How to Sell a Complex Service, Part 4

I’m going to show you the simplest, most effective thing you can do to sell a complex service.

This final tactic will consolidate all the groundwork you’ve been laying down in parts 1, 2 and 3.

You’ll turn your best ideas and your best ammunition into a treasury of evergreen content that you can use to answer any objection, and overcome any marketing obstacle. Do this once, and you’ll be set for years.

You’ll be able to use this treasure trove ubiquitously, systematically, with very little effort, no matter what happens in the world.

Different social media platforms will come and go (remember MySpace?). Algorithms will change.

But as long as you have a solid backbone of core marketing messages, you’ll calmly make a few minor adjustments while most business owners are running around in circles, gasping for breath, just wishing someone would come along and remove their head from their shoulders.

Let’s get started!

First, you’re going to make a list of all the questions and objections your prospects normally have. Anything you find yourself explaining at least once a month goes on this list. Anything you wish you had the opportunity to explain at least once a month goes on the list.

Be sure to include any common myths or misconceptions that keep prospects from doing business with you, or make them hesitate to follow your recommendations.

Have you got a good, solid list? Awesome!

Next, you’re going to attack each of these points, one at a time.

Amplify Your Content from Gandalf to Uber

As you go through your list, we’re going to apply everything from parts 1, 2, and 3.

Do you remember in part one, how I helped Gandalf? That’s what we’re going to do now. As you answer each issue on your list, ask the magic words: “So what?”

This time, your answer should be more than just an explanation. You should identify something specific your clients will gain. If your FAQ is about bridge loans, your answer should be phrased as the benefit to the client: “How to buy a new house before you sell your current home.”

When you’ve done this, every single item on your list will be rephrased as a specific benefit to your clients. You should tell a client, for example, exactly why they need a bridge loan and what it will accomplish for them.

It may take you a few hours over several days to get this work done. But it’s going to be well worth the effort. This alone will put you among the leaders in your field. You’ll gain a lot of clarity about who you are, what you do, and why you do it.

You’ll probably also come up with a bunch of new ideas to grow, enhance, and improve your business.

Stop here, and you’re already in a winning position. But we’re not anywhere near being done yet.

Wake up your market!

You want your client to get a good night’s sleep, because you’ve taken away all their worries and cares. But you don’t want to put them to sleep with a long list of benefits.

Remember in Part 2, when we looked at how to engage people? We’re going to do that now, by telling them a story.

This may take some time, but maybe each week you could come up with just one story for one of the issues on your list. In a few months you’ll probably cover them all.

And here’s a bonus tip for you: If you don’t have a true story you can tell, just come up with an analogy. How is your business like “Game of Thrones”? Why is doing business with you like ordering a pizza? What great event in sports is just like a typical day at the office for you?

How do you do it?

Before we move on, let’s go through a quick checklist.

Have you made an exhaustive list of all the questions, objections, complications and misunderstandings that stand between you and a sale? Check.

Did you address each one by stating specifically how a client benefits from your service in each situation? Check.

Have you written a story for each benefit, in a way that clearly shows what the benefit is/does? Check.

Awesome! We’re almost done. But there’s one more thing you need to do.

Anyone can tell a story. Some of your rivals are already doing it. But you’re going to stand out from all those commoners by going one step further. You’re going to gain instant credibility and prove that you can do what you promise.

In Part 3, we talked about what you can do if your business is not an exciting new innovation. If you’re just another cement manufacturer, you need to share an interesting tidbit about the process. Even if every cement manufacturer does the same thing, you’ll stand out because you were the first one to describe it.

So now, as you go through your master list of questions and answers, as you tell each story, I’m asking you to do one more thing. Follow what we talked about in Part 3, and for each benefit, explain specifically how you’re going to give them that benefit.

If you’re really good, you’ll weave this last part into your story, for a tight and convincing argument against doing business with anyone but you.

Putting all these ideas into use

If you’ve followed everything I’ve shown you, you have a very powerful document. Maybe even a whole collection of documents, organized into different categories and folders.

You’ve now got a well-thought-out treasure of responses to anything a prospect might ask you, anything that might make them think twice about working with you.

What are you going to do with all these stories and tidbits? Pretty much anything and everything.

You’ve done the hard part. Now you can easily work each big nugget into a blog post or a video. Put together several related stories and make a presentation or a book. Design an online class. Offer an ebook as clickbait to get prospects to opt-in to your mailing list. Release each one as a Facebook post or a tweet.

Or all of the above.

The next time someone asks you why they would ever be interested in a 1031 exchange, you can tell them, “Glad you asked. I made a 2-minute video that will show you how a 1031 exchange works and help you decide if it’s right for you. Have you got 2 minutes? I’ll text you the link.”

You’ve just created a valuable asset for your business, something bloggers call your epic or keystone content. I call it your Backbone, and it’s the core of Backbone Marketing. It’s at the center of what I do for my clients.

I hope you’re brimming with ideas now. If you’re ready, I can help you optimize and maximize the reach and effect of your backbone marketing.

In the next post, I’m going to give you 37 ways to use your Backbone content.