4. How a clear plan will help you turn prospects into customers

Introduction

We all know the feeling when you lose a potential customer just when you thought you had them sold. Or when we've noticed that prospects seem hesitant to commit to our offer, and we're unsure why. We have all been there. Many businesses struggle to get their prospects to commit to their offer.

In this episode, Simon Harvey and Daniel Kleber are joined by Alexandra Muz Huber to explore how a clear three-step plan can help you remove friction in your buyer's journey and make it easier for prospects to say yes to your business. We explore why prospects might be hesitant to commit and how a clear three-step plan can help create the stepping stones they need to engage with your business. We'll also discuss the role of trust and how building a relationship with your prospects can help to increase their confidence in your business.

Join us as we explore practical strategies for creating a seamless buyer's journey that empowers prospects to make an informed decision about working with you. Whether you're a small business owner or a sales professional, you won't want to miss this episode.

To help you improve your marketing strategy, download the free brand script worksheet, which includes sections for each part of the storytelling framework we discuss in our episodes, here (or copy and paste the link below): 

demodia.com/brandscript-worksheet

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Episode Transcript

You've seen this on your website and definitely experienced it during sales calls. When prospects get to the part in your buyer's journey when it's time for them to commit to your offer, they suddenly just vanish. Maybe they think that working with you is too much effort, or perhaps they're thinking the process is going to take too long. Or maybe it's just unclear to them what they need to do as the next step in order to engage with you. What you need is a plan prospects won't commit if they're not sure what they're signing up for. So in this episode, we're gonna take a look at how to remove that friction and make it easier for them to say yes. I've joined once more by Alexandra and we'll hear how a clear three. plan helps her to create the stepping stones that prospects need in order to commit to your business. Hi there and welcome to the authentic marketing podcast. I'm your host Simon Harvey and with me today as usual is my co host Daniel Klaber. Hi there, Daniel. Hi

Simon. Hello everyone. It's good to be here again.

Good to have you here again. So in today's episode, we're going to talk a little bit about planning. And in particular, we're going to talk about how you can help your prospects to understand how to become a better customer. As I said, good to have you back, Daniel. I know you've just been off on a short break last week. How was things?

Uh, yeah, it was very nice, thank you. It was warm, relaxing by the pool, some great bars and restaurants, and lots to see. A

few good beers, I'm sure, there. Oh yeah, definitely. I can imagine sitting down at the side of the pool in an evening, very nice. Yeah. It's always a shame to have to come back to work, isn't it? Yeah,

that's true.

Anyway, yeah, before you left I remember you telling me about the plans that you've made.

Um, yeah, it's always good to know a bit about the place you're staying before you actually get there. Friends had told me about things to see in the area and a couple of suggestions for a good meal. Yep. And the rest I found

online. Okay, yeah, I guess you can go search for that sort of stuff on Google and find out exactly what there is before you get there, yep. But you might say you're a, you're a bit of a planner then, would you? Um,

I wouldn't go that far, but I do like to know what to expect before I commit to something. Yeah, I

can understand that.

As I'm sure you appreciate, you don't want to invest a lot of money into a holiday and then find that there's a lot of hidden extras or things that you weren't expecting that suddenly crop

up. No, I definitely don't like, and you know what? I think that's how many prospects feel as well. You know, when they start to think about doing business with a company, what they want to know is how things are going to work, what they can expect from you, what the process will look like, what do they need to do to actually start the engagement going, et cetera. Yes. podcasts.

In our previous episodes, we already went through how to use the storytelling method to make your customers the hero of your story. Define the problem you solve for the customer and position yourself as a guide. Now the next step is to put a plan in front of the prospect and call them to action.

That's absolutely right. What we have to do next is to explain to the customer what the steps are, what steps are they going to take to solve their problem? And to do that, you need to show them a clear plan. I like to think of it like this. So imagine that you're my prospect and that you're standing on one side of a river. I'm standing on the other side of the river with the solution to your problem. But in order for you to reach me, to give me help, you need to get over to me. The only problem is that I'm going to stick in front of you now is that that river is full of man eating crocodiles. So, you know, normally I guess you'd say you could swim over or perhaps wade across, but I guess the thing is these crocodiles are like doubts that sit there and...

Yeah, I normally tend to avoid man eating

crocodiles. But what happens if I put several large stones across the river so that you can easily step from one to the next to the next? You know, now you can reach me without stepping in the water. Well, that's better. It is. And that's exactly the point. You know, that's much more like the plan. You know, the larger the stones or the clearer the steps that, um, you present to the customer, the more likely they are to cross and the less resistance there's going to be to doing business with you.

Agreed. It has to be clear and simple. Precisely, yeah. The more simple it is, the more likely it is that prospects will take those steps and choose to work with you. It's a win win. Yeah,

not only that, but it gives the prospects a clear way to engage and it also enhances your authority as the guide. You know, it's an approach we've seen working many times in successful movies. Just think about something like the Hunger Games. You know, you've got Haymitch in there that's Katniss's mentor and he gives her the steps that help her survive through the games. Good example. Yeah, a better one for you now, I think here though. Everyone loves Star Wars and just think about Obi Wan. He gives Luke Skywalker a plan and ultimately that idea of following the force and going and seeing Yoda and doing all the training things is what leads them to victory there. Good old Obi Wan. Exactly. They had a goal and they, you know, provided clear steps to reach it. Yes.

In every story, you hear the hero asking, so what's the plan? And what are we going to do next? That is the same question your customer is asking you before they hit that. Book a meeting, but they don't want to step into the unknown anymore than you want to go on holiday without Confirmation that your flight and hotel are definitely booked or even worse That you get there only to find that the main attraction you wanted to visit is closed for

renovation. That would be disappointing Yeah And I think that's the key thing, you know, people aren't keen to step into the unknown, especially if they're going to expect disappointment. You know, it leads them to think about a failure scenario straight away and it's just, you know, decreasing spiral from there and in. And that's why the plan serves as a way of clearing that fog, clearing the unknown. It explains to them how to do business with you and it reduces the sense of risk of buying your products or services. You'll

often see a book a call button on web pages, but that's not enough to overcome resistance.

Definitely not. No, you need to show the customers how easy it is to work with you and explain what exactly is going to happen when they click on that book a call button. You know, are they going to get an immediate phone call back from a sales guy? Are they going to get somebody that comes and does some prequalification first? You know, what does that process look like? You need to overcome those sort of questions and hesitations. So.

Now you need to create a very simple three step plan, and here's how you can do that.

Yep, exactly. I had a chance to chat once again with our fellow guide, Alexandra, and we discussed the best ways to create a plan to activate your website visitors. Hi, Alexandra! So on today's episode, we've been talking a lot about the plan. We introduced the idea that the plan is the steps at the end of your story. It's basically the thing that helps you to transition a prospect and enable them to move and take the first steps to becoming a customer. So, maybe in your words, you can explain how the plan's helped you and why you feel it is that it's important to customers that you've worked with. I

have to do again the disclaimer that I'm German, so I know I have a peculiar accent, so please forgive me. I think, um, the importance of a plan, um, anybody understands who's honest to himself. I mean, who doesn't, at one point of the year, thinks, ah, I should do more sports? But this doesn't work. I mean, if we stay vague, it's just not going to happen. So it starts with what sports, where, when, how. But if we transform this doing more sports into a plan and say, Okay, I'm going to go to the fitness studio, which is on my way to work. I'm going to put Tuesday and Wednesday in my calendar. And I'm going to look at for a friend who's coming with me. This is just going to happen. I think we all know that if we want to get things done, then we

need a plan. So it's important to spell out those simple steps. We talked a lot about there being three steps in these common plans, and we'll come back to that I think a little bit later, but is there anything particular that you think we should talk about in those three steps? What have been the most effective things that you've found to include within each of those stages? The things that guide people through to the end result and the action that you want them to perform?

I think, um, it's a bit the same as with the example of sports. So the steps need to be doable, concrete, and easy. If you get overwhelmed, this is not going to happen. Because today we all feel a bit overwhelmed by the amount of information, amount of work, amount of things we should do during a day. So if it's too complicated, we'll probably at least skip it for the moment. Um, but it's, a plan needs to really take advantage of that you're to take action.

And do you have a sort of template that you use that says, okay, well, step one should be something and step two should be, and step three should be something else. Is there anything that you follow in particular?

Uh, so I try to have the first step really make it easy and not too much commitment. So if it's a service orientated business, I would probably suggest a free consultation so people can really Get into the topic without a lot of

commitment. So this is the primary call to action. This is what you really want them to do. So you're suggesting the direct call to action there then? Yes,

yeah. And then, uh, step two would be agree on the services that should be done. And then third step is really the conversion, the action, okay, service received by the client. So but first step, really make it easy, no commitment. Lots of commitment from your part, from the service provider. Give them lots of this free consultation, really. Give them goodies, give them information. Show them that you care. Try to understand the problem. And then you can continue to step two.

Okay, yep. And so we've talked about having three steps in here. How many steps is practical to have in one of these processes? Okay, we don't necessarily want to have 10 or 20 steps in there, but can I have two steps? Can I have five steps? What are your recommendations there or what experiences you've had around that?

I always work with three steps, even if it's a complicated procedure. For example, if you buy a house. I mean, then you look at the house, you negotiate with the owners, you make a contract, you need to go to the notary, and all that, but in the end I would, I would wrap it up and say, okay, it's Find your dream house, sign the papers, move in.

Sounds like the perfect example of a plan. Yeah, very simple, to the point, and it gives them a result at the end of the day as well. You know, move in and have your new home basically.

And there's another thing about the three. So there's the rule of three. And that suggests, uh, that words grouped into threes are more appealing and easier to remember. So there's this very famous slogan of Obama, Yes we can, everybody remembers that. And, um, the reason why these threes work so well is that our brains are pattern seeking machines, and they're constantly looking for relationships and meaning in the world around us. And three is the smallest number we need to create a pattern. That's the perfect combination of rhythm and brevity.

Cool, yeah. I guess if there's two things that somebody mentions, you're always hunting for that third thing in your mind, aren't you? And by the time you get to four or five, you've started to get lost. So I didn't actually realize that there was logic built into us, basically pre programmed into us. That's a very powerful tool to know about, certainly. It is,

yeah. I mean, and we see it all around. So a lot of marketers know how to use it, so it really

works. Here's another one for you though. What happens if my sales process is substantially longer than those three steps? So here's an example of a sales process that I would see within one of the typical companies that we work within. They'd start off with maybe a discovery call where they get on the phone and talk about a few things, and then they sit down with the customer, they do a technical review, then they send them a proposal and then they go through, they review the contract, they negotiate whatever they're going to do and, and, and. So, would I be advised to spell out all of that in my plan, or how should I go about handling those situations that are more complicated?

Well, it depends. At the moment, I would always stick to the three step plan until you get the prospect to take action. I mean, he needs to understand the high level three steps. He needs to take to get his problem solved because we are also still trying to solve the problem of the customer with a concrete plan. Once you are in the plan, the more expensive your service or product is, the more detailed you work with your client. But the first communication and what the client has to say is, Just to understand it's, that it's three steps, you'll guide them through and you know the end result and you're going to deliver

that. Maybe you could give us some examples of plans that you've seen work well with your customers. I know when we talked in our previous conversation, you were talking about a client that was making high end tableware or something like that. What was the plan that you came up with for them?

Yeah, as I mentioned, it was, uh, high end, um, tableware from Morocco. At the beginning, she tried to sell a lot through her online shop, and, uh, it didn't work because the people didn't know how to use it. And then... We changed the whole communication about how to use the products. Then the plan was even easier because it was, it was on Instagram or on Pinterest. You could see how the product was used and then really click on the button and go directly to the shop. So it was, it was even more straightforward than before. Over the website. So that was how we solved it with, with her. It was understand how to use the product, order product, use product. Very simple and straight to the point.

Perfect. You mentioned an interesting thing in there. So it's not just something that appears on our website. We can put it in all sorts of places. Instagram there. How else can I use this as part of the sales conversation or even a marketing process?

So, you and I, we work with a proven story structure and this story structure can be used in email funnels, websites, or should be used in email funnels, websites, or the online communication, in sales conversations, and the plan is always part, and the plan gives structure and security, also that the guide, the role we are taking on as, uh, sellers. knows what to do and knows how to deliver. So it's a really important piece of any sales conversation or any sales communication because it gives security. It shows the end result. It shows the process and it shows just the steps that are needed to solve

the problem. So I guess we could put it in emails, perhaps summarizing it instead of spelling it out one, two, three, if we could put it into a single sentence there, or we could maybe take the individual steps and put them into social posts. We could push them out, as you mentioned earlier, through something like Instagram. We could put them in a slide deck, a presentation on a LinkedIn post or image or anything like that potentially.

Yeah, definitely. Because, I mean, you've seen that, I've seen that. There are still a lot of websites or communication pieces out there that do not have a call to action. And the plan is a very concrete and precise call to action. So no communication should ever not have a call to action. Because people don't act if they are not asked to act.

So I think that's a great point to end on. People don't act if they're not asked to act. So, Alexandra, thank you very much for your time today. It's been great to have you on the show again, and great to hear your insights. Thank you very much. Thank you. That was a fantastic conversation with Alexandra once again. So for me, I found it really amazing to hear how something as simple as providing these three clear steps help one of her customers so dramatically. It's amazing that doing something as easy as explaining to their prospects the transformation that they would undergo when they use this tableware and then giving them a clear process to connect and engage had such a significant impact on their sales. There were numerous practical ideas I think that we can all take away from that conversation. Thanks very much for joining us again Alexandra and I look forward to chatting with you in the future. If you don't seem to be able to get prospects to convert on your website, or if you're uncertain how to create the perfect plan for your business and need someone else to give you the direction, then you can hire an authentic engagement coach. Just go to Demodia. com to hire a coach that will show you how to increase the effectiveness of your marketing and give you an easier way to grow your business. So, listeners, at the end of each episode, I like to give you a set of concrete actions. These are practical steps from today's episode that you can take to immediately improve the effectiveness of your sales and marketing. In our conversation today, we've been talking about the plan and how a set of clear steps removes the uncertainty from your hero's mind when it comes to commitment. If you haven't already done so, then the first thing I want you to do is to head to demodia. com slash brand script and download a copy of the brand script worksheet. Once you've done that, I want you to fill out each of the sections. Of course, if you need help with any of those, we've talked a lot about that in earlier episodes, so you can refer back to those for details. For today's action, you're going to create a three step plan for your business that you can use to build a set of stepping stones for your prospects. Firstly, I want you to write down how your visitors will start the process of working with you. Do they need to give you a call, book a meeting in your calendar, fill out a form on your website? What is it that they need to do? Think about that and write it down. For step two, I want you to think about your solution. And how this will help them once they've had that initial engagement. So what are they actually going to get out of step one is basically what I want you to write in this box here. Is it a detailed project plan that you're going to give them? Maybe you're going to give them a trial of your product, or maybe there's something else that's very specific to your business. Write this down and make sure you're clear so that your prospect knows exactly what to expect and what they're going to get in return when they fill out that form. Finally, I want you to show them what success looks like after they've taken up that offer. Will their business be more efficient? Will they have a safer home? What's the transformation that they're going to see? I want you to write that into the last section. Now you've got your three step plan. It's as easy as that. You can make variants of this for different offerings if you want and use them then on your website, summarize them in your emails, or put them at the end of all your proposals. With your plan made clear, your prospects are going to feel less anxious and they will engage more often. That's all for today's episode. Thank you so much for listening to the Authentic Marketing Podcast, where we help you create a sales and marketing plan that will get you new customers and grow your business. Follow us and rate us wherever you listen to your podcasts, and don't forget to join us on LinkedIn. We love to hear what you want to learn and how we're helping your business succeed. See you next time!