My friend Michael owns a sushi restaurant in my neighborhood in San Francisco. His place is one of a dozen, maybe dozens, in the neighborhood - I've never taken time to count all of them.
Even though the restaurant has much more seating than your typical sushi bar, it's always nearly full at dinnertime.
One day I pulled Michael aside and asked him how he got so many customers.
"David, it's not all that many customers," he said. "It's that the customers I have, keep coming back."
Does a sushi restaurant owner know something that you don't? Or even if you know it, are you falling short when it comes to taking advantage of this truth?
That is: You'll make a lot more money when you find a way to get old customers to keep coming back. We'll talk about that in today's episode.
But first on the menu is this:
Copy is powerful. You're responsible for how you use what you hear on this podcast. Most of the time, common sense is all you need. But if you make extreme claims… and/or if you're writing copy for offers in highly regulated industries like health, finance, and business opportunity… you may want to get a legal review after you write and before you start using your copy. My larger clients do this all the time.
Most marketers leave the vast majority of their money on the table by not making additional offers to their new customers. Big mistake. True, sometimes people want to buy one thing once from you, but most would want more if you made them good offers.
One of my A-List copywriter friends writes for Mindvalley. He doesn't write all their copy. In a minute you'll see why that would be physically impossible!
Mindvalley makes two new offers every month to its large and growing list. It's currently an eight-figure company - between 10 and 100 million - and my friend thinks they're on their way to crossing $100 million a year.
Of course not everyone can come up with 24 unique offers a year. But anyone can benefit from different variations of their strategy, and that's what this episode is about.
One reason going back to old customers works so well is you have already broken down the barriers of unfamiliarity and distrust. When a customer knows you and trusts you, they are five to six more times likely to buy. When you ignore that, you truly are leaving money on the table. Let's talk about how to pick up that money off the table!
Three types of copy after the initial sale
1. Sell the same thing again
Sometimes, all it takes is an ask. Especially if you have a consumable product that people use up. Amazon does this to me all the time. Maybe you, too. They'll usually ask for the SAME sale inside the website. Fact is, there are some things I buy over and over again. But I don't consume them at a regular enough pace to subscribe. One example is an Italian espresso coffee. So what I'll do is order it when the bag of beans gets low.
Let's say you are a golf equipment company, and the golf balls you sell are unique. Well, golfers lose golf balls. And if they like yours, all you might need is a little push - a special offer - to sell more.
Let's say you have a book, and a buyer list. If people love your book, they might want to buy a copy for a friend and/or a family member. Or a business associate. If you take the initiative, and make the suggestion, you'll have a much better shot at getting them to buy.
2. Sell them something similar, but not exactly the same
Two ways to do this:
First way: Make frequent similar offers of products you have developed. Mindvalley is the perfect example of that. They make 24 offers of their own related products per year. And people buy them!
If you are an author or a teacher/trainer/info-product creator, this is a strategy you can use at any size business.
OK, you probably can't come up with 24 brand new offers a year. But you can come up with more than one.
Coming up with new services will also work using this strategy.
If you make a physical product, or if you have an online store, the next way is better for you.
Second way: Offer a related affiliate product, or related products you buy at wholesale and sell at retail.
Do these seem more like marketing strategies than copywriting strategies?
Well, in a way they are. But there's no way they'll work without good copy to support the development of the relationship with the customers and making the additional sales.
Now let's talk about the third type of copy:
3. Get them to buy something from you every month
- Continuity program - membership site
- Gift box program
- Some foods and supplements I buy on Amazon offer these
- Subscription to a publication
- Copywriters Podcast, except we forgot to charge you for this…
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Tips:
1. Don't always go for the close in every communication.
2. You have to sell them fully each time. Trust is higher and resistance is lower, but you still need a complete sales presentation.
3. Remember why they bought from you in the first place, and reference it directly or indirectly in your follow-up communications.
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