FBO: Ask Your Viewers to Take Action

Saturday, October 4th 2008 by Shanel Yang

[For “FBO: Keep Your Promises—No Excuses, No Exceptions,” click here.]

This part of the “FBO” or “For Bloggers Only” series is actually NOT JUST for bloggers, but FOR ALL entrepreneurs, employees, and nonprofit organizations seeking to raise funds to support their goals.

If you want millions of viewers, readers, customers, clients, members, etc., then you’ll want to follow along as we go through, one by one, the rainmaking secrets provided by Jeffrey J. Fox in his book How to Become a Rainmaker: The Rules for Getting and Keeping Customers and Clients.

ASK YOUR VIEWERS TO TAKE ACTION

A. FOX’S TIP NO. 8 FOR ALL RAINMAKERS

Fox’s Tip No. 8 for how to become a great salesperson, or rainmaker may sound like it can’t really be adapted to bloggers like his other tips. (But, you will see below!)

He writes: “When you have the customer on the phone, suggest a meeting, and then ask, ‘Do you have your appointment calendar handy?’” As he explains:

One of the four events that are inherent in every sale is the scheduling an appointment with the decision maker. You can’t get the sale unless you talk to the decision maker. Getting appointments with busy decision makers is often difficult. Phone sellers often make preliminary calls to set up a phone conference, the appointment. Field salespeople know there is no substitute for the face-to-face meeting.

Do the homework. Dollarize the reason why the customer should do business with you. Send a four- or five-sentence letter to the customer detailing the dollarized benefit of the product and promising a follow-up phone call. The objective of the letter is to get the customer to take the follow-up phone call. Good customers don’t ignore a compelling dollarization. They will take your call.

When you have the customer on the phone, suggest a meeting, and then ask, “Do you have your appointment book handy?”

This is a killer sales question because it leads to that precious appointment over 90 percent of the time.

Then ask, “Is Tuesday at three OK?” “No.” “How about Thursday at eight-thirty A.M.?” “No.” “How about next Friday at three?” “Fine.” “OK, great, the meeting will take about twenty minutes. See you at three. Thanks.”

Rainmakers make appointments to make rain.

B. APPLYING FOX’S TIP NO. 8 TO BLOGGERS

If you want to become an A-list blogger, apply Fox’s Tip No. 8 above to your blogging business by asking your viewers to take action. What kind of action?

Whatever it is you are “selling” on your blog, whether it’s “free” advice in the form of blog posts, ebooks, or newsletters, or “for-sale” products or services, such as books or consulting, you want your viewers to take immediate action.

If your advice is free, ask your viewers to try applying your advice to their lives immediately. Why? Because if it’s good advice, then you will help improve their lives. And, if you help improve their lives, they will come back to you for more. And, just as importantly, they will tell all their friends. Ergo, your traffic will grow.

If you offer products for sale or services for a fee, ask your viewers to purchase those products or to book those services. Make it easy for them. Give them incentives. Think about what you would have to see or hear to be convinced to buy it if you were them. Then show them or tell them that. Experiment a lot!

Don’t assume your viewers will do these things without you asking. Most won’t.

It almost goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway. Ask your viewers to subscribe to your blog via an RSS reader or via email. Ask them to comment on your posts and to contact you, if you want that. And, you should want that because how else would you know what your viewers are thinking? You have to know what they think, want, and feel, so you can better serve them. They’re your best friends!

CONCLUSION

Some of you are going to follow this advice. Those who do are going to see results. And, if you follow all of this advice, you can’t possibly fail. It’s just a matter of time before you become a runaway success. But, not all of us can follow all of this advice. I struggle with it myself, too, of course. But, I keep trying just the same. I’m highly motivated because I want to become a runaway success. Don’t you? : )

If you would like your own copy of Rainmaker someday, here’s what it looks like.

[For “FBO: Always Put Your Best Stuff in Your Store Windows,” click here.]

[For entire “FBO” or “For Bloggers Only” series, click here.]

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