Persuasive Communication and Building a Profitable Business

When you have attracted people?s attention to your message about your expertise, you need to use persuasive communication to convert that interest into some form of ongoing relationship.

Just as in personal relationships, you need to give someone time to get to know you and find out what you can do.

In business, you need to take time to build trust and confidence with persuasive communication?before you ask for the sale.

There are several stages to building effective relationships with prospects and customers:

• Know: You start off as a stranger so the first step is helping them get to know you and your business. You have to tell them about yourself and what you can do for them.
• Trust: So that they come to trust you, you need to share information that gives them good value. Generally it?s best not to rush into trying to sell.
• Try: Make it easy for them to sample your expertise and advice either free or at very low cost. If they like what they see, they?ll want more.
• Buy: Give them the chance to invest money with you without a major commitment.
• Repeat: Encourage them to stay with you longer and buy more.

Getting through all of these stages depends on ?the ABC of persuasive communication?.

The 5 Keys to Persuasive Communication

There are five keys to developing a persuasive communication strategy that takes people through these steps.

• Act quickly
• Build relationships
• Communicate convincingly
• Deliver on the promise
• Extend the relationship

Act Quickly

Many people make the mistake of collecting email addresses and thinking the free report they offer is enough to create a relationship.

In your personal life, if someone asks for your contact details, and then never calls, you may be initially disappointed but you will probably forget them quickly.

Similarly, to establish a business relationship, you need to follow up the contact right away and with enthusiasm. You only have a short time to show this person you can make a difference in their life.

Build Relationships

There are many different elements in building the relationship ? depending on the type of product or service you offer ? but email is a particularly effective communication tool.

• Planned: You need to put in place a series of pre-planned messages to go out to new email subscribers to let them get to know you. The first 30 days is especially vital.
• Practical: You should be giving people information they can use and that they find valuable. Your aim is first to build trust before you try to take the relationship further.

  Building Relationships

• Persistent: You need an ongoing program of messages and the contact needs to be regular. You shouldn?t mail three times one week and then nothing for a month. A regular ezine or newsletter can be very effective for doing this.
• Personal: The same message won?t work for everyone so you should segment your list based on what you know about people and tailor your message accordingly. You also need to share a bit of yourself to help people get to know you.
• Purposeful: Each email should have a specific aim ? it might be to build trust, to share information or ? later in the process ? to ask for the sale. In the long run, your aim is usually to make money, so don?t be afraid to sell ? when the time is right and with an effective message.

Communicate Convincingly

There are several elements that are crucial to getting your message across in any media ? whether it?s a short email or a long sales letter or video.

Here are 9 key elements of convincing communication:

1. Headline: The purpose of your headline (or subject line in email) is to grab the reader?s attention and get them interested.
2. Opening: Having attracted their interest, you need to quickly encourage them to keep reading ? the opening sentence or two are therefore crucial.
3. Problem: Your message must identify immediately with a need (or desire) they have ? usually a problem they desperately want to solve.
4. Solution: Having reminded them of the need, you then need to demonstrate that you have a solution. You should explain how what you offer can meet their needs.
5. Testimonials: People want to know that others have faced the same problem and been satisfied with your solution. Testimonials and case studies can do this effectively.
6. Price / value: You need to tell them how much it costs but you must make your case for value by showing that the cost is tiny compared to the benefits they will get.

   Persuasive Communication

7. Guarantee / risk reversal: Make it easy for them to decide to buy by offering some sort of guarantee that takes away or reduces the risk of buying.
8. Call to action: Make very clear what you want them to do and don?t hesitate to ask for the sale.
9. P.S.: One of the most read parts of your communication is the P.S. at the end so it?s a useful way to emphasize key messages.

Deliver on the Promise

The long-term success of the relationship will depend on how successful you are at giving people what they want.

• Immediate delivery: Make it as easy as possible for people to order and receive their purchase. The delivery method obviously depends on what you sell. Online purchases can be delivered instantly, physical goods should be shipped quickly and communication about services should begin right away.
• Follow-up service: The quality of relationship will often hinge on how well you respond to questions and problems. Even complaints turn into valued relationships when handled well.
• Exceed expectations: You don?t build relationships by giving people what they expect. That won?t make them stay. You need to give them an experience that goes beyond what they expect so that they have no temptation to go anywhere else.

Extend the Relationship

As I mentioned earlier, the most important sale is not the first, it?s the second. That is what turns one-off customers into long-term relationships. Here are some of the keys to achieving that:

• Upsell: Look for opportunities to sell people something in addition to what they have already bought. That may be at the same time as the sale or soon afterwards.
• Continuity: Find ways to turn a sale into a long-term commitment through some kind of regular fee arrangement.
• Retention: Work on ways to keep people with you ? especially if you have a product or service that people don?t need to buy very often. Look for ways to reward your best customers ? even a ?thank you? or small gift can pay huge dividends.
• Referrals: While referrals are a very effective way of getting new customers, they are also great for holding on to your existing ones. People are less likely to move on if they have recommended you to someone else.
• Reactivation: Past customers can become future customers if you stay in touch and give them an incentive to return.

Getting the Balance Right

All stages in the communication process are important for building long-term profitable relationships. However the emphasis can depend on what stage you are at with your business.

If you don?t have many customers, for example, you will need to work harder in the early stages to get more people on board.

Many businesses make the mistake of putting all their efforts into attracting new prospects.

Even with a small number of customers, it?s often best to focus on existing customers and contacts first.

As a general guide, you should usually allocate your time as follows:

• 60% on existing customers, building depth into the relationships you already have with them ? and most of that with your best customers
• 30% on prospects, seeking to convert them into customers
• 10% on everybody else, aiming to turn them into prospects

Making a Start

There are three key elements you need in place to make all this work:

• Autoresponder
• Sales Page
• Payment and Delivery Mechanism

Autoresponder

As mentioned in the section on creating an Online Platform, an autoresponder allows you to mail people at any time and also to set up a series of pre-written messages at pre-set intervals after they sign up.

You need to choose a reliable provider for this that has a proven record of reliability, a good range of services and is easy to use. Check out popular services such as Aweber.

Sales Page

You need to create a persuasive sales letter that explains to people why they should buy what you are offering.

• For a free or low cost report, the sales letter could be just a couple of pages.
• For a more complex or expensive offer, the letter will usually need to be much longer ? perhaps as much as 20 pages.
• Video sales letters are also effective in some markets.

You can write the letter yourself ? and this is probably easier than you think if you follow a good, proven system.?Or you can hire a freelance copywriter, which could cost you anything from a couple of hundred bucks to several thousand, depending on their reputation and what you are looking for.

Payment and Delivery Mechanism

There are many options for collecting payments and delivering purchases. Your choice will depend on how much business you expect to do and how much of the process you want to do yourself.

If you are delivering everything online, you only need to hook up a PayPal button and create a download page. This will take you a couple of hours and you will be collecting payments immediately.

A popular method of collecting payments and delivering solutions online is a processor such as Clickbank which handles virtually all the payment processing work for you, including paying any affiliates.

Alternatively, you can set up your own merchant account and use a more sophisticated shopping cart.?If your solution has to be delivered offline ? either by post or in person ? you will need to set up separate fulfillment arrangements.

It?s often best to keep it simple to get started and use PayPal or Clickbank. You can move to other solutions if your needs change.

This is part of a series on?7 Steps to Creating Wealth from Your Expertise. For more information, download my free report The Wealthy Expert Blueprint above.

Source: http://www.mindpowermarketing.com/persuasive-communication-and-the-abc-of-success/

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