Problems And Their Solutions

7 replies
Every paid consultation I get has one common theme...

a problem wanted to be fixed.

Another common thread is that they hadn't
heard the answers I gave to their questions before.

And thirdly they came motivated to take action.

Knowing this and thinking how this
may be applied to your situation,
I came up with this plan.


What sparked this was when 2 clients came to me this week who had
paid a minimum of $1,000 to 2 separate gurus and were not happy.

It wouldn't be a too big of a stretch to think for every guru on the planet,
there will be people who have paid him or her money and are not happy.

Right?

And we only want to be targeting our messages to those who show
traits of proven buyers.

Those that have...

Already spent money on improving their situation
Have an urgent problem which wants to be fixed
And are awaiting a message/answer they haven't heard before.

Sounds perfect...but where do we find these
people?

Enter Facebook.

Groups started by gurus and events hosted by gurus.

Facebook allows us to create custom audiences where we can run our ads
in front of our targeted gurus followers.

Imagine the unhappy member seeing an ad headline
on his page which reads...

----------------------------------------------------
Not Happy With Your Results From [insert guru name]?
----------------------------------------------------

This motivated buyer has never seen something so relevant to his or her
situation he or she has to click to find out more.

And where does this take them to?

It takes them to a free form by http://www.typeform.com/
which is hosted on your autoresponder server provider,
like Aweber.

There you first start using the magic phrase...

"So that I can help you the most, would it be ok if I can ask you a few questions?"

Here's the magic behind that question.

The reader may come in with his own agenda and takes over the conversation,
so this takes back control
in a serving way. Hard to refuse someone wanting to help you.

Secondly, it's human nature people almost automatically
answer a question.

Moving on to the questions.

You would ask problem related questions
so the reader gets to see his own problems.

And that is the goal.

Why? because every consulting client who paid money had a problem
which he or she told me about.

We are creating the right environment for a person to tell us.

Once this happens a client closes 100%, as experienced by
a client.

And the crazy part is that his clients really don't know what they are buying
other than it's going to resolve their pain.

This is for seo, ppc site redesign.

Amateurs jump in way to early when a prospect mentions he has a problem.
They go in with how great their solution is, 69 reasons why it is guarantees,
special offers if he buys today.

The prospect will tell you when he's ready to buy after he keeps talking about the problem.
You just keep him going with questions around it.

There you go...

What are the 3 most important things in bringing in clients for your marketing services...

Identifying Who Are The Real Buyers
have urgent problem

Where To Find Them
in amongst guru buyers
and found on Facebook

What To Say To Them
Answers to questions they have never seen
and pain focused specifically to them

Enjoy!
Ewen
#problems #solutions
  • Profile picture of the author TakenAction
    Man I wonder why this thread was buried so fast.

    So much value in here especially in the lesson on getting the prospect to see their own problem first instead of how people usually just jump into how great their services are etc.

    thanks Ewen.
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    • Profile picture of the author M Bissonnette
      Good post! Creating the right environment and asking problem related questions to help them realize their own problems and personal difficulties.
      Those are also 3 very good points!
      Cheers!
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    • Profile picture of the author Jason Kanigan
      Originally Posted by TakenAction View Post

      Man I wonder why this thread was buried so fast.

      So much value in here especially in the lesson on getting the prospect to see their own problem first instead of how people usually just jump into how great their services are etc.

      thanks Ewen.
      I agree with your analysis.

      What I'd be interested in seeing in testing this is whether anyone fills out the questionnaire.

      Possibly, if they had been trained by the expert they hired before.

      Then I'd be screening like crazy. How many of those prospects did nothing thinking the guru would solve the problem and do all the work for them? That's not who I want as a client. So while you may get signups, I'm not so sure it would result in a good prospect list.


      Ewen's paragraph here is key:

      Amateurs jump in way to[o] early when a prospect mentions he has a problem.
      They go in with how great their solution is, 69 reasons why it is guarantee[d],
      special offers if he buys today.
      Turning themselves into a commodity!

      There IS another way.
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  • Profile picture of the author Peter Lessard
    Great post and I completely agree that most consultants try to sell a service too soon to the prospect that really does not address their problem.

    Funny is that in some cases I have even had clients pay me money to work out the solution even though at the time of discussion/payment neither of us knew what the exact solution would look like! Yes I had some ideas or I would not take the job but they would require implementation, testing and tweaking because many times what the prospect tells you about their business and what you discover are two very different things. They often believe they have problem A but later you find out they have more important issues in B and C.

    They shared their problem, I agreed that their problem was unique and complex but I was confident I could solve it for them and they had no issue paying me after discussing some unique and successful solutions I had created for past clients.

    They were actually much more receptive to me creating a custom solution for them that had to be tested than they were buying another pre-canned supposed remedy. They were tired of hearing "we have a package for that" and frankly they did not believe that someone could possibly have some quick remedy predefined solution for something they viewed as unique and complicated.
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    • Profile picture of the author ewenmack
      Originally Posted by plessard View Post

      They were actually much more receptive to me creating a custom solution for them that had to be tested than they were buying another pre-canned supposed remedy. They were tired of hearing "we have a package for that" and frankly they did not believe that someone could possibly have some quick remedy predefined solution for something they viewed as unique and complicated.
      Key phrases that should be used in our communication...

      Custom Solution
      Not Same As For Others
      Unique and Complex

      Thanks for your insights.

      Best,
      Ewen
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  • Profile picture of the author lewisl
    Great post as usual Ewen.

    Looking back on my most successful "sales calls" I have found that it has simply been a matter of asking questions around his pain points and never offering solutions until he asks.

    My belief on why this approach has merit is because it allows the prospect to fully explore his own situation without pressure or judgement. Most business people believe that their situation is unique... they feel that no one can really understand and be trusted with recommendations if they have heard only a few minutes (or less) of what the business owner is experiencing.

    Genuine trust is earned based on a genuine desire to understand the prospect at a deep level.

    No trust + No Deep Understanding = No Sale

    Best,

    Lewis
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    • Profile picture of the author ewenmack
      It was our talk Lewis that inspired me to write this.

      People, you may not know, but I highly recommend what's been said by posters here because Lewis closes 100% of his prospects when they start talking about their problem.

      Read what he has just said again...it's not about you and your service or product, defiantly not about your pitch for it.

      Thanks Lewis for letting us know of your experience.

      Best,
      Ewen

      Originally Posted by lewisl View Post

      Great post as usual Ewen.

      Looking back on my most successful "sales calls" I have found that it has simply been a matter of asking questions around his pain points and never offering solutions until he asks.

      My belief on why this approach has merit is because it allows the prospect to fully explore his own situation without pressure or judgement. Most business people believe that their situation is unique... they feel that no one can really understand and be trusted with recommendations if they have heard only a few minutes (or less) of what the business owner is experiencing.

      Genuine trust is earned based on a genuine desire to understand the prospect at a deep level.

      No trust + No Deep Understanding = No Sale

      Best,

      Lewis
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