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Unlock the secrets to business success and gain valuable insights from local industry leaders. Join us as we delve into the strategies, triumphs, and lessons learned of thriving companies, empowering entrepreneurs to elevate their businesses to new heights.
Sharon: [00:00:05] Welcome to It's Time for Success, the Business Insight podcast. I'm your host, Sharon de Koning. I love business, I love working with businesses. I love learning about business. Hence the creation of this particular podcast. At this podcast, we get to interview other people and so they can share their wisdom and their insights with you, our listeners, and me as well. I get to learn a lot. This particular podcast is also sponsored by my company, It's Time Promotions, wherein I also get to work with businesses much like yourselves at it's Time Promotions. We pride ourselves with doing majority of our work in-house. So we do embroidery, we do screen printing, we do engraving, we do all the print for the signs, right up to fleet graphics, full wraps on your vehicles. We have three locations here in Alberta. If you have a company and you think that you can use our services, I would really appreciate the opportunity. If so, just kindly reach out to my promo.ca. Tell them you heard about us on this podcast and receive some special pricing. Thank you everyone.
Sharon: [00:01:05] Today, our podcast focuses on your website. I'm thrilled to introduce the architect of websites, Gerry black. Gerry helps entrepreneurs and service based businesses turn underperforming websites into predictable client generating systems. Gerry focuses on fixing the structural issues positioning, messaging, and conversion pathways through his website revenue Architect approach, Gerry helps transform websites into true revenue infrastructures. Today's going to be exciting, Gerry. Welcome.
Gerry: [00:01:33] Welcome. Thank you very much, Sharon.
Sharon: [00:01:36] Can you tell us a bit about yourself, Gerry, before we jump into all these questions that we have listed out?
Gerry: [00:01:40] Yeah, I can, you know, I started off way back in the old days wanting to be a reporter. So I went out and got a journalism degree and, uh, just couldn't wait to get going. Then I found out how poorly paid reporters were and the terrible hours they work. And I decided that wasn't for me. So I kind of fell into sales and like that I worked for. I sort of got close to my dream. I worked for a newspaper selling advertising. And then for the next 20 years or so, I worked selling telecom and advertising. And those are two pretty, pretty tough industries to be in even at that point. But along the way, I always had a couple of clients and clients that I would help with their marketing. And because I couldn't stand to see them get just struggle and get taken advantage of, frankly, by, you know, companies that were just looking for a one time sale and really not looking to build relationships. So I always had that on the side. Well, I decided one day I couldn't look at my boss anymore, so I had to hang out my own shingle. My wife was horrified. Uh, but I said, no, no, this is going to work. And I got a huge client. Like, I got Siemens Electric as my first client. I thought, I am just going to put my feet up and just coast for the next 20 years. Well, it turns out in about three weeks it went well, but they never hired me again. I don't even think they knew I did the project for them, and that's when I decided I wanted to continue working with entrepreneurs and small businesses because the big corporations absolutely no fun.
Gerry: [00:03:20] So I did. I started in that way. And I guess the secret sauce I offer my clients is I not only know how to write, which I learned, I took some direct marketing courses. I not only know how to write persuasive sales copy, I also know how to sell. So they get the best of both worlds. I'm always looking at everything I do for a client through Sales Eyes first, and then creating the messaging. And because at the end of it all, like when you think about it, that's what we're in business for, right, is to make a profit. The frustration out there is surrounding website marketing is universal. Everybody just. It's just a money pit. They spend money getting traffic to their site. They spend money designing, getting design work done on their site, hosting it, all of it. Everybody's making money except the site owner. So I used to work one on one with companies, you know, entrepreneurs, and I used to just work with them on their website. Like I'd create the messaging. I didn't design the site, although I did tell the designer how to create the look and feel of the messaging, because that's very important how it's perceived when someone comes on to site. So I did have I did work with the designers, but I didn't do any tech stuff or it, you know, none of that.
Sharon: [00:04:41] Right.
Gerry: [00:04:43] So, you know, as I say, there's a lot of frustration around the website because it just seems like everybody's making money except the site owner.
Sharon: [00:04:50] Yeah. When we just before we started recording, we talked about, you know, when I started, Google was just kind of starting. In fact, It's Time Promotions. I do promotional products and vehicle and signage and vehicle wraps, all that and whatever. But it started, how It's Time came about because it was called It's Time Web Design. So I used to be one of those people I used to be, I used to make websites by coding, if you can imagine. And it was awful. Like, I mean, it was great. But that's how the the name It's Time Web Designs because that's when everybody was still afraid of getting onto Google, like everything, or on getting the website out. And it was like, oh, we don't need that. We don't need that. So it was just there. And I was like trying to inform people it's time to get with the times. But now I find fast forward, I get to work with entrepreneurs every day and a lot of them that come in here, they are the small businesses and they're, they're hard work and they just keep going. They keep going, they keep going. Um, and they just put it on the back burner. They almost, they know they have to be on the web, but it's almost like they just put like, um, a business card, so to speak up there. That's all it is. And it's just because they know they should. So I think that they're leaving a lot on the table when they're doing that.
Gerry: [00:05:53] Yeah, there's no question. And just on that point, all we sort of have this saying in in the business, all roads lead to the website. So if somebody, if you got a referral from somebody, that's great. It's a warm handoff. And the person says, Sharon's great. Just, you know, everybody wants to see your website, even if they're referred. And that website really is a reflection of that's where they start to see you as a real potential solution to their problem or to their need. But anybody out there who's thinking you can get by with it without one today is you can't. I mean, you have to have one. And it's not enough just to slap something up there that isn't doing the job, that can work against you in so many ways. And I'm going to talk a little bit about that today in this system where we learn how to move people through our selling story. Your I, your listeners and viewers are going to learn firsthand why that site is such an important jumping off point.
Sharon: [00:06:56] You've already invested in it. Utilize it. To start things off, I understand you have a statistic you want to share, so let's just start with those stats for us, for our listeners.
Gerry: [00:07:05] I do have a statistic, and normally my eyes glaze over when I hear statistics because there's so many out there. But this statistic is one that is universal. So if anybody wants to Google it, this is is not coming from Gerry Black. This is the way life unfolds on the internet. So one thing your viewers and listeners may not realize is they're trying to work with one hand tied behind their back. And when I reveal this statistic, they're going to see why. So it's almost like you've got a small chance of being successful with your website unless you internalize the statistic and make sure everything you do with your marketing is built around this understanding. Here's the stat. Only 5% of first-time visitors to a website. So first-time visitors, only 5% are what we call now buyers. And that is to say, we've all had this experience ourselves. You know what you want. You've done your research and everything like that. Now you're just looking for a place to buy it. So that's like a hardly any percent of the people that come to your site. Now, you can imagine the bunfight for that 5% because your competitors are in on that too. So everybody's fighting for that 5%. So that's really important to understand going forward. Because if you don't get any, any sale from one of those, that 5% number, you're not going to get anything unless you take in what I'm going to kind of walk everybody through today.
Sharon: [00:08:39] Can I interrupt you for just one second? I want to give you a little story about that. So yesterday I was looking for a dentist. I was checking their websites literally for a dentist, and I did reach out to one through their form that popped up, which you're probably going to talk about. They phoned me back. Things are happening. So anyways, I just wanted to share how important what you just messaged is. And I was the first time I was at 5% on those websites each. I think four of them I went through.
Gerry: [00:09:01] That's a great point. What made you pick the one you picked? Was there anything you can recall offhand or just you just decided to.
Sharon: [00:09:07] I was looking for something particular, not only dentistry I'm thinking about. I would like to learn more about teeth whitening. So I just wanted to see when I go there, when I get my job done, if they can elaborate and tell me some information on that as well. So that was almost like a niche, I guess you would call it.
Gerry: [00:09:21] And they, they, they somehow communicated that they do that fairly quickly to you, correct?
Sharon: [00:09:27] 100%. Yeah. I was not on there long.
Gerry: [00:09:30] Okay. Yeah, just keep that in mind, everybody, because that is like the essence of making money with your site. So that's 5%. It's the other 95% that represent the tremendous opportunity, the Sharons that go to a site and don't buy, but they're going to keep looking because they've got a problem, they've got a problem that they have, and they need to find a solution. So that's where the big opportunity is, and that's where I help them with create website revenue architecture. Now that's a fancy term. And all it boils down to is a website marketing system. So selling with your website is not a one off, except if you're like Sharon and you are happen to get that buyer visit you that's determined to make a buy that day, or at least, you know, book the service. So your website by itself is effective with that type of buyers. If you know what you're doing and you can communicate the message, which obviously they had the right selling story in the case for Sharon, but that other 95%, you need to build a relationship with them. And it's the same relationship you would build with them if it was a personal sale, like one on one. Anybody out there who's done personal selling, and we all have with our businesses where you meet somebody, what do you do and all this stuff, and you talk to them, but you would never approach them the way most marketers do with their website, where they say, look at all the stuff I do and just don't ask any questions or anything like that.
Gerry: [00:11:05] Just let me push a bunch of stuff at you. It would never happen that way. You ask questions and you build relationships, and that's critical if you're going to succeed. But how do you build a relationship with 95% of the people who just click away from your site right away? So that's the first step in the website revenue architecture system is you need to get the attention like that dentist did of Sheron. Um 25 years ago, you know, when you think about it, there was no internet. You had to call people up like that dentist would had to get a phone call from Sherry or from Sharon. And Sharon would say, here's what I'm looking for. And she'd have to be subjected to a cheesy sales pitch and. Or she could maybe see them at a brochure, at a trade show or something like that. Well, all that changed when the internet came in 25 years ago. If you had a website, it was like, wow, look at this. Like, you know, website almost by default, you got customers.
Gerry: [00:12:05] But that has changed along that, that, uh, that's long gone now. Now just think of this. In addition to that 5% number, when somebody comes to your site for the first time. Almost for sure. They've checked out 6 or 7 of your competitors. So they've already kicked the tires, they've been online. And when they come to your site, the quality of messaging on websites today, right across, I'm talking about some of the biggest corporations right on down to the smallest. The messaging is so poor, it's so weak and so designed to talk about the marketer instead of the prospect that they arrive at your website. They are almost expecting to click away because they've got such a low expectation. You've got basically 3 to 5 seconds to convince them that you've got something that is of value to them. And when you think about it, that's not long. And think of your own shopping and surfing habits, we'll call it. So in that 3 to 5 seconds, if you don't get their attention, and I'm not saying sell them, but I'm talking about if you don't get their attention in that short period of time, all the money, time and effort you've spent is completely wasted because they're gone. They're not going to see anything on your site. They're not even going to understand the value offer unless you understand how to offer it.
Gerry: [00:13:33] So that's the number one thing. And some people will say to me, well, you know, they'll bookmark it if they I don't know about you, but I checked a couple of days ago just for the heck of it. I have like 700 plus bookmarks. I don't think I've looked at it, you know, for forever. You just don't do it. You might bookmark, but I don't even think anybody does that. People want instant solutions and they don't want to wait. So it's kind of like going into a store. If the lineup's too big, you take off, you know, you don't stick around, you just have no patience. But the important thing is the stats show, general stats show 95% of the people who came to your site will buy. They just aren't ready to buy that day because they're doing, uh, Sharon, what? You said they're checking out the competition now. You happen to be a now buyer, but you could easily have not been and maybe made a note and said, I'll come back to that site. Something along those lines. But these are real opportunities to sell. And if you put yourself in position to make the sale, then you, you know, you're going to have a chance to make money.
Sharon: [00:14:48] I have a question.
Gerry: [00:14:49] Yeah, by all means.
Sharon: [00:14:50] Sorry. You said they have 3 to 5 seconds to catch their attention. On that basis, you're probably going to get into it. But what are the main things that they need to have to capture their attention? Is it is it how it's laid out the brightness of it? What is the three five seconds like? What do they need to have on their site to keep them there?
Gerry: [00:15:07] So like, it's very important. I don't want to in, in this discussion, I don't want to downplay the professional look and feel of your website. That is absolutely critical. So that is like, think of that as the salesperson that's going on a sales appointment. They've got to look professional, right? I mean, that's, that's a first impression thing. So that's kind of the starting point. The first thing in that 3 to 5 seconds, you need to communicate two things. You've got to tell the person coming to your site the value you offer. Okay. So they need to know exactly what they're going to get from you. And I'll tell you where that comes into play. There's a guy named Dan Kennedy. He's like the father of direct marketing, really direct response marketing, we'll call it. And this is a question your viewers and listeners should mark down because if you want to get people's attention, here's the question you have to answer today. And the question is this: why, with all of the opportunities available to me, including doing nothing, why should I pick you to solve my problem or deliver a solution?
Sharon: [00:16:24] Would that be the unique selling point?
Gerry: [00:16:26] That would be the unique selling point. The unique selling point absolutely is built into that is you need to think, okay, these dentists that you talked about yesterday, there could have been three of them that were great dentists, but you were looking for something specific. But if that dentist didn't ever tell you quickly that they could look after that need, you would have been you had blown by them, right? So the main thing is that on your website, you have to tell people right away, what am I going to get from you that I'm not going to get everywhere else? Because don't forget all their competitors. I'd say 80% of them will have weak messaging. They will talk about the services they offer. The prospect already knows what service or what product is going to help them. They're trying to figure out who should I buy it from, who can I expect good service from, good value from? And often what ends up happening is the marketer does not communicate that. You want me to give you a quick example?
Sharon: [00:17:24] Sure. Please. Yeah.
Gerry: [00:17:26] Maxwell House coffee, old brand and some of your listeners won't even know about it. But they went way back. They were absolutely kicking Folgers behind in coffee sales, and Folgers was a little bit of a new brand and everything like that. They were coming up. But but Maxwell House was just eating their lunch. So the people at Folgers got together, sat down and said, well, what can we do? And I guess they brought in a marketing strategist or something like that. And marketing strategist said, tell me about the tell me about the process of making your coffee. So during the conversation, uh, it came out that Folgers coffee was mountain grown and the marketing guy said, that's it. We're putting that on the can tomorrow. And it's still there today.
Sharon: [00:18:11] It's still there.
Gerry: [00:18:11] Yeah. And, um, what the marketing public or what the prospects never knew is 95% of coffee is mountain grown. So, so they made it, the marketing strategy said, let's talk about a uniqueness. Now. It's unique to Folgers because nobody else was talking about it. So instantly the stuff flew off the shelf. I don't know what the numbers were. It doesn't really matter in terms of increased sales, but it did the job and it did the job simply by presenting the value that Folgers offered over the other guys. Because people perceive, oh, mountain grown, it's got to be great, right? But it doesn't even have to be great. It just had to be different.
Sharon: [00:18:55] Just had to be different.
Gerry: [00:18:56] Right? And I always say to clients, if you just say the same thing, people are not buying products and services, they are buying better lives. And that's the question you need to be thinking about is, how are you going to make your customer's life better? And you know, it's funny, Sharon, when I talk, when I work with clients, I have a 25 question questionnaire and I send it to them and I make them fill it out. And for some it's so painful. Not because it's hard, it's because it takes them into areas they've never thought about in their business. So one of the questions is, tell me in 50 words what you sell. And I get all this stuff. Oh, well, we sell financial services or plastic surgery and we got the best this and you know, and what they don't get is how they're changing lives.
Sharon: [00:19:49] Mhm.
Gerry: [00:19:50] For their prospect. Right. Because another quick story. I used to have a client that was a weight loss client. And I talked to their consultants in terms of gaining information about the product and the service and all that stuff. And they dealt with a lot of obese women. And, you know, as you might expect. And so I was talking to one of the consultants. I said, okay, once you put your pad away and you're sitting in a little consultation room and talking to a woman who's struggling with this, I said, what does she tell you? She looks at me and she says to me, the biggest fear they have is that this is one more thing. They have to go back to the family and friends and say it didn't work. Well, you know, it was in the marketing, you know, the marketing messaging that I created over the next few weeks. It was how this was a more effective weight loss strategy than others. Right. And we, you know, and they could back it up to they had some results. It wasn't Weight Watchers, but it had a track record of doing that.
Gerry: [00:20:54] So. But if we didn't convey that right. Imagine if you're out there looking to solve this problem. If they didn't convey that, the person would never know, they'd just go, oh, this is just a complete crapshoot. And it might work, you know, may not and lives would be not changed the way they should be. And I always say to my clients, it's your job to make sure you are as clear as can be about how you are going to change that person's life, who takes your product or service. It's your job to do that if you believe in your product or service, right? Yeah. And that is something a lot of them just, they just don't get it. They think they're selling stuff. And that's a huge problem. I see that all the time selling stuff. And they think because they go superior customer service, that that actually has like an impact on anybody. And of course, uh, you know, it doesn't. So that's number one in the system is getting attention because without that, nothing else matters.
Sharon: [00:21:57] And don't get attention by like, I don't know, remember back in the day, some of those websites, you got flashing things and annoying pop ups, like don't, don't get attention that way. That's the negative way of doing it. So you're saying get attention by what's your unique selling point? Why are you different? I guess, yes, your services service is tricky for me because service is such a broad word. Everybody uses it. Can you pinpoint that a little bit? If you're wanting people to focus in 3 to 5 seconds, what would service be?
Gerry: [00:22:24] Well, I think like from the service point of view, again, it really does focus back on how are you going to be in a better position because, because that's the only message you're trying to send right away is why should they stop? Right. That's what you're trying to do is stop them. Picture them arriving at your site with their hand on the mouse, because that's what happens. And we do it. You just think you do it. When you're going looking at those dentists, you're looking to click away because the first three are all have a picture of a big head with full mouth of teeth. And okay, I've seen this.
Sharon: [00:22:58] And they're white teeth.
Gerry: [00:23:00] And white. You. And of course, the ones that have show, the white ones don't tell you that they do that service, so they never even benefit from getting you as a prospect. You just be guided by that question. Why should I pick you? Okay. And you and that forces the marketer to think, why? And they know the answer. It's like, it's like that, that woman in the weight loss scenario that told me they know the answers, but they don't know how to create a selling story. They just don't know how to do that.
Sharon: [00:23:32] We had a situation. So I vision people come in here into my business different than going to the website. So for example, somebody comes into It's Time Promotions. I have my team has years and years of knowledge. So we know stuff. We know stuff like we can, we can help you to the best of your capability. So for example, we had to. So a lot of places they have to get three quotes from different people and they come back and we said that we were higher than our other quotes. So it was like, okay, is it apples to oranges or is it apples to apples? But we were able to have that conversation with people, and it turned out that we didn't quote on the other things that the other companies quote on because we don't believe in that product. We we've been there, done it. It shrinks. It's see through like all this kind of stuff. So we quoted on something that we know about. So it's really hard to portray that onto a website. It's like I have to be able to get them to come and trust us almost. Right. Like, trust me, I can help you.
Gerry: [00:24:24] Well, here's a way to do it, a simple way to do it. And there's nothing wrong. Like people think they're so like in the box and I can't say this or you never say this. Here's here's what I would typically say this in web copy. If I was, I was giving somebody a proposal, okay, I would have a line in there and I've had this on my website. I don't have it right now, but I have used this before and would use it again in a heartbeat, if it fit. I would put a message in there and say, by the way, if you're looking for some big fancy agency with a that you know is in a 44 floor building and has a team of 12 working on your account, we're probably not for you.
Sharon: [00:25:04] Mhm.
Gerry: [00:25:06] And that's what you would do.
Sharon: [00:25:07] Gotcha.
Gerry: [00:25:08] If you are looking for somebody just to give you cheapo cheapo.
Sharon: [00:25:12] Mhm.
Gerry: [00:25:12] And we're not your guy.
Sharon: [00:25:14] That's right.
Gerry: [00:25:14] We evaluate our products.
Sharon: [00:25:17] I love that.
Gerry: [00:25:18] And they only go on there if they've been vetted and passed the Sharon-test. And I would use those words, you can talk like that. And then the next paragraph is like, what's a Sharon test? Sharon test is we've got a reputation to maintain. And the way we maintain that reputation is by putting quality products out that don't ever let our customers down. You're being very honest. Next paragraph. Are we the cheapest? No. And we don't want to be the cheapest. When you take an It's Time, product or service, you can be sure it's the best there is out there.
Sharon: [00:25:54] Perfect. Look at that. I already made notes. I'm going to. When this video goes live, I'm going to send it to our marketing team. This is what you're doing. Perfect. Thank you.
Gerry: [00:26:02] And you see how conversational it is, right? It's not it's not structured or anything like that. It's not marketing speak, right? It's I mean, you're you're the face of the business. So you have every right to kind of hang your head out there and say, hey, I live and die by the products and services we sell. So, you know, if you're looking for cheap, keep looking. Right.
Sharon: [00:26:24] I love it.
Gerry: [00:26:25] So, so number two is, okay, so you got their attention. They're saying, okay, I'm going to give you a couple of minutes here. I'm even going to put down my donut and kind of watch what do you got? So the second thing is getting them to engage. And this relates specifically to that 95%. Because if you don't find a way to stay in touch with them, you have no way to continue marketing, right? If I come to your site and I go, hey, that's great, great, great. If you have no way to contact me, you're done. I mean, that's it. They're on to the next dentist, right? So that's where the lead magnet comes in. And a lead magnet again, just a technical term for instead of going to them with your hand out to get something from them, you go to them with something in your hand. And that can be a free report, a checklist, a number of different things that basically give you a chance. This is talking about now about you as the marketer, giving you a chance to show them, you know their stuff, you know your stuff, right? So think about it. The, the biggest fight today is for your prospect's attention. So if you come up with a, um, a catchy, it definitely has to be a catchy title because even though it's free, you've got to sell it. So like I have, I think you're going to mention it a little later on or at some point about the free report.
Gerry: [00:27:56] I have a free report, title, Seven Website Leaks that Are Costing You Money. And in brackets I put easy fixes. So if you're sitting there and by the way, when your audience does get that, they should absolutely look, that is money in their pocket, that report because it tells them seven ways they are losing money from their website and it tells them how to fix it. But that is for only one reader. And that's the person who's tired of spending all the time, money and effort on their site and getting nowhere. They're going to trade you their email address for that information. Almost everybody now today has very acclimatized to the fact that I'm willing to trade my email address if there's some value. Well, that has a lot of value or it implies a lot of value. Obviously it can't help. And on that landing page, I go even further on selling the information, even though it's free, because that is the biggest battle for your prospects attention. They can say yes or no in a heartbeat. You can never let your guard down. Now, once you get that. So this is step two. Once you get the prospect to engage and they're essentially when they give you their email address, they're essentially putting up their hand and saying, I'm a warm prospect.
Sharon: [00:29:15] Mhm.
Gerry: [00:29:15] Without saying it right. So that now comes into your community, and I'm sure you have a list of, uh, list, an email list. That is where we then go on to basically develop a know, like, and trust factor. And that's absolutely critical. That's with this 95% that don't know you from Adam. But like any selling, they've got to know you, they've got to like you and they've got to trust you before they're going to dig into their jeans and spend money with you. So that's simply accomplished with a welcome, nurturing email sequence that is carefully written to educate them. Right? You're still educated there going, oh, hold on a sec, Sharon. I'm not ready to buy today. These are all designed to say, hey, listen, we're going to be there when you're ready to buy. And along the way, we're going to help you. And we're going to we're going to continue to tell you why we are the best choice, but not in a used car salesperson way. It's going to be educating them on what they're trying to accomplish. So each email drips out. It's all automated. It sounds intimidating. It's so easy to do. And it costs like 30 bucks a month. And you can drip your emails out maybe 5 or 6 emails out over maybe a, you know, two, three week period. And they just get this little email that is 80% education and 20% soft sell.
Gerry: [00:30:48] And that soft sell might be, hey, Sharon, I hope you, you know, this was helpful today. And by the way, we offer a free consult. If you want to give us a shout, click here. Right. It's a very soft shell sale. And then at the end you might come out sort of an email, 6 or 7 with a hard offer and a hard offer being, you know, not going for the whole enchilada, but, you know, letting them dip their toe in the water along the way. All of this know, like, and trust factor is being built, the relationships being built, the thing you've got on your side is marketers. Virtually nobody does this. I shouldn't say that the big marketers, the smart marketers do it, but most of their competitors will not be doing it. It's like if you went in to buy a dress tomorrow, when is the last time a dress store called you up? Five days after you bought it and go, hey, do you like that dress? They don't do it. They don't do it. They don't do anything to say you're special to us. So once that email system clicks in, the idea is to let the relationship simmer and build and grow and nurture until they are ready to buy. Does that make sense?
Sharon: [00:31:57] Yep.
Gerry: [00:31:58] And there's a feeling one of the books I put on my list, I couldn't stop. I mean, I'm a writer, for heaven's sakes. I couldn't stop at one book, but I put two. But one of them is a book called persuasion by a guy, he's a doctor, Doctor Robert Cialdini, and it talks about how people think and make buying decisions. There's a theory of reciprocity, and that's if you do something for me, I almost feel compelled to do something back.
Sharon: [00:32:24] Mhm.
Gerry: [00:32:25] So when you're the one nurturing the prospect through three weeks, trying to help them buy everything you do is trying to help them buy. It's educating them about different nuances about the product or service, you know, and giving them examples and all kinds of stuff. There's a sense of reciprocity that builds up because they're going, boy, that Sharon has just helped me for the whole journey. Mhm. I mean, that's kind of they, they almost feel and, and realize that's what they're going to get throughout the relationship, right? That's what you're trying to do and that's how you do it. So we've got getting attention number one. Number two is got to get their email address. And I'm not going to get everybody's of course. And you're probably going to get 20%, but that 20% you get, you can automatically nurture them for a period until you know, they're ready to buy. And that's, you know, that's absolutely the, uh, the key.
Sharon: [00:33:22] For your seven website, uh, leaks, that questionnaire that you have on your website. What are some of the questions that are on there that our customers or our listeners would benefit from?
Gerry: [00:33:32] Yeah. So remember they're leaks.
Sharon: [00:33:35] They're leaks.
Gerry: [00:33:36] One we've already talked about and two, we've talked about because one is the getting attention, right? I explain that in there and explain how I also, uh, explain how to do it. I've also got, um, talking about a lead magnet, which we call a, an ethical bribe. The same kind of thing. Often what? What will happen is they have no email follo-up. They don't even understand the value of email follow-up. So I explain that that's a leak because if you don't like the lead magnet is one thing, but if you don't stay in touch, I mean, how are you ever going to make a sale? Right? I'm coming back to a stat that's been around as long as I can remember. It takes seven to something like 12 touches before somebody buys. Mhm. Right. And that's because they are letting you prove yourself. So the website marketing leaks really are tied to why your site isn't doing a thing to earn any money for you, because it's not set up to do that. You're letting a web designer, not you, but generally you're letting a web designer basically populate your content. And they've all got a little, you know, cookie cutter, three little boxes across the middle and you know, they've got a way to do it. And that's what they do because they're not salespeople. So this helps them understand these are all the things you can do to turn your website into a website marketing system. That makes sense.
Sharon: [00:35:10] Yeah, it does, I think so actually. It's not just entrepreneurs like myself that should be going on there. There's actually people who are website developers for other companies should be taking that test as well.
Gerry: [00:35:20] You know, I think website developers and designers, SEO companies are doing a tremendous disservice by not helping their clients understand very few people are buying. When they go to your site, they should be telling you that up front. And they should they should be aligned with companies and guys like me because they could sell that service as well, because they're this is why I say they're just making they're just making one time sale. Hey, Sharon, thanks for your thanks for your dollars for designing your site. Good luck. And you're not going to have it unless they say to you in the same breath, by the way, the website is just one part of what you need. You need a system. So you need email, you need a lead magnet. You need messaging that is clear and not just blah blah that we read everywhere else. That's they're not doing that. They're just taking their money for the piece they're doing. But it'd be like selling you one shoe and not selling the other. And then you're wondering why your back is out after I didn't know there was a second shoe, but there is a second shoe in this, and it, it should be packaged up because the money that is spent on web design, redesign, SEO, which is kind of like smoke and mirrors, unless you get a very good company and they're very expensive. There's lots they're very competent. But if somebody tells you first page of Google by 530 to tonight. Run as fast as you can because there's no such thing. Real SEO is, the students are the people that are professionals know it's six months before you're going to see significant results. So these are all a little insider inside baseball stuff that nobody tells the little quote unquote entrepreneur. And I put myself in that that group, you never know it. So then you're sitting there a month or a year in spending all kinds of money and getting nowhere.
Sharon: [00:37:17] I have a story for you and maybe you know about this. So I'm part of a group called WPO, which is women's presidential organization. But we went to a seminar and one of the people there were doing, what do they call it, social audits. I think it was. So they put in my name, they punch in to whatever. Sharon deKoning so my name, DeKoning, I married into it. I have to explain that it's like on my passport, it's DE space KONING.
Gerry: [00:37:46] Well, that's not problematic.
Sharon: [00:37:48] It's so dumb. So I have converted it to DeKoning because it's just so dumb and people. Anyways, whatever. So that's what I do. But on some websites as DE space KONING, LinkedIn might be this way. Facebook might be this way. Instagram might be this way. So when they do an audit, I don't show up in all the platforms. Wow. So she says I have to have my name spelt the same consistently everywhere. So that's just an FYI. Even like simple things that you just take for granted. That is just a little, little tidbit, but it's like what a difference that makes. Yeah. Like I wasn't showing up. I forget which platform it was. And because I have it spelt with a space.
Gerry: [00:38:23] Yeah, it really is. I mean, like she's a pro. She knows what she knows what she's doing.
Sharon: [00:38:29] Mhm.
Gerry: [00:38:30] I mean, something as simple as a blog post. If you put your key phrase in the title, they want your key phrase at the front of the title because that's where it gets picked up by the search engines. All these little things that the fly by nighters have no idea about, but the real ones. So so all of that to say that like you're spending a lot of money is very frustrating for a lot of marketers because they're going like, geez, I got this fancy website. It sure looks good. And a lot of them do, because a lot of them today can be created by Elementor or all kinds of, you know, site development, WordPress tools. Um, there's no problem getting it looking good. It's a question of what does it say? And if it's I live by the creed that a confused mind always says no. So the minute we come up against an unanswered question, we're out of there. Right.
Sharon: [00:39:21] So you talked about adding value one things like, I know you're talking like the value is that questionnaire. And that would lead to lead generation. But we talked a little bit about getting people to your website and wanting them to stay. One thing we do not have is blogs on our website, and that's something I've always wanted to do. I just haven't taken the time because I'm very passionate about educating people. Obviously, I do this website. What are other ways that could add value on your website that would help people.
Gerry: [00:39:44] Well, your LinkedIn profile is absolutely a prospect magnet. If, again, it comes down to if you know how to set it up. Now, there's lots of people out there willing to take your money going, I'll do your LinkedIn profile, but it has to be done a particular way. So I'll just just give you a quick fly by the LinkedIn profile. Really, you know, if you're B2B, in your case, you are LinkedIn profile, your what you have immediately below your picture or your logo is your what's called your headline. And that's where your keywords go. And so that's where you want to have your keywords, because people searching are going to be going to be taken to your profile, but that's not where the real value is. That's certainly the starting point. But then again, it's just like the website. If you've got boring information, like if you start off like I went to school at like yawn, yawn and yawn again. Um, if you go on my LinkedIn profile, I'm not saying it's the best, but it's certainly give you an idea. There's a section in there, I think it's called features or something like that, featured stories or something like that. But you can load that up with a lead magnet, a blog post, and a service so that the person scrolling down through your LinkedIn profile can get actual offers and free stuff and paid stuff. And then in your section on what you do, again, it's all aimed at the prospect, but that's a tremendous source I get. I'd probably get 1 or 2 a day, like people that checked out my profile and, you know, asked to follow me or something like that, which doesn't mean anything other than the fact that it's working right.
Sharon: [00:41:28] And you keep building connections. Yep.
Gerry: [00:41:30] Yeah. So that's, you know, that's certainly one way. And then did you mention blog? You don't write blog posts?
Sharon: [00:41:37] No, I want to put them on our website. I have a section ready to go. I just haven't done it yet. But how important is it?
Gerry: [00:41:43] So it's it's again, it's all keyword based and you can, you can learn a lot if you, if you go on my site after, like, you know, once we're done, go on my site, just look through the blog post and look for the key words, what I'm trying to get as keywords. But the information, of course, on there is what, you know, you're in the sell Sharon's expertise business, right? The more you do that with blog posts, your LinkedIn profile, also webinars and videos, very powerful, very powerful videos.
Sharon: [00:42:18] I do, I do called product Tuesday videos. So when I find something that I really enjoy and I can talk about, and then I'll do those, but the webinars are as intriguing.
Gerry: [00:42:27] Yeah, the webinars very underused. Again, there's a structure to it because you can't there's two types of webinars you can do. There's more probably, but two main types. One is a live webinar, so you might conduct a webinar. Let's say a month from now, you might invite people on your list and put it out into the into your social channels. You might say, I'm doing a webinar on the 25th of April, and here's the topic. And you and it could be something in the promotional business, changes in the promotional business, whatever you want it to be. And then you basically are there's lots of hosting software. It's not that expensive. You are basically doing a slide show to some degree video to some degree. But you are it's basically you're teaching, right? You're getting a chance to show your expertise and impart information that's useful to an audience. So it does two things. First of all, you get to communicate the valuable information and they get to see you. That's a huge part of things, the video component, right? Because we size people up, right? You know, what do they seem like? And we've all met these people that, you know, like you can tell they read a book and like trying to kind of remember, like what comes next. It gives you a chance to demonstrate you're a genuine person with a genuine sense of wanting to help people. So that's invaluable. Mhm. That's certainly those and very little videos, uh, that you, um, can do. Uh, I have a, I created a video that just talked about that 5%. It was like a minute and a half video just said, hey, did you know? And it, and it talked about the 5%. That's a valuable information for people.
Sharon: [00:44:13] So you create a video, then it goes on your website, LinkedIn.
Gerry: [00:44:16] It goes on my website. I've put them on. I've had them on YouTube. I've had them on my website. I've sent them, just sent them email to my list. And, you know, and, and again, you never know once it's out there, it's out there as you're going to discover with YouTube and all the other channels. Once it's out there, you never know who's going to glom on to it and say, boy, this is really valuable.
Sharon: [00:44:41] Even like this podcast, I did it just to help entrepreneurs. That's, that's why that's why it morphed into. But it's reached over 25 countries global. Mm. That's impressive. Right? We've helped entrepreneurs around the world like that's crazy to me. Crazy.
Gerry: [00:44:55] And that's and that speaks to exactly what I'm saying is you are changing lives for some of those people. And that's, that's not something everybody can do. And to have it global, I mean, that's amazing.
Sharon: [00:45:08] It's amazing. And it's fun and it's rewarding and it's a little bit selfish, I have to confess, because I've got a lot of key takeaways that I'm going to own up into my own, on my own. I learned a lot. I learned a lot from every, every interview interview I do. It's also, yeah, it's, it's a win win for sure. But it's all based on helping people, which is exactly what you're talking about right here.
Gerry: [00:45:29] It's two way street. Today we're helping each other. And, uh, you know, that's the way it should be.
Sharon: [00:45:34] Mhm. You also talked about a three part website architecture. Is that what we just talked about or.
Gerry: [00:45:40] Yeah. We talked about two parts. Um, the, we talked kind of combined the second and third. The first one was attention getting. Second one was engagement. Third one's conversion, which is kind of tied to the engagement where you're really developing that know, like, and trust factor and really trying to, um, you know, you're giving them customer stories, videos, webinars, social proof. So through this education process, remember, we're salespeople, right? We're selling. And when we open our mouth, people know it's sales speak. But when our customers and clients talk about us, like, here's what they did for me, that's, that's a totally different kettle of fish that is believable. Although a lot of businesses, a lot of marketers misuse testimonials. You'll see a lot of. Oh, you know what? First of all, they don't talk about business results. It was like, boy, Gerry was great. He showed up on time. He was, you know, he was nicely dressed or something like that. But and then they show that the testimonies from Sally be well, hello. Like that's just not believable. So a testimonial has to be attributable. And you, the person has to be able to say, I could contact that person. Like if you look on my website, I've got, I don't know, 15 testimonials on there, but everyone has a way for you to contact that person if you want it. That's what makes them credible. Because, because the thinking is, I've never had anybody tell me they've been contacted because they're just there for people to say, oh, this guy looks like he does know what he's doing, but I could contact that person. He'd never put it on there. If it wasn't true and not.
Sharon: [00:47:30] I have a testimonial for that. Exactly what you're talking about. I have a real life scenario about that. So back in the day, I hired a business coach and it's called Action Edge out of Calgary. Anyway, so I could not afford a business coach at all. I knew I needed help, I knew that It's Time was growing, but I couldn't do it alone. I needed some somebody in my corner, so to speak. So I was researching and actually I listened to a book. It's called You Are a Badass by Jen Sincero. And in that book she had talked about having a business coach. And I was like, what's that? Because I didn't know it was even a thing back then. So anyways, I researched it on Google and I come across this one site that I got to know and I think, okay, I feel like I can relate to these people. Like I felt comfortable because I went through a few and this one website was perfect for me. It was warm because I'm kind of, I was kind of scared, but it was like reassuring.
Gerry: [00:48:14] Sure. It's intimidating.
Sharon: [00:48:15] And then on there it also had testimonials from people. And this one person, I was googling it because I was researching it and I'm on there past my five seconds. I'm probably into 15 and on there was a testimonial and it was a testimonial from a supplier that I had dealt with.
Gerry: [00:48:29] Mhm.
Sharon: [00:48:29] So, yes, I didn't know her as if I were going to have coffee. But I recognized the name because we had dealt over the years. So I easily phoned her up and she said, Sharon, don't even think twice. Do it. Done. Done deal. Because that testimonial was on that website. If that was not on there, I don't know if I would have reached out because I was scared. I was scared about the financial commitment. I was scared that I wasn't ready, I was scared I wasn't smart enough, you know, like I have all these doubts in my head. First of all, the website was starting to make me already feel warm and I can do this. And then that one testimonial is like, boom, done.
Gerry: [00:48:59] Yeah. Good. I mean, that's fantastic. That's the power of a of a well placed testimonial. And just think of that. That probably ended up being a pretty positive experience.
Sharon: [00:49:10] Hopefully I love him.
Gerry: [00:49:12] But it would have gone by the wayside if that company didn't know what they were doing. And that's, that's the thing we always have to understand. Maybe a good way to even wrap up that. That's what we always have to understand is that the opportunity to sell someone can get tripped up in so many different places. It can be just that alone could have stopped that sale for them. Mhm. The dentist, if they didn't have their wording. So but once you do it and you've got a repeatable system, then you never have to do it again. You just augment it and you just, you know, tweak it as you go along, but you've got to get the clarity and the messaging down and understand best practices, like with a testimonial that is attributed. And like, there's just nobody out there talking about that. And so many opportunities get missed because they're not doing it the right way.
Sharon: [00:50:06] So is it as a testimonial considered like a Google review on there.
Gerry: [00:50:10] Much to me, to me, much more powerful.
Sharon: [00:50:12] Yeah, because it's different. Like I foresee a testimonial different because we do them at BNI. So we do a testimonial. It actually is like paragraphs of it and why it's changed their business. And then a referral is just like, hey, great product. Thank you.
Gerry: [00:50:25] Yeah, I always advise.
Sharon: [00:50:26] You, I mean.
Gerry: [00:50:27] On the testimonials, I always advise people that we should always look to get testimonials. Let's say you have five testimonials people buy for different reasons. So if you have five testimonials that all say the same thing.
Sharon: [00:50:41] Mhm.
Gerry: [00:50:42] Then you got one. But if you, if somebody wants, you know, like I'll say to a client, like, what is it that you got from working with me? Well, some people buy speed like they buy, you know, they've got, they, they understand the value of time. And so that's what they want. And so I have a testimonial for that. Some people buy results. I mean, they all want results, but different elements so that when they're scanning down your testimonials, they see something that goes, that's what I want and that's what I need. They need. But you need to be the one that tells them that you can deliver them. Right?
Sharon: [00:51:16] Yeah. Got it. Okay. We're at 57 minutes, so we should probably wrap up here. Is there anything that I missed in this whole thing that you want to share with our listeners today?
Gerry: [00:51:26] Other than that lead magnet, if you can let them know about that, the seven website leaks that are costing you revenue. Can you.
Sharon: [00:51:34] Share? So what happens on our podcast? It'll put a link down below. And I think we have it there. But even if you want to spell it out right now for our listeners, that would be great.
Gerry: [00:51:42] Yeah. You know what? I'm so used to clicking it, I don't.
Sharon: [00:51:47] Yeah. That's okay. They can, they can click on it down below. It'll definitely be.
Gerry: [00:51:51] They'll click on down below, but it's definitely something that will save them money and, uh, get them pointed in the right direction. No question. Then I think you've got my website.
Sharon: [00:52:00] Yep. So everything's there. So where are you actually physically located? I don't even know.
Gerry: [00:52:05] I am about 50 miles north of Toronto in the windiest city in Canada in Barrie, Ontario.
Sharon: [00:52:14] Okay. Yeah. That's awesome. I'm glad that we've connected. I think this is very beneficial for our listeners. I really do appreciate it. Okay. We always ask one, one book, what's your favorite book that you'd like to share with our listeners? I feel that all entrepreneurs need to educate themselves, and this is a great platform for them to have a variety.
Gerry: [00:52:32] Yeah. So I would say that, boy, it's tough to make a choice here. Influence is the book.
Sharon: [00:52:37] By.
Gerry: [00:52:38] By Robert Cialdini. I'll hold the book up if you can see it. Yep. That's the book.
Sharon: [00:52:44] And it's on sales. So basically Influence.
Gerry: [00:52:46] It's more actually less about sales, more on why people react certain ways. It's just, it's just all about the psychology of persuasion, I guess is the best way to put it.
Sharon: [00:52:59] Gotcha.
Gerry: [00:52:59] It's just fascinating, fascinating reading. And for our, for your viewers and listeners, that's what it's all about. It's how do I ethically persuade people that I'm the right choice for them? Right? It's not tricking them. No. Ethically understanding how people think.
Sharon: [00:53:19] And it's so true about that whole I'm terrified of salespeople. It's funny because people say you're in sales. Am I? I don't feel like I'm in sales. I feel like I'm. I'm your business partner. I'm working with you. I want to, you know? Yeah. Anyways, because I'm terrified of salespeople, but I had a company say that if you sign up, it's a plumbing company. If you sign up for this, whatever series, you pay X amount and they'll come out and check your whatever once a year. It's part of this whatever subscription plan. And I just felt that when they go there, oh, you need this, this and this and this, I could do it for this amount. I could or I could do this and this and this for this amount. Or I could do this, this and this for extreme amount, basically replace whatever they needed to replace. And I felt like I was had it just left a bitter taste in my mouth. I thought I was like, I don't know, taking some stress off of me originally by them doing this. And then it just felt like just, I don't know. Or when you're selling, you gotta have the mindset of you're helping people. Is that correct?
Gerry: [00:54:12] There's no question. It's got to be a mutually beneficial exchange. That's the way it should be thought of. Anything else isn't selling. I mean, selling is a very noble profession. Always has been, always will be. And there's nothing wrong with it. But of course, there are the charlatans and the pretenders out there that as long as they get your money, once they don't care about trying to get it a second time, they just don't care.
Sharon: [00:54:36] It could have just been the way it was outlined or explained to me. It's like, okay, well, here, this mount, do you want me to do it right now? I was like, what? What? Huh? You know, and it was like, I guess like it was like really quick. And it was like, I didn't know this was coming. But anyways, it's just yeah, I just hope I never do that to my, my customer base. Um, that's not what I've ever been focused on. And my team knows that it's just literally meant to help people. And what you're foreseeing of how our listeners can revamp their website is so they can help their people as well as help themselves. Like I say, we're in business, we got bills to pay, we got payroll. You know, we got to do that for sure. But anyways, it's basically as long as you have the right mindset to help people.
Gerry: [00:55:11] That's what it's all about.
Sharon: [00:55:12] Okay, I'm going to sign off here. So thank you very much for jumping on with us, Gerry. And I hope that our listeners do reach out to you, because the world is smaller because of our websites and the World Wide Web, so they can reach out to you by taking that seven, I know I actually had seven ways to something, but leaks. But anyways.
Gerry: [00:55:29] Seven website leaks that are costing you sales.
Sharon: [00:55:31] Thanks. Perfect. So if they go onto your website, find that, do that, they'll have connection with you. And if they want to reach out, they'll get ahold of you. Because I think that's great because they can literally reach out to you from almost 25 countries. Now we just mentioned.
Gerry: [00:55:47] That's exciting. And they can get Sharon. They're going to see like the the website website revenue leak audit that I offer. They're going to see that all there. And plus, the other thing I didn't mention to you, they're going to see all my blog posts. So they're going to learn, they're going to have access to a lot of information, you know, that will be helpful to them.
Sharon: [00:56:05] I took advantage of your blog post. That's how I kind of come up with the blogs in general about how the blogs work. So you actually have a post on blog posts on your website.
Gerry: [00:56:13] There you go.
Sharon: [00:56:14] Yeah. So very yeah. Very good. So to our listeners, please take advantage of Gerry Black's website and all the links will be down below. So please click on those and reach out to Gerry if you have any questions. So thank you for listening today. And thank you, Gerry, for showing up. Building a business is tough work, which is why we're trying to make a difference here. But we need your help. Please hit subscribe and share this episode with someone in your network. Also, this show is for you. So if you have a topic you want us to cover, or if you want to pay it forward by sharing your own business story, let us know. You can literally leave a comment below. We check all the comments. We watch all the comments. So just leave a comment on any of our episodes, or email me at sharon@itpromo.ca. We read every comment, as I mentioned, and I will respond to your emails. If you want to be on the podcast with something educational for our listeners, please reach out. Until next time, keep learning, keep growing, and we'll see you right back here on the Business Insights podcast. Thanks, everybody. Bye.
Gerry: [00:57:04] Thanks, Sharon.