Are you struggling to get leads or close deals with a product or service with a minimum price point at $10,000? Be it an attorney, surgeon or manufacturer, if your business development or sales representative is struggling to gain traction, there are some tips here you might want to review.
So you have a high value offer, and one would say you are expensive…but on what basis?
Example 1:
If you are a litigation attorney and your competitor—another litigation attorney—is charging the same fees, and there is a potential client with a dispute that needs your services, would price point matter if your perceived value is higher? We are talking about a potential client with the right disposable income to afford your services, what can you do to ensure you secure the case?
Example 2:
Another potential scenario: You manufacture specialty equipment, and your competitor is selling a comparable product at similar price points, lets say it is $60,000. Your buyer is a unique, educated engineer who is looking at the overall value, features, and benefits in making a choice on which one to go with. How would you position your perceived value to win the purchase order?
In both examples, there are opportunities to actually increase perceived value, sell at a higher price, and close the deal, if you do the right things!
The core questions you must ask yourself as head of sales, marketing, or a CEO should be:
Here is what you don’t want to avoid—smart marketing and sales techniques. The truth is selling based on value is much harder than driving price wars to win. If you are frustrated that your sales teams can’t close deals, you might have to triage the issue a little differently. If your sales and marketing teams are constantly requesting what discounts to promote or what you can give away for free, they aren’t focused on value-based marketing or selling and it can be a lose-lose situation all around, where the focus is racing the goal of retaining a high value as a race to the bottom in both price and margin.
Your frustrations may be caused by the seismic changes in digital marketing and overall go-to-market strategies. The team at SEO2Sales™ has researched, trialed, and worked out some key techniques to get you back on track. We discuss some of it here for your review.
Be it social media campaigns, advertising, videos, or something as technical as meta titles and descriptions, FAQ, and rich snippets, everything needs to be written with the user in mind. If content is not getting instant engagement, you’ve got a serious problem, because we live in a time where content must be crafted to seize engagement in under three seconds.
The urgency and impatience that we see from users today come from the abundance of content that is available on all networks, from social media to search engines. If you are on the internet, it’s great to see so much content, but where does your content stack in the sea of crap and good content? On October 31st, 2024 the release of ChatGPT Search which favors the user, brings to the world a new and exciting search paradigm and it doubles down on unique content.
The trick here is how do you get engagement in under three seconds without devaluing your brand? You may be saying to yourself, we have something unique, we have something of high value, surely dancing on TikTok is not going to do the trick? The real question is, is the dance going to level up with your brand, value, and price points or erode it altogether? If you are going to dance and devalue your brand, the answer is of course not! No one should conclude that dancing on TikTok is the answer to sales prayers! You should focus on interesting, engaging succinct short form videos for TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook that showcase the value you bring, what problems or challenges you solve with your high-value product or service, and what makes it worth your prospect’s investment. Keep in mind that Google has just released short video shortcuts on Google search that reveal short videos from Instagram and TikTok – so this is a must.
Remember this blog is dedicated to business owners and executives who are selling or marketing a product or service valued at a minimum of $10,000 or more per transaction. This includes law firms, high-end manufacturing and technology, cybersecurity and IT services, medical devices, and much more.
Most marketing folks have been taught that it takes 8 touches to get a reaction from a potential buyer, be it a request for information or a consultation. For higher ticket items, the truth is that the dynamics have changed so much it takes a minimum of 23 touches via mainly digital marketing to get a reaction for high-value solutions. This excludes door-knocking!
Yes, studies are showing that if you’re selling an expensive product or service (over $10,000), people will need to interact roughly 23 times before they make a purchase. And this does not mean clicks to your website! Here are critical recommendations for making sure you get the engagement, the conversion to a request for more information, or perhaps even an outright purchase online:
Traditional branding methodology will make it hard for you to get that engagement because the days when things need to be complex, super-smart, and clichéd are gone. Here are some steps:
**One huge disadvantage these days is conservative branding consultants who don’t really understand technology and how the AI bots are analyzing brands against keywords. They are carving out a huge market loss for their clients!
Mandatory in all of this is your look and feel—the digital marketing process does not negate the need to have your artwork and your color palette spot on. Your look and feel have to be precise, but also appealing to all generations.
If you are using AI as a tool to write your meta titles and descriptions, your rich snippets and FAQs, make sure the result is a unique piece of content that you adapt once you’ve gotten the idea from AI. Generic content will not grab attention! Similarly, if you have a team that is offshore and not in the United States creating content, make sure that they truly understand how users think and buy in the USA.
Building trust online is no joke. The more we get into this era of search everywhere optimization, the more it becomes essential to persuade people to trust your brand. One of the most powerful tools for doing this is endorsements and reviews that back up your claims and provide illustrations of every problem that you solve. However, gimmicks around buying reviews are the worst thing you can actually do for a high-value item or service—it cast doubt on your authenticity and sow distrust among potential buyers. Make sure that you get authentic reviews online that are genuine, with heartfelt expressions of gratitude. Better still is if you can get more in-depth case studies out on video or in writing. These examples help the user understand in detail how you are helping solve a problem similar to the one that they have.
In order to get these case studies read, though, you need to grab the audience’s attention in under three seconds. Your hook, the initial click-through, must come from focusing on the problem and solution but simplified and not overthought. Remember, this is about how you can fix the issue they’re trying to solve, not bragging about your features or services!
Another important game-changing consideration for your content has to be understanding your target audience. Different generations think and buy differently, and the way they engage with content (and on which platforms) also varies. The oldest Gen Z is currently 27. The oldest millennial is 43 years old. The oldest Gen X-er is 59 years old, and the youngest baby boomer is 60 years old. Do you know who your buyers are? Understanding that fundamental question will tell you who is going to engage with your content and where, so you can shape your marketing strategies accordingly.
If you are suddenly overwhelmed with everything you realize you don’t know about your audience and how that should guide changes to your content, don’t worry. Iffel International is running workshops to help marketing and sales teams really come to terms with how to create effective SEO in tandem with your customer service representatives (CSRs) and customer-facing employees like your receptionist. In fact, these staff members may be the ones getting all the answers you need at the front line. We can turn that information and insight into golden nuggets when it comes to content that engages the right audience in under three seconds. For more information on how to level up your sophistication in content writing and engagement to drive sales on high-value offerings, contact us here today.
Check List: Where Engagement Happens | Some Recommendations |
Websites | Make sure your website isn’t YOU centric, make it USER centric. Ensure you have a website that has the right schema mark ups, and prepare rich snippets that are USER centric. |
Social Media Platforms | Gear your content for each generation and specifically who your target audience is. |
Blogs | Make sure your website isn’t YOU centric, make it USER centric. Ensure you have a website that has the right schema markups, and prepare rich snippets that are USER centric. |
Email Marketing | This is an important touch point but don’t create noise and annoy your audience. Give them value in your communication. |
Digital Advertising | Make sure your ads, are succinct and engage in under 3 seconds. |
Video Marketing | This is mandatory, short and long form videos are a must. |
Podcast | This is a hidden gem when it comes to communicating your value and offer in interviews with thought leaders. |
Press Releases | If you do invest in this, it will give you the opportunity to guest on news channels, sector-based interviews and can lift the value of your brand. |
Webinars | This is a great way to bring together people to learn what problems you solve without it being a hard sell. Educational marketing has power in itself and will be a great way to gain you that trust currency |
Reviews and Testimonials | If you do invest in this, it will give you the opportunity to guest on news channels, and sector-based interviews and can lift the value of your brand. |