I have a successful business because I know what to do and I do it. I make a good income, I work with clients I enjoy, I get to be creative and I get to do all of that in a way that serves my family and my life.
So when I attended a small intensive led by Laura West, my intention was not to get more strategies or techniques, but to truly shift the way I envision my business as I reinvent it in these shifting current entrepreneurial waters. And that’s exactly what I got – here are just four of those shifts:
1. Money comes from working within your creative power centers
Laura’s created this powerful body of work around the ‘creative power centers’ that crystallized where I needed to spend my time and energy on to evolve my business in the way that honors my life and my own strong boundaries around that life.
For me that means really listening and following my intuition more, taking care of my personal energy more, increasing a team member’s responsibilities, and adding a whole lot more ‘Alicia flavor’ to the mix.
2. Always come back to what I want
When the thoughts get muddled and the confusion sets in with all the choices of what to do in my business (and my life), I will keep coming back to this single question:
What do I want?
And I’ll keep asking it until what I want is crystal clear. Then I’ll know exactly what to do.
3. Systems and structure equals more freedom
I’m great with systems – we have one for pretty much everything in my business – but structure is lacking a bit, and that’s because I can operate well on the fly. However, just thinking about how a little bit more structure would benefit me and my team and how that would lead to more freedom for me got me excited about actually putting that structure in place right away.
4. My non-negotiables are my success
I’ve been looking more closely at this and with the focused time at the intensive, I realized that a big attraction piece for my audience are my non-negotiables (family first, summers off, etc.). From that place, I was able to draft the new design of my business and I couldn’t be more excited about what’s to come.
After you’ve worked hard to put your product or program together, and spent the time and effort to write a compelling sales page for it, you don’t want to lose your potential customer or client right at the moment they are sitting there with credit card in hand – at the order link or order form.
Here’s a checklist of 6 ways to make sure that doesn’t happen:
__1. Reaffirm the decision
At the top of your order form, add a box that gives a synopsis of all the benefits your buyer gets for their purchase. List the features, the bonuses, and the guarantee. And tell them again that they’ve made the right decision.
There’s another benefit to adding this ‘here’s what you get in a nutshell’ box at the top of your order form. If your buyer is like me, they may skip through a sales page and go right to the order link to see the price. If the price isn’t right there, they will likely click on the order link to be taken to your order form to find out how much your offering is.
Now, most of us don’t buy solely based on price, so in order to increase your chances of making the sale to someone like me, giving me the snapshot version helps me make the choice to indeed buy. (Your current clients and customers will thank you for this, too, since they already know they want to buy, and they just want the digest version of what they’re getting.)
__2. Add a short testimonial
Give your buyer one more head-nod that they are making the right decision by adding a brief testimonial on the order form. Even just one sentence from a happy customer can make a difference in whether or not your reader enters their payment information.
__3. Give alternative payment options
Some people still don’t like to give their credit card information online, so be sure to give them other ways to order. For example, allow them to order by phone or fax, and give that information right on the order form.
__4. Make it Confidential and 100% secure
Be sure to explain that your ordering and payment system is safe for them to make a purchase. And of course, make sure it is!
__5. Follow-up with a confirmation email
Assure your buyer that their order was successfully placed and that it’s not lost in cyberspace. Congratulate them again for their investment and tell them exactly what to expect next.
__6. Respond promptly to questions or issues
No matter how easy you’ve made the buying process, some people will still have questions or get stuck due to technical glitches. Add an email address and/or phone number where they can reach you right away for help.
As much as you can, make the process of buying from you as easy and painless as possible. Take your prospect by the hand and walk them through each step, reassuring them along the way, and I guarantee you’ll make more sales AND create a deeper level of customer trust and loyalty.
I’d love to know your thoughts on this – please leave your comments below.
Did you know there’s a super-simple way to leverage your gifts, talent and know-how into lucrative, highly leveraged income streams?
It’s your Signature System, and it’s your step-by-step formula for multiple streams success.
So, what exactly is a Signature System? It’s the work you’re ALREADY doing with clients, packaged into a highly marketable, step-by-step system they’ll want to buy.
If you’re thinking you can’t create a system because every client is different, think again. EVERY service can be transformed into a simple, repeatable system clients will happily say ‘yes’ to.
Once I figured this out and finally moved away from solely working one-on-one with clients and started adding other revenue streams, I knew I’d found the right system that was going to help me create the kind of income I desired.
Specifically, here are the top 10 reasons why having a Signature System is a MUST to quickly transition out of 1-on-1 work…
1. Your clients LOVE systems.
They’re so overloaded, they can’t even stop to think. Your system tells them “I’ve done the work so you don’t have to.”
2. Your clients can practically predict their success.
When they see the results others have achieved, clients feel very reassured… and start to picture the results for themselves.
3. Your Signature System sets you apart.
It’s as unique as your signature, after all – nobody else has it!
4. Instant credibility.
Without a system, your services can appear all over the place. A system instantly elevates you to expert status.
5. Quicker, easier sales.
Your clients “get” what you offer much quicker and are ready to buy much sooner.
6. Your clients get better results…
…when they follow given steps in a given order, instead of blundering around trying to find their way.
7. Your clients get results faster…
… because they’re not wasting time on needless “stuff.”
8. Your clients come back again and again…
…because they’ve had such success with you the first time!
9. You’ll help more people…
…because your Signature System (or key elements of it) can be “bottled and sold” at different investment and commitment points.
10. And best of all…
…you’ll see just how easy it is to create 3, 4 or even more lucrative income streams that will deliver a steady and predictable flow of cash into your business. And you know what that means? Peace of mind. Priceless.
I’d love to know your thoughts on having your own Signature System – please leave your comments below.
Do you get stuck when trying to figure out what to offer to your market next? Do you wonder if they’ll buy what you put together for them? Just follow these three steps to easily create your next successful offer:
Step 1: Know what your market WANTS
Be really clear on your market, what their problem is, and what your solution to that problem is. And more importantly, don’t make the mistake of creating something that you think your market needs before you find out if it’s something they want.
How do you find out what they want? Ask them!
Step 2: Fill in the holes in your HourGlass
In the business model I designed and teach, there are different offers at different price points. When deciding what to offer next, take a look at your HourGlass and see where your next gap is and then fill it.
So, if you have a Free Taste and nothing in the less than $50 range at the first level of the Hourglass, that’s the first gap you’ll want to fill.
One way you can fill this gap is to take one of your larger offerings and modulize it to fill in a lower level of your HourGlass.
Advanced TIP: if you have a $50 product and it’s selling really well, that’s when you want to start creating something at the next level of the HourGlass to offer, which would be at a higher price point.
Step 3: Create the Offer
Once you have identified the hole to fill you can start creating your next product, program or service.
Knowing what level you’re creating your product for will inform the end product. And you’ll want to make sure your time and effort equals the price point.
Here are some examples to get you started. Know that your market may demand higher (or lower, but not much) price points:
Level 1: $50
ebook
CD
print book
journal/day planners
teleseminar
Level 2: $200
teleseminars – single or series
more comprehensive e-manuals
short group coaching programs
two-part-multi-media module
live workshops or seminars
And don’t forget – create a product that you actually enjoy creating!
How you’ve decided to package your product will determine your delivery system. This is the path to getting your product into the hands of your buyer. Some systems only do one thing, but most overlap, so it makes sense to think about your bigger vision for your business as it grows and make the investment in some of the systems that do several things if you can.
I’d love to know your thoughts on how you’re going to create your next offer – please leave your comments below.
Chloe has a children’s book titled Milton’s Secret: An Adventure of Discovery through Then, When, and the Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle and Robert S. Friedman, which really simplifies the concept of living in the present moment, and how the practice of that will, for the boy in the story, eliminate fear and worry.
I wanted to explore that as it pertains to your business, with a slightly different slant. I wonder if you, like so many of my clients, and myself as well from time to time, are so hooked into the future that we’re missing the NOW and not fully enjoying the journey?
So how do we unhook from it to allow what we truly want to come to pass without always feeling like we’re striving for it? Here are 5 ideas:
1. Let go of the goals that take you away from the present.
Let me say first that you can have everything you want – and there’s no judgement here on what those things are.
That being said, do you want a mansion, to be the #1 speaker in your market, to be the one with the biggest email list in your market, to be a New York Times bestselling author, to make a million dollars? There’s nothing wrong with any of those lofty (and completely attainable) goals.
And, what happens is when we’re so focused on the sexy dream we tend to get ourselves so riled up about getting there that we miss all the amazing stuff happening NOW.
What I’ve noticed is that people get impatient, sad, frustrated, and even angry when they’re so focused on the future goal that the present seems uninteresting at best, despairing at worst. The antidote? See #2.
2. Polish the present
I want to encourage you to stop striving so hard and thrive in your present. What I mean is that if you make what you already have better, and polish what’s already good and working, you uplevel your life without expending that energy on something that doesn’t exist yet.
Yes, it’s about appreciating what’s already good and right in your world and in your business AND it’s about how you can make what’s already there fulfill you even more. It’s true that if you make the most of what you already have, you’ll get more and better of it with a lot less effort on your part.
3. Don’t plan so much
I’m all about having the big picture plan down to the day-to-day details, and yet I know that most of the time, the plan changes.
One of the reasons we – as businessowners – plan so much is because it gives us a sense of control and it helps to alleviate the fears and doubts we have about knowing what we’re doing.
So have the plan and be willing to be flexible with it. Let it be a guide but not the only way. If you get wrapped up in THE PLAN you’ll actually hold yourself and your business back from being able to adapt quickly when things change – and they always do.
Assess if you spend more time planning than doing – and if you do, stop right now. And if you tend to fly by the seat of your pants more often than not, you might want a lightly-built framework around you to give you some sense of stability.
4. Get out of the striver’s club
Stop trying to aquire a better future with others who are striving. It’s just too exhausting. I’m not saying to surround yourself with lazy folks, but to get out of the overdrive club if you want to relax into a currently compelling present instead of an exhausting still ‘out there somewhere’ future.
5. Get off the ‘if/when’ rollercoaster
I admit this is a pet peeve of mine. Not from people who are decisive, but from people who use it as an excuse to not be happy now. When you make ‘if/when’ statements, you’re living in the future. Dreaming and visioning is one thing; otherwise it’s a holding pattern for you but even worse, you’re not enjoying where you’re at right now!
I’d love to know your thoughts on how to unhook from the future so you can enjoy the present – please leave your comments below.
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