SFM Ep18: How To Make Your Customers HAPPY To Spend More Money With You
In episode #18 of the sales funnel mastery podcast, I’ll give you a real-life example of why price is not the final determining factor for most people.
Through my example I’ll show you exactly why I just spent 25% more money to get a fence put up, and how you can replicate the system to sell more, at a higher price point.
We’ll discuss…
- What made his proposal stand out head and shoulders above the “other guy”…
- How he asked simple questions to understand exactly what I was looking for (so he could then sell me better down the road)…
- The simple tweak almost NOBODY does to increase trust (do it, and you’ll instantly stand out)…
Although service providers will get the most benefit out of it, those selling information products, software or offline business owners will benefit tremendously as well.
Plus, I truly believe that every business needs a service, so no excuses!
Resources Mentioned
Listen To The Podcast
[powerpress]Transcript
Hey guys this is Jeremy Reeves and I want to welcome you back to another episode of the Sales Funnel Mastery podcast. In this episode I’m actually going to make it a little bit of a story. I’m actually going to tell you about how, why we just went with the specific person that we did to put in our new fence around our whole backyard okay.
So when we first were looking at different fence companies and stuff; we initially reached out to four different companies okay. So all of them are obviously in our area and because we wanted to see what the average price was and that kind of thing. Who was better with service and quality and all that kind of stuff.
So we reached out to four different people. Okay so two people never got back to us. The one actually never even called back. The other said they were going to come to look at the property and actually never came. So they were obviously out because they didn’t care about getting the business enough that they didn’t even get in touch with me. So they were gone.
So two different companies came. One came and he looked and he gave us a price right on the spot. He was kind of, he was only there for maybe five minutes. He kind of just walked around the property; you know figured out the square footage and all that and gave us a quote okay.
The second guy came and he came and he asked a bunch of questions and this is the guy we went with by the way so pay attention to this part. He asked a bunch of questions. He got the square footage. He asked us what kind of fence we were getting. He asked us why we were getting it. He asked us you know what we were interested, like what were the main factors. You know was it looks? Was it quality? Was it sturdiness? And that kind of thing.
So he was basically figuring out what it was about us, why we wanted the fence and what we were looking for in a fence. Okay and I’m guessing that he did that because he was trying to sell us better down the road when he gave us the quote.
So he actually went home and now remember the first guy that we didn’t go with he gave us a quote right off the bat right. He didn’t ask a lot of questions. He gave it to us right there. There was no like formal quote or anything like that. It was just okay you know it’s X dollars and that was pretty much it.
The guy we went with went home and he drafted up, it was like a two or three-page proposal. It was all, it was very professionally done. It explained everything you know exactly what would happen, when it would happen, how the payments were supposed to be made. You know all that. So it really included everything that I would want to know as a consumer right.
And we went with him. His price was actually about $2,000 more than the first guy and I actually went with him. So that’s why I’m making this podcast today because if you sell anything this is going to relate more for service-based businesses.
But if you’re selling a product or software or pretty much anything else you should still be able to get some actionable advice out of this because you could just take the principles and put it into your business. Okay they might not apply the exact same way but you should definitely be able to get some stuff out of this that you can implement in your sales funnel right.
So a couple of the, actually let me start here. So as you know, you know there’s a before, during and after. During the whole sales cycle there’s what happens before somebody becomes a customer, what happens you know while they’re a customer while you’re doing the work for them or while they’re going through your product whatever that is and then after.
So whatever happens after the sale. The follow-up, the customer service, that kind of stuff. Okay so in this episode we’re really focusing more on the before because the rest doesn’t matter. Because this is more of a comparison of why I gave this guy an extra $2,000 versus the other guy alright.
So the first thing that he did was again, I already went over this, but he asked more questions to make sure we were, to make sure that he knew exactly what we needed, why we need it, and when we needed it. Okay so in this case we needed a new fence because when we moved into this house about two years ago it was just this like old, chain-link fence that hasn’t been updated in probably fifteen years.
And my 3-year-old Connor was starting to scale the fence okay. And it was actually kind of a dangerous situation because in the back of our yard, the way that our yard goes when you get to the back of it, if he scaled that fence and flipped over there’s like a 15-foot drop off that goes down in the woods. And then there’s like a whole other, you know there’s like 200 yards of woods that we own behind that. There’s this whole giant big area, over an acre I think.
And so you know he could obviously get hurt because he’s falling 15 feet into a forest basically. So as soon as we saw him scale the fence that’s why we needed a new fence. It was kind of a timely thing. We needed it kind of right then. So he was asking why we needed it. So we told him. So he suggested a few things and all that.
Another thing he did was he told us when he’d get back to us. He gave us a certain timeframe that when he would give us the proposal and he did. I talk a lot about when you’re trying to build trust with somebody just do what you say you’re going to do. If you say you’re going to hand something in by Friday the whatever, then hand it in by Friday. If you say you’re going to hand it in by Wednesday, hand it in by Wednesday.
This is, it blows my mind how many service providers lose trust in their clients because they just don’t do what they say they’re going to do. It’s so easy.
Think about any friends that you have. And you probably have at least one person you know that they’re so unreliable that you either don’t invite them places anymore or you just kind of like if you invite them out to dinner, and you invite seven other people you get a table for seven even if they say they’re going to go because you don’t really actually know if they’re going to go or not. I’m sure you know somebody like that.
And you probably know from experience that they’re hard to trust because that’s one of the reasons is because they don’t say what they’re going to do. So people see that and it kind of transfers into other areas of their life. So if they don’t hold their word on this why would they ever hold their word on this other thing right.
So the second thing is he told he would give us a proposal by, I forget the exact, it might have been by a Monday or whatever. And he did. So that was good thing number two.
And then the most important thing that he did and this is really what got me. When the first guy gave us the quote he, remember he just gave us the quote in person there was nothing else. It was just okay you want a fence. I’m going to give you a fence. It’s going to be X dollars. This other guy who we went with not only did he give us a quote but he told us in the proposal, he explained and then I went back and forth with him a few times with questions and things like that. But he explained the material.
He talked about the actual fence itself and why it was the most sturdy, most durable fence that basically that money could buy. Why it wasn’t going to fade and it had this, I don’t know the details but it had this fade-resistant coating or whatever on it. And he explained the depths of the holes that, in the fence. And he said most people they want to get it done cheaper so they do more shallow holes and use less cement because it’s a more shallow hole to put the cement in.
And that actually, it might hold up for a couple of years but then if you get a really strong gust of wind or a good storm or something hits it or whatever it’s going to fall over because it’s not very sturdy right. And so he explained that. And he also talked about the type of cements. He said you know most people use the, kind of the bag like quick-dry cement. And he said again that might hold it in place for a few years but it’s not going to hold up over time.
And you’re getting this fence you know in hopes that you’re going to have it for 10,15, 20 years or whatever. You know so he uses, he got the actual concrete truck. And actually my son loved it because he was able to stand outside and watch the concrete truck and everything. So it was a fun little time for him.
But the concrete truck came and they put it in wheelbarrows and wheeled it down and all that because there’s no direct access to the fence for a concrete truck you know cause there’s, we have a big yard around the, you know that the fence is going around. So we had to wheelbarrow the cement in.
So again he talked about the amount and the type of cement and why it cost him more money. And that’s why his proposal was higher than everybody else because they don’t do as high quality of a job.
He also talked about his warranty and he has a lifetime warranty and he said I’m basically, we’re the only ones in the area that yes it costs a little more but that’s because our material costs and our labor costs are so much more because you know we have guys that have been with us for 5, 10 years. So they’ve done this. It’s not like, our employees aren’t the kind of people who are with us for 6 months and then find something better or whatever.
And he said you can actually look at pictures that we’ve put up 15 years ago and they’re exactly as sturdy as they are, now as they were back then. So he actually had a lifetime warranty and he said basically any problem you have for the lifetime of this fence, just call me and I’m going to come and fix it.
And I was joking with him when he was here to check the fence after it was all done. You know because he wasn’t the one that actually put in the fence. It was the workers and he was the business owner. So he just came to do like a final check on it. And I said so do you really think that, you know is your lifetime warranty really real? If I call you when you’re 80-years-old are you going to come? And he said yeah. I said yeah that’s if you can still walk and all that.
Yeah so he had a lifetime guarantee whereas the other guy only had a 2-year guarantee. And this is the one that really made me go towards the guy that we went with because he said we have a standard like 2-year guarantee. We come and fix anything. I guess the posts can lift or something like that in the first few years.
So anyway he said we have a 2-year guarantee and I said well hey this other guy is doing a lifetime guarantee. You know I think that’s a little bit, you know basically would you match him? Would you do a 5-year guarantee, or lifetime or whatever? And he actually said no. So he stuck with his 2-year guarantee. And he was actually a little bit, kind of a little bit, I don’t know a little bit just there was something off about the way that he said it.
It just didn’t come across, he was almost defensive about it and it really, really turned me off. So yeah you know those are the reasons that I just want to kind of relay my experience with hiring somebody. I do a lot of this stuff in my business with clients. You know I have a lot of this in place. And I actually still have a lot more because I actually built my sales funnel probably a good three years ago.
So I’m actually throughout the rest of this year I’m actually going back to my client getting sales funnel and kind of re-tweaking everything because it’s actually really old and I talk about things that I don’t even do anymore. So it is a good idea to go back and look at your sales funnel once every year, or two years, three years whatever depending on how your much your business changed and go back and change things. So that’s what I’m going to be doing the rest of this year.
So you know a couple of questions for you to think about after hearing all this. Number one: how is your current sales [00:12:25] educating the consumer? This relates to if you’re selling a service business. If you’re selling software. If you’re offline. If you’re selling information products. Whatever it is. If you’re selling a mix of all those. When you’re trying to make a sale, education-based marketing is one of the most powerful ways that you can make a sale. It’s something that I do for all of my clients.
Every single client that comes through my doors, we do education-based marketing. Because you can’t expect people to know why they should buy from you or what’s different about your business. Or how you stack up against the competitors. Or why they’re wasting money with your competitors. Or how you can get them a better value with your product and service. Or whatever the case may be if you’re not telling them.
I deal with so many people who, their copy in their websites is just all about just fact, fact, fact, fact, fact and about their product right. Not about the emotions the consumer’s facing. Not about the challenges they’re having in figuring out who to go with. So make sure that throughout your entire sales funnel you’re educating your consumer about why you’re different and providing proof that you are different. And how you differ against competitors.
And maybe even there are certain parts, you can actually put trust-building campaigns into your sales funnel, little sub funnels if you will. And actually talk about why some people actually wouldn’t be a good fit for your business. And that’s what I do. And that, when you do stuff like that number one you’re just being cool. You’re being very genuine and authentic which is always awesome. You know more people need to do that in their marketing.
And number two you build trust because if you’re saying hey listen. Let’s just say you sell a weight loss product and your target market is, let’s just say middle-aged women right. And if you say hey you know what if you’re a guy or if you’re a teenager, girl, or older woman whatever you know yeah you’re going to benefit from my product. It’s going to help you.
But there probably are better programs out there for you because my, I’ve specifically engineered this for middle-aged women that are going through the challenges of raising kids and maybe career changes and all that.
So if you craft your message in that way it’s going to build trust. And what it does is it actually pushes away the people who aren’t going to buy anyway and it brings closer the people who were thinking about buying. So you’re going to get the people who would’ve bought anyway but you’re also going to attract the people who are kind of on the fence because they’re going to think in their heads wow. If this guy’s this, or girl, if this person is this honest I can trust them and that’s why people buy is trust.
It’s so, so, so important. And I’m actually in the middle of writing an article right now about how to infuse trust throughout your sales funnel. So if you’re on my email list I’ll send a link out to that whenever it’s done, wherever it goes. I’m writing a couple different articles that are going on to some big blogs and you know magazine sites and stuff like that. So I will keep you updated on that.
The second question is: what holes are you missing? So what is it in your sales funnel, take look and I want you to really just kind of map out your current buying process. So have somebody come through your funnel and start at the very beginning and map out exactly what is the step-by-step process that people have to go through in order to buy.
And yeah there’s going to be differences. Some people don’t go through your sales funnel at all. I get people who find out about me for the first time and hire me for a funnel day. Or I get people who come to me for the first time, they’ve never heard of me before and they become a coaching client or a $10,000 or $20,000 copywriting client for building sales funnels. But that’s not the norm right.
In fact actually one person that did that he was on none of my lists, anything. He found out about me. He read a couple of my articles online and said holy God this guy’s awesome. He’s perfect for my business. And he hired me for a double funnel day. So two days of a funnel day. And if you don’t know what a funnel day is I have information on my website. It’s basically like an in-person consultation day where we map out your funnel and I go through everything like that.
And then he hired my on retainer for what was it? For three, I think it was three months at let’s say I think it was $15,000 a month or something like that. And then he actually paused it and now he’s actually coming back. And he actually just got in touch with me a couple days ago and wants to essentially do the same thing.
So there are those anomalies that happen in your sales funnel but that doesn’t happen all that often. The average person is going to start at point A and they’re going to find out about you.
They’re going to read some of your articles or whatever you have on your website that’s going to differ for everybody listening to this. Maybe read a free report or watch a free video. And then they’re going to go through your email sequence. And they’re going to build up trust. And they’re going to look at reviews. And they’re going to research you. And they’re going to research your competitor, see if you’re different, see if you’re better. That kind of thing.
And so you want to find out, and that’s only the beginning. Once they get in touch with you there’s a whole process. There’s a lead generation sales funnel. And then there’s a lead-to-client sales funnel. And then there’s a client-to-recurring client sales funnel. So there’s a different sales funnel for each individual step of the buying process.
I was talking about the before, during and after process, buying cycle or you know the before, during and after the sale thing that I was talking about before. There’s basically a before sales funnel, a during sales funnel and after sales funnel. So you know take a look, take a minute and, or probably half a day or so and really map out your funnel. Go through each individual step and find out where are the holes in here.
So let’s just say somebody comes through and you have a really good lead generation funnel. So you’re getting tons of leads in but you notice that you’re not quite converting enough of them right. So what can you do in between the time that somebody is a lead to when you’re trying to either sell them on your product or your service. You know maybe they call in for a free consultation or whatever.
There are things you can do to pre-sell people before you talk to them on the phone. There are things you could do to sell them after you talk on the phone. You know there’s different ways of creating your proposal to increase your take rate. There’s different ways to increase the number of up sells that you sell to people after their proposal.
So take a look at all those different funnels that you have within your business. And find out what you need to fill in those holes alright.
So that was a lot. I hope you, you should actually probably listen to this twice. Especially that last part because I went through a whole bunch of stuff there. But yeah if this sounds good feel free to get in touch with me. See if I can help you with the funnel. Share it with your friends.
Go check out www.Jeremyreeves.com if you haven’t yet and you’re just hearing this for the first time. You know whatever you feel the best course of action is go ahead and do that. And hey if that course of action is just looking at your sales funnels like I was just talking about then go and do that.
You know whatever is going to help you grow your business the fastest and the most efficient definitely go and do that okay. So I hope this episode has helped you. I hope you got a lot out of it and I will talk to you soon.
