Add Compelling Offers to Your Follow-Ups – and Watch Your Sales Grow

If you have been reading my articles for any length of time, you will know that I am a big fan of follow-ups.

A “follow-up” is simply an email you send to a customer once they’ve purchased something from you. It’s an excellent way to stay in touch with your best leads; that is, the people who have already bought something from you. It’s also a great way to generate more sales!

But your success with follow-ups depends on how you present your offer. If you do it the wrong way, you run the risk of having your email come across as more of a cheesy sales message.

Today I’d like to give you my top five tips on how to create follow-up offers that are sure to generate sales without ever making your customers feel like all you want to do is make more money off them.

Follow-Up Tip 1: Start with a Mention of Their Recent Purchase

A good way to make sure your customers read your follow-up – instead of dismissing it as just another commercial message – is to start it off by referencing the purchase they recently made. This reminds them of the relationship they have with you and shows them you have an important reason to be getting back in touch with them.
I would recommend you include mention of their recent purchase right in the subject line and say something like:
How Are You Enjoying Your [ENTER PRODUCT/SERVICE NAME]?

Or, if you recently delivered a service such as massage to your customer, you can use a subject line like:
How have you been feeling since your massage?

By asking them a question that refers to their previous purchase, they will be far more likely to open your email and read your message.

Follow-Up Tip 2: Keep it Personal
Make sure you use your customer’s name in the body of the email. You already have an existing relationship with this person and should acknowledge that fact. Also be sure to use your own name in the email, both in the “From” line and in your sign-off.

People prefer to conduct business with other people, not companies, so if your emails are sent from a real person instead of “info@yourcompanyname.com” and you sign the emails as coming from you instead of a company “team” you will deepen the sense of personal connection your customer has with you.

Follow-Up Tip 3: Show Genuine Interest in Them
Your customers should feel like the whole reason you’re emailing them is to make sure they’re getting the best possible results with their previous purchase. Ask them how they’re enjoying their product and if there’s anything you can do to increase their enjoyment in any way.

If they email you back with their feedback, make sure you respond whether the feedback is positive or negative. Don’t be afraid of complaints – they’re not a bad thing. They provide you with an opportunity to address a dissatisfied buyer’s issues and retain him or her as a customer. They might even give you some good ideas on how you can improve your product or service – and that kind of information is invaluable.

Follow-Up Tip 4: Make Sure Your Offer Relates to Their Previous Purchase
Once you have asked your customers how they’re doing with their previous purchase, it’s time to present your offer to them. Now, this one is important: Make sure your offer closely relates to the product or service they bought from you.

For example, if your customer just bought a sewing machine from you, a great follow-up offer would be for one of the many software programs they can use to upgrade their machine’s functionality. Or, if you offer classes at your shop that teach people how use their machine’s built-in advanced features, these would also make a great follow-up. Both of these offers help your customers get better use out of their new machine and so they’re bound to be very appealing.

Follow-Up Tip 5: Give Them an Exclusive Discount
A great way to make your follow-ups even more compelling is to offer your customers a generous discount on their next purchase. And why not… if they bought something from you then you should reward them for that and a discount is a great way to say “thank you.”

By offering your customers a nice discount, you also increase the chance they’ll take you up on your follow-up – and a customer who buys from you twice is far more likely to become a lifelong loyal customer. These are the people you should treasure because they will end up being responsible for 80% of your sales.

Plus, they’ll also become great word-of-mouth promoters for your business – and that’s the best advertising you could possibly hope for!

Take Care of Your Best Customers, and They’ll Take Care of You…

So those are my top five tips on how to grow your sales with compelling follow-ups. Remember, if your message is authentic and keeps your customers’ best interests in mind, and if your offer closely relates to their previous purchase and helps them get even better use out of it, then many of your customers will happily take you up on your offer.

In fact, I find that whenever I present my customers with a valuable and relevant follow-up offer, 30 percent jump at the chance to take me up on it! That’s an incredible conversion rate and shows you how powerful follow-ups can be.

What’s all this about Outsourcing anyway?

The other day I sat down with a local business owner who wanted me to teach her basic Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

It was a great opportunity to find what she didn’t know! You know how sometimes it seems like what you know is very basic and everyone else knows it too?

I decided right then and there to offer a very low cost workshop in my hometown so that other local business owners could learn a thing or two about getting themselves indexed (and found!) on Google. We also talked a lot about how to get traffic to your site. Most local business owners have nice looking sites but they don’t get much traffic at all. Often they are not aware of which keywords people are using to find what they offer, or they are using keywords that only 3 people a year actually use in their searches. Stay tuned to workshop details or shoot me an email if you’re keen to learn this stuff. Read the rest of this entry »

If You Want to Grow, You Have to Test

Like many of the clients I’ve recently spoken to, you may be planning big changes to your website and online marketing efforts. That’s great!

But you don’t want to overhaul your entire online presence just for the heck of it… all of the changes you make should be done with only one purpose in mind: to convert more of your visitors into customers.

And in order to make sure you accomplish this goal, you need to test every change you implement in order to make sure each one has a positive impact on your bottom line.

Here are five important testing tips to help you do this…

1. Make Sure You’re Tracking These Two Important Numbers

To accurately gauge your website performance, you need to know TWO main numbers for any given time period:

The number of visitors you get
The number of sales you make

These two numbers tell you what the conversion rate for your website is, so you can work on growing that number. It also tells you exactly how many visitors you need to attract to your site in order to make a sale.

Here’s what I mean…

Let’s say you got 200 visitors to your site in one day and you made 10 sales. Divide the number of visitors by the number of sales to get your sales conversion rate: 200/10 = 20.

For every 20 visitors you got that day, you made 1 sale. (Expressed as a percentage, this means your conversion rate was 5%, as 1/20 = 0.05)

If that conversion rate remains steady, then you can expect to make one sale for every 20 visitors. If you get 100 visitors, you’ll make 5 sales. If you get 1000 visitors, you should make 50 sales.

This is pretty simple math, but the information you get is incredibly powerful.

It helps you understand how well your website is doing its job of converting visitors into customers. If that conversion rate goes down, it could mean there’s a problem with your website — and you should do a thorough examination of it to see what’s causing your sales to dip.

If, on the other hand, you see a sudden spike in sales, you should try to determine why more visitors are suddenly buying your products — so you can repeat this success again in the future.

2. Test Only ONE thing at a time

This is the best way to discover which change is causing which result. Read the rest of this entry »

Video Killed the Text-Heavy Website Star

If you do much shopping or surfing online, you’ve probably noticed how many websites feature video these days. Many companies have turned to video as their primary online conversion tool, using short or long video messages to introduce themselves, encourage their visitors download a giveaway, and even sell their products and services.

And the ones who know how to use video the right way are seeing their revenues skyrocket!

Today we’re going to look at how you can easily add a video message to your site that will increase your conversions and sales. But first, let’s take a moment to consider WHY it’s so important for you to get video on your site, sooner as opposed to later…

Video Can Have a Huge Impact on Your Bottom Line

Video allows you to present a more compelling message to your audience. Most people retain information better when it appeals to more than one sense. Some people are better at remembering information they’ve read, while others find it easier to remember information based on the visuals they see or the words they hear. So when you present your message in a way that appeals to all these senses, you’ll get better results.

How much better, you ask? Check out these stats from Borrell & Associates:

Adding video to a sales website or small business profile…

Increases the number of profile views by more than 100%

Increases the number of profile clicks more than 30%

Increases the number of visits to advertiser website by 55%

Increases visits to an offline store by 30%

Increases sales by 24%

… With stats like these, why would you NOT want to add video to your site? Read the rest of this entry »

What I learned at the beach on Mother’s Day

It was Mother’s Day and we were enjoying lunch in Bucerias, Mexico at a little restaurant right on the beach. I mean, literally, a thatched umbrella (called a palapa) overhead and our toes in the sand. Our kids Hana, Alexa and Trey were eating the freshest, most delicious fish and chips I have ever tasted and James and I were munching on prawn tacos. They were sweet and juicy and paired with cilantro mayonnaise – delicious!

As you may know, when you’re sitting on a beach in Mexico, many vendors come along and try to sell you their jewelry, handicrafts, hats, hammocks and even fresh mangoes or prawns on a stick!

Most of the time, you end up saying, “No gracias (no thanks)” over and over again. This is what I was mentally prepared to say when I saw a heavyset Mexican man approaching us. I noticed his many gold chains around his hairy neck and his dashing outfit of a white undershirt and khaki cargo shorts.

Imagine my surprise when he approaches our table and says, “Massage?”

This is the last person on earth I would expect to be selling massages. He really and truly looked more like a mechanic or a timeshare salesman than a masseuse. So obviously we said, “No gracias” immediately. He persisted. “No gracias” again we answered. If I had known how to say, “No chance on earth buddy” I would have, but my Spanish is very limited.

So here’s the funniest thing: He suddenly says, “I’ll give you a free sample!” and before I know it, he has spread cream on my back and is massaging my shoulders.

Woah!

OK, how do I get rid of this guy? I’m thinking…. But, hey, wait a minute… This is… ahhhh… this feels really good….

Well… a little free sample wouldn’t hurt right….? Keep going, keep going, I’m silently screaming inside my head.

So after a few minutes when he says, “It’s $17 for a 30 minute chair massage or $30 for a one hour table massage right here on the lounge chair,” I was already sold.

My husband says “It’s Mother’s Day! Of course she wants a massage!”

The point of this story is to remind you of the power of samples or free trials. They really work! If your potential customer does not know you or what kind of service you offer, the best way to introduce yourself to them is with a free sample of your work. Whether it’s a muffin, a massage or a free 30 minute consultation, free samples really work! Give it a try in your business today and let me know how it goes.

Happy selling!

5 Opt-In Tips to Grow Your List Fast

The Internet is one of the best tools out there for growing your small business. But so much of your online success depends on your ability to grow a large and responsive subscriber list.

After all, your subscribers are the people who have come to your website or Facebook page and decided they’re interested enough in what you offer to sign up for regular email updates from your company. These are the people who are most likely to become your best customers!

But in order to capture their contact information and build a strong relationship with them, you need to have an opt-in form on your site that asks for their name and email address. And how you position your opt-in is going to make a huge difference in how fast you’re able to grow your subscriber list.

Today I’d like to share five tips to help you get the best results with your opt-in form. Let’s get started!

Tip #1: Make Sure Your Opt-in is Above the Fold

“Above the fold” means the top area of your website that’s visible to visitors without scrolling down. This is the most important real estate on your site as it’s what helps your visitors decide if they want to stay and explore what you have to offer.

Scroll up to the top of this page so you can see what my First Fold looks like. I was going to paste a picture of it here but, heck, you’re already on the page. LOL

A popular place to put your opt-in form is in the upper right corner, where you can see mine is. This is one of the first places your eye looks when you arrive at a site and so it can be a great place to present your visitors with a compelling offer.

The one thing you should remember is that your offer really should be compelling. Don’t just ask your visitors to sign up for your newsletter… (that’s so 1990′s..!) pretty much every single site out there has a newsletter opt-in these days, and people aren’t going to sign up for yours unless you offer something that people really want and can’t easily find anywhere else.

Tip #2: Include Your Opt-in on Every Page on Your Site

It’s not just enough to include your opt-in on your homepage — you should strive to include an opt-in form on every single page of your site. Read the rest of this entry »

When was the last time…?

I am always pondering what makes us women entrepreneurs tick and something that Dan Kennedy said the other day really struck me. He said that truly successful people are those who have a burning desire to WIN; they are totally “on fire” with their ambition. Few people are really like this. People ask me all the time, “How do you do it, Suzanne?” and it’s simply because I love my work and I am ridiculously ambitious.

True entrepreneurs think about work pretty much all the time. Yes, even when we’re with our kids. (Oooh did I say that out loud?) I think about inventing new products, creating new solutions, and ways to market them all the time – I did so, even while braiding my daughter’s hair this morning!

If you don’t have a burning desire to win, your business will not see the sky-high results you claim that you want. The truth is, sometimes we are afraid to really Go For It, and I can understand that. Really, I can. We are afraid to try and fail. We don’t know where to start. Or we hate the thought of rejection. When we are surrounded by people who support our dreams and our ambition, it makes it 1000% easier to get to where we want to go.

When we have husbands or partners who we rely on to make slight changes to our website, or install something on our computer, it drives us crazy because we find ourselves nagging at them to get it done NOW! It paralyzes our success.

But when we are supported by our husbands and partners, and we can either do the technical stuff ourselves or we have someone we can rely on to do it quickly, then we are in a much better position for success.

Here’s a way to know for sure whether you are truly supported in your dream, and it’s a simple question I have for you:

When was the last time someone allowed you – encouraged you – to PLAY BIG?

I mean REALLY big.

I want you to recall how much money you made last year. Got it? OK, now add a zero to the end of it. If you made $30,000, your new number is $300,000. If you made $70,000, your new number is $700,000. Do YOU think this is possible to make this much money? Do the people around you think you’re nuts to want something so badly?

Question who exactly is holding you back. Are you holding yourself back or are the people around you constantly telling you that it’s never going to work, or that $30,000 is “ample”.

I believe that you can do this. I believe that you can have anything you set your mind to. It has happened for me and it WILL happen for you. You must have a burning desire to make it happen and at least one person who completely believes in you. I can teach you everything else, but I can’t give you that ambition. No one’s going to throw a bucket of money at you.

If no one around you believes in you, or they pooh-pooh your dreams, remember this: I believe in you!

So now I would like to ask you to leave a comment below and answer two questions:

When was the last time someone allowed you to play big and truly supported your dreams?

And who was that person?

Is Your Website Missing This Critical Sales Element?

Is your Website Missing This Critical Sales Element?

Imagine this scenario, if you will:

You’re doing some research online because you want to hire the services of a web designer. One particular website you visit stands out from the rest because its homepage has a particularly attractive design.

It has a compelling, eye-catching headline
It has some salescopy describing the benefits of hiring this designer
Maybe it even has a testimonial from a satisfied client

… and that’s it.

Nowhere on the site is there any piece of copy that encourages you to actually DO something.

There’s no opt-in form encouraging you to sign up for a free consultation. There’s no phone number along some text telling you to call for a quote. There’s not even an email address along with the words, “Email us to find out more.”

There’s no CALL TO ACTION at all!

What do you think you’re more likely to do…

A. Search all over the site to see if you can find some contact info so you can get in touch with them and discover how they can help you?

Or…

B. File the website away in the back of your mind and tell yourself you’ll come back to it after you’ve checked out the other listings in the search results?

If you’re like the vast majority of searchers out there, you’re going to choose B. And chances are you’ll forget about that website and choose someone else’s services instead.

In order to generate the best results for your business, your website absolutely must have a compelling call to action. After your headline, your call to action is the most critical element on your site. It tells your visitors what you want them to do, and it makes it easy for them to do it.

For example, here’s a site with a compelling call to action:

As you can see, the purpose of this homepage is very clear: to get visitors to watch the video that showcases the product. In fact, this short piece of copy actually has 3 separate calls to action that are all encouraging visitors to do the same thing:

• “Click on the button below to watch a two and a half minute introduction video”
• “See it in action”
• “Clearly see your recent invoices”

Each one of these pieces of copy uses strong, clear language to encourage the visitors to take a specific action. And the copy that leads up to the call to action gives the visitors a compelling reason to follow through on it.

Here’s another example from a friend’s site:

Once again, the call to action is very clear and obvious. This is important because the people who come to your website aren’t going to carefully read your copy word for word to figure out what it is you offer and what they should do on your site. They’re going to spend a maximum of 5 seconds scanning your copy to see if you can help them and learn what they need to do to kick that process into gear.

So if your site is missing a boldly formatted call to action, that’s a problem you should fix right away.

When you clearly tell your visitors what they need to do on your site and how they’ll benefit from doing it, you are guaranteed to see an increase in conversions and, as a result, higher sales.

Got any questions? Please fire them my way – I’m always happy to help a fellow “sisterpreneur.”

Introducing IAMPTE for part time entrepreneurs

If you are trying to grow your own business around having a family or another job… you won’t believe what I get to share with you today!

It is rare to come across an organization or group that ACTUALLY feels fresh, new, exciting… and deeply meaningful.

And it’s exciting when something so obviously needed finally arrives. I was invited to be part of it and now I get to share it with you!

Finally! World’s First (And Only) Organization for Part-Time Entrepreneurs

I was thrilled to be invited to join the mission to advocate for the success of part-time entrepreneurs as a Featured Expert. I’ll be sharing my top Business Revenue Boosting Tips along with 16 other experts in happiness and business matters.

So now I have a question for you.

Are you a part-time entrepreneur (PTE)? If you are passionately trying to grow a business “on the side” of your full-time life … with another job or taking care of your family for example.. then likely you are! Read the rest of this entry »

My year of living dangerously

I was just at my daughter’s dance rehearsal and her dance teacher, Miss Dominique, said something that really resonated with me. She said, “Every day, you must do something fun. And every day, you must do something scary.”

This is my philosophy too when it comes to growing your business. Push yourself beyond what you think you can do. I recently took my own advice when I was given an opportunity to apply to speak at IgniteBC on February 10th. You have to speak for exactly 5 minutes, using a PowerPoint slideshow that has 20 slides that automatically change every 15 seconds. My first reaction was: NO! Too hard. Too scary. Not enough time to prepare. And what would I speak about? And what if I apply and don’t get chosen?

Then my confident side kicked in and I thought, Of course I can do this! Of course they’ll pick me! And they did.
(But to be perfectly honest, I think they pick everyone who applies!)

I’ve decided that 2011 is my year to push myself to do everything that scares me. I’m not talking about things that involve ziplines and parachutes, but rather business activities that I have been avoiding or simply haven’t had the opportunity to do. Yesterday I picked up Perry Marshall’s Adwords book and decided to tackle that. I spend thousands of dollars a month on Google Adwords and I know that with a little more advanced training I could cut my costs and/or get more leads. So why haven’t I done it yet? Same excuses we all use: Too busy, It’s good enough already, and so forth. If I was really honest with myself, I would have to admit that it also kind of scares me. It seems so complicated but I know that if I just take the time to learn it, it won’t be scary at all; it will seem ridiculously easy.

Remember when you thought building a website would be hard? Or adding an opt-in form? Or sending out your newsletter? Or even picking up the phone and asking for the sale? Each time you tackle something that you perceive as “hard” or “scary” it makes everything else seem a little easier and not-so-scary.

So push yourself. Try new things. Take more risks. It’s hard when everyone around you is moaning about the economy and telling you not to spend money or even move a muscle, but this is the PERFECT time to start pushing yourself. I can’t wait to see what 2011 has in store for my business and yours!

So what are you afraid of and what are you going to push yourself to do in 2011? Leave me a comment and let me know. I’ll be your cheerleader!

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