Privacy Policy: |
We hear all the time that we need to "increase our conversions" or "get our numbers up". But what exactly does that mean and what else do we need to know?
"Conversion" is all about turning leads into paying clients and, when done well, more leads into more clients while doing it better, faster and with the least possible expense.
"Conversion" is also used to describe the result of desiring someone to take a step -- whichever step you want them to take -- whether signing up for a f'ree report, register for a strategy session, join a teleseminar or webinar, etc. -- the result is a desired action.
"Conversion Percentage" (sorry, just a little bit of math here) is defined as the "number of NEW sales" divided by the "number of leads" times 100.
And in the above case, "NEW sales" are people who are giving you money for the very first time (they're not repeat clients) and "leads" are people who have expressed, in some way, interest in what you're offering -- whether they visited your website, called your office, sent you an email, etc.
"New Client Cost" is defined as how much it costs for you to market to someone such that they give you money for the first time.
"Extreme Client Care(tm)" describes the process by which the better the care you provide to your clients, the less likely they'll be to switch to another vendor. (More on this in an upcoming series.)
Why do these terms matter?
Quite simply put, the better your conversion, the lower your new client cost AND the better your client care, the less new clients you'll need as existing clients won't leave your service and will refer others who cost almost nothing to market to (and therefore lower your new client cost even further).
You may want to read the above paragraph again to truly absorb the logic.
Make It Real -- My Request to You
Before we can even chat about increasing your conversions, you need to know where you stand today.
Ask your webmaster or assistant to get you signed up with a service such as Webstat if you don't already get statistics about the number of visitors to your site, blog, ezine sign-ups, etc.
After all, you need to know where you are in order to determine where you want to be. :-)
Many business owners, especially online, preach about “marketing with integrity” and “marketing authentically” and then immediately do things which, in my opinion, are exactly the opposite of what they preach.
Here’s just a few marketing mistakes I’ve seen in the last week which make me cringe:
1. Auto Sign-up.
I was virtually introduced to someone, we had a nice conversation and two days later I started receiving her newsletter.
Nope, I didn’t sign up for it and nope, she didn’t ask if I wanted to be.
2. “We only have 9, I mean 12, I mean 15 left.”
You know this game: Biz owner states they have only a “few” left and either the number keeps increasing or they’ve sold more than they said they had and it just takes reading their emails to know.
By the way, the same game is played with time: “offer ends Tuesday”, “whoops. . .make that Wednesday”, “did I say Wednesday”, I meant Friday”
3. Twitter Direct Messages.
Need I say more? Direct messages where my “new” friends are trying to sell me anything and everything. Can we say “unfollow” and quickly?
4. Twitterfeed Gone Wild.
Don’t get me wrong. . .I LOVE Twitterfeed, WHEN it’s used as a marketing tool and not the sole means of posting on Twitter using feeds from anything and everything.
5. Last Minute Everything.
You’ve received these messages – everything is last minute and “urgent” and requires your immediate attention.
You’re expected to drop everything to sign up for this “business and life changing” call or purchase this “amazing” product which must be done in “oops, an hour” because someone was too busy to share earlier.
HOGWASH! We’re too busy actually accomplishing things to put up with this BS!
There are times when we legitimately screw up and send things out late, but you know the difference between that and when someone does it consistently. And if you’re seeing it done consistently, you know what to do (unsubscribe!)
6. No Info, All Promo.
Business owners who don’t send out anything f’ree and informative, but rather just send out promotion after promotion or share so little through their ezines that they may as well not bother writing.
Make It Real – My Request To You
Take a good look at your marketing plan and calendar – if you don’t have one, now’s the time to put it together to help you avoid the above.
Are you guilty of any of the above marketing mistakes? If so, fix them. . .sooner’s better.
Are you putting up with any of the above marketing mistakes? If so, ask yourself if what you receive in exchange is worth the rest. If it is, okay; If it’s not, unsubscribe and move on.
Remember, as a business owner, your priority is to get the RIGHT things done in your business and anything which detracts from that needs to go away.
Act as if your business depends on it – because it does!
During a consultation last week, I was speaking with a 5-figure business owner who wanted to make $150,000 this year.
Doable?
Absolutely!
Doable with the plan she had?
Absolutely not.
So many business owners create good solid goals and then take haphazard action, constantly led astray by another bright shiny object or thinking the Law of Attraction will deliver it all to them.
The “reality check”?
It’s a combination of taking the RIGHT action in the RIGHT way at the RIGHT time WHILE maintaining a positive and abundant mindset that will propel you forward to your goals.
While you may think this sounds a little tough, it’s a whole lot tougher to close your doors and get a J O B working for someone else, especially after spending thousands of hours and dollars on programs and products, all designed to get you “to the next level”.
Make It Real: My Request To You
First, revisit your goals for this quarter (July through September) and this year.
Second, determine if your goals are REALISTIC given where you are now and your plans (HOW will you bring in the revenue, which projects, implemented when?) for the rest of the year.
Third, either revise your goals, your plan or both so that they’re in alignment and doable.
Fourth. . .take action. Now!
If you want help determining if your goals are realistic and building a plan you can implement to reach those goals (or others we set), you’ll want to see if a strategy session with me works for you.
