Why do people normally buy your products? Do you know what motivated them to buy or if they will buy again? In this post, I’m sharing all my secrets on how to lead your customers to buy your products. In other words, the secrets on how to find out what your customer journey map looks like and the power that comes when knowing that journey.
There are three things you need to know before you can know which customer journey map will work best for your business. Those three things are what type of products you sell, when you sell them, and where you will take your people.
Knowing the answer to these three questions and deciding on the customer journey map that works best for your business will help you optimize your opportunity to lead your customers to buy your products. Now, if you haven’t been following along in my Money Maker Method series, “Optimize Your Opportunity” is level two of the series. Scroll to the bottom of this post to find the previous posts within the Money Maker Method. All of it is so good in helping you make more money for your business and I don’t want you to miss it!
How to Lead Your Customers to Buy Your Products
OK, back to the three questions I mentioned earlier. These three questions may seem very basic, but it’s important to take the time to answer them and be mentally aware of where you’re at and where you are headed.
Question #1: What are you selling?
What is the product(s) you sell? There are four different kinds of products:
- Physical Product
- This is anything where you have to physically package and ship it, or sell it in a storefront. For example, clothes, plants, etc.
- Digital Product
- This includes anything that can only be purchased online and obtained through an electronic device. For example, online courses, subscriptions, etc.
- Services
- This type of product is mainly used by photographers, graphic designers, and the like. It’s someone paying you for your skills rather than a physical product you can give to them.
- Influence
- This type of product is more common today than it has ever been. This is when influencers on social media advertise specific products and encourage their followers to buy that same product. That is them selling their influence. Influencers make their money by using affiliate links and forming partnerships with certain businesses. When they influence someone to buy a product, they earn a portion of that revenue.
I personally sell all four types of products, so I want you to know you can take advantage of all of these options for your business. Think about what products you sell now and which category they fall under. Now, we can move on to the next question.
Question #2: When do you sell it?
How often do you sell your products? How often would it make sense to sell your products? There are several different timelines that would work best depending on the type of product you sell. For example, one of my clients sells clothes, so she’s constantly selling her products. On the other hand, if you sell an online course or some type of program, maybe it makes more sense for you to sell your product once or twice a year.
Question #3: Where are you taking your people?
Products are such a core part of your business. Not only do your products make you money, but they are the tool that solves your person’s problem. In other words, your customer has a problem and your product is the solution.
I like to think of this scenario as your customer being on one side of a river, and you/your business are on the other side, and your product is the bridge to get them there. Think about where your product will take your customer and what their end result looks like.
3 Types of Customer Journey Maps
Now that you’ve answered the three questions that help you know how to lead your customer to buy your products, you’re ready to learn about the 3 types of customer journey maps.
I used to think there was only one customer journey. It’s the most common one and the one that all of you have probably heard of. It’s the Value Ladder. While I still use that one, there are two others I created that help includes every type of business owner that I’ve coached and counseled with. They are Flow of Influence and Purchase Pattern. Let’s jump into what each one means and which one will work best for your business.
Customer Journey Map #1: Flow of Influence
The Flow of Influence refers to people coming to you very often to buy what you talk about. This customer journey map mostly applies to influencers who use affiliates. I have a couple of recommendations to make this customer journey most effective for your business:
- Share your story as much as you can. Get your audience really involved in the type of content that you want to talk about. Try to find that key partnership you want to have with a certain product/business and be known for that one.
- Choose some core affiliate partnerships that work best for you. People will start associating you with those products which will make you more memorable and sharable. Do lots of tutorials and videos with those products–create a strong relationship between you and the product and the business that makes the product.
If you follow these two pieces of advice you’ll see an increase in your followers and in your income. If you especially focus on that core affiliate partnership, you’ll have opportunities to strengthen that relationship. Maybe instead of just earning money from affiliate links, you can get to the point of having a coupon code with that company. This would definitely be a step up and help you become more well known.
Customer Journey Map #2: Purchase Pattern
This Purchase Pattern customer journey map is when you have products that people buy regularly and/or are released in a pattern or cycle. For example, if you’re a photographer maybe your focus is family photos for Christmas. While you may do photo shoots throughout the year, you’ll know your main product is sold every year around the same time.
This purchase pattern could be weekly, monthly, quarterly, or once or twice a year. Again, it depends on the type of product you sell. This customer journey map is for the businesses that sell the same type of product over and over again. For instance, this one would not be the most ideal choice for my business because mine is more of moving up to the next level where I add value each time you move up–which brings me to the third customer journey map.
Customer Journey Map #3: Value Ladder
The value ladder is where your customer moves up the ladder, gaining more value each time she moves up. Each step on the ladder represents a level of the value. I’ll use my business as an example:
- Step #1: Free content. (podcast, social media, blog)
- Step #2: Low-cost product (my Money Makers coaching group)
- Step #3: Higher prices item (one-on-one coaching call with me)
- Step #4: Highest priced item (hiring me/my agency to help with your marketing strategy)
So, you can see how I’m adding more value each time my customer moves up the ladder, therefore it’s more money for each step as well. This customer journey map works best for creators or coaches, but can also translate to several types of businesses.
So, instead of asking myself how do I keep my customers buying my product (like I would ask myself for the other two types of customer journey maps) I would ask, how do I keep my customer moving up the ladder?
How to Lead Your Customers to Buy Your Products
I know this was a lot of information at once, but remember to take things at your own pace. I know you are meant to be here and if you feel called to do your business, I want to do everything I can to help you succeed. These are just the basics of how to lead your customers to buy your products. Imagine what more you could learn if you had access to my Money Makers Community.
I’d LOVE to have you join me. You can start by texting “money maker” to 951-309-7885. Or, you can join my Money Makers coaching group to get the entire experience. It’s never been more affordable and I know if you’re serious about growing your business this is the place to be. Check out what all my Money Makers group includes here.
Follow me on Instagram @iammichellegifford to be the first to know about the next steps of the Money Maker Method. As promised, here’s the list of the steps we’ve covered so far:
(You can also check out my podcast here where I share my biz tips and secrets every Tuesday!)
- Introduction to the Money Maker Method: 5 Steps to Making More Money for your Business
- Level 1 | Make Your Mark: How to Find Your Why and How it Will Change Your Business
- Level 1 | Make Your Mark: The Top 4 Secrets to a Solid Brand Message
- Level 1 | Make Your Mark: 5 Steps to Creating a Killer Visual Brand
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