I\u2019ll give you a second to think about it.<\/p>\n
(Cue the \u201cJeopardy\u201d music…)<\/p>\n
OK, time\u2019s up!<\/p>\n
The answer…is face-to-face selling.<\/strong><\/p>\n And that makes sense, right?<\/p>\n After all, a real human salesperson\u2014especially a GOOD one\u2014has all kinds of advantages over mass medium channels like email, TV, and print.<\/p>\n For example, when face-to-face with a prospect, a real salesperson can see your reactions in real time. Ask you questions. Address your objections as soon as you raise them.<\/p>\n And, perhaps most importantly, they can create a sense of connection with you and make you feel like you\u2019re talking to someone who truly cares.<\/p>\n I call that conversational selling<\/em>, and it\u2019s quite simply the single most effective way to sell a product or service in history.<\/p>\n Engineer more high-converting sales conversations from the traffic and leads you\u2019re already getting.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n So why do I bring this up?<\/p>\n (Especially on a blog that\u2019s dedicated to digital <\/em>marketing?)<\/p>\n I\u2019m glad you asked.<\/p>\n Because the truth is, the way we sell products and services online is changing.<\/p>\n One-to-many marketing methods (things like banner ads and email blasts<\/a><\/u>) are becoming less and less effective every day. At the same time, 1-to-1 marketing methods (things like Messenger marketing) are becoming more and more common\u2014and more effective.<\/p>\n And by using some of these tools, we can actually start to leverage the high-converting power of conversational selling<\/a><\/u><\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n ONLINE!<\/p>\n And in this post, I\u2019m going to help you do just that by showing you how to engineer more high-converting sales conversations from the traffic and leads you\u2019re already getting.<\/p>\n But before we dive into that, there\u2019s something you need to know first.<\/p>\n OK, so we\u2019ve established that conversational selling is the highest-converting sales medium of all time.<\/p>\n In the past, conversational selling meant either face-to-face selling or selling over the phone. But we\u2019re not talking about face-to-face or phone conversations here.<\/p>\n Instead, you\u2019re going to learn how to leverage conversational selling in digital <\/em>marketing.<\/p>\n But how do you do that?<\/p>\n Today there are 3 big tools you can use to leverage conversational selling online:<\/p>\n Later on, in this post, I\u2019ll go over some of the specific tools I recommend for #2 and #3. But for now, I just want to talk about these tools in general.<\/p>\n And in order for this whole conversational selling thing to work, you can\u2019t do what most people do\u2014which is to use these 3 conversation channels interchangeably.<\/p>\n These are different <\/em>tools and they have to be used in different <\/em>ways to really generate sales with high-converting messages.<\/p>\n So, let\u2019s dive into how you do that.<\/p>\n The first step in any conversation is\u2014obviously\u2014to start the conversation <\/em>in the first place.<\/p>\n This is something you should spend some time thinking about. Because there\u2019s a right way and a wrong way to do this, and the way you begin a conversation can have a big impact on that conversation\u2019s outcome.<\/p>\n So, with that in mind, there are the 3 different ways to open your online conversations in a strategic way that tends to lead to more sales.<\/p>\n When I say \u201cpage to chat,\u201d I\u2019m referring to those little chat windows that you see pop up in the lower-right corner of websites. Here\u2019s an example:<\/p>\n Unfortunately, these chat boxes don\u2019t really have much of a sales effect for the majority of companies who use them. And you want to know why?<\/p>\n Because they don\u2019t do a good job of starting the right kind of conversation.<\/p>\n And to illustrate why that\u2019s the case, I want you to go through a little exercise with me.<\/p>\n Pretend you walk into a department store and start browsing around in the clothing section.<\/p>\n And after a few minutes, a salesperson approaches you and says:<\/p>\n \u201cHi there, can I help you?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n We\u2019ve all heard that question in a situation like this before. So, how do you usually respond?<\/p>\n Well, if you\u2019re like most people then your response to that question will be:<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m just looking.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Now, notice what happened there.<\/p>\n The salesperson asked you a question\u2014they tried to start a conversation.<\/p>\n But the question they asked you was way too open-ended. There was no easy way for you to respond, so rather than make the effort to come up with a thoughtful response on the spot, you did what 99% of other people do: you politely refused their help.<\/p>\n Conversation attempt…denied.<\/p>\n And there\u2019s an important lesson here for digital marketers.<\/p>\n If you don\u2019t believe me, take another look at this chat window, and pay attention to the question they\u2019re asking:<\/p>\n It\u2019s the same basic question! \u201cHow can we help you today?\u201d<\/p>\n Ask a binary question that leads the conversation in the right direction.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n And I guarantee you it gets the same answer from the vast majority of people. That is to say\u2026no answer at all.<\/p>\n People ignore this question on your website, just like they do in person.<\/p>\n Why? Because, once again, it\u2019s too open-ended. It isn\u2019t focused. There\u2019s no quick and easy way for them to answer.<\/p>\n So, what should you do instead?<\/p>\n Rather than asking a difficult, open-ended question that could lead anywhere\u2026<\/p>\n A smarter approach is to ask a binary question that leads the conversation in the right direction.<\/strong><\/p>\n Here\u2019s an example of what I\u2019m talking about:<\/p>\n See how much easier that question is to answer? There\u2019s really no thought involved. It\u2019s super-quick and super-easy.<\/p>\n It also leads the conversation in the right direction!<\/em><\/p>\n Rather than bringing up an unrelated subject, the question leads very naturally to a conversation about agency\/consultant marketing.<\/p>\n It\u2019s just a better way to open a sales conversation.<\/p>\n So, that\u2019s my first tip to help you open better sales conversations. Start by asking a binary question.<\/strong><\/p>\n Now let\u2019s move on to Tip #2, which is going to help cut down on the number of conversations with unqualified prospects.<\/p>\n And the way you do that is to throttle your conversations to filter out unqualified prospects.<\/strong><\/p>\n When it comes to conversational selling, particularly with on-page chat boxes, more is not necessarily better.<\/p>\n See, most companies put their online chat widget everywhere: on every single page, including the homepage, for every single visitor.<\/p>\n That will lead to way too many conversations with way too many unqualified prospects.<\/p>\n Instead, I recommend throttling your page-to-chat conversations. Be more strategic about when and where you choose to display your on-page chat widget so that you\u2019re starting higher-quality conversations with better-qualified leads.<\/p>\n And here are 4 ways you can do that:<\/p>\n Your homepage gets way too much general traffic.<\/p>\n When people come to your homepage, they aren\u2019t ready to have a sales conversation. Instead, they\u2019re just getting oriented to your site and trying to figure out where to go next. So, skip the homepage.<\/p>\n People often aren\u2019t ready to buy right away.<\/p>\n They need some time to learn more about your company and your product or service. So, don\u2019t try to rush things\u2014wait until they come back after a few visits and are ready to take the next step.<\/p>\n Separate your content into top-of-funnel (TOFU), middle-of-funnel (MOFU), and bottom-of-funnel (BOFU) content.<\/p>\n People viewing your TOFU content<\/a><\/u> aren\u2019t yet ready to buy; they\u2019re still getting acquainted with your product or service.<\/p>\n Instead, trigger your chat boxes on BOFU content that indicates the visitor is close to making a buying decision.<\/p>\n Examples of BOFU content includes individual product sales pages, trial or demo pages, pricing pages, and so on.<\/p>\n Another benefit of targeting bottom-of-funnel content is that the content can inform the conversation. For instance, if our visitors here at DigitalMarketer are visiting BOFU content about Facebook advertising, we might open a different conversation than we would with someone visiting BOFU content about Google Analytics.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Another way of targeting BOFU content is to trigger chat on the pages that people tend to visit just before and after converting.<\/p>\n Throttle your conversations to filter out unqualified prospects.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n Anyone visiting your pricing page is clearly considering a purchase. And anyone who visits a \u201cthank you\u201d page has just signed up for something, such as your mailing list\u2014which means they\u2019re often open to a conversation about making a bigger commitment with your company.<\/p>\n So, to recap, page-to-chat is a great way to open sales conversations with the traffic that\u2019s already coming to your website. And 2 tips you can follow to start better conversations with those people are:<\/p>\n OK, now we\u2019re going to jump to a new medium: email.<\/p>\n And to many of you, it might not seem like email is really a conversational marketing channel. After all, isn\u2019t email the same channel you use to blast out promos and deliver automated campaigns that never really involve any back-and-forth?<\/p>\n Well, yes. It is. But email can also be a really powerful way of opening sales conversations…if you\u2019re strategic about it.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a 3-step process you can use to generate high-quality sales conversations through email:<\/p>\n It might sound obvious, but the first step to using email to generate sales conversations\u2026<\/p>\n …is to attract the right email subscribers in the first place.<\/p>\n And to do that, I recommend using high-intent gated content. In other words, you ideally want the content attracting people to your email list to inform the conversation. To give you an idea about what that person is interested in.<\/p>\n So, at DigitalMarketer, we would NOT want to use gated content like: \u201cHow to be a better marketer.\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s way too general. It doesn\u2019t tell us anything about what that person wants, except that they want to be a better at marketing. Very vague and nonspecific.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a much better example of high-intent gated content that has worked very well for us in the past:<\/p>\n See how much more specific that is?<\/p>\n We know that the only reason someone would register for this is if they want to build an in-house marketing team.<\/p>\n So, the content itself is attracting the right kind of people for the sales conversation we ultimately want to have. And the content informs that conversation, so we know exactly what to talk about when we email them.<\/p>\n Most emails ask for a click. They want you to click through to a blog post, to a registration page, to a sales page.<\/p>\n But remember that email isn\u2019t just a one-way communication channel! We can also send emails that ask for a REPLY.<\/p>\n (Shocker.)<\/p>\n And if you want to use email to start a sales conversation, that\u2019s exactly what you need to do.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s an example of a few emails that do that, including my all-time favorite, \u201cthe magic 9-word email\u201d:<\/p>\n That 9-word email, in case you can\u2019t read it, is:<\/p>\n \u201cAre you still looking to grow your marketing team?\u201d<\/p>\n And you can use this formula for just about anything. The formula is: \u201cAre you still looking to,\u201d and then add the desired end result you know the person is after.<\/p>\n The frame of \u201cAre you still\u2026\u201d is a great way to open a conversation because it tells the person on the other side that you know exactly what it is that they want. (And you know this because of Step #1\u2014because you used specific, high-intent gated content.)<\/p>\n And if you do both of those things, you\u2019ll begin to open the right kind of conversations with people via email. And the final step is to…<\/p>\n Now that the conversation is rolling, all you have to do is keep it going!<\/p>\n It sounds like a simple thing, but it\u2019s actually becoming rare these days. Because so much email is purely automated, you\u2019ll stand out from the pack by simply being a human being and responding to people.<\/p>\n Your prospects notice that. And they appreciate it.<\/p>\n You can also use these conversations to increase sales<\/a><\/u> and even to sell different products!<\/p>\n For example, here\u2019s an email we received back from a prospect. In this email, the person wasn\u2019t a great fit for the service we were originally marketing\u2026<\/p>\n But because we started a conversation and listened to them, we were able to sign them up for a different service instead\u2014one that made more sense for them.<\/p>\n Tip: you can use email to open conversations in other channels, too.<\/em><\/p>\n Here\u2019s another example of an email we sent asking for a reply. And in this email, we gave people 3 ways to respond:<\/p>\n I was surprised at the results of this email.<\/p>\n The highest percentage of people (about 50%) chose to chat with us on Messenger. About 35-40% responded to the email, and 10-15% gave us a call.<\/p>\n So, remember that you don\u2019t have to view these channels in isolation. Use them together and give people the freedom to contact you in the way that\u2019s most comfortable for them.<\/p>\n The third and final way to open a conversation online is through an ad.<\/p>\n The first 2 conversation starters (page-to-chat and email-to-chat) were mostly about starting conversations with the traffic you\u2019re already getting. The people who are already on your website, already subscribed to your email list.<\/p>\n But once you reach the point where you\u2019ve maximized your sales conversations from the traffic you\u2019re already getting, you\u2019ll probably want to go out and start new <\/em>conversations with even more highly qualified prospects.<\/p>\n And a great way to do this is with Facebook ads<\/a><\/u>.<\/p>\n Facebook has 2 ad units that allow you to jump immediately into a conversation\u2014the person doesn\u2019t even have to visit your website at all.<\/p>\n And those 2 ad units are:<\/p>\n Lead ads give you a really easy way to build your subscriber list and start conversations with people through email.<\/p>\n This is a really low-friction way to start more email conversations at scale.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n To succeed with Lead Ads, you\u2019ll want to offer some type of high-intent gated content (see Conversation Starter #2 above).<\/p>\n And when people click on the button in the ad, they\u2019ll be prompted to enter their information:<\/p>\n Once they click \u201cSubmit,\u201d they\u2019ll be added to your email list and the conversation can begin. I recommend going back and following the strategy laid out for Conversation Starter #2.<\/p>\n This is a really low-friction way to start more email conversations at scale.<\/p>\n The other way to start a conversation straight from a Facebook ad is to use Facebook Messenger ads.<\/p>\n Facebook Messenger is one of the newest marketing channels, and it\u2019s growing really fast.<\/p>\n And with these new ads, now you can create Facebook ads that lead to an immediate Messenger conversation:<\/p>\n In most cases, you won\u2019t want this to trigger a live conversation right away. Instead, you\u2019ll start by letting people interact with your chatbot first.<\/p>\n I\u2019ll go into more detail on how we do this in just a minute.<\/p>\n If you follow my advice above, then you\u2019re going to succeed in starting a lot more conversations.<\/p>\n If you ask these 5 questions, it generally tends to result in a sale.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n So…now what?<\/p>\n The next step is to keep the conversation going.<\/p>\n Now you don\u2019t want to chat about just anything here; you want to lead the conversation in the direction of a sale. But at the same time, you want to make sure you do this in a way that feels natural, not forced, and helps build a relationship with the prospect.<\/p>\n At DigitalMarketer, we instruct our salespeople to do that by asking the following 5 critical questions. If you ask these 5 questions, it generally tends to result in a sale.<\/p>\n When used correctly, these questions will help you to have a \u201cwarm handoff\u201d\u2014an easy transition from conversational marketing to conversational selling.<\/p>\n Most often, this question is asked by marketing as part of the conversation opener.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a good way to start because it makes sure you\u2019re talking to the right person. Someone who\u2019s a good fit for your product or service.<\/p>\n You can also use this to subtly qualify your prospects. If you want to make sure you\u2019re talking to a decision-maker in a business, your question might be:<\/p>\n \u201cAre you a marketing manager looking for a better way to train your team?\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s great! Tell me more. Do you specialize? What do you do?<\/p>\n In this question, you\u2019re just digging a little deeper. Showing some genuine interest.<\/p>\n There\u2019s no ulterior motive. You aren\u2019t taking notes to segment these people for some kind of automated follow-up.<\/p>\n You\u2019re just taking a minute to learn a little more about them and have a normal human conversation.<\/p>\n Now we\u2019re starting to steer the conversation toward your desired end, the sale. And the best way to do that is to ask what they\u2019re hoping to achieve today.<\/p>\n Keep in mind, a lot of people won\u2019t necessarily have a great answer ready for this question. So, if that\u2019s the case, here\u2019s what I recommend.<\/p>\n Take the biggest 3 benefits that your company can provide to your customers, and list those benefits out. Then ask the person which of those benefits they\u2019re most interested in.<\/p>\n This gives them an easier way to answer this question and keep the conversation moving forward.<\/p>\n For example, when speaking to an agency prospect we might say:<\/p>\n \u201cHere at DigitalMarketer we\u2019re really good at helping agencies to (1) attract more clients, (2) scale and systematize their business, and (3) increase their retention and recurring revenue. Between those 3 things, is there 1 that really fits in with your goals?\u201d<\/p>\n Asking someone what they know about you is a great question that continues to help move the conversation forward. It\u2019s also a way you can discover hidden objections so you can overcome them.<\/p>\n So, for example, if they say something positive like, \u201cI\u2019ve heard great things about your product\u2026\u201d Then you can transition pretty seamlessly into the sale.<\/p>\n But if they say something negative, that\u2019s OK too! Because the fact that they\u2019re there, having that conversation with you, suggests that they\u2019re still open to being sold.<\/p>\n And now you have the opportunity to respond to that objection. If they mention that they\u2019ve heard bad things about your customer service, you could reply with: \u201cYeah, we\u2019ve had our growing pains in the past. Luckily, we\u2019ve got that all sorted out now, and we\u2019re in a great position to help you get more clients…\u201d<\/p>\n When you\u2019re asking this question, look for opportunities to refer back to those 3 big benefits from Question #3.<\/p>\n And once your prospect indicates that they want to achieve one of the big benefits that your product\/service\/company can provide\u2014once you know what they want<\/em>\u2014the last thing you need to do is ask:<\/p>\n This is the highest-converting close I\u2019ve ever used.<\/p>\n It\u2019s super simple. Really non-intimidating.<\/p>\n This is the highest-converting close I\u2019ve ever used.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n And if you\u2019ve followed along with Questions 1-4 already, then making the sale at this point should be pretty easy!<\/p>\n They want a benefit. You know what that benefit is. You also know that your product or service can provide that benefit.<\/p>\n So, at this point it just makes sense.<\/p>\n And if their answer is \u201cYes,\u201d then you\u2019ve made the sale!<\/p>\n Now that we\u2019ve covered the process of how to engineer high-converting sales conversations, here are a few more tips to help make this process even more effective.<\/p>\n Earlier in this post, I told you the 3 channels through which you can use conversational selling online:<\/p>\n For Channel #1, email, there are a ton of options and I\u2019m sure you\u2019re already familiar with them. MailChimp<\/a><\/u>, AWeber<\/a><\/u>, ActiveCampaign<\/a><\/u>, InfusionSoft<\/a><\/u>, etc. Take your pick.<\/p>\n For Channel #2, on-page chat, some of the tools you might want to check out are:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n And for Channel #3, Messenger chat, there\u2019s really only 1 tool I recommend:<\/p>\n One great thing about ManyChat is that you can get started for free. So, there\u2019s really no risk to giving this a try.<\/p>\n I originally presented this material on conversational selling in partnership with HubSpot.<\/p>\n And if you\u2019re looking for more training to help improve your ability to drive new leads and sales with an inbound strategy, I\u2019d recommend checking out HubSpot Academy<\/a><\/u>.<\/p>\n They put out some great training that is sure to help you grow your business and\/or take the next step forward in your career.<\/p>\n Lastly, I want to talk about chatbots for a minute.<\/p>\n You may be wondering if bots have a place in conversational selling, and if so, where they fit into the big picture.<\/p>\nHow Do People Converse Online? (AKA What Tools Should You Use?)<\/h2>\n
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How to Start a Conversation Online (Strategically)<\/h2>\n
Conversation Starter 1: Page to Chat<\/h3>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.digitalmarketer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/generate-sales-leads-img1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.digitalmarketer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/generate-sales-leads-img2.jpg\")
<\/p>\nAvoid the Homepage<\/h4>\n
Trigger Chat on the Third Visit\u00a0<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Trigger Chat on Bottom-of-Funnel Content Only<\/h4>\n
Trigger Chat on Pricing & \u201cThank You\u201d Pages\u00a0<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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Conversation Starter 2: Email to Chat<\/h3>\n
Step 1: Use High-Intent Gated Content<\/h4>\n
![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.digitalmarketer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/generate-sales-leads-img3.jpg\")
<\/p>\nStep 2: Send Emails That Ask For Replies (Not Clicks)\u00a0<\/strong><\/h4>\n
![\"3](\"https:\/\/www.digitalmarketer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/generate-sales-leads-img4.jpg\")
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Step 3: Actually Respond!\u00a0<\/strong><\/h4>\n
![\"Prospects](\"https:\/\/www.digitalmarketer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/generate-sales-leads-img5.jpg\")
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![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.digitalmarketer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/generate-sales-leads-img7.jpg\")
<\/p>\nConversation Starter 3: Ad to Chat<\/h3>\n
Lead Ads<\/h4>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.digitalmarketer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/generate-sales-leads-img8.jpg\")
<\/p>\nFacebook Messenger Ads\u00a0<\/strong><\/h4>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.digitalmarketer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/generate-sales-leads-img9.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe 5 Critical Questions that Lead to High-Converting Conversations<\/h2>\n
Question 1: \u201cAre you [insert market\/avatar]?\u201d<\/h3>\n
Question 2: \u201cTell me more about yourself\/your business.\u201d<\/h3>\n
Question 3: \u201cWhat brought you here today? What are your goals? What are you hoping to accomplish?\u201d<\/h3>\n
Question 4: \u201cWhat do you know about [your product\/company name]?\u201d<\/h3>\n
Question 5: \u201cDo you want some help with that?\u201d<\/h3>\n
3 Conversational Selling Tips<\/h2>\n
Tip 1: Try Out These Recommended Tools<\/h3>\n
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Tip 2: Check Out The Hubspot Academy<\/h3>\n
Tip 3: Leverage Chatbots<\/h3>\n
![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.digitalmarketer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/generate-sales-leads-img10.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.digitalmarketer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/generate-sales-leads-img11.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.digitalmarketer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/generate-sales-leads-img12.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.digitalmarketer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/generate-sales-leads-img13.jpg\")
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