Archive for 'sales'
12 Steps to Creating Your First Info Product
January 18th, 2007 by John Herman, under information products, products, sales, strategy. No Comments
Business Coach Donna Gunter shares her 12 tips to creating your first information product.
The creation of your first info product is a huge first step toward implementing multiple streams of income in your business. It means that you have something to sell prospective customers to "size you up" as they consider purchasing your services. It means that you can sell something 24-7 from your website that demonstrates your expertise. It means that you’re well on your way to creating a passive revenue stream for your business.
Unfortunately, for many, this notion of creating an info product comes with a "fix it and forget it" mentality. Granted, the creation process requires a great deal more work than the maintenance phase, but at no time can you just leave it to the Internet gods that people will find your product and purchase it. You’ll be constantly tweaking your sales page and your marketing strategies, especially if you’re using pay-per click as your primary marketing method. So, while an info product is considered passive revenue because it doesn’t directly involve the selling of your time, that doesn’t mean that you can passively stand by and hope it sells.
Your process doesn’t have to be as detailed as I’ve outlined here, but if you want to do a thorough job in the creation process, I suggest that you embark on all the steps.
1. Solution to a Problem. The best-selling information products provide a direct solution to a major problem of your target market. If you’re a professional organizer, the problem might be how to clean and store and organize holiday decorations so that they can be easily found and used from year to year. If you’re a weight loss coach, the problem might be how to stay motivated when you’ve hit a weight loss plateau. Jot down some of the primary problems of your target market and the process by which you help your clients resolve these issues.
2. Determine Your Offering. Info products come in all types of formats, from ebooks to ecourses to recorded teleseminars to podcasts to special reports to CD and DVD sets. Take stock of your target market and determine what format would best fit their lifestyle. Are they virtual business owners who work from home at their computers for most of the day? Then an ebook or ecourse would probably work well for this group. Are they busy executives who travel frequently? Then you might consider a portable audio format. You can also combine formats to appeal to a variety of learning styles or lifestyles.
And, of course, cost is a major consideration. Do you want to create a physical product that has to be shipped, or would an electronic download work? There are much greater costs on your end to produce a physical product than an electronic one, and you also have to deal with product fulfillment as well if you choose to sell a physical product. I tell my clients to start with an electronic version and test it out, and if it’s successful, move to a physical product, which has greater perceived value in the eyes of consumers.
3. Pricing. Pricing of info products is all over the map. Check out your competition (yes, there will be competing products on the same topic aimed at the same target market) and see what they’re charging. You also need to take a look at your contact database and make some assessments of the value of your information to them as well as what you think they will pay. You can survey your database to determine this info, or base it on comparable offerings in the marketplace. Many times my clients get hung up on the notion of comparing pricing for their info product to what they can find in the local bookstore. Generally, pricing for info products is higher than retail bookstores because the info being sold online is specialized for a target market and is delivered immediately upon order (if it’s an electronic download.
The pricing strategy that also seems to sell better online is ending your price with a 7, like in $17, $47, etc. If you offer a high-priced product, consider offering payment via an installment plan, where you charge a bit more each month for the product than if someone were to pay for the product in full at time of purchase.
4. Technology. Do you have the technology in place to create and deliver your offering? If it’s an ebook, you’ll need either a PDF writer program or ebook compiler software. For an audio program you’ll need a microphone and audio recording and editing capabilities. For an ecourse you’ll need either autoresponder software or a direct to desktop solution. For delivery you’ll need a shopping cart that can deliver electronic products or take shipping info for physical products as well as some type of merchant account to take credit and process credit cards. You’ll also want a sequential autoresponder service to follow up with your buyers.
5. Create the Product. This is typically the most labor intensive part of the process, as you’re actively recording or writing or videotaping your information for the product. Some products are easier to create than others, especially if you’re recycling other content that you have into a new product. If you’re starting from scratch, however, give yourself a full 3-6 weeks of steady work time for product creation. After creating the product you may want to have it proofread and/or edited in some fashion by a proofreader or an audio/video expert.
6. Graphics. A picture tells a thousand words, and more importantly, info products sell better when the visitor has a graphic representation of this intangible info product item. If graphic design isn’t your specialty, find someone to design an ebook cover or podcast album art for you. You may want to have the designer also create a website header banner for the product that you can use on your sales page. You can generally have both of these done for around $200. The more professional your image, the better perceived value your product has.
7. Domain, Hosting, and Website. I believe that each info product should have its own domain name and sales page to be most effective. Domain names are pretty inexpensive, so you could actually buy several for each product — one that reflects the product name, for example, and one that reflects the result someone will receive after using your product. You can use the various domain names and websites for a variety of testing purposes as you go to sell your product. If your plan to create multiple info products, you’ll probably want to obtain a website hosting account that will enable you to host multiple domains from the same account. Another option is to forward your product’s domain name to a "hidden" page of your primary site.
8. Copywriting. There is a specific formula to copywriting for one-pages sales letter websites. The best way to get ideas for your sales letter is to create a Marketing Swipe file of other sales copy that you like. From your swipe file take a look at the headlines, the introduction, the subheadlines, the listing of benefits, the product description, the outline of the features, the call to action (request to buy), the closing, and the postscripts. You’ll begin to see a pattern emerge when you look at 4-5 sample sales pages.
9. Shopping Cart. Once your product is complete, you need to upload the product into your shopping cart and set up the cart for purchases. This may mean that you also need to set up shipping and handling charges for physical products and integrate your shopping with your shipper of choice. If your state requires the collection of state sales taxes, you’ll need to integrate that as well.
10. Follow-up Autoresponders. Creating a series of autoresponders to follow-up with a customer after purchase enables you to stay in front of the customer and reminder her about your other product/service offerings. Design a series of 3-5 autoresponders that will be sent out after a purchase to check in with your customer and tell her the next step she needs to take after her purchase. This might mean referring her to another info product, asking her to join some type of subscription service, or experiencing your service with a free trial.
11. Capturing Contact Info. Sadly, not everyone who visits your website will buy what you’re selling. However, you can still capture their contact info by creating a free giveaway for those who may not be ready to buy. This might be a special report or free ecourse, and you follow the same steps outlined previously for creating this giveaway. You’ll also need to create 3-5 followup autoresponders here as well that will ultimately offer them your product once again.
12. Publish and Promote. Now, you’re ready to sell. Publish your website and begin to promote your offering to your own database. You can create a buzz about your product by writing a press release, offering a free teleclass, buying ads on other websites or in other newsletters, publishing articles, creating podcasts, purchasing pay-per-click advertising, requesting colleagues to send out notices to their contact lists, and creating an affiliate program in which others can sell your product for a commission.
Creating your first info product can be a time-consuming process. However, once it’s created, you stand to earn income from it for years to come. Start to expand your business offerings today with information products.
Online Business Resource Queen (TM) and Business Coach Donna Gunter helps self-employed service professionals learn how to automate their businesses, leverage their expertise on the Internet, and get more clients online. To sign up for more FREE tips like these and claim your FREE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit, visit her site at http://www.GetMoreClientsOnline.com. Read about running an online biz at our blog, http://www.getmoreclientsonlineblog.com
Small Business Lessons from the Crossing Guard
July 21st, 2006 by John Herman, under marketing, operations, sales, small business. No Comments
While out running errands the other day, I found myself stopped at a crosswalk. The crossing guard was leading young schoolchildren across the quiet street in a very organized fashion. I thought to myself, “What will the children do when they have to cross a busy street by themselves?” Hopefully they will learn by following the crossing guard’s system. I often work with small businesses that need help crossing busy streets. They had no trouble in the beginning, when traffic was light. But now that their business has grown, the traffic is much heavier and the street much busier. Many could use a crossing guard to help them safely cross. However, most business owners don’t have a crossing guard and they have to cross on their own. Don’t worry, if you remember the lessons of the crossing guard: Stop, Look, Listen, Think, and Walk….Don’t Run; you’ll be able to safely cross the street no matter how heavy the traffic.
Stop
You wouldn’t just run across the street would you? No, you’d stop first! Stop and take some time to evaluate your business. Where is it going? Up until now, you’ve run your business all by yourself. Now you need to add more staff, develop a plan and a budget. There seems to be thousands of options. Stop and take some time to think about it – don’t make snap decisions!
Look
Would you cross the street without looking? No, you’d look both ways! Take stock of your business. Look at what you’ve done in the past and what you’re doing now. Look at what works and what doesn’t? Look at what your competitors are doing and what seems to be working for them? Look at ways to incorporate some of those ideas into your business.
Listen
Would you cross the street if you heard a siren? No, you’d listen to see what was happening! Talk to your clients and listen to what they say. Talk to your staff (if you have any) and listen to their ideas. Talk to your vendors and listen to their perspective. You can learn a great deal from people who experience your service or product on different levels.
Think
Once you’ve stopped, looked both ways, and listened, then it’s time to think about when and how to cross the street. The same is true for your business. Take some time to think about it. Develop some plans and then evaluate which plan will work best. Determine what would be involved, when it will happen and what you need to make it happen. Intuition can be your best guide. Often, if it looks too good to be true, it is. Make sure the plan is a realistic one you can follow.
Walk…Don’t Run
Would you run across the street if there wasn’t enough time to walk? No, you’d stop and make sure you had enough time to cross the street safely! The same is true as you implement your plan – make sure you don’t rush it. Remember plans change. Make sure you don’t lock yourself into anything and always reevaluate as you go along. Rushing into something can be costly and you may back yourself into a corner. You might really get hurt.
It may seem overwhelming, but you can do it. When you were a kid, it was overwhelming to cross a busy street for the first time, but you did it. As a business owner it can be overwhelming as your business grows, but if you follow these “lessons from the crossing guard”, you’ll be taking steps to ensure your business succeeds, safely. We call those Succeeding Steps!
Selling to Big Companies
July 8th, 2006 by John Herman, under products, sales, small business. No Comments
Jill Conrath of Selling to Big Companies Blog shares her 7 Key Strategies for Selling to Big Companies
7 Key Sales Strategies to Get Into Big Companies
Selling to large corporations today is tough, tough, tough. Prospects don’t answer phones, all calls are routed to voice mail and no one ever calls back. When sellers do manage to set up an appointment, customers want them to get to the point and get out. It’s hard for them to differentiate their products/services or develop strong relationships. Most sellers are pretty frustrated right now, but don’t have a clue what to do differently.
Hard Truths For Sales Successes
April 3rd, 2006 by John Herman, under sales. No Comments
By Tom Richard
Is it possible to be successful in sales without overworking yourself and barely having time to see your own family? Of course; if you know what’s important. Understanding and using these 11 hard truths will give you the direction and focus you need to determine your success. (more…)
Customers Know Why They Buy - Do You?
April 3rd, 2006 by John Herman, under sales. No Comments
By Tom Richard
Still looking for a way to improve your sales performance? The problem is that you’ve been going to the wrong places, talking to the wrong people and reading the wrong books. To get the right answer, you must know where to find it! (more…)