does anybody know how many touches on average it takes for a client to actually purchase? This is through social media. It's actually 20 now. And this was data that Jackie pulled from a marketing, Like, she went to like the top marketing guru, like, training event earlier this year. So the number maybe even higher now.

Melissa:

So The reason I wanna bring this forward is I don't want you to feel defeated. I think that actually you just haven't built enough rapport with these people to be selling them. I think that you've just had a couple of hits in the DMs. You found people that you had common ground with and had some initial pleasantries and uncovered potential needs, but you haven't actually gained the authority and the familiarity to actually sell. And I think that one of the fastest ways to expedite that would be to host even like a 90 minute or a 60 minute kind of what we call like a conversion event. Like, think about, like, my 9 day and then put it into, like, 60 minutes, like, where they actually get some interactive time with you in kind of a community of sorts, especially if What you're offering is gonna be in a community of coaching so they can get a sense of your personality and your knowledge. And towards the end of that 60 minutes, usually at about the 39th minute. Who's counting? I've studied the whole psychology of this.

Melissa:

Usually, by about the 39th minute, you need to be pitching them something. And so I honestly think that I applaud you for putting this out. For those of you guys who don't know, she actually opened her cart and pitched on a Friday, which we told her Fridays is probably not the best day to get started on pushing somebody into a sale. There's a reason our carts close on Tuesday because Monday and Tuesday are the best days for people psychologically to invest. And so What I would love to see you do is see if there's not, like, a VIP day or, like, how can you create value for these guys a little bit more before you to sell them. To me, all these people who said they're interested go into kind of a hot leads list where you're cordially inviting them to something to bring value because they probably just don't know you well enough and haven't experienced your genius enough to really make a conscious decision to just purchase through the DMs. What was your price point as well?

Annie:

's off this program, which is: 25100

Melissa:

estment. Anything under about: 1900

Melissa:

It's a hard sell to to take someone from connection to close on a 5 k offer or even a 2.5 k offer in the DMs without, like, really spending a little bit of time with them. The funnel we have that we're putting up right now, which is like 9.97, there's a 60 minute webinar that goes along with it. So they're spending time with me before we're selling them. Right? Now that's different. I just wanna underscore that is different than a loyal audience that already knows you. So last year over Black Friday you guys will be a part of the list this year. Right? Last year over Black Friday, we did a 100, but it wasn't through the DMs with strangers. It was through really warm clients who'd already worked with us, and we sent them irresistible offers through email that they knew us, they've gotten results, they're ready for the next step, and they invested.

Melissa:

Right? That's a different client base to sell to automatically with a little button to purchase versus someone that you're still nurturing. So your question to me was how does the messaging sound to let them know that you're opening up to the public? I know Jackie and I kind of Told you this yesterday, I still would love for you to actually take that list and, like, Offer them to, like, a VIP, like, 90 minute or 60 minute strategy session, like, some value they're gonna get out of it, and create an offer for them that's irresistible before you hang up that has an intense time limit on it so that they've connected with you a little more and create some space for q and a so they can ask you questions. I just think that right now, like, I don't want you to beat yourself up for not having any sales. These people just I don't think they know you well enough to invest to new. I think that's the bottom line. Does that make sense?

Annie:

Yeah. No. I agree. I think even though I've been communicating and Engaging in comments, and I know people are following me. I know that they sense me as I know my stuff, but it's a different ballgame when you have to pull out your credit card and pay for something. Right? So I totally get that. Jackie also actually mentioned it to me today about a mini conversion event. So then do you think that I should not follow-up at all and just do that event instead?

Melissa:

Yeah. I think that too much follow-up, it's gonna come across desperate. Right? If you follow-up now and you're like, hey. I'm about to go public. And then you follow-up in a little bit and you're like, okay. Now I'm doing this thing. I would just hold off on the follow-up for now and take this as feedback. Like, to me, All of it's just feedback until you arrive at your next steps of action.

Melissa:

So this was just feedback that like, okay, this particular strategy is not quite working right. I can't tell you how many pieces of spaghetti I've thrown against the wall that have not stuck before I figured out what worked. I would go back to the drawing board and think about an irresistible, like, 60 to 90 minute events. And you're in business basics. Right? So we can just totally give you my deck for my 60 minute webinar, And you'll see at the 39th slide is when I start to pitch. You need to bring value, value, value, value. And then you need to make sure by the 39th minute, like, you're ready to start pitching, like, some type of stacked offer that has a deadline to it with something irresistible so that they take action. Like, we're adults that need a deadline or we won't take action.

Melissa:

ke, oh, okay. Yes. Here's my $: 85100

Melissa:

To me, it's not about sales. It's about robbing them of the transformation by not giving them a deadline and them delaying their future by not working with you. So you're doing them a favor.

Annie:

Yeah. No. Totally. I kind of time traveled. You would know all that woo woo stuff, and I've seen people come to me and say, hey. Why didn't you tell me this It was gonna be a big offer because I missed out on this opportunity. Right? Because I know that I'm going big. They don't know it.

Annie:

Right? So

Melissa:

Yeah. So

Annie:

then what do you think that if I put this conversion event on next Monday because I was intending to close card on Monday, but do the conversion event on Monday and then a close card the following day. Because the program doesn't start until the Friday, which is 18th.

Melissa:

Yeah. I would give it a couple days so you have a little bit of time to follow-up, but not too long. Like, I would say, like, max, 3 to 5 days. But, again and you guys just went through my launch, a lot of you. You also just wanna create, like, literally a buy now bonus. If you ask Jackie, she can give you the replay of my webinar. Literally, I am streaming live, and and you guys who, again, went through my my 9 day, I those who fast action in the 1st 24 hours got ridiculous value. They got stacked on something else.

Melissa:

And the people who really are, like, ready for transformation, they're gonna be in and you're just gonna help motivate them. And those are the clients who are, like, the most motivated to take action anyway. Right? So I would highly recommend that you put something out there that's literally on the table till you're done streaming that day or that's, like, over that night. Like, I would actually say that day, especially since it's a one day, like, literally an offer that's irresistible. Even if it's gonna be more time for you, if it's something that's gonna require more work for you with the web design and all that stuff, Right now, you need to be building your client base so we have testimonials and we can really stack that. I know this may sound a little crazy for some of you guys, but when you're first getting started, it's about getting some good clients and getting them results and not being so focused on profit margins. Once you've got the results, then you can just start jacking your price up. I mean, I started my academy at $100, and now it's supply and demand.

Melissa:

Right? So I would give, like, a buy now bonus to just jump your cart and it creates FOMO, right, that there's people joining. And then give like a 2 to 3 day deadline to actually commit before the doors close or that your price goes up to retail, which is 5 k instead of 2a half. And you can pitch it. Hey, you guys are my beta group. I'm so excited to bring you in. I'm giving you my beta pricing before I go public. And here's where the line ends with the pricing going up.

Annie:

So sorry. Just to clarify then, can I go with this conversion event maybe this Thursday or Friday? Close card on Monday because, apparently, that's a good day to close card. And then I have a few days left to build the program because I haven't really built the program.

Melissa:

Listen. I sold the academy before I ever built it. I actually just made the start date 2 weeks after I sold a cohort large enough in to make it worth my time to build. And I hope all of you follow suit because otherwise, we build shit that nobody buys, and then you're really frustrated when you go to sell it and nobody buys it and you spend all that time on it. Just give the start date further out. The 1st time we launched business basics, we made the start date like 2 months out so we could get our act together before we pushed it out. When we launched our 1st mastermind, we lot like 3 months out before we actually start. You don't wanna go that far out.

Melissa:

But I think what's more important, and this is for all of you guys who want to do conversion events, I wouldn't rush the launch date for compensating, aggregating an audience. Right? You need to be realistic with How many people you can get in front of the content you're about to share? Because it does you no good to rush a date if you don't have time to source, like, asses in seat to actually present to because there's not gonna be anybody to buy. So unless you have, like, some huge financial deadline that you need to hit this revenue goal by x amount. I would actually give yourself a larger runway than you're giving yourself right now. Like, we market for our programs, like, 2 to 3 weeks out before we actually I think a 2 week runway for recruitment for a conversion event is a really healthy timeline. And then give yourself ample time for follow-up and close so that you have time in your calendar to look people eye to eye, answer their questions. So I would give yourself a little more time than you're giving yourself right now so that you can actually aggregate a large enough audience to show up. Thanks guys so much for listening in on today's podcast episode, and I can't wait for you to see my upcoming guest in the next episode.

Melissa:

-: 2285

Melissa:

Come find me over on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, wherever you like to hang. Cannot wait to here, how you are enjoying and applying what you're learning. You guys reach out to me over on social because I love hearing what's resonating with you. When you reach out to me and you send me those personal DMs, they really do impact the content I continue to bring forward to you. So, again, come find me, melissa_