How to Convert Subscribers to Clients

Welcome back,

I don't know about you, but it feels like August has been a little bit slower for new business. We can likely credit this to travel, back-to-school, and end-of-summer events, but slower times also remind us of the importance of continuous marketing.

If you only rely on marketing & business development when you need it, it's too late. It's something that needs to be done year-round, and one of the best ways is through email.

So this week, I wanted to share a few tips & resources to help you make money from your existing (and new) subscribers:

1) Set expectations and have an initial sequence

If you're just getting started with building your list, a welcome sequence should be your number one priority. There's no better way to introduce yourself & ask for business than when someone gave you their email to further contact them. Seth Godin calls this "permission marketing".

Some advisors consider asking for business "sales-y", but I don't know how else to grow a business. If you have morals & ethics, sales isn't a bad thing. We do it every day.

So after someone subscribes to your email list, there should be an automated set of emails that go out to every single person. Those emails should do nothing but provide context & get someone one step closer to schedule a meeting with you.

Some examples of adding context: sharing who you are, why you're sending this newsletter, how often you send it, why your firm exists, who you work with - anything to get someone more familiar with you.

This is the foundation for building trust & forming a relationship digitally. Without doing this, it can be harder to convert subscribers in the future.

2) Be consistent

Just like in real life: if you say you're going to do something, do it. If you don't, you'll lose trust.

If you have a weekly newsletter, send it on the exact same time & day every time.

Whatever cadence you decide on, stick with it for a ~year and then re-evaluate.

3) Soft-sell yourself

After someone's on your email list & you've made your first impression, now what?

Keep. Selling.

I learned a lot about sales from doing door-to-door and at the end of the day, all that selling is is 1) showing what problem you can solve to as many people as possible and then 2) asking if you can help solve their problem.

To show what problems you solve within email, you could:

• Share client success stories
• Host an Ask-Me-Anything video call over Zoom (send the invite within the email)
• Share how many spots you have left (if applicable) - client count or end-of-year limits

Depending on your level of writing, you could weave these stories into value-adding articles, or you could send separate emails dedicated to sharing success stories or inviting people to a webinar. There's no "right" way to go about it - you have to test and see what types of content work best for your subscriber-base.

4) Tell people what you want them to do

At the bottom of every email you send, there should be some form of call-to-action.

The best way I've seen this done is within Justin Welsh's newsletter:

He casually links to his products/services and clearly states what they are within two sentences.

If the next step you want someone to take is to schedule a call, ask them to schedule a call - like this:

End of Email Example

‍If you'd benefit from a quick meeting with a financial advisor, here's a link to my calendar to schedule a convenient time: *insert calendar link*

Thank you,
Your Name
websiteURL.com

‍

Example #2 // Welsh-inspired

‍If you'd like to learn more or work together, below are a few different ways I can help:

‍1. One-time Portfolio Review (link to calendar) - a short description of your service‍

‍2. Ongoing Planning + Investments (link to calendar) - a short description of your service‍

‍3. The "Firm Name" Blog - a short description of your blog & resource library