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Want
To Sell A Service On The Web?... Want
Hundreds Of Leads Lined Up At Your Door?...
Use These Simple Strategies To Easily
Turn Challenges To Your Advantage And Outsell Your Competitors!
I’ve
noticed that, lately, I’ve been receiving
a lot of questions from those of you
selling a service (or thinking about
selling a service) over the Web, asking
what you need to do differently than
those people marketing a physical product.
It’s
a good question. Because while almost
ALL of the selling and traffic generation
techniques I teach work equally well
for both product and service-based business
models, there are a few unique challenges
faced by those selling services that
warrant special discussion…
Challenge #1:
You ARE the product!
When
you sell a service, you ARE the product,
whether you’re a Real Estate Agent…
Doctor… Lawyer… Bed & Breakfast
Owner… Auto-mechanic… Caterer… Hair
Stylist… Fitness Trainer… Accountant…
Investment Advisor… Childcare Provider…
Housekeeper… Dog Walker… Landscaper…
or whatever!
You’re
selling your time with the promise of
a particular result as opposed to a
tangible product.
Challenge #2:
Your time is limited!
Unlike
someone selling a physical product that
can be stored and shipped on demand,
you can only provide as many services
as your time allows. And assuming you
pause to sleep and eat like the rest
of us, this means you are limited to
an 8-hour day. (Okay, 12 to 16 hour
days if you love your work as much as
I do!)
Challenge #3:
You must prove your ability
to deliver measurable results,
while emphasizing flexibility.
People
will want to see proof that you’ve delivered
great results for other clients, but
they will also want to know that you
are flexible enough to meet their own
unique needs.
So
you must walk a fine line, making sure
that you keep confidential client information
confidential, while (a) proving that
you’ve satisfied the needs of other
clients like them with great results
AND (b) demonstrating your ability to
customize your service to meet their
personal, unique needs.
Challenge #4:
You’re using a "global"
medium to attract "local" business.
Frequently,
service-based businesses rely on local
clients. Sure, the owner of a bed &
breakfast in Seattle, Washington may
be thrilled to be attracting clients
from Australia’s Gold Coast… But is
the landscaper in Seattle going to be
equally receptive to securing a weekly
hedge trimming and lawn-mowing client
from Australia? Probably not. So service-based
sites that rely on local customers need
to actively pursue sources of local
traffic.
Traffic
Techniques, Web Design Tips, & Sales
Copy
Strategies For Selling A Service On
The Web...
Strategy #1:
Establish Your Credibility!
When
you sell a service, you are typically
selling a relationship with yourself.
And this requires that you spend more
time and effort establishing your credibility
and developing a rapport with your visitors
than is typically required on a site
selling a physical product.
For
example, a site that sells a product
like gift baskets might include some
brief "About Us" information that gives
details about who the web site owners
are, why they started their business,
and how long they’ve been online. However,
the majority of the web site would focus
on establishing the value of the
actual product – the gift baskets
– and providing detailed information
about guarantees, delivery procedures,
etc…
Including
reams of misplaced information about
the web site owners could actually hurt
sales more than help because, in this
case, visitors’ chief focus should be
directed to the value of the product.
When
you’re selling a service, however, you
ARE the product. So establishing your
credibility – essentially establishing
your value – is critical to closing
the sale. You need to not only establish
the benefits of the service you’re offering,
you need to establish the value
of YOU providing this service.
There
are a few different ways you can accomplish
this…
A.
Include a good, professional picture of yourself.
And
no, the picture of you in your Hawaiian-print
shorts and "Kiss the Chef" hat from
last year’s summer barbecue won’t do.
Giving your visitors a professional
image to associate you with will go
a long way to establishing your credibility.
B.
Provide a list of your credentials.
However,
don’t just give point after point of
accomplishments; be sure to state exactly
how each of your credentials is going
to translate into a benefit for your
clients. Don’t make the critical
mistake of assuming that visitors to
your site can make this leap on their
own. Clearly spell out the benefits
you offer in your sales copy.
For
example, if you are a real estate agent
with certification in housing inspection,
then you shouldn't just tell your visitors "I’m a certified housing inspector." You should tell them:
"Not
only can I find the best home in the
best location for you and your family,
as a certified housing inspector,
I can give you an accurate assessment
of the home’s structural soundness
and let you know about any potential
problems to make sure you avoid getting
stuck with costly repairs in the years
to come!"
Doesn’t
that sound better than, "I’m a certified
housing inspector"? Make the benefit
obvious!
C.
Provide evidence that other clients have been satisfied
with your services.
Depending
on the nature of the service you provide,
you may choose to do this in a few different
ways. Testimonials from clients are
a great way to establish your credibility.
An online portfolio of your work might
be another option (e.g. landscapers
might include pictures of well-manicured
properties they designed and maintain).
However,
if the confidentiality of your clients
is important, then you may need to approach
this a bit differently by including
more general descriptions of problems
you’ve encountered and steps you've
taken to solve them, with no names or
clues that could give away identities.
If
privacy is important to your clients,
then visitors to your site should be
able to understand why you can’t reveal
names and exact details. But again,
don’t assume they'll know! Explain!
Strategy #2:
Be Specific About What Exactly You’re Offering!
We’ve
already talked a bit about this, but
this is such a common mistake I see web site owners making – whether
they sell a service OR a product – that
I think it warrants further explanation.
You
can never assume that providing information
about what you’ve done for other clients
will enable visitors to your site to
make that leap and picture what you’ll
be able to do for their businesses.
You need to be very, very specific about
what, exactly, you’re offering:
Look
at other similar service providers…
Do you offer the same services?
More? Less? What makes you different
from your competitors?
Do
you specialize in anything?
What
kind of guarantee do you offer?
How
will your services be delivered?
Too
often, web site owners fail to provide
their visitors with enough information.
Sales copy with a detailed breakdown
of the services you provide, with the
benefits you offer clearly explained,
will be one of the most critical aspects
of your site.
Strategy #3:
Demonstrate Flexibility!
As
I mentioned earlier, people will not
only want to see proof that you’ve delivered
great results for other clients, they
will want to know that you are prepared
to customize your service to meet their
own unique needs.
So
here, again, thorough sales copy that
clearly explains how you’re willing
to customize your services will
be very important. Do your clients typically
fall into a few different categories?
Can you talk about each group, and explain
how you adapt and change to meet their
individual needs?
For
example, in a recent site review we
did in the "Secrets
To Their Success" Private Web Site,
we recommended that the web site owner
of a martial arts school break his sales
copy down from his existing summary
description of his classes into more
detailed copy that explains the key
differences between his child, teen,
and adult classes.
We
showed him how, by focusing on these
client groups separately, he could more
closely target their unique needs (and
therefore attract more customers!) by
emphasizing the benefits that apply
directly to each.
Strategy #4:
Make It Easy For Leads To Contact You!
Here’s
another obvious one. But I bring it
up because I’m continually shocked by
how difficult some sites make it for
visitors to contact them. If you’re
selling a service over the Web, then
you are generating leads – your goal
is to compel visitors to contact you.
But
just as someone selling a product over
the Web needs to make a seamless transition
between their sales copy and their order
form, you need to make a seamless transition
between your sales copy and the point
of contact.
Make
it easy for your visitors to contact
you!
Provide
an online form… your e-mail address…
your phone number… your fax number…
your physical mailing address… and any
other relevant information (like the
best times to call you). And make
sure this information is highly visible and easily accessible from every page
of your web site.
Why
not invite a few honest friends to check
out your site and time them to see how
long it takes for them to find your
contact information? What’s obvious
to you may NOT be obvious to the rest
of the world.
Strategy #5:
Network & Get Listed In Local Directories!
As
I mentioned earlier, if you’re selling
a service, then the location of your
clients is frequently important. So
while almost all of the traffic techniques
used to drive visitors to product-based
sites can be applied to service-based
sites, I would like to mention a few
techniques that those of you who need
"local" traffic will find useful…
Traffic
Tip #1 – Network with other local businesses.
If
you want local traffic, start making
personal connections with other local
business owners – preferably those with
sites of their own. Look for ways to
position your service and your web site
as a resource to their customers, and
then request a link on their site or
get permission to leave your business
cards (printed with your URL, of course!)
in their lobby or next to their cash
register.
Even
consider rewarding local business owners
for sending traffic and leads your way
by offering them a special gift, a discount
off your service, or even a portion
of the profits.
Traffic
Tip #2 – Get your site listed in local
online directories.
Here’s a severely neglected source of
traffic for any local business
– whether you sell a product or a service.
There are plenty of local online directories
that list only 2 or 3 businesses in
categories that should be quite popular.
With consumers becoming more comfortable
searching for information online, it
only makes sense that they’re turning
to these local directories (to hire
local services!) with increasing frequency.
Why
not take advantage of the fact that
few businesses are pursuing this valuable
source of traffic? Look up local online
directories in your area and request
a listing!
Traffic
Tip #3 – Take advantage of sites like
eLance.com.
Depending
on the type of service you offer, professional
services marketplaces like eLance.com and FreeLance.com may be a great source of clients and
leads. Post your qualifications and
bid on posted jobs, using your web site
to help "close the deal" once you've
entered into a one-on-one discussion
with a potential client.
Strategy #6:
Encourage Referrals & Repeat Customers!
Here's
another technique you should be using,
no matter whether you're selling a product
or service. Always, always, always follow
up with existing clients! Are they happy
with the job you did for them? Is there
anything else you can do for them? Do
they know anyone else who might benefit
from your service? E-mail has made following
up with your existing clients extremely
easy and cost-effective, so there is
no excuse for not taking advantage of
this source of easy extra income!
Don't
be afraid to remind previous customers
that you're there. And don't be afraid
to ask for referrals. If you've done
a good job for someone, they'll likely
be more than happy to refer their friends
and business associates to you. But
if you don't ask, they'll rarely think
to do it! Don't leave this to chance.
Quick Tip: Don’t forget that while you
may sell a service as your main
revenue stream, you may also
supplement your income by offering
products that are complementary
to your service through your
web site.
Final Thoughts:
I
get a lot of e-mail from people who
think that selling a service over the
Web must require an entirely different
approach than selling a product. They
think they will need to use an entirely
different set of tools and techniques...
that their web site design will be dramatically
different... and that to drive visitors
to their sites, they'll need to use
some strange, newfangled strategies. This simply isn't the case.
The
only real difference between selling
a service versus a product over the
Web is your focus:
When
you sell a physical product, every aspect
of your site design and sales copy focuses
on how the product is going to
solve visitors' needs and benefit them.
When
you sell a service over the Web, the
focus is on how YOU are going to
solve visitors' needs and benefit them.
Once
you've wrapped your head around this
concept, everything else should fall
into place. Sales copy strategies...
traffic generation techniques... web
site design strategies... all of the
techniques and strategies I teach can
be transferred directly to a service-based
web site to dramatically increase
the leads you attract, the deals you
close, and your overall online income!
