So you’ve paid for a wonderful website, but it just doesn’t “work.”

It looks great, has lots of info about your company . . . but you don’t see it delivering any measurable revenue.

Sadly, it’s surprisingly common.

Most business owners will reluctantly admit that, for all the time and money they’ve poured into it, their website doesn’t bring many new clients, or customers.

Why is that?

Put simply, it’s because IT WASN’T BUILT TO GET RESULTS!

It’s not your fault.

You’re a business owner, not an online marketing expert. So when you need a website you contact a web designer, right? Except that’s where the wheels fall off, because most web designers aren’t marketing experts either!

Sorry, fancy design skills are no substitute for marketing knowledge.

For example, BEFORE building a website, you should first take some time to learn about the Buyer Decision Process. (It’s an established concept in marketing.)

1. Problem Recognition
2. Information Search
3. Evaluation of Alternatives
4. Purchase Decision
5. Post-purchase Evaluation

Most people visiting your website are at stage 2. They already know they want a product or service like yours, and they found you with a Google search.

In fact, they might even be at stage 3. Your potential customers are comparing you and your competitors, to find the best solution to their problem…

And yet, you don’t even know they exist!

So how much of a problem is it?

Let’s use lawyers, as an example: 76% of new clients look at more than three websites before choosing a law firm, while 29% look at more than six! (ilawyer)

It’ll be similar for your industry. Prospects drift across your website and disappear. Your analytics show they came (you do check your stats, yes?)

But now they’ve gone, taking with them any chance of a sale.

STOP this from happening!

You must get prospects to “engage” with your business. Give them a reason to stop searching and stay with you.

What you actually need is a FUNNEL.

Our funnel starts with an “overlay” on your website, or with a simple landing page.

It’s designed to sort ‘wheat from chaff’ so you’ll only engage with website visitors who are seriously interested in your product or service. (The rest are a waste of your sales resources.)

But that’s only a start. In fact, your funnel must do THREE things:

1. Identify high-value prospects
2. Meet them in their Buyer Decision Process
3. Establish your authority

Authority? It’s your secret weapon in stages 3 and 4 of the process.

If done successfully, your funnel will ‘stop the scroll’ – stop people continuing to search for alternatives – and immediately boost your sales conversions.

Read on, and I’ll explain how.

After all, that’s exactly why you’re reading this, isn’t it? You’ve started a Buyer Decision Process of your own!

• You’re not happy with the performance of your website (Stage 1)
• You’re looking for solutions (Stage 2)

Wait! Are you nodding as you read? Of course you are, because this makes a lot of sense. In fact you might already be wondering if I can help you get leads online.

Yes. But not just any leads.

QUALIFIED Leads. Potential buyers who believe you have the expertise to help them with their problem.

I’ll turn them into “educated” prospects, who will know exactly what they need – and who understand why YOU are the best choice to provide the solution they want.

And then, at the bottom of the funnel, they’re converted to BUYERS. A customer, client, guest, passenger, or patient – depending on your service. (Let’s just call them customers.)

Isn’t that what your business needs?

As author James Malinchak wrote: “The #1 question for the owner of any business is: ‘How will you get new customers?’ It’s the question most likely to keep you awake at night.”

Maybe it doesn’t keep you awake, but you DO want new customers, right?

Well, 93% of business owners say they do, according to an omnibus study. So I’m guessing you do, too.

Why should I buy from YOU?

But now you’ve got to ask yourself: WHY would somebody want to buy from YOU? What does your business have, or do, to set you apart from your competitors?

If I go to your website, what will I find that makes me want to choose you, instead of somebody else?

Try this exercise on your website: pretend to substitute the name of a competitor in place of yours. Does the website still make sense?

Oops.

If you can’t see any difference, then neither can anybody else.

OK, so how do you differentiate your business? How can you make it stand apart from your competitors?

As Harvard Business School professor Bharat Anand says,
“Success doesn’t just benefit from being different to others. It REQUIRES it. If you aren’t different in business, you’ll die.”

What’s the most valuable differentiation?

Expertise and authority.

Easier said than done, perhaps. How could you possibly convince prospects, who are only briefly on your website, that you’re the expert they can confidently trust?

Actually, it’s surprisingly simple. Demonstrate your knowledge and experience with a ‘Lead Magnet’ information guide. (It attracts prospects like a magnet, get it?)

Remember, people who are looking at your website will be at stage 2 or 3 of the Buyer Decision Process.

They know they need the kind of product or service you supply and they’re looking for information to help them solve a problem.

So if your Information Guide exactly matches the “pain” associated with their problem, they’ll click the button to get it.

For example:

• The 5 Top Mistakes Home Buyers Make
• Five Secret ‘Insider Tips’ For When You’re Moving Home
• 3 Tax Secrets to Learn Before You Hire an Accountant
• 4 Essential Design Tips for Planning Your New Kitchen
• The Five Key Steps to a Successful Loft Conversion
• Three Things You Should Know Before Getting a Divorce

If someone’s not interested in your products or services they won’t do anything. That’s great! Because you won’t be wasting sales time, following up the wrong kind of prospects.

On the other hand, someone who downloads the report is, by definition, a serious prospect. Someone you want to get to know.

Does that make sense?

OK, now it’s starting to get exciting!

Because magic truly starts AFTER they request your Free Guide.

Build relationships “automagically!”

As marketer Dan Kennedy says, the next most valuable asset for any business – after cash in the bank – is a list of people who want to hear from you.

Your free guide helps create educated prospects at stage 3 of the Buyer Decision Process: Evaluation of Alternatives. Now, you’ll continue to provide value, with ongoing advice and helpful tips delivered by an automated sequence of emails.

You need a ​series of 10, 15, or more messages. Written carefully (using NLP, Open Loops, etc.) they should contain the “six weapons of persuasion” described by Dr. Robert Cialdini in his book ‘Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion.’

The messages follow a path, which confirms your authority and expertise. Imagine if you could teach your prospects:

• what to look for
• what to avoid
• what questions to ask
• how to compare, or choose
• how to save time and money
• how to recognize a good deal

You’re NOT selling. You’re building a relationship.

When you think about it, ALL successful marketing is based on relationships, built through communication. By staying in touch with them, your emails build trust and confidence with customers.

Don’t miss this:
On average, 80% of those who are going to buy from you will do so by the time they’ve heard from you 12 times.

And there’s another reason to stay in touch, which psychologists call the “Mere Exposure Effect” or the “Familiarity Principle.” It says, the more often your prospects hear from you, the more pleasing and likeable they find you!

Get New Customers

These are prospects you don’t have now, and a well-designed funnel can turn them into buyers.

When you educate them the right way – in the right sequence, and using the right tools – you’ll have a repeatable success system, which you can put on autopilot for months and years to come.

• You can automate all your lead generation.
• You can automate the qualification process for your leads, attracting all of the right kind of customers for your business. And none of the wrong kind.
• And you can make sales much more easily. You’ll never again have to wonder where your next client is coming from!