Products For Prospects: The Basics
In a workshop I conducted recently with Phil Briggs (Myers Media Consulting UK), we shared a strategy called “Products for Prospects”
A lead capture strategy, known as Product For Prospects, is a simple method of persuading a prospect to swap their contact information or even a low amount of money for something they view as high value from your business.
A wide variety of product for prospects exist, both on the internet and in a real world environment, but for this particular article we’ll focus on a simple online method that you offer as a trade for contact information.
Let’s first take a look at some basic attributes of product for prospects.
1)Your goal is only to obtain contact information to initiate a basic sales conversation. You’re not trying to get rich off this. Well, for the time-being anyway! What you’re aiming to do is develop ‘pre-sold prospects’ using content that incorporates views and perspectives which are magnetic and appealing, while at the same time being of productive use to the target market.
2)The recipient needs to see the content as high value and worthwhile, and it should be of a comparatively low cost to the business providing it.
3)Having an affirmative call to action, rather than an obvious sales pitch, is an important aspect to include. The reason for this is that when you start providing valuable information, prospects have the expectation that you’re going to provide them more and more of the same! Calls to action can contain your contact information, direct links to product marketing pages on your website, or precise guides on what steps to take next.
4)If you request a lot of contact details it usually means that it will appeal less to prospects, so not as many will sign up. But the positive effect of this is that those prospects that do sign up mean that they’ll be the hottest leads out there!
5)Commence with your most useful information and tips. You don’t need to feel like you’re handing over your fortune, but if prospects enjoy what you originally offer they are going to want more of the same great stuff.
6)It’s a good idea to learn how to distribute products for prospects, there are a number of ways but the one I found to be the most effective goes a little something like this..
Use Aweber to create a registration form on your website, for both the homepage and other pages. You’ll ask for the prospects’ details as a trade for your pro$uct for prospects. After the prospects completes the form, Aweber instantly sends them your product for prospects, and it can continue to send further emails with even more products for prospects on a time frame that you specify, whether it’s once a day, or once a week., whatever interval you choose.
Now we’ve got an understanding of how things work, lets see it in action by examining a few different types of online-based products for prospects.
eNewsletters
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The best way to write an eNewsletter is to make sure the information within it is concise and it’s focused on overcoming a particular problem. Also, keep an accessible archive of all your past eNewsletters so that new prospects can go back and check them out. Even more content for them means better overall value!
Special Reports
These are also known as a guide, white paper or blue print and incorporate valuable information that aim to assist the prospect to overcome a particular problem, or give them quality tips which can help towards their personal or business ambitions.
“How to” is one of the most searched for terms on the entire internet. If you include a “How to” guide which inspires people to take action rapidly, they can be a major asset which appeal to a wide range of people.
Lists are something which are also especially magnetic. Have a look at magazine covers and you’ll notice things like “10 Steps to…”, or “5 Ways of..”
And the headline of something like “Take a look at this before you employ a (builder, plumber, gardener.. whatever profession you choose) is something that a lot of people are drawn to because it makes them feel like they’ll gain valuable information before taking a definite step.
Webinars
Technology can be so overwhelming sometimes, but don’t let it get to you! A webinar is, in basic terms, an online seminar where others can hear your voice and view your desktop. They have the ability to ask you questions either by writing them in a text field, or just talking to you one-to-one. That’s pretty much it! Myself, I tend to use Go To Webinar because it’s quite easy to set-up. GTW gives you a registration link which can be emailed, shared across social networks and added on to your own website. You specify a date and time for a webinar to begin and when the time comes around you just go ahead and do your webinar.
Videos
Grab your camera, whether it’s a phone-cam, or webcam and just start recording. Make around 5 short videos, up to 5 minutes in length, which provide prospects with some inside information about your best tips. Your prospects will love you for it! Alternatively, if you’re a little bit camera shy, take a look at Screenflow for Mac or Camtasia for PC. These wonderful little programs can record what’s actually displayed on your screen and also your voice. You can then turn them into videos quicker than a discontinued Concorde! J
You can check some examples by going to Google or Youtube and entering a topic you’re interested in, then add the word “webinar” at the end. A whole bunch of examples should reveal themselves to you. You might need to register to a particular webinar if you search through Google and wish to see a live example for yourself.
eBooks
Ebooks have existed since the inception of the Internet itself, they’ve been around for quite a while. And they are really quite timeless, much like the original paper-based books themselves (although they take longer to burn if you try to use them in a log fire!)
Basically, an eBook is a PDF, digital version of a real book, although many eBooks are only available in that digital format. You could view them as a sort of lengthy version of a Special Report. Personally, I’ve made quite a few of these for a number of different clients in which I used a a foolproof process that constantly yielded some really great results! I’ll go into more details on this in the future, eBooks are something really worth investigating thoroughly.
Well, that’s about it for this time around! I really do hope that you’re beginning to appreciate the benefits of the product for prospects concept and how it can be used to help you and your business. Of course, there are some technical aspects involved but we don’t have to let these be obstacles. Your products for prospects are going to attract a lot more people to you so with the little effort you need to put in, the rewards are going to be well worth it. Just give it a try and see for yourself!