Consider this a Bonus – about bonuses!

I have often mentioned in the past that I like to use a bonus or incentive to encourage potential clients to make a quick decision rather than follow their very natural and normal human instinct to procrastinate and think about it.

And it’s a subject that I get asked about quite a lot – especially questions around what are the best sort of bonuses to use.

So, I thought I’d write a blog about bonuses – consider this a “Bonus” to help your sales conversations to be effective in encouraging timely decision making, so you’re not hanging around wondering if the client will get back to you!

There are two types of incentive that I use to encourage a quick decision, whether I’m selling 1-1 or to groups via speaking or webinars.

A Bonus – i.e. an “extra” something that wouldn’t normally be included in your core programme or package

A Discount off the full package or programme price

Bonuses
When choosing bonuses there is no such thing as the “best” or “right” type to choose from.   But there are a few simple rules to follow:

1.      Your Bonus must have High Perceived Value to the client

Your bonus or bonuses need to trigger an internal feeling or dialogue that goes something like this “Wow, I want to do this thing… but because I’m a normal human being I’d really rather go away and think about it for a few days…. but this bonus is so great I don’t want to miss out… What the heck, if I’m going to do it I might as well do it now!”.   If the client can’t see that the bonuses are “juicy” and directly relevant to them then it won’t create that response.

2.   They must enhance, support or contribute to the main programme they are buying
For example if I’m buying your “Burn Out to Brilliance” coaching package it won’t mean much to me if you include an ebook on Internet Marketing  and an MP3 of an interview you did with Richard Branson.  It’s not that those things don’t have value in and of themselves, but if I’m suffering burn out they won’t feel relevant in the same way that perhaps a voucher for a free day of pampering at a Spa would be.

3.   The Bonus must not be critical to your client’s success
Again as an example, if you offer a 2 hour 1-1 Strategy call for all your clients at the beginning of a group Property Mentoring Programme and you either know or firmly believe that having this strategy session is critical to their success, then don’t pull it out and use it as a bonus.  Yes, a 1-1 strategy session would be a powerful bonus – but this penalises those people who don’t get the bonus and reduces their chance of success when working with you.

4.  Don’t Confuse or Overwhelm
It is a core fact in sales that “A confused mind says No” so you want to make sure that whatever you offer, it must be really simple and compelling and that it doesn’t create any confusion or overwhelm in the mind of your client.   For this reason, it’s best to avoid things like asking them to choose between two different bonuses or including so many bonuses that it creates confusion.  I often say, ‘less is more!’

So what sort of bonuses can you include?

Like I’ve already said, the only rule of thumb is that the bonus must have a high perceived value to the person you are selling to, and it must actually enhance or support the work that you will be doing with them.  With that said, the world is pretty much your oyster when it comes to choosing what to include – here are a few ideas to get the creative juices flowing:

• A discount off the full price
• A  1-1 call or session with you
• A Group Strategy or mentoring call
• An MP3 to help with relaxation, meditation or other relevant support
• Access to an online programme – either one that directly supports the work you will be doing, or on a relevant and closely related subject. For example, a lot of people who do my “Get More Clients Saying Yes!” course are also very keen to get hold of my course on ‘Selling from Webinars’
• Tickets to a live event or workshop
• A service provided by someone else e.g. massage to support a health programme, or energy healing to support a stress relief programme.

Do also consider delivery time.   It is easy to come up with super-exciting juicy bonuses but then discover that you have created a lot of extra work for yourself for no extra income.   In the early days, I used to offer a one hour 1-2-1 with me as a “Fast Action” bonus with my “Get More Clients Saying Yes!” online course.  It was a really effective bonus for encouraging a quick decision –  but it took a lot of my time to deliver.  Now I’m more established and the course has built a solid reputation, I don’t offer that anymore – but it worked really well for me while I was getting started.

I hope you’ve found this useful and it’s given you some new ideas for bonuses to encourage your ideal clients to say a resounding “Yes Please, I’m ready now!” to working with you.

Have you offered bonuses on your sales calls?  What results or impact did it have? As always, I’d love to hear from you, so please do comment and let me know your experiences in the comments below.

You can also sign up for my free video series “The 7 Steps To Yes” which gives you a really simple and clear sales process to guide your client through an effective sales conversation that feels authentic and comfortable for everyone involved.