Tell them what to do NEXT

November 14, 2016 by
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You run an ad. Write an article. Or give a talk. Whatever you do to push your name and message out into the world or into the hands of a prospective client, at the end, you should tell them what to do next.

Eventually, you want them to hire you. But it’s usually too early to tell them to do that.

If they’re sitting in the office with you after a free consultation and they need your services, yeah, tell them to “sign here”. Hiring you is the next step. The next step at the end of a presentation, article, email, or when you hand someone your business card, however, is different.

The next step might be to visit a webpage to get more information, access your report, fill out a form, sign up for your webinar, or subscribe to your newsletter. Or it might be to call your office to ask questions or to make an appointment. Whatever it is, that’s what you should tell them to do.

The right “call to action” will depend on:

  • The nature of their problem or objective
  • Their level of sophistication
  • Whether they already know and trust you/hired you before
  • What else they’ve read or heard from you or about you
  • Your offer or offers
  • And other factors

But it’s usually not “sign here”.

How do you know what’s best? You try different calls to action and track responses. You test and re-test to find which one brings the best response.

“Call for an appointment” vs. “Visit this page for more information”. “Download my free report” vs. “Download my free planning kit”. “Call my office to schedule a free consultation” vs. “Call my office for a free phone consultation”.

You can also offer more than one call to action to accommodate those who are further along in the buying process, that is, closer to making a hiring decision: “Call to schedule a free consultation” and “Visit this page to learn more about your rights”.

Tell people what to do next and you’ll get more people taking the next step.

How to talk to people about referrals

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Filed Under: Copywriting, Marketing legal services Tagged With:

The best way to end an email

August 26, 2014 by
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What’s the best way to end an email?

The same thing you do at the end of any closing argument, presentation, meeting, pleading, report, blog post, or other persuasive communication.

Tell the reader what to do.

Tell them to buy. Sign up. Click here. Remember these three things. Go here. Do this.

When you tell people what to do, more people do it.

Can’t they decide for themselves? Sure. And they will. You’re not forcing them to do anything, you’re just pointing the way. Instead of leaving things up in the air and asking the reader to figure out what you want, you’re telling them.

And guess what? People want you to tell them. The judge wants to know what you want. The audience wants to know what you’re selling. The client wants to know what you advise. When you tell people what to do, you’re making things easier for them.

Of course somewhere in your opus you should tell them why. You have to back up your call to action with some substance. Tell them how they benefit, why it’s the right decision, what will happen if they don’t.

The call to action doesn’t literally have to be the last thing you say. You could tell them what to do and follow that with a memorable quote, a short story, or additional bullet points in support of your request. But don’t walk off the stage or sign your letter until you’ve told them what to do next.

You’re not in the entertainment business, you’re in the persuasion business. Do your job. Tell people what to do, and why.

Like this:

If you want to get more clients and increase your income, go to this page and buy everything.

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Filed Under: Closing the sale, Communication, Copywriting, Writing Tagged With:

Attorney advertising: don’t let this happen to you

September 25, 2013 by
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The other night I heard a radio commercial for a tax attorney. Not a “tax resolution” firm that does offers in compromise, a regular tax firm. At least that’s the way it was presented.

This was during “drive time” on a station that probably has many hundreds of thousands of listeners. Drive time radio is expensive, especially on a show with a big audience. How many listeners have a tax problem and can afford to hire an attorney?

I’m sure the attorney doesn’t need many clients to pay for the ads and turn a profit. But why not advertise on a Sunday “investor” show? Small audience, but much more likely to need a tax attorney. And the cost of that kind of show is a fraction of the cost of a “drive time” ad buy.

Anyway, I’m listening to the ad, waiting for the call to action. Now if you were running expensive ads on drive time radio, what would you want as the call to action?

You would want to offer a free report, wouldn’t you? So you could build a list of people who aren’t sure they need an attorney and need more information. A list of people who don’t have a tax problem right now but think they might soon.

Yep, that’s what you’d want. You are an attorney advertising genius.

But not this attorney.

This attorney made the same mistake most attorneys do in their ads. The call to action was to have listeners call the attorney’s office to make an appointment. (I don’t remember if he was offering a free consultation.)

The ad never mentioned the attorney’s web site. No “free report”. No way for the attorney to generate leads of prospective clients so he could stay in touch with them.

Call or don’t call. Those were the options.

Of course there’s nothing wrong with telling people to call for an appointment. But don’t make that the only option. Reach out to the “maybes” and get them into your marketing funnel. Build a list of prospective clients. Some of them are going to need your services at some point and you want to be “in their minds and their mailboxes” when they do.

One more thing. If you’re driving home from work and hear a radio commercial, what’s easier to remember a phone number or a website?

Exactly.

Anyone who advertises today and doesn’t include a website is really missing the boat.

You don’t have to advertise, but you do need a website. Find out what to do here.

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Filed Under: Advertising, Copywriting, List building, Marketing legal services, Online Marketing, Web traffic Tagged With: , , , ,