11 “God-Mode” Sales Strategies to Close 481%+ More High-Ticket Sales
Ladies and gentlemen...
There is one thing you need to know about business in this life.
And that is this:
“Coffee's for closers.”...
And of course:
“ABC: A = Always, B = Be, C = Closing—ALWAYS BE CLOSING!”...
Those iconic lines come from the movie “Glengarry Glen Ross.”
In one scene, a successful salesman gives a brutal lecture to a group of failing real estate salesmen.
He teaches them what working in sales really means and scolds them for their lack of sales.
But why so much emotion and fist-pumping around said topic?
Because having the right sales strategy can make or break your business.
Because cash is the lifeblood of any business. It’s like its oxygen.
And without sales to bring in that cash, the company starves.
But! That’s why I put together this invaluable resource with top, proven strategies to help your business sell more high-ticket products and services.
Face it, we both know that selling high-ticket products and services like yours is completely different from selling, say, a $20 bottle of hand lotion.
That’s why in this article, you’ll learn...
- How there’s a lot more consideration and education required when buying high-ticket products or services.
- Why potential buyers’ timelines to decide are often longer.
- And, most valuable of all, the 11 proven-to-convert sales strategies to close more high-ticket products and services sales.
Now let’s review these strategies and turn your business into a sales machine!
Sales Strategy #1—Skyrocket Your Lead Quality by Nudging Leads to Watch an On-Demand Demo Video
When it comes to selling your high-ticket products or services, asking questions isn’t the only way to qualify your leads.
Including an on-demand demo video on your landing page(s) is a proven strategy that manufactures quality leads.
It happened to us in 2016 when we used to invite prospects to book a free consultation. Then, we added a CTA to watch a 20-minute demo video, and we saw a huge 481% increase.
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Yes. This small tweak translated into a massive 481% increase, 481%!
And the same thing happened to Gocardless.com.
They changed their CTA button from “Request a Demo” to “Watch”, making it clear that visitors could watch their demo video whenever they wanted to.
And that one simple change on the copy increased product demo conversions by 139%.
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After…
This case study proves that people are lazy. They don't want to be sold on the phone. They prefer watching a video because it’s more convenient for them.
Adding a demo video on your website helps you qualify leads and filter out the bad ones even before you get on the phone.
Hubspot points out that more than 1 in 5 salespeople report that qualifying a lead is actually the biggest challenge in their job.
And this is especially important because skyrocketing your lead quality brings you 3 big benefits:
- It Saves You Time: Following up on a bad lead is a waste of time. And your time is precious. You don’t want to spend 45 minutes on a call where there’s zero chance that this lead is going to be a good fit. Am I right?
- A More Qualified Lead Is Easier to Close: The more a prospect knows about your products or services, the easier it is to sell them on it.
- Selling Too Early Can Hurt Your Long-Term Relationship: When a prospect is on the phone with you, they’re looking to get the information they need before buying your product or service. But if they aren’t ready to buy and you hit them with your sales pitch, they’re more likely to never return again.
And having a demo video for potential customers who visit your website, can actually:
- Answer Obvious Questions: A demo video gives you the opportunity to explain your products or services, how they work, and the benefits they can bring to your customers. The more questions you can answer for them, the easier it will be for your prospects to buy.
- Add an Extra Layer of Personality: This is the perfect moment where you’ll show the face of your company. By doing this, you’ll create a connection with prospects. Because as research shows, using real human faces on your landing page(s) can increase conversion.
- Drive Engagement: People love videos. In fact, Hubspot’s data shows that most people pay close attention to videos and that 45% of the people surveyed watch one hour or more a week of video content on different platforms like Facebook and YouTube.
We have a highly-visible on-demand demo video on our website that our site’s visitors can watch whenever they want to learn more about our service.
It shows how watching this demo video will answer our site’s visitors most common questions. And it’s followed by a clear CTA button to watch it.
And this is actually a great place for you to capture your prospect’s contact information. Add this step in case you want to follow up with them later in the process if they don’t convert into customers right away.
And finally, prospects are taken to the on-demand video landing page where they can click “play,” watch the video, and get their questions answered.
And there’s another great case study about how powerful having an on-demand demo video on your website can be for your conversions.
There was a car company that rented out limos and other types of cars to corporations.
They would drive people to a landing page to try to generate leads.
Their original CTA was to get people to opt in for a demo.
They A/B tested it against another offer, which was for a 5-minute free demo video.
They can watch it right online, and there’s no obligation to get on the phone.
What was the result of that?
Well, they saw a 15X increase in the overall conversion rate in terms of the number of leads that they were generating.
This worked because it was a big structural change, meaning that for the prospective customer, the experience was completely different.
It was a different offer and it spoke to their needs, which was that a lot of people don’t want to waste their time getting on the phone just to get the information they need.
They don’t want to get on the phone with someone if, ideally, they can get the information from the website.
So the bottom line is, get better quality leads with an on-demand demo video on your site.
Sales Strategy #2—Price Anchor, But Also… Actually Tell Them the Price! (Here’s Why...)
Price anchoring is a specific and especially powerful persuasion tactic.
You can use it to better convey the value of your product or service and/or make it appear more affordable, so that the price point is more persuasive.
A price anchor is basically an initial price point that you set for a similar product before you reveal your price tag.
This is something that you can include in your landing pages, emails, retargeting ads—wherever you want to.
You see, people tend to fear that they’re going to be duped by fraud. Especially when they’re in front of a $1,000+ worth product or service.
They’re worried that the value of an expensive item just won’t live up to its high price tag.
And when you’re selling them high-ticket items, you need to make that fear disappear.
How? With price anchoring.
Price anchoring softens that blow of even the most high-priced products and services by comparing your much more affordable item to an even more expensive product.
The contrast then makes it seem like they’re getting away with a deal.
So be upfront. Don’t hide your price tag. Don’t make it difficult for people to find it on your website. And certainly don’t wait for the sales call to drop the price bomb.
And if for instance, they feel resistant to buy, tell your customers “other services out there cost you $30,000 a year, but with us, it only costs you a fraction of that and you don’t have to go into debt.”
Bottom line is, don’t be afraid to put the price of your high-ticket products or services on your website because this is a mistake.
Why? Because it leads you to getting not qualified leads.
State on your website that your products or services start at X price. That’s exactly what we do by the way…
Because doing so is a great way to better qualify your leads and weed out those that can’t afford your services. And this makes it happen quickly and (most importantly) automatically.
While you probably don’t want to bring up the price in the first stages of your funnel like in your lead magnet, there’s no question you need a pricing section on your sales page.
Take a look at ours…
Now, there are a few other things you can do to make the pricing as clear and welcoming as possible for prospects.
Best practices like pointing out which package is right for which audience, making CTAs highly visible, including multiple packages—things like that.
For this other case study, switching the price anchoring offers resulted in a 15% increase in monthly sign-ups and a 25% increase in revenue.
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After…
You see, what happened here was, the price anchoring changed from being a yearly payment of 1690 RU ($45) to a monthly payment of 66 RU ($2).
People’s perception changed because it made the monthly option seem cheaper by comparison.
People being able to afford your prices and being aware of your pricing makes a huge difference when you sell them on your high-ticket services and products.
It avoids the surprise factor and the back and forth later with follow-up emails trying to get them to buy from you.
Bottom line here is, for high-ticket items you must set your price anchor beforehand.
Sales Strategy #3—Give Prospects a Reason to Decide On the Call
This sales strategy is nothing but offering prospects a special offer.
But here’s the thing. You shouldn’t always need to do that. Because if they’re already sold on your initial offer, they’ll buy from you without the special offer.
Just try to not reveal too soon what that special offer is. Otherwise, people may be like “Ugh, I don’t want that bonus, I was expecting a different special offer.”
And sometimes, people are not even expecting a special offer.
They just need a little push to close the deal.
For instance, here are some tips on how to make your prospects decide on the call:
- Confirm if the person you’re talking to is the decision-maker. If that person doesn’t have the power to close the sale, reschedule for a later time when the decision-maker will be on the call.
- Ask them: "If by the end of our call today you feel our products or services are a fit for your needs, would you be ready to make a decision to sign up?"
- Assume the sale and ask them at the end of the call: “Do you know which package you'd like to sign up for today?”
- If there’s an objection or resistance, emphasize a risk-reversal guarantee and share some social proof.
- And finally, if the person’s on the fence about signing up at the moment, ask them: "If I give you a special offer, would you be ready to sign up today?"
And that’s where you’ll introduce your special offer if necessary.
Do your best when you’re on the call with the prospect because that’ll be the easiest time to sell them on your offer.
Once the call’s over, it’ll be more difficult to chase after that lead, follow up, and try to persuade them to buy from you.
Sales Strategy #4—Focus On the Client & Don’t Come Off Desperate
You can’t convince anyone to do anything.
You persuade prospects to buy from you, not convince them.
Convincing is more about twisting someone’s arm—someone who’s not interested in your offer.
Persuading is more about a “win-win” situation because you’re taking people’s existing interest in solving a problem, and you’re channeling that by answering their questions.
Think about it like this. When you date someone, you try to look confident. You try to not look too interested because that actually makes the other person be more interested in you somehow.
Weird, huh? But you see the point.
The same thing applies in sales.
For instance, focus on your client. Focus on giving them value. Focus on answering their questions.
Don’t focus on “Oh my God, am I going to make the sale?”—that’s the wrong mindset.
Be a little apathetic to actually making the sale because desperation doesn’t sell.
If you try too hard and the prospect notices it, he/she might see it and think you’re not good at selling or your service isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
And the truth is, sometimes people want to buy when they think you’re not trying to sell to them.
So just relax, act like you own the situation because you do.
You can even follow one of our proven-to-convert mind-hacks—boosting your self-image.
Because this gives you confidence. It makes you feel good about yourself. It makes you feel good about getting on the call with a potential buyer. And it makes you feel good about asking for the sale.
In fact, one determinant of sales success in any field with any product or service, is actually self-confidence according to American Management Association.
So go for that sale!
Sales Strategy #5—Offer Substance, Not a Pitch: Examples, Case Studies, FAQs
Prospects will see you less salesy and more credible when you speak to them clearly, in a way they understand, and when you answer all of their questions.
For this, show examples of case studies, of people you have helped succeed, and share your frequently asked questions.
Social proof is defined here as the content that builds trust with your audience when you show them why your brand is popular and credible.
Relying on social proof is a great sales strategy, especially if you’re selling high-ticket products or services.
This is because potential buyers may be afraid of spending over $1,000 and showing them a fistful of happy customers and successful clients is a great way to help them overcome that fear.
Sharing social proof is the fastest way to calm customer fears and build trust with potential customers and clients.
This is what we always do for our website and for our clients’ landing pages. Take a look…
All of the above are different types of social proof.
And they work both for your website and for your sales calls.
There are many examples of social proof, but here are the 8 most common types:
- Testimonials
- Case studies
- Press logos or company logos
- Trust badges and security seals
- Ratings
- Honors, awards, & memberships
Here are some stats to persuade you on the importance of adding social proof to your website and to your sales calls to close more sales:
- 87% of buying decisions are made based on research online before the purchase is made (CXL).
- The average consumer reads 10 online reviews before making a purchase decision (HubSpot).
- 88% of consumers trust user reviews as much as personal recommendations (HubSpot).
- 83% of Americans seek recommendations from friends and family before making a purchase (Nielsen).
Sales Strategy #6—Put Your Sales Knowledge Into a PowerPoint Deck So Your Sales Team Can Run On Auto-Pilot
This strategy is pretty self-explanatory.
You want to document all your wisdom and knowledge about your sales process so you can pass it on to your sales team.
Because let’s face it, you won’t be selling forever.
Eventually, you’ll hire a dedicated team to handle all the sales.
So the best way to do this is by putting everything together into a PowerPoint deck.
This will facilitate training new hires and instruct them on how to sell your high-ticket products or services and how to sell them right.
And that’s exactly what we, at AutoGrow, do.
Our Digital Marketing Strategist is basically able to run 90% on auto-pilot due to familiarity with the deck. It sort of works like a checklist.
When your salespeople get on a call with a lead, with practice, they’ll remember how to do the pitch, how to address all common questions without leaving anything important out, and will tee up the conversation for the closing call-to-action (e.g. which package do you want to go with?).
Sales Strategy #7—Address Your Leads’ Fear with Risk Reversals Or a Clear Description of Alternatives
This sales strategy is nothing but giving people some peace of mind.
You can do this by offering them any sort of money-back guarantee or risk reversal, or any other alternative.
Like these ones…
This will make their decision easier.
For instance, pique their interest on what could possibly happen if they don’t buy your products or services.
Tell them “Your sales won’t increase if you don’t sign up today” or “You won’t be saving time and you’ll still have to do X thing yourself” or “You’re still losing $$$ doing it yourself.”
Frame it in a way where prospects will clearly see your products or services as an investment.
One of our clients—who sells high-ticket services—has been particularly resistant to the idea of adding some sort of money-back guarantee on their site.
Their biggest concern is they may attract the wrong kind of people. You know? Like people taking advantage of your refund policy, and then getting the product for free.
And I totally get that. But there are actually more pros on adding a money-back guarantee than not adding it.
According to Entrepreneur, “when you offer a guarantee, customers are more impressed by the fact that you stand behind your product than the potential to get their money refunded.”
We actually include a 30-day money-back guarantee for our service and it’s worked pretty well.
So if you’re not offering any type of risk-reversal or guarantee, what’s the risk of trying it?
Remember, people are moved by fear more than anything else. And if the idea of your high-ticket product or service not working out for them as expected, then that fear will likely win the sale.
Sales Strategy #8—Transform Your Mindset to Transform Your Results
How do you manufacture sales?
By having a system and funnel-focused mindset.
You must set up mechanisms like the PowerPoint deck from strategy #6.
These process-based mechanisms are like checklists. They take so much guesswork out of it that the person following it ends up going on auto-pilot.
If you want to sell more of your high-ticket products or services, consider changing how you think about the problem.
Both your funnel and your sales calls should work like a machine to produce customers and clients.
For instance, do what we do in AutoGrow.
We actually broke down our funnel into different stages.
With this small change, we can turn human processes into semi-automated processes with clear systematic outlining. All this by focusing on each stage of the funnel rather than on the whole thing.
Sales Strategy #9—Add Scarcity. This Makes People Decide Faster (Here’s Why…)
Introducing scarcity makes people pay more attention to evaluating an offer, especially the closer to the expiration date they are.
The scarcity tactic works because people naturally have a fear of missing out on things and we fear losses more than potential gains.
Tapping into FOMO is one of the most powerful tools marketers use every day. It can boost your email conversions like crazy.
Adding scarcity can even translate to a 24.5% revenue boost just like it did for one case study from the 313 analyzed in the Proven Sales Conversion Pack, all by just adding the expiration date into the copy…
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So when you’re on the phone with your potential customers, add scarcity just like this company did to their website.
Give prospects an expiration date for a bonus, or say it’s a limited-time discount.
Think of it as a timer or a clock ticking.
This will add some extra pressure to the prospect and will help accelerate the decision-making process.
And that’s exactly why companies add timers and countdowns to their websites. Because those tactics can uplift sales by 10 and even 300%.
People simply don’t want to miss out on events when you make the date, time, and time remaining clear for them.
This other case study from our Proven Sales Conversion Pack shows how by adding scarcity to this website, revenue jumped by 27.1%.
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We actually helped a client generate over $1,100 in sales per day in less than one week by marketing an online class that didn’t even exist beforehand.
We sold their high-ticket course by adding scarcity to the email sequence and it worked out pretty well. Take a look at one of the email’s subject line:
It turned out that after sending that email out, we actually saw a conversion spike closer to the end of the enrollment period.
All by adding scarcity to the sale.
Sales Strategy #10—Ask If Who You’re Talking to Is the Decision-Maker
Alright. This strategy will save you tons of time.
When you get on a sales call, simply ask if the person you’re talking to is the decision-maker.
Does he have the power to actually close the deal?
If he-she doesn’t, you’ll waste your precious time.
You see, many people who get on the call not only aren't qualified, but many are just not the decision-makers from the companies they work for.
So if they tell you they’re not the person who’ll decide on the phone if the sale will be closed, then reschedule for another day with the person in charge.
Sales Strategy #11—Use storytelling
Storytelling is a powerful marketing strategy.
The more a person loses themselves in a story, the more likely they are to adopt the attitudes and ideas of that story.
The more immersed they are, the better the conversion will be.
In fact, data shows that nearly 300% more people scrolled all the way to the bottom of an article when a story was added to the content.
And the average time on the page was more than 5X higher.
This case study by Buffer shows that their blog’s visitors were more interested in a version of the article that started with a story that led to the “meat” of the article.
The other version of the post had a simple intro that just cut to the chase.
This exact thing applies in sales.
People are more persuaded by a story than a sales pitch that cuts to the chase.
So when you’re on the phone closing a sale, consider using empathetic phrases like:
- “Back in 2010, we ….” and just fill in the blank with whatever anecdote you’d like to share.
- Start with “last fall” or “last year” (or whatever is applicable) and share a past lesson.
- Say, “recently, I heard” and pass on a great story someone else shared with you.
- Go full-on metaphor like “once upon a time” and invent your own story!
Conclusion
High-ticket items are a high-value and high-priced product or service. And because they cost a bit of money, prospective buyers may feel resistant to buy them.
But your goal is to lead your prospects from that sales call to actually buying your higher-priced product or service.
And depending on how well you implement these sales strategies, your high-ticket funnel will manufacture customers like crazy:
- Sales Strategy #1—Skyrocket Your Lead Quality by Nudging Leads to Watch an On-Demand Demo Video
- Sales Strategy #2—Price Anchor, But Also… Actually Tell Them the Price! (Here’s Why...)
- Sales Strategy #3—Give Prospects a Reason to Decide On the Call
- Sales Strategy #4—Focus On the Client & Don’t Come Off Desperate
- Sales Strategy #5—Offer Substance, Not a Pitch: Examples, Case Studies, FAQs
- Sales Strategy #6—Put Your Sales Knowledge Into a PowerPoint Deck So Your Sales Team Can Run On Auto-Pilot
- Sales Strategy #7—Address Your Leads’ Fear with Risk Reversals Or a Clear Description of Alternatives
- Sales Strategy #8—Transform Your Mindset to Transform Your Results
- Sales Strategy #9—Add Scarcity. This Makes People Decide Faster (Here’s Why…)
- Sales Strategy #10—Ask If Who You’re Talking to Is the Decision-Maker
- Sales Strategy #11—Use Storytelling
Once you apply these sales strategies, you’ll see how those customers who buy your products or services are more likely to have higher levels of success.
And that’s one of the main reasons why high-ticket items are great for businesses and why you should know how to sell them right.
Now tell me something, are you going to try one of these God-mode sales strategies for your company? Which one?
Let me know in the comments below.
Keep AutoGrowin’, stay focused,
