SFR 265: My Typical Cart-Close Sequence...

Aug 2, 2019

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Now, if you don't know…

Cart closing is one of the most powerful things you can do for any product that you sell.

I think one of the BIGGEST reasons why people don't sell as much as they should is that they are ALWAYS selling their product...

If you just add in a cart open and cart close sequence you add a ton of urgency and scarcity…

And something that may have left your potential customers feeling…

“Hey, I can get it at any time...”

… suddenly becomes even more valuable than it is … simply due to the addition of MORE scarcity and urgency.

Scarcity and urgency are the easiest weapons you can pull as a marketer, and one of the easiest ways to create that is by closing the cart.

MASTERCLASS CART CLOSING

A few weeks ago, I decided to do a rerun of what I call the OfferMind Masterclass.

The masterclass is a deep dive through six different steps on how to actually create and launch an offer.

It's six sessions (two hours long), over three days - so it's two sessions a day... and that’s A LOT.

...it's a ton of fun and I love doing it… but it’s *EXHAUSTING*

At the end of the masterclass, I said, “Hey, if you get this Masterclass, I'll give you guys a FREE ticket to my OfferMind Live event.”

However, because I'm following the principles of cart closing, I needed to create a cart close sequence to increase the pressure.

Now, a lot of people create a sequence to launch their product, but many people forget the close sequence.

YOU’RE LEAVING MONEY ON THE TABLE

I remember the first webinar I ever put out there, I created all these campaigns to promote it…

Go register

Go do this...

There were all these sequences…

I remember spending tons of time sitting at the computer thinking about what emails I could write that would create A LOT of registration desire, (which is very similar to buying desire).

I wanted people to think…

“Oh man, I wanna go register. I gotta go see that. I gotta have this!”

As I went through and started creating these sequences, I realized, “Oh my gosh, I need to have a cart close sequence as well.”

It's one of the ClickFunnels, Russell Brunson’s Perfect Webinar-isms to do that, and now,...

I've become as obsessed with the cart close sequence as I have the cart open or promotion sequence

I’m OBSESSED with how to create A LOT of noise around the cart close.

I want people to know…

Hey, we're actually gonna take this away.

This isn’t gonna be around FOREVER!

TEST THIS!

I remember the very first webinar I tossed out that was a BIG success…

I was playing with different cart closing sequence timelines

At first, there were three days from here's the offer to let's go ahead and close the cart...

And funnily enough, that actually felt a little bit long for me the sequence I use…

Hey, why don't you go buy...

Watch the replay…

Here's another reason why you should go get it…

By the way, there are only a few hours left...

...that's kind of one of the standard sequences you'll see in an info product launch, but you can use it for ANYTHING.

Then I was like, “What if I tested 24 hours?”

So a few weeks later, I did a live webinar again and I gave them 24 hours to make the decision to move forward…

… and that was too fast.

So I was like, “Alright, well, maybe somewhere in between…”

Here’s what I found…

Personally right now, whether it's…

An Info Product

A Physical Product

Some kind of Coaching

Consulting

...whatever it is, personally, right now…

I like to close cart about 48 hours from the time that I give them the option to buy.

Now, that doesn't mean that I won't reopen the cart strategically and make the buying sequence longer…

But I will definitely close down a cart within 48 hours, and I recommend you do that too.

I dare *you* to give it a go and then come tell me if it makes you MORE money.

… because I'm pretty sure you’re wallets gonna get fatter just by you takin' your offer off the shelf!

‘Cause let’s face it, EVERYONE wants what they can't have...

... and so, usually, you’ll make more money.

THE HOW TO...

So I thought it’d be cool to share the 3x emails that I wrote to close the cart on the OfferMind Masterclass…

I DON’T want you to sit back and approach this with an attitude of, “Hmmm, he used *that* maybe that's why the sequence worked?”

*YOU ARE LOOKING FOR THE PATTERN*

In fact, recently, I was speaking at an event and somebody walked up and said:

“Stephen, I thought it was amazing that you went and you used this one sentence and then you switched the color from this to this … that's sooo brilliant!’"

Basically, they were trying to find connections with things that were NOT connected.

*Don't do that with what I'm about to share here*

Please understand that having a close cart sequence is worth waaay more than you obsessing and trying to follow some obscure deep dive formula and reaching for connections that really aren't connections.

Don't do that when you follow somebody, okay!

Just follow the major, core framework... and then, if there's a strong pattern, cool! Then you can add it to the framework.

JUST RIFFIN’

I’m adding this little caveat 'cause I've noticed some people are starting to focus on the art of what I do, rather than the science…

In fact, a little while ago, I did a video for ClickFunnels and I hijacked Russell's phone (and really I just recorded a video on my phone and I sent it to the ClickFunnels team and then they put it from his account)...

But I was like, "I'm hijacking Russell's account," and there were tons of people legitimately concerned that I'd actually done that.

I'm like, "Come on."

But that video was very effective, it sold A LOT and it was awesome, and I was just following some formats and frameworks in my head…

… there wasn't a lot of planning!

At the end of that video, I had some people reach back out and said:

"Stephen, that was amazing, that was so crazy. You must have spent time putting these pieces together. I like the flow of the content this way."

Someone else said, "I downloaded it and I've transcribed it."

I was like, "Guys, I was riffin'...

I was just making it up. I just pulled out my phone!"

So there’s a sense of being prepared, but there's also something to just getting it done, right?

Anyway, I'm telling you that because as I read this, I don't want you to sit back and say:

This is the most powerful framework

This is law.

No, no, no! This is art, okay? This is NOT science.

My group is the science of selling online and I want you to follow me for the science of it…

Sometimes, though, I like to play in the art of it... the stuff that's really hard to measure - so this is more art, and I'm just telling you that.

Anyway, so check this out…

HOW TO INCREASE SALES

Now, think about a product that you're selling, or what you want to sell…

You go and you present the offer to somebody, right? Now, this is the first email that I dropped out after I present the offer...

I'm NOT saying it's the end-all, be-all.

I'm NOT saying it's the one I use for webinars - (that's actually a VERY different sequence)

But *this* is the cart close that I will typically use on anything I'm promoting, whether it's…

My product

An affiliate product

Online

Offline

... this is usually the sequence that I follow up with.

So, bearing in mind all these backdrops, these are the *CART CLOSE EMAILS* that I sent out after the OfferMind MasterClass…

CART CLOSING EMAIL #1:

Opportunities don't leave you if you don't act, they just go to somebody else.

That was a rather powerful quote I heard and I believe from an event that I was attending about eight years ago.

The topic was stocks and options, and it was from the Rich Dad Company…

My dad and I were attending together.

He and I both looked at each other and came up with a plan on how we could pay for the $30,000 course that they were selling right there.

It’s a true story. It was the first reason I started doing this business at all, by going in debt, *Stupidly*

Anyway, I'm glad I did that, but you understand, it was NOT easy for me to measure the return.

Anyway…

"Okay, if I do this I'll put up half the cost, and then you pay your half back from the money you make from it. Sound good?”

That's what my dad actually said to me, and that was our actual deal, that I would pay him back 15 grand from the money from the course.

We signed a promissory note and everything, and we made the jump and went after it.

I set up a computer next to him in his office, and we started paper trading, meaning, with fake money, like animals. And learning all about financial markets…

And you know what? I never made cash from that with the course...

*GULP*

... or have I?

But that was the trigger that started a series of events in my life that gave me a sense of self-confidence around taking opportunities.

If I had not made that jump I would NOT have gone on to do real estate like I did.

If I had not made that jump I would have NOT started learning how to post real estate listings and actually get my first taste of the internet, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera…

Do you understand where I'm going with this?

My past failures set up my future success, and under that premise, there's very little real failure…

There's only momentum

There's only progression

There's only action.

If I feel myself losing speed it's usually because I started to play small out of fear, right? That said, opportunity is all around us. But there's a time limit on it.

The saying that, ‘opportunity doesn't come around too often’ is plain stupid, okay? They come frequently, we just don't take them that often...

Where do they go? They go to somebody else.

Hey, I've struck an opportunity with those of you guys who've been on the fence for OfferMind, (the actual event)...

And then, what I do is, I start transitioning into the offer.

Q: Now, what do you notice from that email?

A: I'm telling a pretty gripping story.

Q: Why am I telling the story that I am? What false belief do you think I'm trying to help people overcome before buying my product when they hear this story?

It's the same as I opened up the email…

Opportunities don't leave if you don't act on them, they just go to somebody else.

That was a quote I heard from that first event that I did with my dad, okay?

Q: And then what did I do?

A: I start talking about money and how afraid I was.

I share how, honestly, I didn't make any money from that, but everything else positive that's happened in my life has come because of that very freaky big jump I made.

That was 15 grand - that was way more money than I ever had in my bank account at that time, okay?

Q: So if somebody is sitting there and reading, what's the point? What do you think is happening in their brain?

A: “Oh my gosh, opportunities - it's not like they just go on pause, they actually go to another person,” - which is true.

Opportunities go to somebody else if you don't take action.

Q: What do you think that starts doing to their psyche about moving forward?

A: They're like, “Oh my gosh, I have to have this, I need this,” right?

So in the first email - I tell the story and then I transition into the offer.

I'm pitching them in the email…

I tell them:

Hey, I've struck an opportunity here with you, right? If you've been on the fence for OfferMind, if you guys go get the OfferMind Masterclass before tonight, before today, right, just a few hours from now, I'll actually give you guys a free ticket to OfferMind

(plus all the other stuff that I was giving away at the time)

… and that way you guys can create momentum in your life.

The funny thing about momentum is that it's one of the easiest things to create but it can seem like the scariest thing in your entire life before you start moving.

So set the wheels in motion for you benefit, no matter your current situation. Click below to go get it.

Do you see what I'm doing there?

But if you look at the two pages I've printed for this email…

3/4 of this email is a story. The offer is only the last 1/4. And there's a powerful principle to that.

Too many times in these emails where you're closing out the cart people skip the story…

I'm NOT saying it doesn't work to just present the offer and to remind them…

However...

Half the time people need to get back in the same state that they were in when they were experiencing your sales pitch.

So I don't wanna do it the same pitch, so what I need to do is start a NEW story and then go in and drop my offer at the end.

That's a method, I'm NOT saying it's law. It's a method. It's one of my favorite methods to do though.

So that was the first email and it was all about opportunities leaving, and I dropped in an actual screenshot of my offer right in the email.

I'm like, “Hey, here's the offer, come check it out,” and I'm recapping the offer.

So when they click my verbiage is, “Go buy this now.” It's NOT ‘go get sold later.’

I'm selling them in the email, it's ‘go click to go buy,’ (and that worked very, very well).

The whole campaign we did like 45-ish grand, (something like that) - not bad for a rerun, right?

I actually learned a lot from that...

CART CLOSING EMAIL #2:

"Private Larsen, what is that and where did you get it?"

I had completed basic training and was now an AIT (Advanced Individual Training), and I was becoming an 89 Bravo which means you're an ammunition specialist.

Basically, we studied all kinds of ammo the army had, except nuclear

(This is a true story on how I learned a lot more about finance strategy)

Now, I didn't know when I entered, but we basically were just glorified warehouse dudes, and I was REALLY bored.

To be clear, I loved the army, and what it taught be about myself, but there were moments of just complete dull, grinding, you know, crap.

Hey, that's like anything, including funnels, right?

Well, I got bored from learning paperwork so one day at the PX, (which is like a grocery store or convenience store on a base), I bought a book on finance and I snuck it back into our barracks.

We were still fresh out of basic and personal items like that weren't really allowed yet.

In between training sessions, I'd pop open my book, read financial strategies, and figure out how I could use my military pay to use them.

It took my mind back to a creative zone and I felt my mind open again.

(The most grueling parts of basic and the army were actually my favorite and in hindsight, I wish I'd chosen something much, much, much harder. I just didn't know.)

I didn't know what I was choosing when I signed up!

And I didn't know how much I built from momentum, aggression, and grit at that time either…

But, hey, at least I learned it young.

Well, you can see where this is going…

I got caught with the book and I got punished. I got punished for reading finance books, and honestly, I get it.

It's a group largely made up of teens that you're gonna give weapons to who represent a country, you're gonna want them pretty locked up.

Now, I can't recall a single strategy that I actually learned from that finance book, but one of the biggest lessons I learned from it overall was that there are options in general.

Just knowing that there are things I can do with my money became very liberating.

So while the army was teaching me how I could be moldable... and how moldable my life really is if I'm willing to feel a little bit of discomfort…

My money is actually is the same. I wanna teach you how to mold marketing for your sake and right now I have a little deal going on for you.

If you get OfferMind Masterclass before midnight tonight I'll give you this ticket.

You see? It's the same thing as the last email. Literally, 3/4 of this email is a story... and then the last little bit is a recap of the offer you're gonna get…

And click here to buy now before midnight - because we're taking away bonuses one day at a time right now.

We didn't take anything from the core offer, instead, we took away bonuses day by day - which is a really powerful tactic!

Same offer - 'different hook.

Q: I know a lot of guys who did some kind of military service experience follow me, and when I say that, what does it do?

A: It creates a bond. I resonate, right? We resonate together!

I'm sharing more of myself and things that I've been through, and what's cool is, and then, I just tie it into the offer.

Guys, this skill is amazing and it's one of the greatest skills of actual true marketing you could ever go develop.

Now, I wanna give you one more little example, (and it's a short email)...

This is what I sent out on day three - this is an email that I sent out just to recap the offer.

When I'm doing webinars, I'll do these emails a little more frequently …

Anyways, there's always a moment were I don't wanna just make someone read a huge email to see the offer.

If someone like me, most of the time they just need to see a buy button and put the credit card in.

I buy very easily - which is why I think I know how to sell stuff also.

Become a good buyer, and you usually know how to sell stuff better when you just buy more stuff - which is true!

CART CLOSING EMAIL #3:

In the third email, watch how fast I get to the offer - it's super fast! It's meant to remind people, “Hey, this going away.”

In exactly two months we'll be setting up the room for OfferMind 2019 (which is September 2nd and 3rd). I wanna give you one last shot at a FREE ticket when you buy OfferMind Masterclass by clicking right here.

I make the offer in the second sentence.

Last week you had a chance to get a fast glimpse of some of the OfferMind Masterclass. I want to remind you that if you act before midnight tonight what you're gonna get is…

BAM! I go straight to the offer!

And it has a total value of *this*… but it's yours for *just this amount*, but I'm gonna be pulling all this down by midnight tonight.

This means you gotta take action right now!

... and I go straight into the offer!

Now, there's one piece I like to do in anything I'm promoting manually…

If I'm auto-promoting stuff it's NOT something that I usually toss in in emails…

But if I'm manually promoting something *this* is definitely something I'll do frequently.

Check this out…

(If you’ve been following me or any of my campaigns you've likely watched me do this…)

At the end of the email, social post, or wherever it is that I'm doing presenting my content, at the end of the email, (especially if it's like a real-world, live, manual campaign that I'm running… NOT an evergreen)...

I love putting the list of those people who have purchased in the bottom of the email to say, congrats to those of you who bought…

I swear that technique has doubled my actual purchases in the past.

That's a HUGE deal.

I download the list of people who either bought or have purchased something through an affiliate link, and I just put their name, (nothing else), in the email.

Do you know what that does for social proof?

That's so freakin' powerful - it's so amazing, guys.

The only reason why I'm telling you guys this stuff is because…

I want you to know that EVERYTHING should have a close cart sequence.

And yes, there are tons of strategies.

Webinar ones have something very specific and e-comm ones can have that too, but having one cart closing sequence, in general, is AWESOME…

You can start with ONE, and then, just close the cart!

Focus on how your product sells, and not just what your product is.

ONE STEP TO SELL THEM MORE

I have some very good friends and some close acquaintances who have made millions of dollars on cheap products merely because strategically they open and close their cart frequently.

They say, “I'm gonna take it down,” and then they put it back up... then take it down, and put it back up.

They'll do two, three-week rotations - where the cart’s not open for several weeks.

And then BOOM! They'll blast out an email, and it's like, “Hey, it's open for a couple of days.” Bam! Then they close it down.

Usually, what I’ve found is that if your …

Offer is good enough - and you have been selling it

Sales message is good enough - and people have been consuming and buying

Funnel is good enough...

… most of the time when someone comes to me and they say, "Stephen, how do I go and I increase my sales?"

Instead of changing something in the funnel or the sales message, one of the easiest ways to do it is by introducing MORE scarcity and urgency.

And that's the whole point of this blog, and hopefully, this has been helpful to you!

If you found this useful, please let me know by going to sjlreview.com and leaving a review. I appreciate that a lot if you choose to do that.

And then also... * Shameless Pitch* 😉

Please Come To OfferMind 😎

OfferMind is NOT a funnel event…

It's about cashflow tactics

It's about cashflow models

We're gonna go and we're gonna teach you several cashflow models that you can use.

Day #1: We're gonna go deep on a few things just with me personally

Day #2: I'm bringing in my coaches, (who at the end of this year, I will have paid probably almost 150 grand), and you get to hear from my coaches for the price of an admission ticket …

#SuperPowerful.

I've asked them to come in and teach you is cashflow models in regard to what their expertise is.

It's very powerful, and I would love to have you come.

Go to offermind.com and go ahead and get your ticket. VIP's almost sold out - we're really excited.

If you come to OfferMind, I’ll see you in just a few months!

#GetRichDoGood

BOOM!

If you're just starting out you're probably studying a lot. That's good. You're probably geeking out on all the strategies, right? That's also good.

But the hardest part is figuring out what the market wants to buy and how you should sell it to them, right?

That's what I struggled with for a while until I learned the formula.

So I created a special Mastermind called an OfferMind to get you on track with the right offer, and more importantly the right sales script to get it off the ground and sell it.

Wanna come?

There are small groups on purpose, so I can answer your direct questions in person for two straight days.

You can hold your spot by going to OfferMind.com.

Again, that's OfferMind.com.

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