Category: Sales & Marketing

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Sales & Marketing

3 Tips On Engaging Your Ideal Prospects Using Copy

You’ve done all this work to get people to visit your website, only to have nothing happen.

No sign ups for your newsletter, no inquiries about your products and services, no sales, no nothing.

So what’s the problem? Chances are it has something to do with your copy not engaging your ideal prospects so they want to become your customers and clients.

What can you do to fix that? Well, the simple answer is your copy needs to connect on a deeper level to what your ideal clients find important. The difficult answer is how exactly do you do that. Below are 3 tips to get you started:

1. Know EXACTLY who your ideal clients are.

Look, you’re not going to be able to connect with them on a deep level if you don’t know who they are, what keeps them up night and what’s important to them. This is why you need more than just the demographic stuff (age, income level, etc.) you need to know WHY they’re struggling, what they most want in the world, what their values are, etc.

The more you actually know your ideal clients on this deep level, the more you’ll be able to use the words and phrases that truly engage them.

So how do you get started finding your ideal client? Ask yourself this — who are your favorite clients? Write down a list of your favorite clients and compare them. (If you’re just starting out and haven’t had any clients, think about the other people in your life you enjoy working with and describe them.)

Why are those clients your favorites? What do they have in common? (Look beyond the external descriptions such as gender and age, and instead think about mindset and values and beliefs.) Start there and see where it takes you.

Then once you have a picture of your ideal clients in your head, it’s time to look at tip 2.

2. Don’t write to a group (even if it’s a group of your ideal clients).

Instead, pick one person and write to that person. When you do this, your writing will naturally sound more intimate. In fact, I would take it one step further and imagine yourself writing a letter to a friend. Your friend has a problem, you KNOW what could really help them, wouldn’t you try and write an engaging, persuasive letter because you REALLY want to help your friend? That’s the way you’ll really start to connect with your ideal clients.

3. Use THEIR language, not yours.

In other words, don’t spend hours and hours trying to figure out a cute way to describe what you do that means nothing, or worse, requires a great deal of explanation before anyone even understands what you’re talking about. The best (and easiest) way is to use the same words your ideal clients are using.

Now, you may be wondering to yourself, how do you find out what words your ideal clients are using? Ask them.

Do a survey or ask a question on social networking forums or groups. See what language THEY use to describe their problems and what they’re looking for to solve it. Then use their words in your marketing copy. (Yes, honestly, it really CAN be that easy.)

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Sales & Marketing

Measuring the Success of Your Telemarketing Campaign

Article Contributed by Jo

It is important that if your business plans a telemarketing campaign, your expectations are met and are measurable. If you decide to use the services of a call centre, you do not want to be throwing money away and not distinguishing whether your telemarketing campaigns are working or not. Telemarketing budgets are becoming slimmer and slimmer and this means that you need to do everything you can to ensure that the money that you do spend on telemarketing goes on the right things, and does not get wasted.

The way which you can ensure that your telemarketing campaign is successful is to set out clear objectives. This means that you need to set out clear cut measures so that you can indicate the success of the campaign in a formulaic fashion.

There are various ways you can do this. A professional call centre will help you to create measurable objectives if you outsource. If you are doing it yourself, you can go for simple objectives or more complex measures, whichever is most appealing to you and whatever is most methodical. Your telemarketing campaign might be complex, and therefore might require a more flexible and complex approach.

The first thing you should do is put a report together which figures out what exactly you are measuring in your campaign. You might be conducting the campaign for several reasons, you might need to generate more leads, you might need more data, or you might want to promote a product or service. You need to determine whether it is an outbound or inbound campaign.

You then need to think about your KPIs. This stands for your “key performance indicators.” Once you have decided what you are doing in your campaign, you can set very specific key performance indicators for your strategy. Your key performance indicators will be the backbone to your strategy, and can be anything like revenue, new leads generated, new data gathered, or the number of calls that have been made. These are far easier to keep track of and therefore you can track your campaign success more easily. You can also use this data to compare how this differs from previous telemarketing efforts you have made, and it helps you to define your return on investment.

After you have gathered the data that you need, you are able to assess your performance. Make sure that you use this data effectively; do not allow it to collect dust on the shelves. This data could be crucial and allows your business to adapt to changing industry or client requirements. You can take both the positives and negatives out of your data and use them to define a course of action. You might need to repeat the campaign in the future, to compare them with these results and see whether your redefined assessments were more effective.

About the Author

Jo writes for alldayPA.com – a call answering service that can help you launch your own tailor made business telemarketing campaign.

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Sales & Marketing

Converting Leads to SALES! Leveraging Technology to Reach Your Peeps

In order for you to convert a lead into a client, your ideal client needs to hear about you (or see you) anywhere from seven to seventeen times before they’re ready to move forward with your firm. That means, once a prospect stumbles across your law office’s website or hears you speak at a networking event, you need to find a way to communicate with him or her an additional six to sixteen times, so when they do find themselves in the need of a lawyer’s service, you are the one they hire.

Ask yourself this … unless they have an immediate need for your services and hire you on the spot, what are the odds your prospects will hear from you another six to sixteen times after your first encounter?

As you already know, most people only hire an attorney “as needed” or because they have an emergency. So, unless someone finds you on Google or meets you at a conference at the exact moment they require legal help, your chances of turning them into a client are pretty slim.

There is an easy solution: deploy an automated communication system! But before we delve into the reasons you must create one (and trust me, you do), let’s make sure you’re already taking care of the first step in communicating regularly with your prospects: using a CRM database to create a list of prospects you can develop a relationship with on an ongoing basis.

When you meet people who might be in the market for your services, you need a system of gathering their contact information. 

When you have such a system in place, you are “building your list” every time you network, speak, advertise, send out direct mail or use social media.  List building is the keystone of any direct marketing strategy, and though there’s a bit more science to it than simply collecting email addresses, you DO need to first make sure you’re keeping track of the people you meet, and collecting their contact information so you can reach out to them regularly, inviting them to get to know you and your business, before they ever even need to hire a lawyer.

So, what CRM (customer relationship management) System for lawyers and law firms are you using to build your list?

Okay, maybe you already have a list. Now what?

About 3% of your potential market will have an immediate need when they hear about you, but the other 97% need reminders about who you are and what you can do for them, should they need you at some point in the future. So, even though this potential client may not be in the market for an attorney right now, you want to be sure you’re the first person on his/her mind when he/she is ready. And that’s why you need an Automated Communication Campaign. 

  • Automated: Because it has to be, otherwise it won’t get done.
  • Communication: The basis of every strong relationship.
  • Campaign: This means consistent, so you are communicating at least every other week and preferably weekly.

Your communication campaign should be designed to make your prospects feel like they know you. Your ideal client wants to hire an attorney with whom they have a relationship. People hire people who they know, like and trust. Staying in regular contact with your prospects allows you to create a rapport and a familiarity to forge bonds before you ever work together.

Trying to stay in touch with your list regularly takes too much time and energy to do it all on your own—you must automate! You’ll either make yourself nuts trying to get it all done, or give up on communicating all together. The solution? There are many online software systems and outsource services that can help you create a “set it and forget it” series of emails, so that you know you’re keeping up with your list without having to do all the extra work.  (More on those systems and services soon.)

One more tip: make sure that when you reach out to your list, your hand is not always palm up!

Of course, you want to make periodic offers to your list for discounted items or services, or to announce new products or special services. Let your communication invite your ideal clients to get to know you – the personal, real you. Tell your personal story through your marketing materials, share with them and show you’re a real person who wants to serve. Let people know that you are just like them, not some scary lawyer who’s going to try to take advantage of them!

Make the effort to build a solid relationship with your prospects so that when they finally do need legal services, it’s you they’ll turn to – not just the first time, but every time. 

So, are you regularly communicating with your prospects? If so, how?  And how is it working for you? We’d love to hear.  Leave a comment below to share about your process for communicating with prospects or what’s stopping you.

About the Author

Alexis Neely started her own law practice in 2003 after only three years in practice at the law firm of Munger, Tolles & Olson. Despite knowing nothing about business, she built that law practice into a million dollar a year revenue generator by creating a new law business model that her clients (and her family) absolutely loved.  Alexis wrote the bestselling book on legal planning for parents and has appeared on all the top television shows – from the Today Show to Good Morning America – teaching the American public about proactive family and business legal planning and new paradigm conflict resolution.  Today, Alexis is a Law Business Mentor and guides lawyers to reclaim their role as trusted advisors for their clients while building sustainable, fulfilling, money-making practices so you can love being a lawyer again.  For more information about Alexis, visit www.lawbusinessmentors.com

Categories
Sales & Marketing

3 Reasons Why EVERY Entrepreneur Should Learn a Few Coaching Skills

As an entrepreneur who specializes in a done-for-you service (it doesn’t get any more done-for-you then handing clients a piece of copy plus the exact strategy for how to use it to get the best results in their business) you would think I would be the last person who would need to coach someone around mindset shifts or through their blocks.

Alas that is not the case.

You would be surprised at how many times I’ve been hired (and fully paid) for copy the clients have loved but never used.

Why? Well, there are as many reasons as entrepreneurs out there but a good chunk of the time it has to do with some sort of block.

So how do I respond? As much as I can, I try and step in and work them through whatever has got them stuck (although I really am not a coach). Which means having a few coaching skills in my back pocket has proven to be amazingly helpful.

This is why I firmly believe all entrepreneurs could use a little training in the coaching skills department, even if they never call themselves a coach or sell coaching services or packages.

Here are 3 reasons why every entrepreneur could benefit from some coaching skills:

1. You’re more likely to have your clients actually use (and get results from) your products, programs or services. Even if you offer a pure done-for-you service, if your clients aren’t ready to embrace the next level of their business, they won’t get the results you know you can deliver.

Have you ever watched those reality television shows like “Restaurant Impossible” or “Hotel Impossible?” The host walks into a failing restaurant or hotel and along with giving them some practical, basic business advice, they also end up doing a heck of a lot of coaching around whatever it is that got the business owner to this place of near bankruptcy. And because the hosts do that coaching (along with it making good television because who doesn’t like to watch people crying and hugging on camera) the business owners are much more likely to follow through with their changes when they aren’t there.

That’s why coaching skills can be invaluable.

2. You reduce your refunds/unhappiness rate. Again, because your clients actually implement your suggestions/consulting/done-for-you services, they’re more likely to see results, which makes them happier and better clients.

You’re also more likely to end up with some killer testimonials from them not to mention lots of good word of mouth advertising.

3. You’re more likely to actually make a difference in the world. Look, if part of why you’re passionate about your business is because you want to get your message out there and see some change, that’s only going to happen if your clients actually implement what you’re teaching or offering. There’s no better to way to increase the odds of that happening then to be able to coach them when things come up.

Remember, your clients hired you or invested in your products because they had a problem they wanted solved. And the best thing you can do for them is to help make sure they actually get their money’s worth. And that’s where coaching skills can be worth their weight in gold.

Categories
Sales & Marketing

Converting Leads to Sales! Leveraging Technology to Reach Your Peeps

In order for you to convert a lead into a client, your ideal client needs to hear about you (or see you) anywhere from seven to seventeen times before they’re ready to move forward with your firm. That means, once a prospect stumbles across your law office’s website or hears you speak at a networking event, you need to find a way to communicate with him or her an additional six to sixteen times, so when they do find themselves in the need of a lawyer’s service, you are the one they hire.

Ask yourself this … unless they have an immediate need for your services and hire you on the spot, what are the odds your prospects will hear from you another six to sixteen times after your first encounter?

As you already know, most people only hire an attorney “as needed” or because they have an emergency. So, unless someone finds you on Google or meets you at a conference at the exact moment they require legal help, your chances of turning them into a client are pretty slim.

There is an easy solution: deploy an automated communication system! But before we delve into the reasons you must create one (and trust me, you do), let’s make sure you’re already taking care of the first step in communicating regularly with your prospects: using a CRM database to create a list of prospects you can develop a relationship with on an ongoing basis.

When you meet people who might be in the market for your services, you need a system of gathering their contact information.

When you have such a system in place, you are “building your list” every time you network, speak, advertise, send out direct mail or use social media.  List building is the keystone of any direct marketing strategy, and though there’s a bit more science to it than simply collecting email addresses, you DO need to first make sure you’re keeping track of the people you meet, and collecting their contact information so you can reach out to them regularly, inviting them to get to know you and your business, before they ever even need to hire a lawyer.

So, what CRM (customer relationship management) System for lawyers and law firms are you using to build your list?

Okay, maybe you already have a list. Now what?

About 3% of your potential market will have an immediate need when they hear about you, but the other 97% need reminders about who you are and what you can do for them, should they need you at some point in the future. So, even though this potential client may not be in the market for an attorney right now, you want to be sure you’re the first person on his/her mind when he/she is ready. And that’s why you need an Automated Communication Campaign.

  • Automated: Because it has to be, otherwise it won’t get done.
  • Communication: The basis of every strong relationship.
  • Campaign: This means consistent, so you are communicating at least every other week and preferably weekly.

Your communication campaign should be designed to make your prospects feel like they know you. Your ideal client wants to hire an attorney with whom they have a relationship. People hire people who they know, like and trust. Staying in regular contact with your prospects allows you to create a rapport and a familiarity to forge bonds before you ever work together.

Trying to stay in touch with your list regularly takes too much time and energy to do it all on your own—you must automate! You’ll either make yourself nuts trying to get it all done, or give up on communicating all together. The solution? There are many online software systems and outsource services that can help you create a “set it and forget it” series of emails, so that you know you’re keeping up with your list without having to do all the extra work.  (More on those systems and services soon.)

One more tip: make sure that when you reach out to your list, your hand is not always palm up!

Of course, you want to make periodic offers to your list for discounted items or services, or to announce new products or special services. Let your communication invite your ideal clients to get to know you – the personal, real you. Tell your personal story through your marketing materials, share with them and show you’re a real person who wants to serve. Let people know that you are just like them, not some scary lawyer who’s going to try to take advantage of them!

Make the effort to build a solid relationship with your prospects so that when they finally do need legal services, it’s you they’ll turn to – not just the first time, but every time.

So, are you regularly communicating with your prospects? If so, how?  And how is it working for you? We’d love to hear.  Leave a comment below to share about your process for communicating with prospects or what’s stopping you.

About the Author:

Alexis Neely started her own law practice in 2003 after only three years in practice at the law firm of Munger, Tolles & Olson. Despite knowing nothing about business, she built that law practice into a million dollar a year revenue generator by creating a new law business model that her clients (and her family) absolutely loved.  Alexis wrote the bestselling book on legal planning for parents and has appeared on all the top television shows – from the Today Show to Good Morning America – teaching the American public about proactive family and business legal planning and new paradigm conflict resolution.  Today, Alexis is a Law Business Mentor and guides lawyers to reclaim their role as trusted advisors for their clients while building sustainable, fulfilling, money-making practices so you can love being a lawyer again.  For more information about Alexis, visit www.lawbusinessmentors.com