Tweet

Transitioning to Your Offer Without Being Sleasy

Guest post by: Lisa Sasevich

Article Overview: In the body of your talk you've been planting seeds, using stories to illustrate your bullet points, and in your last bullet, your transition bullet, is where you start to illustrate how your program will benefit your audience. For example, your transition bullet might be "How you can turn today's information into a lasting transformation." Or it might be a bullet covering "Training, Tools and Ongoing Support." In my own Signature Talk, which leads to my offer of my

Transitioning to Your Offer Without Being Sleasy

Let's face it. Transitions of all kinds can be challenging. It requires finesse to shift fluidly from one thing to the next. And for many of you heart-centered entrepreneurs, transitioning from your talk to your offer feels especially difficult. You don't want to go from being a beloved teacher and provider of education to a dreaded "salesperson." And so you shy away from your offer or come off as apologetic, telegraphing, "Bear with me, I'm about to do the sales part now."

Or, you shift gears so rapidly from a tone of contribution to a "salesy" space that your audience is left spinning and confused.

Is it any wonder that your sales are not what they could be?

Here's the good news. It doesn't have to be that way. You really can remain the same beloved teacher throughout your presentation AND make sales. The key is transitioning smoothly to your offer, so that it feels like a natural extension of the valuable education you've been providing all along.

Here to help you do that are two secrets, taken directly from my "Speak-to-Sell Formula," for creating your own smooth transition:

1. Use a transition bullet

In the body of your talk you've been planting seeds, using stories to illustrate your bullet points, and in your last bullet, your transition bullet, is where you start to illustrate how your program will benefit your audience. For example, your transition bullet might be "How you can turn today's information into a lasting transformation." Or it might be a bullet covering "Training, Tools and Ongoing Support." In my own Signature Talk, which leads to my offer of my "Speak-to-Sell Boot Camp" I use the transition bullet, "How you can create your own personalized Signature Talk and Irresistible Offers." This leads me seamlessly into outlining my Signature Talk Formula and naturally inviting them into my "Speak-to-Sell" program.

2. Share success stories / case studies / testimonials

To make the leap to invest in themselves through you, your audience needs to believe that your program will do what you say it will. Testimonials provide that social proof.

When you're sharing testimonials, it's very effective to use them to illustrate specific aspects of your offer. For instance, either live or in written form, your client Sheila can talk about how using your program she got her office organized and saved three hours a week, which she now uses to market her business. Or Karen can say how your program helped her rekindle her 20-year marriage.

The beauty of that is later, when you're walking the audience through your offer, you don't have to explain it all in detail again. All you do is remind the audience about the powerful outcome that Sheila or Karen experienced. That ultimately creates a smoother transition to your offer, as well as making it lively and shorter.

Also, at the very end, you're not rushing to create value for something that the audience has never heard of before. They've not only heard of it, but they're on the edge of their seat, anxious to experience the same transformation for themselves.

And because you've remained the same giving person throughout your presentation, they're much more likely to trust that you will do the same if they invest with you.

Related Articles
  Transitioning New Employees Into the Workplace with Employee Mentoring Programs
  3 Ways to Start Positioning and Stop Marketing
  Recruiting America's Military Elite to Lead Your Organization
  What To Do When You Feel Insecure
  A Successful Sales Model: The Key to Franchisee Success
  Will Salespeople Take a Straight Commission Job?
  How a business transition plan enhances selling your business
  The Infinite Loop to Nowhere
  Find Franchise Success with Connecting...Not Selling
  How To Hit The Clutch Shots
  Situational Delegating
  How Your Story and the Stories Your Clients Tell Will Help Your Business
  Business strategy is to save resources - Outsource Accounting Function
  Promoting New Managers? Tell Them What to Expect
  Work/Life Balance Tips to Keep You Sane
  The Transition Suspicion: How Ready Are Your New Leaders?
  Talent Development and The Wheel of Becoming
  Advertising: Free Samples For Retail Shops
  My Own Worst Enemy
  Repent! The End Is Near!

Article Tags: audience, ongoing support, planting seeds, signature, transitioning



Related Forum Posts
Re: Ideas on Using Twitter for Business - I would like to add: Provide support through Twitter Offer giveaways + contests
Re: Surveys show more and more customers are cutting costs - Adapt and adjust. Offer coupons, deals and specials. If people think they are getting a good deal they will buy even in a tough economy.
Show the Benefits - Offer a free test drive of the Product or Service with a Money Back Guarantee - Take the Risk out. This will help them make the decision but you have to work with them to realize it by explicitly state the benefits they are receiving.
Re: Ideas on Using Twitter for Business - As some of you may or may not know. I've been following EvanCarmichael authors on Twitter for about 2 months now, and I've gain some insights I'd like to share: 1) Go easy on automation and be human! 2) Use @ messages to build relationships and start conversations. 3) Offer your customers value up front for following you. (limited time promotions etc.) 4) Listen, listen, listen! A few people who I think really use their Twitter well: Paul Kedrosky (@pkedrosky), Guy Kawasaki (@GuyKawasaki), Cori Padget (@k0zm0zs0ul) etc.
Re: Link Building Tactics - Here is a list of link building tactics to consider: * Build and host useful tools * Offer testimonials on complimentary services * Widgets (and submit them to directories) * Cross link web sites that you own * Write reviews * Promote content on social news sites * Article Distribution * Submit Blog & RSS Feed to Directories * Directory Submissions * Ads on search friendly sites * Sponsor newsletters archived to the web * Job listings * Forum Signatures * Classified Ads


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Emotional Intelligence in Business

3 Key Factors For Raising Capital

Providing Feedback

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.