How to sell more by asking your prospects to be case-studies for your service.

In May 2017, I wanted to sell my ghost-writing service at a higher price than I was currently selling it for. However, I didn’t feel I had enough proof to compel people to buy at that higher price-point.

I created a message explaining the benefits of my offer. Then I asked people on Facebook if they’d like to be a case-study for the service. That way, when I officially launched the service online, the sales page would be packed with real social proof and would sell at that higher price. The result was 17 qualified leads and 4 sales at $5,000 per person. So, that’s $20,000 in revenue from one message (and two ‘follow-up’ emails). The interesting thing is my new clients invested at the higher price-point. That’s when I realized there’s something special about this type of campaign.

Before discovering this method, selling my service was labor-intensive. But this success made me think “Wow. That was easy!” Then I asked myself, “What if I break down the process that compelled those clients to act? Could I turn it into a step-by-step formula other people (like you) could model to sell their products and services?”

If you follow the process laid out in this article, The Case-Study Campaign, you may find yourself with a flood of new sales to your company, and more income to support your family with. You’ll find the formula I reveal is elegant, conversational and most importantly: it’s a compelling way to sell your service.

5 Simple Steps for You to Implement The Case-Study Campaign

STEP 1 — Design: Set your timeline. Think of this in terms of week one, collecting leads who are interested, and week two closing those people. A wonderful benefit to the word case-study is the implied result (in a set period of time). Generally, people understand a case-study has a start-date and end-date.

As a result of that, one by-product is the true scarcity within the design of this campaign. One of the huge mistakes I see people making when they’re learning marketing and they learn copywriting is they attempt to manufacture scarcity in their offer without justifying why they’re doing so.

Giving people a deadline also places you in a leadership position. You’re not putting the ball in their court for them to decide when they’ll join; you’re setting the parameters for when they join. In addition, with this method, you’re helping your prospects save face if they can’t move forward during that campaign time.

Remember any time you make a claim, if there’s a reason behind it, it makes that claim sound reasonable. Sounding reasonable compels people to feel appreciative for the opportunity instead of jilted and pessimistic about your ethics or intentions. Mine was 14 days.

STEP 2 — Create Your Offer: The important thing is the design of the message, how it’s encapsulated within the context of “being a case-study.” Make sure you include your personality and conversational tone.

Just a couple things to keep in mind before you read it…

1. The message is long (663 words). Yes! Long copy does make sales, as long as it’s not boring. David Ogilvy said, “You can’t bore people into buying.” Copy needs to be as long as it needs to make sales.

2. It’s got a massive amount of my personality in it. The best ads feel like a conversation in the prospect’s head, not like an ad. I didn’t want them to see the writing. I wanted them to buy.

3. It’s probably grammatically incorrect and my spelling is probably wrong at times too.

4. Some of the content may sound inappropriate and unprofessional. (Keep in mind: a physician, financial expert and savvy stock investor bought from it). The key is to keep their attention and advance the sale with every line, stacking one subtle benefit over another.

Okay. Here’s the message:

PM me if you’re interested in this case-study group.

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Over the past three years I’ve ghost-written 6 books (and over 20 reports designed for lead gen… and countless email campaigns…) for business owners who don’t have the time (or in some cases, the skill set) to write their own book — yet who understand the marketing benefit a book can bring them. They also want their book to be 100% authentic with their voice and content.

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During those initial experiences, I learned how to optimize the writing process to create a quality material in a short period of time… and the material is spoken in the purest sense of my client’s voice too.

Well, I’ve finally got a system DOWN… Like: “Bottom of the ocean” DOWN.

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Basically, I speak with the client over 3–5 hours using a unique interview process I designed… Next thing you know, in less than 60 days, their book’s done with a pro-looking cover, placed online and ready to buy physical copies of.

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With their book in their hot hands, they’re empowered to do the following…

* Get speaking engagements.

* Be featured on media appearances.

* Attract qualified leads online (or offline).

* Give physical copies to clients, making them more likely to refer you.

* Sell it as a source of passive income.

* Differentiate yourself from the people who compete for the same clients.

* Sleep with multiple people at ONE TIME! (Sort of… If multiple people read your book before bed, in a way you’ll be sleeping with them… Right!?… K… Anyway… There are lots of benefits to having your book. Clearly.

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Now… Remember how I said I use a “unique interview process” to speak to you with? Well, check this out…

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That interview process is SOOOOO powerful… It’s literally going to change the publishing landscape for the rest of time. It’s going to make content production for books, blogs, email, audio, video, product-launches, etc AS EASY AS SMACKING YOURSELF IN THE FACE and saying: “Why has no one done this before now!?” And my puny “C’s and D’s student” brain think this thing up. Who’dathought… Serious though… I’m NOT hyping this thing up… When you experience my interview process, you’ll know why it’s ground-breaking.

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So why should YOU care about any of this?

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Here’s my super-fair offer that you’ll love…

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I want 5–12 people to join me in a case-study group to go through my book-production system.

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You’ll get:

* Your book is done in less than 60 days, using only 3–5 hours of your time chatting with me. (I have this detailed in my basic service agreement… Just PM me and I’ll send you the details).

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You’ll also get:

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* Three LIVE 90-minute follow-up webinars with the other members of the group. This is HUGE… Because this is where I will design custom promotional campaigns for members and take Q&A to best PROMOTE your book to gain clients with it.

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PLUS, the other members are BRILLIANT… For instance, Frank who’s an Amazon bestseller already, and who has the MASSIVE wisdom to share… Jorge nutrition and energy consultant from Toronto… Dr. Jane, a world-class health expert from LA who works with an assortment of celebrity clients… Amber, who retired at 25 from the stock market. So… We’ve got a super, smart-cookie group… I’m, like, the slowest kid in the class, apparently.

Anyway

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You’ll also get this cool bonus…

When all is said and done, I will produce MY OWN BOOK which teaches the whole process for unique interviews and content creation. YOU will be featured in that book, hence “case-study”

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See, I want to document your success, not only in the fast production time and quality content, but what your book DID for you in terms of financial return.

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So… That’s it.

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If you’re interested, Just PM me now and I will reply with the service agreement which has all the timelines and pricing detailsBoom!

After I posted that message, 3 people reached out to warn how I was: “creating a bad image due to my unprofessional writing.”

Academia-minded folk may say I sound like a lowbrow. However, my unprofessional writing made sales, and people who bought must have had a good enough image of me in their mind to buy. So, make your own judgment as to whether this is for you or not. There are many ways to travel to a vacation destination. You can take a plane, train, car, donkey, or you can walk. This is simply the message I created that was effective for me. Plus: the merit of the offer, and who the offer is being made to are the most influential elements in this method. The personality, in my opinion, makes it sound “human.”

Within a couple moments, and over the following few days, a flood of comments and personal messages came in. The total response count was 17. I messaged all those people back, got their email and sent the service agreement

It’s not about the medium you deliver this message through, and what I mean is this type of message will work by sending it through Facebook, LinkedIn, Email, or even as a telephone script. All those examples are mediums (or “media”), but the important thing is the message and who it’s sent to.

STEP 3 — Conversion E-mail: This e-mail is sent to those who’ve responded to your initial message. The following was sent to the people who responded to my initial message.

The subject line was:

Book Case Study (from Colin)

The body copy was:

So, here’s what I’m doing with this new case-study group for Books That Convert™…

Basically, there are three components:

1. Have an easy conversation with me for 3–5 hours, and then my team takes care of all the editing, formatting, cover design for you and we publish it within 60 days, guaranteed.

2. Participate in a “Post-Book Mastermind,” which has (3) 90-minute webinars where I’ll design campaigns with/for you to get clients by leveraging your book!

3. Be featured (if you want) in my book I’m writing… It’s about the interview process I use to produce books.

One last bonus I didn’t mention in the post you responded to is that you’ll be part of a secret FB group, where I’ll be supporting all the members during our time together.

Also…

I have 5 people in the group now, so there’s only room for 5 left.

The deadline for people to join is next Friday (because I want everyone’s book DONE by mid-August at the latest). As I mentioned in my message on Facebook, there are a lot of cool things you’ll be able to do with your book… From media appearances, using it as a lead-generation tool, or selling it online as a passive income vehicle.

Books are the greatest way I’ve found to position yourself as an expert and therefore charge higher prices.

This is going to be AWESOME.

Anyway…

The price for the case-study group is $5,000 and that amount is split into 3 separate payments over 60 days. (that’s all laid out in the Service Agreement Doc attached). We are willing to create flexible terms too if need be.

Since a book is a function of “marketing/sales,” you’ll be able to write the investment off as a business expense as a part of your 2017 taxes.

Plus on the upside, within the first 90 days AFTER your book’s published, it’s not unreasonable to turn that $5K investment into more sales at higher prices.

So those are the details of this group, and they’re also outlined in the Service Agreement attached here.

Please let me know if you’re in, or if you have questions.

Hugs,

Colin

P.S. Bob, who’s another member of this group, just posted this about his first interview!… It’s amazing how fast we’re all working together… Check this out:

– I just had my first interview with Colin and I was blown away by how everything is structured so well that it feels like I am having a conversation with him with the bonus of a well-written book popping out in a few weeks!]

He’s writing his book about “How to retire through stock investing.”

We also have a Doctor, fitness expert, financial advisor and an amazing man who sells books on Amazon! What a group!

Love to include you with them.

STEP 4 — Follow Up Message: Once the deadline is approaching, you don’t want to push anymore.

You’ve had the first message they’ve responded to, then you sent the email that summarizes the benefits and gives the service agreement and shows the price.

After that, if they haven’t moved forward, it’s likely they can’t afford it now and need to create terms, or there’s some other reason. So in the first follow-up message, what I learned was to hit “reply” on the same feed as the first email and say “Hey, I haven’t heard back from you, would you like to chat over the phone about this?” Then I can actually hop on the phone and chat with them and then see and hear and feel and ask questions and close, basically.

That’s as complex as it gets.

STEP 5 — The Service Agreement: The importance of this service agreement is to provide the main outcomes of your case-study campaign. The Service Agreement should highlight the outcomes, details of features, the steps of your service, the timeline, investment terms, and your personal guarantee. This should emphasize on the agreement of both the client’s expectations and your expectations from the client, (settlement).

Followed by the agreement terms, I decided to include a written testimonial “Colin, this year your marketing generated $66,133.77 additional revenue. Plus you placed 1,184 new prospects in my database.” -Heather Ramsey, Rewired WorldWide, Toronto. The importance of the testimonial brings us back to the first quote by Joel Bauer.

Lastly, your Service Agreement should include a sincere message of appreciation for being a part of your case-study.

Conclusion

Well, that’s it. Like most things that are effective, this is very simple. The thing I like about it is its nonchalant approach to making an offer for the service. I’m thrilled you get to see it as a successful example of something that can help you grow your business. Now it’s your turn! Please take the 5 steps I outlined for The Case-Study Campaign and implement them for your own business. If you’d like access to a 56-page book (real value of $27) that goes deeper on The Case-Study Campaign, plus, get tips on how to customize this campaign to your business, just visit