Here’s a commonly-taught maxim that I used to believe, but have now realized is false:
“When marketing, you should leave some gaps in your explanation of what you offer – like don’t tell people the price or all the details of what it involves.
“Make them contact you to get that information, so you can start a conversation with them and build a relationship.
“If you give all the information up front, they’ll have no reason to contact you.”
Here’s the thing: I’ve now tried both ways – the “tell them as little as possible” way and the “tell them as much as possible” way – and all sorts of variations in between those two extremes.
And here’s roughly what I’ve found:
When I told as little as possible, I got almost no inquiries about working with me. (and therefore almost no clients as well)
When I told a “medium” amount (like being clearer about what my process is for solving a certain problem, but leaving off the details of the offer and/or leaving off the price), I did get a lot of inquiries asking for the details. And I got about 10-30% of those saying “yes” and enrolling.
And when I told as much as possible (like being clearer about my process and including the offer details and the price), I did indeed get fewer inquiries.
But… the same absolute number of clients signed up.
So my income was the same.
But, since the enrollments came from a smaller number of inquiries, the close rate was much higher – 50% or more.
Given that the same number of clients signed up either way – whether I gave the details in the post or saved them for the private conversation – I’ve concluded that there is no reason not to put all the details in the post.
Because the people who are still interested even after reading all the details in the post will still contact me.
And the people for whom the details would disqualify them or make them no longer interested – well, they just don’t contact me in the first place.
This is a good thing!
It saves us both having to have the conversation where I have to take time out of my day to explain the details to them, and they have to tell me that they’re not interested anymore.
I now see how silly it is to say “If you give all the information up front, they’ll have no reason to contact you.”
The right people do have a reason to contact you!
The reason is that they liked all the information that they read, and they’re pretty sure it’s for them, and they want to sign up. 😉
And that’s really the only reason why I want someone contacting me, if I can help it.
I don’t really want them contacting me just to get information when I could provide that information another way and save us both time.
I think the premise behind the “make them contact you to get the info” way of thinking is that, well, at least you’ll have a lead even if they’re not really the right lead, and you’ll have a chance to try to sell them.
And we won’t go into how unethical that is, because if you’re a follower of mine, you already agree with me on this 🙂
(I’m not saying that everyone who does it this way has unethical intentions – it may have just been how they were taught. Those who actually design and teach these methods have more responsibility for how they come across.)
Again: the goal is not to get as many people contacting you as possible.
All that will do is generate noise and create lots of extra work for you or your staff having to respond to people and give information and then end up having them ghost or say “oh, never mind then, this isn’t the type of program I was looking for” or “I don’t have access to funds to pay that much right now.”
The goal is to get the right people contacting you, pre-sold and ready to sign up, and to repel all others.
And you also don’t need to worry about the whole argument that “holding back info creates space for us to have a conversation and build a relationship.”
That’s not the only way to build a relationship.
When you give a lot of detail in your content, that builds a relationship with people too – they come to you feeling like they already know you. And then, of course, when they sign up and begin working with you, the real two-sided personal relationship begins.
I have had SO MANY client enrollments happen this way – and I’ve been 95-100% happy with how every client relationship has unfolded even though I almost never have any kind of relationship with them before they enroll.
Which shows me that being clear in my content does work and is a valid way to bring in the right people without building an explicit relationship beforehand.
I’ve also had so many delightfully slow weeks in my business where I maybe only got 3 or 4 people contacting me, but all 3 (or 3 out of 4) of them signed up.
And you can bet I was thrilled that I could simply enroll all of them, get multiple-five figures in new cash landing in the bank, and then walk away from the computer and go do something fun, rather than spending time fielding a bunch more inquiries who turned out to not be the right people.
This way of doing things certainly isn’t the only way, but it’s the way that brings me the most profit and peace of mind. ❤
So, if you’d like similar results, maybe try giving more information in your posts about what you offer. Like, even all of the information. 😉
If you’d like to see my blueprint for writing an offer post that gives all the information – click here.
If you’d like to see my blueprint for writing a value-giving post that weaves in all the key points about your offer – click here.
And, if you’d like help to shift your content so that it gives the information in the most streamlined, easy-to-consume way so that the right people contact you ready to sign up and the wrong people never contact you in the first place, send me a DM on FB.
This is a big part of what I coach people on in my 30-day 1:1 program for coaches, consultants and service providers. ❤