The Difference Between Serving & Selling

The Difference Between Serving and Selling

Table of Contents

We have to find a balance between SERVING and SELLING. In both my companies – Expert Empires and the Elite Closing Academy – we take a 4-step approach in every marketing/sales interaction we have:

1. SERVE

The vast majority of ‘marketing’ I send to my community, actually doesn’t look like ‘marketing’ at all.

It’s generally free content, in the form of podcast episodes, videos, emails, online trainings, etc (I suppose this report is another example of that).

In other words, the majority of my community only ever see valuable info, and very rarely see a ‘sales pitch’. This keeps our community engaged and maintains a good relationship with them.

the difference between serving and selling

2. SEED

Within the free content I share, I’ll ‘Seed’ (i.e. casually mention) the other products and services we offer. If you’ve been part of our community for any length of time, I’m sure you’re aware that our flagship offering is our Expert Empires Mastermind programme.

And the reason you’re aware of that, is because I ‘Seed’ it constantly.

I mention it in almost ALL of the content pieces I share, and regularly feature our successful members in interviews, etc, which in turn creates a curiosity for people to find out more.

Then, when they’ve members of our community take a certain action to show interest in Mastermind, we move on to…

3. SELL

Once someone enquires about Mastermind, we then (and only then) give them all the relevant information.

This is normally in the form of a brochure, which is followed by a conversation with someone in our team.

That conversation determines whether the person is a good fit, and if so, which programme is most relevant for them.

Business growth

4. CLOSE

Finally, when it’s clear that it is a good fit, we will then (and only then) ask a closing question and complete their enrolment.

I guess the BIG PROBLEM I see in our industry, is too many people are selling and closing BEFORE they’ve earned the right. In other words, they haven’t Served and Seeded to create interest.

So effectively they’re trying to sell and close someone who’s not interested. Which let’s face it, feels horrible!

Now you understand the ‘Serve, Seed, Sell, Close’ cycle, let’s look at the 5 strategies we used in September to generate our best ever result in terms of Mastermind sales…

STRATEGY #1: FREE MASTERMIND SESSIONS

This actually came about completely by accident!

As you may know, back in June we launched the Empire Builders podcast. Of course, I wanted to get as many people to subscribe/download as possible, so I decided to ‘bribe’ people into subscribing by offering a seat at a free Mastermind session with me.

What I didn’t realise was how many people would attend those sessions and actually enrol in our paid Mastermind programmes!

This strategy really is a great example of ‘Serve, Seed, Sell, Close’ There was a LOAD of ‘Serve’ and ‘Seed’ in:

a) The podcast And

b) The Mastermind session itself

Which meant that when I gave out the Mastermind brochure at the session, the majority of people were interested.

And when I made the offer for them to enrol, around 25%-30% actually did. Result!

Total Sales: £45,541

STRATEGY #2: STRATEGY CALLS

This is something I’ve been offering for quite some time, but we’ve noticed a significant increase in the amount of calls being booked recently.

I think the main reason for that increase is that our sales team aren’t distracted with selling hundreds of tickets to Expert Empires, so instead they can focus on booking strategy calls instead.

These calls are free, but we do ask members of our community to pay a £500 refundable deposit. This is just to make sure they’re committed to turn up for the call, and that they’re at least somewhat likely to invest further with us.

Again, the call itself is predominantly a ‘Serve’ – it’s a 45-minute call – and the first 30-35 minutes are dedicated to helping the client create a strategic plan for growth.

Of course, Mastermind has already been ‘Seeded’ beforehand. We actually send the brochure with all the information BEFORE the call, so I can spend more time ‘Serving’ and less time ‘Selling’.

So when I get on the call, the client is already aware of the different Mastermind options available, what’s included in each programme, and what the investment is.

Which in turn, makes the selling and closing part easy!

Total Sales: £23,374

STRATEGY #3: LIVE 3-DAY WORKSHOP

Whilst the Mastermind sessions (Strategy 1) were a great way to ‘Serve, Seed, Sell, and Close’ – there’s only so much depth I can go into in a few hours.

So last month we decided to run our first live 3-day ‘Expert Empires Accelerator’ training since lockdown.

Again, for obvious reasons we need to restrict numbers, but we had around 20 people attend (some of whom were already clients)

The 3-day workshop is a great example of our ‘SSSC’ philosophy in practice.
Day 1 is all about Serve and Seed. There is no selling whatsoever on the first day.

On Day 2 we continue to Serve and Seed, but a) give out Mastermind brochures before the first break, and b) spend about 20 minutes explaining the Mastermind programme and making an offer just before the end of the day.

Then on Day 3, we continue to Serve (obviously – this never stops!) and enrol those who are interested.

Total Sales: £68,088

 

The first 3 strategies outlined above, were about Serving, Seeding, Selling, and Closing members of our community (i.e. potential clients) into Mastermind.

The final 2 strategies are about Serving, Seeding, Selling, and Closing our EXISTING MEMBERS…

Expert Empires

STRATEGY #4: RENEWALS/UPGRADES

Whilst new client/customer acquisition is of course important to any business, an all too often ignored opportunity is retention and renewals of existing clients/customers.

In our case, we have a very specific process for retaining and renewing our Members into 2nd, 3rd, etc years of Membership.

  1. When a client is entering the final 2 months of their membership, they start to receive a countdown, so they’re aware of how long they have left before their membership finishes.

  2. They’re invited to book a review call with me, to discuss their progress, get strategic input, and to discuss how we can continue to work together.

On this call I always make a special ‘renewal only’ offer (in other words, this is not available to new or returning clients, only to those continuing their membership)

Of course, in some cases this is a very straightforward yes/no conversation.

And in others, since we have three different ‘levels’ of Mastermind there is also a conversation to be had about UPGRADING their membership.

For example, once a client has started to achieve a certain level of result from being in our 50k Mastermind, it’s probably relevant for them to upgrade to our 6 Figure Mastermind. And the same goes for Six Figure to Seven Figure Mastermind.

Of course, it’s human nature to want to improve and grow, so I think having this measured ascension structure in place is a great way to a) continue to serve clients long term, and b) make remaining a member of the programme more attractive.

Think about it like this…

As a keen golfer, I can measure my progress by my handicap. If my handicap reduces, I know I’m improving, and so I’m more likely to invest time/money/resources in further improvement.

The same goes for our programmes. As people achieve measurable results, they want to improve further, and therefore choose to upgrade to the programme that is likely to help them achieve their next level of result.

Total Sales: £51,707

STRATEGY #5: LIFETIME MEMBERSHIPS

Finally, in September we enrolled a number of our existing Mastermind members into our Lifetime programme.

This essentially means they make a one-time payment that gets them access to our programme – forever!

The advantage to the client, is they save money over the next few years. In fact, the longer they stay an active member, the more they save!

And the advantage to my business, is I’m ‘locking in’ our most successful clients for the long run (therefore making the programme more attractive to potential new members)

Of course, the investment in a lifetime membership is significant, and so has quite a positive impact on short-term cashflow for our business

Total Sales: £63,594

Grand Total (and Record-Breaking!) Mastermind Revenue in September 2020: £252,305.00!

Remember – this is just sales of Mastermind as a direct result of these 5 strategies. This doesn’t include sales of other programmes from other sources – and this was all achieved without running a big event/launch, or spending a load of money on ads!

So, in summary, September was a pretty good month

I hope you’ve found this detailed breakdown of our record-breaking month useful/insightful, and that you can take at least one idea from this report to create even more impact and income in the coming weeks and months.

50k Mastermind Programme

Find Out More

6 Figure Mastermind Programme

Find Out More

7 Figure Mastermind Programme

Find Out More
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Core Values we love people