We addressed the mindset piece and the pricing piece in earlier posts, so in this article I’ll be talking about how using a call to action is super critical in growing your revenue, and what to do if you have a bit of a hard time asking for that.

OK, first things first.  You do use calls to action, right?  With every email or article or written correspondence, are you directing your readers what to do next?  On your interviews or teleclasses, is there a ‘next step’ you want folks to take?  I think sometimes we get a bit lazy or just forget that this is a critical piece of having people move into connecting more with us.

So here are a few places not having a call to action is hurting you and how it’s related to the dreaded “Oh crap….they aren’t buying” syndrome.”

1.  They don’t know how to work with you. Yikes.  This happened to me once.  A person who had the profile of my ideal client responded to something I put (for the first time!) in my newsletter.  Basically I said, “Hey I have spots for a few more 1:1 clients, so if you are struggling with these issues, contact me and we’ll set up a time to chat.” By the time she got to the call, she was already sold because she’d seen my work.  When I asked her why she decided to respond to that ad in the newsletter she said,

“Because I never knew how to work with you before.”

See, I had been sending out articles, doing expert interviews, and had launched a few programs, but that wasn’t what she’d been looking for.  No where  in anything she read was a blurb that said, “if you want to break free of whatever it is that is stopping you from your business success, click here to do that and I’ll partner with you.”  Big lesson for me there!  My call to action for you….find places you can ask folks to take the next step.  Actually first figure out what that next step is and then go for it!

2. Your call to action is worn out and tired. So maybe you do have something at the end of your blog post that says, “leave a comment” or maybe you say “go to my website and sign up for my free report.”  But what if folks are getting sick of that?  What if they have already downloaded your freebie and left a comment or two?  What then?  Or what if your freebie is outdated and doesn’t match the talk you are giving now or the branding you are currently rolling out?

Here I want you to do a bit of spring cleaning.  You don’t have to go crazy, but you do have to have more current offerings.   And when you do, you may want to ask your market what they’d like.  Example….”would you prefer to listen to a 45 minute audio, or receive the same info as a 5 day ecourse?”  My call to action for you here is to let your readers tell you what’s working by asking them.

3.  Your mindset is getting in the way of asking people to take a next step. If you are first born child,  have super-hero tendencies, or tend to be a bit of an overachiever I have a prediction about you.  My guess is that you have a bit of a hard time asking for things.  Most of us (particularly women) get into “let me help/support/nurture you” mode and HATE to ask.  Very often the sale or opportunity to work together is just laying on the table but because we get so freaky about wanting to ask for things, we miss it.

I want you to notice what goes on in your head as you think about asking people to take the next step.  Do you recoil?  Feel like you’ll be ‘pushy’ or bothering them?  Are you afraid to seem to ’salesy’ or aggressive?  My call to action for you is to notice the places of resistance.  Notice if you get a bit anxious or uncomfortable.  This is a huge point of growth and so you may want to lean into where you normally would back down.

4.  You don’t know what to use for a call to action. Simple stuff here.  If it’s not your mindset, it may be that 1) you didn’t realize you should be using CTA’s in your pieces, or 2) you haven’t taken the time to plan or strategize where things should go.  It’s simple if you think about it in relationship building or developmental terms.  Let’s break it down.  Say someone reads one of your blog posts.  They get a feel for your work and expertise.  What is the next thing you want them to do.  (Asking them to leave a comment is really fine here)

Sometimes we may ask for a specific thing like “go to Facebook and join my group” but other times it may be more intangible like “Ask yourself what’s the definition of success in your business.”  You don’t want to continually be promoting, so are there CTA’s that will help your audience answer their own questions?  Find their own solutions?  Even if you are just asking the question, you are still viewed as a trusted source and that’s precisely what you want!  My CTA (call to action) for you is to take some time to look at each piece that you put out and plan on the call to action requests as well.  Don’t take it for granted that people know how to work with you, how to find you, how to benefit from your expertise, or even how to contact you!

Now my final call to action is to go out there an be as brilliant as you can be because the world needs what you have to offer!

And if you want some support in doing that, email me at Therese@HappyinBusiness.com.

Blessings!

This is part two if the three part series of what do to when you notice the trend (and probably freak out a bit) when folks aren’t buying what they used to.  If you didn’t catch part 1, the mindset piece, you can click on the link and read that article.  Once we deal with the inner game, now we’ll look at how some tweaks in your pricing can infuse some more vibrancy (and cash flow!) into your business.

Ask you list what they struggle with. Are you selling what you want or what your customers need? Sometimes we are guilty of that because we get so excited about our offerings.  How about asking them what would serve them? Perhaps they aren’t buying because what you have been offering needs a face-lift.  If you do a survey to you audience, they will likely tell you things that you have thought of before, but hadn’t yet focused on.  Ways to ask them?  You could do informational interviews or use www.SurveyMonkey.com to get the data that would give you this information.

Come up with smaller pieces for your clients to buy. My advice – don’t lower the overall prices, but you can offer new ways to ‘consume’ your offerings. This way you don’t go from let’s say charging $250 a session to $150 a session. You go from offering a 9 month program to a 3 month program but keep your value the same. (And please don’t just be charging per session! Programs are the way to go.)

Offer payment plans. One of the commitments I made to myself was to keep my prices up where I felt really good about them. Even when the economy tanked there were some folks who wanted to work with me but couldn’t afford the fees, but I refused to lower my rates because I made the decision that I would rather lose money and take a stand for my worth and value than take less and feel compromised. (In fact I wrote an article about what happens if you undercharge – how it leads to resenting your clients.) That doesn’t translate to good service.   So if you want to make it a win-win, offer payment plans so your clients can get your services in a way that also works for their budget.

Add new/lower cost offerings to your funnel. Some of us are one trick pony’s. We offer one program, one group, and maybe a book or two. When you do survey your list, ask them what their biggest challenges are and design lower priced starter level programs around this to 1) get them in your funnel so they can begin a relationship with you, 2) help more people, and 3) get some income flowing in. When I did the Body, Mind and Business Breakthrough Telesummit I created the “30 Days to Plugging Your Money Leaks” program. This has been a wonderful way for people to start coaching with me without making a huge money commitment up front. And I feel good that this program really does solve a problem for business owners. So get outside the box with your thinking and come up with something new that addresses the challenges that your market has.

Create and offer high end programs. Guess what… folks are still spending money!  And there will be people who will want a more exclusive/high end offer.  This may not be for all your clients, but don’t take it off the table either. I’ve been doing my VIP offerings and so can attest that people are willing to fly in for the day for intensive work. A healthy service provider has a range of low to higher cost programs, so again asking your list what they’d like, roll out something.  You might find that it’s a heck of a lot easier selling one $2,000 day than selling one hundred $20 books. The trick is marketing, relationship building and finding the solution to the pain and challenges that your clients have.

There ya go….how to structure your pricing.  But now you have to get  comfortable asking!  So watch for my next blog in a couple of days where I’ll talk about why the “Call to Action” kicks our butts some times and ways to get around that.  In the meantime, if you would like help with your pricing, book one of my Bold Business Breakthrough Sessions before 8/31 while there is a $100 discount.  Trust me….I can help you design your pricing, feel good about it, and blast through and mindset blocks that would get in the way.  Just go to www.AcceleratingYourSuccess.com/vip and reserve your spot.