ヽ(°〇°)ﾉ are you setting up your competitors to win your sales? ヽ(°〇°)ﾉ

👉 unless you do this, you might well be...

Many years ago, when I'd first set up my shiny new business, I went to a seminar from a "sales guru" who'd come up from London to visit us in the sticks.

Flushed with the arrogance of youth I kind of yeah yeah'd my way through his talk. "I know that...yeah, I know that...of course I know that".

But then he said something very simple but very profound which stopped me in my tracks.

"If you don't ask for the sale, all you're doing is warming up the client for the next salesperson they meet".

Like all snappy phrases, it's a simplification.

But there's a huge dollop of truth in it.

I've seen it happen in sales. But also in email newsletters and content marketing.

People like you and me who pride ourselves on adding value to the lives of our clients and prospects often forget that at some point we need to ask them to buy something.

In fact, we often get a little bit afraid of asking. We don't want to be seen as pushy salespeople.

That's why so many email newsletters give amazing value but don't have any kind of call to action at the end that could lead to the readers buying something.

It's something I'm very guilty of if you look back at a lot of my emails.

You find yourself thinking "they know what I have to offer, they'll get in touch if they need me".

But you've got to bear in mind that your clients don't spend all day thinking about you and your offers. You're a tiny part of their lives.

So unless they hear about what they can get from you repeatedly, they simply won't remember.

And that means they won't buy.

All your brilliant content will simply have warmed them up. They'll be thinking about their problems and wondering who can help. And they'll click a link from someone else who does use a call to action.

Of course, a good call to action shouldn't feel pushy or salesy. It should feel appropriate. A natural next step from the value you've given already.

An answer to the problems you're warned them about.

Getting a call to action to flow gracefully and get clicks is partially about the CTAs themselves. But it's more about how you lead in to them - how you build momentum.

It's about the whole flow of your emails or other content.

From highlighting a problem to talking about why you need to solve it to giving you helpful new ideas to offering support if you need it to implement those ideas (or any one of a number of ways you can build naturally to a call to action).

To your audience it should feel like a very natural next step if they want to take things further. Not pushy at all.

But for you, it’s what brings home the bacon.

- Ian