I thought this was really cool. I saw the glass doors and immediately thought “Oh No! Someone graffitied on the nice door!” I then read that it was a sale sign.
I thought this was a really cool way to grab my attention. A simple sale sign won’t work anymore so you have to draw attention as well.
Things to say to get out of the friend zone:
Sales has a bad rep. Maybe it is because of how movies depict sales people (think: Wolf of Wall St. or Glen Gary Glen Ross) or because the common consumer only encounters them when they buy a car.
I was speaking to a friend of mine that works at a fortune 500 company. He was telling me how his company is considering adopting a new CRM/ERP system and how Salesforce is very interested in this opportunity. He told me that Salesforce has the most amazing sales presentation. Here is what they do:
This was one of the most amazing things I have heard. The problem with most software is you always get an “uggghh!!!” reaction from the business owner when selling software, because they know all the headaches required to actually start using it. For example they usually have to get a developer involved, then iron out bugs, and then customize it a little bit for their business.
By eliminating the “Uggghhh!” factor, you get the client excited, and most importantly get to “Yes!” faster. How do you sell the dream – would love any pointers!
I’ve done a little over 100 webinars and I would like to share a few of my insights if you are just getting started. Here are my three tips to closing customers on your webinar:
When I say exactly, I mean exactly. Here is the script I use:
In order to get all the features I covered today and this incredible deal, just follow my steps: Step 1: Go to this URL {Insert Your Pricing Page URL}
Step 2: Click on the green “Buy” button
Step 3: Enter in your Credit Card Information.
I even show them a screenshot with an arrow of exactly what to do. Then, I repeat the offer and go through the 3 steps again. I know this sounds pretty unintuitive, but it works! Tell them exactly how to give you money and they will. When I tell webinar attendees exactly what to do to upgrade, I get a 55% conversion rate. When I leave out the exact steps, my conversion rates drop below 15%. Even if the offer and everything in the webinar stays the same.
One of my biggest mistakes was not offering a discount during the webinar. I thought all the information I provided would be more than enough to get them over the edge. If you want your attendees to pay you today, try offering a time-based discount. I usually say something like this:
“This 20% offer is only going to be available during this webinar, after this webinar is over, this discount will be expired.”
I’ve attended a lot of webinars and most of them are BORING snooze fests. Do a webinar, where you can speak LOUDLY, you should be projecting as if you are talking to your grandma and she just lost her hearing aid. Keep things light, fun, and entertaining. Be excited about what you are presenting and your attendees won’t drop off. Here are three things I like to do to pump it up:
1. I like to play Eye of The Tiger before the start of the webinar and I even say “I’m playing my favorite Pump Up song Eye of the Tiger, This should PUMP YOU UP for this amazing webinar we are about to have.”
2. I love what I’m presenting and truly believe in it. Any slides or material that I don’t believe in, I take out immediately.
3. I talk LOUD. My neighbors hate me, but my energy stays high and my webinar attendees love me
What are your webinar secrets? Lets discuss them in the comments below.
Uber Uber Uber!!! Uber is all the rage these days. They have built an amazing partner marketing machine. I wanted to point out 2 things they are doing that I’m blown away by.
If you use Google Maps and you have the Uber app installed on your phone. Google Maps will suggest Uber as an option along with the public transit options! This is a pretty big up-sell given that they show you travel times (twice as fast in most cases).
I have no idea how they pulled this off or if there is any money exchange here, but this is some serious prime placement. This is equivalent to going into a grocery store and having your product right next to the cash register.
Every startup is doing the “Get $20 off your first purchase”. This works great, because who doesn’t want free money and startups need to incentive new users to try out their app.
What Uber is doing differently is they are using this strategy with big brands like Lord & Taylor, with major hotels like Hyatt, and big concert venues. This is a pretty amazing strategy, because all those places have customers that need transportation and can afford a cab.
Uber also makes it super easy for you to partner with them. According to their support docs, all you have to do is submit a request here. Well done Uber! Excited to learn more from you.
Everyone loves talking about the growth of their company (total #of downloads, users, etc), but what people should be talking about is active engagement.
You may think you need more customers, but what you really need is more customers using your product regularly.
Until you get some form of commitment you don’t really have a dedicated user.
My good friend Vishal just asked:
“I don’t know what an automatic autoresponder is….sounds like an automated message to the customer but what does the responder ask?”.
Great question, here is the answer:
An automatic autoresponder is an automated email you can use to send an email. There are a ton of software companies that can help you do this (in fact it is a billion dollar market). There are high end solutions like ExactTarget and SilverPop that do this ($1k/mo +) and there are also super low end version like AWeber, MailChimp, Infusionsoft, etc ($30/mo +) that can help you do this as well.
Note “FNAME” is the first name of the recipient, it is dynamically added:
Subject: Hey {FNAME}
Hi {FNAME},
I saw that you just signed up for our trial. I created the app so if you have any questions, just reply back to this email 🙂
Thanks,
Rishi
PS I’m really looking forward to working you!
I like to send this email on a 45 minute time delay from the time they signed up. I also have the email come directly to my inbox if they hit reply. This simple email allows me to learn what the biggest problem with my app or what is confusing them. I can then go back and try to make my app’s first experience super clear.
I also like to send another automatic email after 3 days called “Top 3 FAQ” – this helps address any questions or misconceptions they might have had about the product.
I had no idea how often meetings in the “Real World” would get cancelled or moved. In college you expect meetings to be in stone, mainly because classes and office hours are always on.
Being, 10 years into my professional career I’ve come to terms with meetings getting cancelled and I wanted to share a few of my tips with you.
What are your meeting tips? I’d love to learn yours!
How to sell a ton of Squatty Potty’s:
Step 1: Educate people about something they are doing wrong
Step 2: Provide medical facts
Step 3: Show a low priced product on how you can solve what they are doing wrong. (The word “wrong” is of course a matter of opinion but when you add medical studies and historical evidence the pitch becomes extremely persuasive.)
Check out their convincing educational video and tell me you aren’t convinced:
This reminds me of how the tooth paste become a common household item. They put up billboards saying “lick your teeth” if you feel some grime then you probably need to clean them with some toothpaste.
Phillips, 1942 Commercial:
The next step for SquattyPotty would be to mention that you will smell less making women more attracted to you.
Update (this is awesome, the folks over at SquattyPotty said this):
@risk thanks for the link-love! OH, BTW it does make you smell better, More complete elimination = less gas. Less gas = happy girlfriend.
— Squatty Potty® (@squattypotty) February 20, 2014
What are some other good examples of Educational Marketing?
Basecamp.com is one of the most copied SaaS landing pages, so when I see a new design on their site, I know it is time to get ready to see more of it. My prediction is we will see a lot more hand drawn art on business websites in the next 6 months. This is a big contrast to the current web design trend on the internet: massive pictures of people smiling and holding a tablet devices in a coffee shop.
People are going to embrace drawn art because it is original, different, and creative. It is also cheaper to create and can convey a simple message in a fun format.
What do you think of using hand drawn art on your landing pages?
Other Examples of Hand Drawn Art of Landing Pages:
