Gaining the courage to spend money is one of the biggest challenges some of us will ever face. “Should I choose this product or service?” “Maybe I’ll find a cheaper price.” These are some of the questions that flood our minds as we decide whether or not we will purchase a product or service. However, most times it all boils down to one thing:
“Does this make sense?” or “Will this be worth it?”
If the answer is yes, we customarily grab the opportunity and make the purchase.
What are some purchases that frequently make sense to us? Here are some:
The “Up to 70% Off” sale at our favorite clothing store.
The last pair of heels we’ve been eyeing for the past two weeks.
The top fifty items in our Black Friday sale cart.
The scrumptious meal we’ve been craving all day from our favorite restaurant.
The toy our youngest child threw a tantrum for in the toy store.
These are just some things that make clients purchase when shopping. But what if I told you that there is another way to get clients to say the magic words, “This makes sense!” Giving clients a return on investment ensures these magic words are said right before they make the purchase. A light bulb is sure to go off in the mind of your potential client if you can get them to see how your product or service will give them a return on investment. Done for You Packages often give a high return on investment for the client, especially if you can deliver on your promise.
I once had a client named . . . Let’s just call her Mary for confidentiality purposes. Mary was the president at a major insurance organization and had invested in a ghostwriting package. She now wanted to purchase the up-sell of turning her book on customer service into a course. The cost to create the course was $10K. Mary was 49% sold on the idea and was worried that it would take a good while before she made back the money spent on the course. During our strategy session, I assured Mary that a course was the perfect idea because she would be able to give students full access at workshops, thus making workshops easier to host as well as have corporations and organizations pay a licensing fee for her content. At the end of the strategy session, Mary was confident she would make her money back in no time. If Mary created a course, she would no longer need to be present at every single workshop. She could now give students a password after they made a payment, thus giving them full access to the same information. This would free up more time for Mary and create a self-paced environment for her students.
Remember, time is currency. With the free time she earned, Mary could be working on her next venture or hosting a live seminar with an organization. Mary would also reach out to ten human resource and training departments of ten corporations in the industries of retail, banking, and even her own organization to see if they would be interested in licensing her content as a part of their employee training department. The licensing fee would be $40K per year and promised an excellent turnover in sales for the organizations. Because Mary was the organization's president, she possessed a lot of muscle and landed six out of ten of her proposals. That would be$240K per year additional income for Mary. Mary was ecstatic. We agreed that she should reach out to ten organizations per month to keep momentum and sales going. Once Mary experienced her light bulb moment, she was on board with purchasing the service. Upon delivery, she was willing to put in the work to gain a return on investment. It was worth it for Mary. She was given great value and gained high returns.
Mary was given a return on her investment. Mary also gave her clients a return on their investment by increasing their sales. The return-on-investment strategy is a cycle within itself for you, your client, and their client. Everyone should profit when this strategy is implemented. It should bring about a win-win-win situation. When this strategy is applied, everyone should win. In the earlier example, I won, Mary won, and her client won. Win, win, and win.
Who applies this strategy? You. You must foresee beyond the sale of that client. In a nutshell, you must sell that client a dream. Master this skill. Dreams are okay. They are visions. Visions paired with goals and an action plan give birth to reality. Sell them a dream that can be aligned with an action plan. Assure your client that it is possible and that you back them 100% because you believe in them. Be succinct, and communicate well. Sharpen your communication skills if you have to, because great communication will most definitely lead to great success in this regard. When you guarantee your client is going to have a return on investment, he or she will be more likely to invest in your product or service. Show them how they can profit from it, and then help them see how their clients will profit. This initiates the light bulb moment experience and they become more likely to make the investment. I hope this helps!