As a speaker, trainer or salesperson, one challenge you may face is: How do you effectively promote what you’re offering when your audience senses you are biased?

The answer: By using testimonials.

There are many ways to effectively use testimonials in a sales presentation. The two I recommend are live or written.

How to use LIVE testimonials effectively:

There’s nothing more persuasive than hearing a third party—who has nothing to gain—share from the heart about the benefits received from your product or service. You can’t buy that kind of press!

The only caveat is that human beings are unpredictable and you may not know what they will say, so I recommend using live testimonials with caution.

It’s typically difficult for people to share their success stories without including details that can confuse an audience, consume a lot of time and potentially give away some of your trade secrets in a way that may sound strange without the proper context.

Here are my secrets to making the best of live testimonials - for those of you who like to live on the wild side!

Two Important Practices for Using Live Testimonials:

1. Call on people you know and trust who you’ve heard share before.
2. Make sure to frame the question so you get what you’re looking for.

Call on people you know

In many cases, a happy client will come up to you in the beginning of the event and share something amazing… something you would love for the whole audience to hear.

It’s completely appropriate to say to that person, “Wow, Michelle. It would make such a difference for the people in attendance tonight to hear what you just shared with me. Later this evening, would you be willing to share again how in only two weeks, you tripled your income and feel more energy than you have in 15 years? And, if you’re comfortable, please share the specifics about having tripled your earnings from $1,000 to $3,000 a week.”

Frame the question

Now for the critical part.

Make sure you frame the question so you get the answer you’re looking for and so the person speaking stays on track.

For example, prior to Michelle’s testimonial you would say, “Speaking of tripling your income, as I walked in this evening a recent graduate of our program shared something exciting with me. Where is Michelle? Michelle, I don’t mean to put you on the spot, but would you be willing to share what you told me in the hall about how much your income has increased in the last two weeks and about the increase in energy you’ve been experiencing?”

The key is to remind Michelle what she is supposed to share so she stays on track. It really works and it helps the person sharing to feel more directed and comfortable. They want to help you and are happy to help in the way you request.

To learn more about Lisa, her products and consulting services, visit www.theinvisibleclose.com.

Ever find yourself in a situation where you’ve been asked by an interested prospect for a price quote, a bid or simply for your rates? You quote them and then you don’t hear from them for a while?

Isn’t it crazy making, trying to figure out when and if you should follow up? And if you’ve already followed up, how long should you wait until you call again?

It reminds me of the awkwardness that comes along with dating in college!

So, how do you avoid this cycle of pursuit as a salesperson?

Here’s a success story from a recent client who discovered the beauty of presenting clients with ‘a small window of opportunity.’

Sarah’s Sales Success:

Sarah works for an HR outsourcing company, which is an external Human Resources department that small companies can use to handle their HR functions.

When I met Sarah, she would make an initial sales call to an interested prospect, work with them to obtain the detailed information she needed to present them with a bid, then give them the bid and proceed to follow up with them until she got a signed contract or became convinced they were blowing her off.

She was always in pursuer mode, constantly wondering when to make the next follow-up call or send the next e-mail. It was exhausting and not good for her morale.

With each bid she presented, she had the ability to discount an initial set-up fee of a few thousand dollars in order to close deals. After a few weeks of receiving no response from a prospect, she would call or email them with a reduced set-up fee and then go back to the waiting game that the pursuer plays.

To shift Sarah from Pursuer to Partner, we created the following approach, which she now uses very successfully:

Sarah began to present the initial bid with the full priced set-up fee and then would tell the prospect, “Because our underwriting department is running very efficiently right now, I have a small window of opportunity to offer you a substantial savings off your set-up fee. Are you interested?”

Of course, they say, “Yes.”

Then she would say, “If you are in a position to move forward today, I can get your underwriting done very quickly and save you $1,500 on your set-up fee. If today doesn’t work for you, but you can move forward by Friday, I can save you $900 on your set-up fee. What I need from you if you’d like to take advantage of this is your signature on page 1 and 3 of the Getting Started Contract and a scheduled appointment time for our New Client Orientation Meeting. Remember, there is no pressure to do this, it’s just an opportunity that came across my desk this morning and I wanted to pass it on to you. The total bid price I gave you is still very competitive and good for 30 days. What do you think will work best for you?”

Keys to moving from pursuer to partner:

• Use the words, “I have a small window of opportunity”
• Share an authentic and convincing reason that you have this window to offer them savings
• Establish a timeframe
• Communicate “What I need from you”
• Identify the next action· Apply no pressure
• The ball is in their court.

You can also use this approach for bids you have already placed and would like to close.

Call up your prospect and say, “Hi, Mr. Roberts. This is Lisa from XYZ Company. I gave you an HR outsourcing bid a few weeks ago. I have a small window of opportunity to offer you substantial savings on your project, but I need to hear back from you by tomorrow at 3:00 pm. Please give me a call at xxx-xxx-xxxx if you’re interested in the details. In your case, it could mean thousands of dollars.”

To learn more about Lisa, her products and consulting services, visit www.theinvisibleclose.com.

And remember to Save the Date on September 11th. I’ve got something great in store for you!

I recently had the opportunity to work with a brilliant man who owned a first-class cosmetic laser business. A majority of their clientele were affluent women seeking to non-surgically minimize the effects of aging. They offered everything from non-surgical facelifts to laser hair removal.

He was looking for ways to increase sales conversion at his live introductory events. For many years he had been inviting small groups of women to come in for an educational presentation about the wonders of lasers. At the end he would offer special packages to thank them for attending and to encourage them to become a client.

One thing I noticed right away was that the Special Offers were not limited to ‘Tonight Only’. He was giving women a full week to take advantage of the offers. Because of this, he was giving away a lot at his free event, wasn’t selling very much that night, and was causing his staff to spend a lot of time following up.

I proposed that we make the Special Offers available ‘Tonight Only’.

As happens quite often, I met some resistance. He didn’t want his potential clients to feel pressured. So we came up with a two step approach that satisfied everyone and caused the sales breakthrough we were looking for.

The ‘Two Step’ Irrresistible Offer

Let me start by saying, I LOVE THIS!

We designed a few Irresistible Offers that were very compelling and gave tons of additional value at a great price and we made those offers available for a whole week after the event.

Then, we added An Additional Delight for those who were ready to get started right away. They could “Buy Tonight” and receive an additional $750 of specified laser services.

Why did this approach work so well?

• It acknowledged the attendees by presenting them with Special Offers.
• Those who needed to sleep on it could have a week to do so and still get some great deals.
• And those who were ready now got a huge additional benefit.

Even more important:

1. It allowed the owner to relax and say to women exactly what was true for him: “There is no pressure here. We want you to do exactly what’s right for you. If you want to think about it, just get back to us within a week and you can take advantage of some fabulous packages. If you’re ready tonight, we’re happy to get you started and offer you the Additional Delight.”
2. The prospects then put the pressure on themselves to decide if having a week to think about it was worth more to them than the $750 of additional bonuses they get if they buy that evening.

It was glorious to see the owner able to relax and focus on taking care of people as a laser expert, rather than needing to be a salesman. As a result, we got our event conversion average up to 57%.

The women left thrilled with their packages in hand, the owner prospered financially and emotionally, and I was fulfilled in seeing The Invisible Close do its magic once again!

To learn how you can get a copy of ”The Invisible Close eBook” FREE, or to learn more about Lisa, her products and consulting services, visit www.theinvisibleclose.com, or stay tuned for next month’s Sales Nugget and discover what can happen when you create a small window of opportunity.

When service professionals start working on crafting Irresistible Offers in hopes of closing more business, it’s very common for them to start thinking about giving discounts or giving away free products and services to entice prospects to buy. In other words, they start with the question, “What would make this offer Irresistible to my prospects?”

Allow me to offer a different perspective. Looking from the big picture, Irresistible Offers are a tool for growing company sales. Thus, wouldn’t it be wise to back up and start with the questions, “What are my sales goals?” In particular, “What are the areas of my business I would like to expand?”

Based on that, design offers that funnel new clients toward the areas you want to expand.

For example, if they come to you for a facial, and you have a new skincare line you would like sell more of, create an offer that gives them a Skincare Starter Kit ($49 Value) if they schedule and pay for a three facial package today.

Your goal of expanding skincare line sales is in action as you’ve opened the door to discussing ongoing product use at your next appointment, you secured three more prepaid facials which puts cash in your pocket and keeps your client dedicated to you, and your client enjoys the value you’ve added to his/her life by trying the Starter Kit. Everybody wins!

For 96 more ways to get results without being ’salesy’, or to learn more about Lisa, her products and consulting services, visit www.theinvisibleclose.com or stay tuned for next month’s Sales Nugget which answers the question, “How can I make a ‘Today Only’ offer without pressuring my prospects?”

What a thrill! Two days after launching the first issue of my ezine I got an email asking me to be on Inside Arizona Business that Friday. After reviewing my bio and a description of my topic, they called me back and told me I’d be the TOP STORY! Then, as if I wasn’t already levitating, they contacted me and asked me if I wanted to make an Irresistible Offer to their viewers! Had I died and gone to heaven. When does this happen?!!

So here’s my “7 minutes in Heaven”: http://www.insidearizonabusiness.com/player-new.asp?ID=257

I could get used to this!

When presenting special offers from the stage, I generally recommend having two or three clearly outlined packages to choose from. A magical thing happens when you offer a choice of packages versus just one; Your prospects get the opportunity to shop!

The other amazing thing that happens is you are instantly transformed into a consultant instead of a salesperson. With only one offering there is always the looming, unspoken question in the air…“Are you going to buy?”

When you offer a choice, you can very comfortably ask, from a consultative place, “Which package seems like the best fit for you?”

This approach is very powerful in direct sales situations as well. For example, I recently worked with a graphic designer who used to give clients a bid for the logo work they wanted. She knew that after a logo, most people need letterhead, business cards and about ten other things. We restructured her bids so that instead, she presented three packages to choose from; the logo alone, plus two other packages that offered the option to save money by getting multiple needed items at the same time. She was thrilled to offer this savings because she saved a ton of time by creating multiple items in one sitting.

Needless to say, her closing ratio soared and she loved her new Invisible Close of consultatively asking, “Which package looks like the best fit for you?”

For 96 more ways to get results without being ‘salesy’, or to learn more about Lisa, her products and consulting services, visit www.theinvisibleclose.com or stay tuned for next month’s Sales Nugget on Where to Start When Designing Irresistible Offers. You may be shocked to learn that most people approach it backwards!