1. Get Prospects to Choose YOU When Making Their Initial Buying Decision 


This is what most people think of when they think of "marketing". How can I get more people to become my customer? How can I attract more people to me so they can give me their money?

Unfortunately, this is the slowest, most time consuming, most expensive, and least effective way of growing a business. For most businesses, however, it is a necessary evil. This is particularly true when we are first starting out. A new business MUST have customers and since the business is new, they MUST be converted from people who are not currently customers of ours.

So entire industries are devoted to teaching people how to sell, how to close, how to write compelling copy, how to create inspiring ads and in other ways lure in new customers to our business.

There is a long list of psychological principles that can be used to help guide a prospect in the decision to make the initial purchase, such as creating a sense of scarcity, using testimonials of other happy buyers, and so on. And yet the MOST effective tactics are even more widely known, though not as widely practiced

For example, one of the most important things to do when trying to recruit new customers is to reduce or remove as many obstacles to the buying process as possible. It should be EASY to spend money with you! While there is nothing inherently wrong with requiring deposits, signed contracts, and other conditions of doing business, you should recognize that these are hurdles that need to be overcome by your prospect. The easier you can make these things the more customers you will have.

If you can forego the contract, fine. If not you should have several options of getting the contract in their hands, signed and back in your hands. Maybe your contract can be in the form of a PDF file that you can e-mail immediately or even have it posted on a hidden page on your site so that if you are out of the office, you can simply tell them where to go to download the standard form.

If you require contracts you should definitely have a fax line where they can be returned to you immediately.

In the same way, if you require a down payment you should consider preparing to accept as many forms of payment as possible from check, cash, and money order, to credit cards and particularly PayPal and other forms of electronic payment. When a customer has made the buying decision, you need to be able to "get them while they are hot". Make it fast and easy for them. Again, the easier it is to spend money with you, the more customers you will have.

Another way to lower the barriers of entry is by providing free samples. This is very common in the retail product environment. It is rare to visit a major grocery store on a Saturday afternoon and NOT see store personnel giving away free samples of various items. They know and understand that if the product is good and you allow the prospect to experience first hand that this is true, then you have removed one of the biggest hurdles to making a purchase: risk.

When people are being asked to try something new there is a good deal of risk involved. The more expensive the product, the more risk. No one wants to buy a box of cookies only to get home and discover that they don't taste good. Free samples remove this risk entirely.

This article is, in fact, a free sample. I provide it absolutely free in the hopes that you will read it, get real value from it, and want to learn more about the systems I teach. Later on, I'll ask you for your e-mail address so that I can send you a monthly newsletter where I will continue to share insights and ideas. But I know better than to ask for that information until AFTER I've proven that I can deliver.

By the way, when I finally DO ask for your e-mail address (and you don't HAVE to give it if you don't want), you will notice that I will work had to remove any barriers to that simple transaction.

Removing the risk is vitally important if you want to recruit new customers. In ANY transaction there is risk. How do I know the plumber will actually show up? How does the plumber know that I really need help and he is not just the victim of a prank phone call? How do I know that the problem will remain fixed after he leaves? How does he know the check I wrote won't bounce? There is always risk on both sides of the transaction.

I have a background in entertainment and I know many performers who won't perform until they have a check in their hands. But isn't the buyer also taking a huge risk? He might have no idea what sort of show you will be doing, or if you will even show up! Artists of all sorts have a reputation (deserved or not) of not being the most disciplined of people. I know most of my regular customers can tell me stories of performers who simply didn't show up. No phone call, no apologies, just a crowd of audience members sitting and waiting.

I also know of performers who tell me that collecting a check from a client was like pulling teeth, with partial payments, bounced checks, and the ever famous claim of "the check is in the mail".

So with all this risk involved (on both sides) it can be difficult for someone to branch out from their current provider, even if you seem to offer a better deal. This risk of dealing with an unknown can be too much to bear, regardless of price or quality.

The person in the transaction who is willing to shoulder more of the risk will get more of the business. This can be done in MANY different ways, the most common being a money back guarantee. The fewer strings attached to the guarantee, the more takers you will have. Again, some worry that this sort of guarantee invites people to take advantage of you by getting what you offer and then asking for their money back.

While this occasionally happens, it is rare if you are providing a product or service with real value. And even when it DOES happen, you can measure the results and you'll find that the increased business generated from the guarantee more than offsets the loss from the rare cheat.

It is also important to realize that the dollar cost of your good and services are only PART of the risk associated with becoming a customer of yours. When I take my car it to get serviced it is more than the amount of the check I write. There is the hassle of getting my car to and from the service center, there is the frustration of getting into the car the next day ready to go to an important engagement only to realize the car was NOT actually repaired in a satisfactory way and now I am going to have to figure out an alternative way to get to the meeting and still make it on time.

These sorts of frustrations are not alleviated by a return of the money invested in getting the car fixed, because now I have to endure them all AGAIN as I work to get the car back to the shop and go through the hassle of getting it repaired again.

As an entertainer I can tell you that the cost of hiring someone to perform is almost always a very small portion of the total amount paid to put on the show. In addition to the performer's fee, there is the cost of renting the facility, the cost of promoting the event, the cost of lights, catering, a DJ, decorations, invitations, and a multitude of other costs that go into putting on an event. If the entertainer doesn't show up but offers to refund his or her fee that is of very little consolation to the host as he tries to explain to his guests why they are looking at an empty stage.

So many will provide a more-than-your-money-back guarantee. "If I don't perform up to your expectations, I will not only refund my entire fee, I'll pull out my checkbook and write you a check for $500".

While that dollar amount might not make things right, that level of confidence from a service provider will definitely increase confidence in the mind of the buyer.




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