MM #61: How to increase your sales rate by 207%

1. Announcements and Offers

What People are Saying About '10 Super Coaches'
To find out how 10 ordinary coaches are earning $30,000 to $1.4 million per year, and how you can do it too, click here:
http://www.10supercoaches.com/cmd.asp?ad=64299

"I have enjoyed and most of all gotten inspired by reading "10 Super Coaches Share their Secrets". This is a tool for every coach to have when they require inspiration and/or different ideas to explore, when building our practices."

Martha Tellez
Australia

"David, the product is awesome! I cannot express it any other way. I'm still digesting the nuggets on every page and relishing every interview. Thank you for the your brilliance in its development."

Heather Fraser
USA

Visit http://www.10SuperCoaches.com


How to Get Your Sales Letter Written and Designed for Much Less than You Think

If you have a nagging feeling that you could be pulling in more clients and revenue if your website was more sales focused, but you're not quite sure what changes to make or how to make them, then you're in luck!

Andy O'Bryan is the copy writer I use for three reasons: 1) He writes great copy, 2) He has low rates, and 3) He specializes in copy for coaches.

To quickly expand his client base, Andy's agree to offer my whole list the same low rates:
For the next two weeks you can get a sales page written and designed for just $897. Or if you just want something written it's only $697. If you've shopped around at all, you know how low this is.

If you want a great sales page, or even a great email to send to prospective clients, I recommend you jump on this offer now, before his rates jump up:
http://www.solutionbox.com/copywriting.htm

Coaching TeleSummit - On Now
If I had to pick one of the biggest frustrations in the coaching industry, I'd have to say it's specializing - working inside a niche.

To make the niche discovery process easier and more informed, join the 5-day 'coaching niche exploration' event. Here are the details....
-------------------------------------------------
What: Coaching Mastery Telesummit When: May 22-26, 2006
Where: Over a telephone bridgeline
Hosted by: Josephine Romano, Green Mountain Life Coach
Sponsored by: ACCPOW
Register: http://www.solutionbox.com/telesummit06.htm

2. FEATURE: How to increase your sales rate by 207% - Part 1

Sales copy is simply what prospects read - and hopefully what turns them into customers.

Too many coaches put up their web site, write their copy and nothing happens. We've written many articles on getting traffic to your web site, but what if people are visiting your site and you still aren't getting clients or customers? It could be your web copy.

We interviewed Andy O'Bryan, a master copywriter who specializes in writing for coaches to find out how you can improve your web copy.

1. How important is the copy in selling your services or product on the web?
It's critical. You can be the best coach in the world, but if your copy doesn't express that to your website visitors then it doesn't matter. The most talented people aren't necessarily the ones who make the most money online. It's the people with the best copy-and the best traffic generation methods--who bring in the most clients.

You should spend just as much time crafting your web copy as you do with any other aspect of your business. If you don't have the time to devote to this, then you should hire an expert to do it for you.

2. What is the biggest mistake you see that coaches make with their web site copy?
Coaches have too much that they want to convey to potential clients about themselves and what they offer. As a result, in their effort to try and say everything on their minds, they confuse their website visitors.

Confusion is never a good thing when it comes to finding new clients on the Internet. This confusion results in the visitors clicking away to a competitor. You only have a few seconds to grab the visitor's attention, and only a few seconds more to hold it.

To fix this you need to focus your website on your marquis service and sell that. Concentrate all of your efforts on the one singular thing that you do best and that has the most powerful benefit to your potential clients.

Another big mistake is not capturing your site visitor's email address. Use a special report, ebook or ezine to persuade them to give you their information, then you will be able to pursue the sale after they leave. People usually don't buy on the first visit to your site, so this is very important.

3. Where is the best place to put your bio?
You should frame your bio into the text of your web copy. What you've done, your experience, your education history, your credentials, your qualifications, etc. should all be presented to the reader in the context of making a sale. How does your experience help the potential client? What do you bring to the party that they can't get from anyone else?

So a bio doesn't have to be a 2-3 paragraph summary. Instead it should be sprinkled strategically into your site, using specially crafted sales copy with the ultimate goal of bringing in new clients.

4. What does conversion rate mean?
Your website's conversion rate is how you measure your success online. To arrive at your conversion rate you take your sales in a given time period (one day, one week, or one month) and divide that number into your number of unique visitors to your site in that same period. If you don't know how to find the unique visitors to your site, check with your webmaster or hosting company. They will tell you how to access this information.

For instance, let's say in one week you make 20 sales of an ebook you wrote. If the number of unique visits to the website that sells the ebook is 1,000 during that same week, then you have a conversion rate of 2%.

If you have a conversion rate of 2% or higher then you're doing pretty well. If it's less than 1% then you need to rethink how you are presenting your services. The most likely culprit is your web copy.

5. Why do we need to know our conversion rate?
A knowledge of your conversion rate is crucial to successful online marketing. Without a constant grasp of it you won't know if what you're doing is working or not.

If you made the 20 sales we mention above but you had no idea how much traffic you had coming to your site, then you won't know whether this 20 sales is an achievement or something to be improved. You could have had 10,000 visits to your site in that week, which would make your conversion rate .2%, which is terrible.

Without a working knowledge of how to arrive at your conversion rate, and the utilization of that knowledge on a regular basis, you could be lulled into a false sense of security about your sales figures, which could be devastating to your business.

***
In part II, we will find what makes great sales copy and learn the answer to the question, "Do we need to write for search engines?"

Free Critique

Andy has kindly offered a free critique to all MentorMonthly subscribers, for a limited time only. Jump in now before he changes his mind!Just email Andy at ajobryan @ aol.com (without the spaces) and he'll tell you what you can do to your site to get better sales immediately.

Action: Revamp Your Web Copy

1. Take at least one idea from above and rewrite some of your web copy. Let us know your changes at the blog.

2. Get Andy's f.ree report, "10 Ways Your Website is Leaving Gobs of Money On the Table". This report will pinpoint some of the trouble areas on your website and tell you how to fix them quickly and easily.

Available now as a free download in pdf format at:
http://www.solutionbox.com/copyreport.htm

Enjoy!

David

P.S. Got a comment on this article? Add it to the BLOG

P.P.S. Any Questions? http://www.SolutionBox.com/support.htm

MM #60 7 Steps to the Ideal Exploratory Session - Part II

1. Announcements/Offers

Make Your Own Coaching Career with the CoachStart™ Manual
After years of hands-on research, including personally mentoring sixty coaches, I've compiled everything I know about starting a successful coaching practice in one easy-to-follow manual.
Learn how to set up your businessand get clients.

The CoachStart Manual

And I'm so excited to hear such great feedback:
"The Manual has been a great help in taking a number of decisions, such as what people to concentrate on. The exercises in the Manual were helpful - AND have encouraged me to have faith in my skills as a coach! Your manual has also encouraged me to approach people for a trial session. Thank you."
-Ria Ordelman
The Netherlands
o-g @ xs4all.nl

"I've already recouped the costs of the First Fifty Clients and the CoachStart Manual in coaching fees in 3 weeks."
-Eddie Smith
United States
coachingtoday @ cs.com
www.lifecoachingtoday.com

Visit The CoachStart Manual


Please use our new support page instead of emailing
This email address is no longer monitored. Instead visit our new Support Center for instant access to answers and the ability to send tickets to Customer Support.

2. FEATURE: 7 Steps to the Ideal Exploratory Session - Part II

Last issue we gave the first four steps to the ideal exploratory session:

1) Set the context of the session
2) Locate their 'Hot Button'
3) How a coach will make the difference
4) Commitment

Let's continue our outline of the Ideal Exploratory Session, beginning with....

5) Objections

Find out their objections, fears, doubts - if any - to working with you. Allow them the time for this and really hear where they are coming from.

• #1 objection: parting with the cash (see below for a counter).
• #2 objection: not enough time to devote to this (so how important is this change really? Keep looking till you find one WORTH spending time on).
• #3 objection: don't think the change is really possible or that they really deserve it (they won't say this though)
• #4 objection: I can do it on my own; don't need a coach (so why don't you have this goal achieved already? What's getting in the way?)
• Some questions for bringing out objections: "How is all this feeling to you?" If you have a feeling they have an objection: "I sense a little hesitancy - is that right?"
• If they’re uncertain about getting results, or concerned about the mon'ey, consider offering a month coaching trial, with the understanding that if results are happening, it will extend to three or six months.
• If mon'ey is the issue, have them look at what they have spent similar dollars on in the past five years. Often the reason they are where they are, are that their priorities are a bit off. i.e. they will invest in a holiday but not in their relationship. They will invest in a car, but not in a new, fulfilling career.
• One option if they ask 'to think about it', is to request that they give an answer now just so things can move forward and there can be some kind of action. That if they are leaning towards 'no' then they say 'no'. If leaning towards 'yes', then they do a trial month. They can always contact you in a couple of weeks or a few months if they say 'no' now and they change their mind. (You'll probably get more people saying 'yes' than if you leave them to think about it and breed doubt).
  

6) The Invitation

• You don't ask, you don't get.
• Sometimes all it takes for someone to say yes (and this applies to all areas of life) is to be invited.
• Once you have found their hot button and inspired them, they are serious and committed to making a change, they realise working with a coach will make a difference, and any objections have been dealt with - what else is there to do but set them up as a client!
  At this stage I might ask something like: "How does it all feel?" and "Do you have any really pressing questions at this stage, or should I tell you how I set up new clients, and you can tell me if you like the sound of that?" (My BEST question. Works VERY well. Most say "Oh that's fine - let me hear how you set up new clients". But if you ask "Do you have any questions," they'll almost always come up with some as they feel they should). I give them a preview of 'set up' (see the next step) and then ask 'How does that sound?'
  OK - so it's not a direct invitation. If they say it sounds good, I often move straight to setting a coaching time, and then we're in.
• If necessary, I would ask: "Would you like to set up a coaching structure for your goals?" or "Would you like to give it a whirl?" or "Should we get moving on this?" But often the implied version works very well.
  

7) Setting Up Your Client!

• Once a person has said yes, they can feel very uncertain over the next few minutes and days - unless YOU are certain.
• Set up your next session, so they can already feel they are in a structure.
• Let them know you will send an email or follow-up paperwork with guidelines, fees, homework, and any particulars.
• Arrange their homework for the next 7 days.
• Ensure they know the coaching time and schedule.
• Go through one or two really important policies you may have. (An extensive list is included in The CoachStart Manual)
• Acknowledge them for the courage they are showing in taking action.
• I like to ask at the end how they are feeling about suddenly having a coach in their life. Always a great way to wrap up the call.
• I tell them they'll get the Welcome Pack within 24 hours, and usually send it within six.
  

Action: Schedule at Least 10 Exploratory Sessions

1. Schedule at least 10 Exploratory Sessions for the next two weeks- call, email, or see them in person and get the sessions set up
2. Role play with a friend to practice dealing with objections
3. Let us know at the blog how your exploratory sessions went

* * *
Hungry for more?

You can find a step by step outline of the exact trial session I used to build my successful global practice in The CoachStart Manual™.

Enjoy!
David

P.S. Got a comment on this article? Add it to the BLOG