Turning Your Agency's Website Into a Sales Machine

Record this. All right, guys. Erica. Now I say this every webinar and still nobody, nobody listens. If. If you guys look at everybody who's on the webinar today, you will literally notice that there is only two people with their cameras on. Really, guys? Really? You can't hide behind cameras anymore. There you go, Greg. Thank you. Stacy, Erica, Justin, come on now. I'm sitting. I'm sitting in my robe. Andy, I don't care. It's 2022. You could have your shirt off. And I don't think people care. Maybe. Maybe Stacy and Erica care.

Awesome. No. All right, guys, I'm gonna get cranking. Here's what we're going over today. I'm gonna go through. Can everybody hear me okay? Yeah. Okay, perfect. I'm sitting in a restaurant in the hotel. So.

I'm going to go over websites. And I want, if you work for one, if you. If you have control of your own company's website, super helpful. Number two, if you work somewhere like I'm looking at Greg, Greg, you're at JA and I know you don't own the company. These are great suggestions you can give your team because I'm going to tell you guys, last week I went through. Anybody familiar with the book Building a Story Brand.

It is a fantastic book, probably the best book out there about how to become a better storyteller, which is basically what marketing is. And so as of last week, I'm now officially a story brand certified guide, which is really cool. It was a great certification to get. And one of the things we went through was websites. And when you look at a lot of websites, whether you're an insurance agency or you sell lollipops, I don't care what it is. There is a specific way you want to tell your story on your website because what you really want your website to become is a little sales machine for you. And the problem is for too many websites, especially from the industry, most of us come from here, the insurance industry, the website's just not doing what it's supposed to. And so what I'm going to go through is literally section by section, what you should think about when you look at what should be in your website. And when you think about section by section.

You know, we. Nowadays we go through websites like this, right? We scroll from top to bottom. Used to be that it was static pages. Now it's a whole scroll. So when I say sections, think about scrolling down your site, every section. What should that section topic be about? That's what I'm going to go through for you guys. And so what I want everybody to do, literally, if you have a piece of paper, take your paper. If you guys can see this and draw lines down, create like sections. And I want you to make nine sections.

So draw a line across the paper to create the section divide and come up with nine sections. We're gonna go section by section. I'm gonna have you take notes in each section.

So let's let me start with some of the challenges I see or mistakes I see with websites today. What I want you guys to remember is the job of your website is to talk to your prospect. You actually want to use your website to tell their story.

The first mistake is too many are actually using the website to talk about themselves.

Now. That's how it used to be, right? We all used to create websites. Companies used to create websites as a landing spot so people could come learn about us. But the game has changed. The website actually needs to tell the prospect story.

And so the first section.

Is what they refer to as the above the fold. So if anybody remembers when we used to have these things called newspapers, when you'd get the paper in the morning and it was folded over, right, the first thing you saw in the headline was what they call the above the fold. So your head, your main page on your website is what they call the above the fold section. And what you want that section to be, that has to grab somebody's attention in three seconds. If somebody comes to your site and in three seconds, they don't know exactly what you do or it doesn't catch them, they're gone, they're going, they're off the site. So we've got to find a way to keep their attention. How do we do that? We do that with a good headline.

So I'm going to read a headline and I want somebody to tell me what industry this company is in. You guys ready? So everybody can chime in? Don't. You can turn your. Turn your mute off and chime in. Here's the headline.

We grow to deliver our promise.

Anybody want to guess what industry that is?

There's no clarity to me on that.

Sounds like you guys can't even answer that, can you?

Is it a pot shop? Is it jj? You said men's health cannabis industry. That's actually an insurance company in Colorado.

Do you see where the problem. I don't even know what you are. I came to your website and the headline says, we grow to deliver our promise. I don't know who you are. I'm Gone.

No, Stacy, I'm not telling you who it is. It might be a competitor of yours. I know you're in Colorado. I'm not going to tell you who it is.

The point is, guys, your headline on your main page has to be super clear.

So here's a great example. I have a client that's an insurance agency in Wyoming and this is what the headline, when I come to their page, this is what their headline says.

We think you're paying too much for your health insurance costs. The question is why?

And their subheading is we build health plans that work.

Do you know pretty clearly what they do? If you came to that website?

So you want to make sure your, your headline on your main page is succinct and clear about what you do.

I still believe, guys, for the advisors on the call, I'm waiting for an insurance agency to actually put this headline on their main page. We, we build health plans that don't.

I think it would work because I know exactly what you do.

But the point is, whatever it is you guys do, make it really clear what you get. Don't, don't try to get cute. Don't try to get fancy. Just get to the point.

That's step number one. That's the headline you want to focus on.

I want to grab your attention and I want to, I need to know immediately what you do. Now here's a couple other things, guys, you need to have on your homepage, your website, the first page. When I come to your site, people read websites in a Z pattern. So they start in the upper left corner, they scroll across the top, they come down a diagonal, and then they scroll across the bottom.

Couple things you want to make sure that are positioned correctly. Number one, company logo, upper left. Most people have that, well, put that company logo, your company logo in the upper left corner.

If I scroll across, in the upper right. You know how when you scroll across a page, you'll see about U.S. services. You know all the, all the stuff you can click. Well, you get all the way to the right. You need to have a very obvious call to action button. Schedule a call, contact us, make it look different than the about us and all that. Make it obvious.

Here's the interesting thing. Statistically, the best call to action button that drives the most engagement is schedule an appointment for whatever reason. Statistically, that has proven to be the most profitable call to action button. Not call us. Not schedule a call, schedule an appointment.

What you don't want to have as a call to action button is something like this. Learn more.

That's a really passive nudge. Call to action. Just get to the point with the button, schedule an appointment. Now.

In the middle of your page where that headline is, where you're telling me what you do very clearly. Right underneath that, put the same call to action button, schedule an appointment.

So by just incorporating those things right there, guys, your, your main homepage is going to be more. More powerful and impactful. Good headline. Get to the point. We don't need to know about you. It's all about the prospect. Low on the upper left, obvious call to action. The upper right, another call to action below the headline.

Now people ask what should go in the background of a homepage? Do we use pictures? Sometimes you see video. There's really no right or wrong answer there, guys. The one thing you don't want to have. Have you ever seen websites where people have, like the word scrolling across?

So sometimes you'll see, like, things change as you're reading. I don't know if anybody's seen that with sites. That's. That actually confuses people. So if you want to have video in the back where the video is actually moving, that's okay. Just make sure the words are not moving. Keep the word static.

Now that's section one. So if you, if you fill that in in your first section that I had you draw out, section two. So as we start scrolling now, section two is what we refer to the stakes.

Meaning in that second section, I want you to tell me what's at stake if I don't hire you guys.

What's the problems I'm dealing with right now as a company or as an individual, whoever your target is, that if I do not hire you, I'm going to continue dealing with.

You got to tell me what I could lose by not hiring. Remember, more people buy based off of fear, losing based on, excuse me, the fear of losing versus the success of gain. More people will buy that way. So that second section.

Instills some stakes at. Okay, what do we lose if you don't hire Rose Street Advisors? Erica, you know what's at stake.

Another, a great way to do this, guys, is you can ask questions in this section. That's one way to pose the stakes, is you could ask questions. You know, what would life look like if you continued dealing with this? If you continued struggling with this?

Are you frustrated? Your health insurance costs keep going up year after year.

Lay out the stakes for them. That's a great way to set that up. And again, guys, one of the most important things you can do with a website is do not try to be cute with your language.

You literally want a caveman to be able to come to your site and know what you're doing, know what you're saying?

Too many companies spend too much time trying to be cute. The second you confuse somebody with your cuteness, you lose them. So we don't want to be cute.

So the second, second section is the stakes. We want to let them know what is at stake if they don't hire us.

Now, Erica, I'm looking at you. You've been through a workshop.

The best way to lay out the stakes is just lay out the problems your prospect's currently dealing with. That's it. Think about the problems your prospect currently deals with. And that's what the stake section is. You're just gonna lay out the current problems. Cause they wanna avoid those.

Section three.

Now we're gonna get into what is known as the value proposition.

This is where you're going to tell them about the benefits they will gain if they hire you.

So if you, if you sat down and said, okay, what problems does my prospects deal with today?

What's my process for solving those problems? And then if I solve the problems, what does success look like for my clients and my prospects? That's what you're going to put in the value proposition. What does success look like when these companies hire us? Think of these can be the imagine if statements. Imagine if you could do this. Imagine if your health insurance costs were under control. Imagine if you had a health plan and your employees loved whatever that is. That's where you lay that out in the value proposition. Tell me how I'm going to succeed with you. Paint me this destination that I want to get to. And by the way, I forgot to mention, with each of these sections, having a good title to each section, a bold, big title to each section is a good way to do that too.

So now I want you guys to start following the story main page. I'm telling you what I do very clearly. What success could look like. You know, here's the results we create for our clients. Boom. Section two is what's at stake if you don't hire.

Section three now is the value proposition. What could life look like if I do hire? What does success look like? Do you notice how we're starting to have this positive negative.

That's how good stories are told. If you guys watched a movie about a guy who never had a problem in his life, every day was great. And all we saw for an entire movie was what a great day looked like. How boring would that movie be? Be terrible. We want negative. We want the challenges, we want the problems, because that's when the story gets good. That's how we want our website to look. We need the problems. We need those things to show up, too, because that's what makes the story good. So now we've got the headline, the stakes, the value proposition. Section four is where your company comes in.

You're the guide, right? You're the guide that's going to make your prospects look like a hero. So section four is where you get to talk about yourself a little bit here. And you want to do two things, guys. In the guide section, you want to show empathy.

So if again, you're a health insurance agency that deals with clients who are watching their health insurance costs go up, empathy is. We understand it's frustrating when you have to deal with rising health insurance costs every year. You can feel like you're helpless. You feel like you can't do anything about it. We get it.

But the second thing you want to show in this section is authority.

Now tell us why you're the credible source to solve it.

Have you helped hundreds of companies do this? Are you listed as one of the top 10 firms in your market? Whatever credibility backs up that you guys know what the heck you're doing. This is where you're going to put this in the section. So you're going to show empathy, that, hey, we understand your problem, we feel your pain, but now I'm gonna also tell you why in a couple bullet points, why were the credible source to fix it.

I'm gonna stop for a second. Is everybody following me here? Does this make sense? Oh, cool, cool. If anybody's stuck, feel free to just interrupt me. So now you've got headline. What's at stake? The value proposition. You come in now as the guide, showing empathy and showing why you're the credible source. Now the next section is where you're going to reveal your plan. Okay? So if anybody's worked with me, you know, we have worked, we have walked through.

What is your process for solving the client's problem? And you want to break it down to three steps. I said you need to tell me how you fix your client's problems in three steps. That's your process. That's your secret sauce. The next section of the website is where you reveal the plan. Step one, step two, step three.

Now here's what you want to reveal in this section, guys. When I say the plan, think about how the prospect is reading your website at this point. Okay, I know exactly what you do. I'd like to learn how you do that. That's interesting. How do you do that? Scroll down. Okay. What's at stake if I don't hire? If I keep letting my problems persist? Persist. What's at stake? Okay, cool. But now I'm seeing what you could do for me. What does my destination look like now? I'm seeing that you might be the credible source because you've helped hundreds of other companies do this. How do I do it now, guys? How do I get there? This is where you lay out the plan. So it might look like this. Step one, schedule discovery call. Step two, we're going to sit down and analyze what you currently have. I'm riffing this right now. Step three, we build a custom. You, you will have a customized plan fit for your company. Very high level, very simple. But the point is, you need to tell me what are the three steps I need to take to actually get what you're telling me I can get.

And keep it simple. Step one, schedule call. Step two, financial analysis. Step three, customize plan. Something like that. Just make it really simple. Oh, I got to take these three steps to get it. I got it. Okay.

That'S what goes in the next section.

Now.

The next section, I think this is six. We're now going into what they refer as the explanatory. Explain explanatory paragraph.

This is where you get an opportunity now to try to tell the prospect story.

Where you're going to say, listen, as a company right now you're trying to control your health insurance cost, but it's very hard. It can make you feel helpless.

We now, as you can see, have a process we call XYZ that's going to help you not only have this success, but you're going to have this success and you're going to have this success. You're basically just sharing the prospect story in this explanatory paragraph.

So if I were to say for this section, guys, the challenge is I want you to think about your ideal prospects, the problems they deal with. How does your process solve it and what does success look like? You're just going to type that out in a paragraph.

We often call this, and storybrand calls it a one liner. Tell me the problem, you solve the process you use to solve it and the result that process creates as quickly as you can. That's what that paragraph is.

And the last section.

I think, I think this is seven. So I gave you nine. But there's two more we don't really need. So I'm not going to talk about those. The last section under that is where you want to insert a call to action. One more call to action where you want to drive them.

To schedule that appointment with you.

So the last section is a transitional call to action where you're going to say, listen, now it's time for you to make a decision. If you want to have this success and you want to avoid this failure.

You need to schedule an appointment and you put a very big clear call to action button at the bottom. Schedule an appointment.

And I would actually encourage everybody in every, you could in every one of these sections, at the bottom of every one of these sections have a schedule an appointment button. You want that call to action button to repeat over and over and over because you don't know what section is going to catch their attention, what section is going to actually make them go. Huh? Yeah. And if that call that button, ad call the button, Action button is sitting right there. All they got to do is click.

So if you think about this now, you've now got a homepage above the fold. Good headline. We build health. You know, we think health insurance is too expensive. The question is why? We build health plans that work, right? You got your company's logo in the upper left, call to action button in the upper right. And then another big call to action button below the headline.

Go to the next section. You're going to, you're going to need, you're going to have the. What's at stake if you don't hire us, your problems are going to keep persisting. And here's your problems.

Call to action button. Next section. Value propy proposition. Okay, imagine now if you could have this success, this success and this success. You want that call to action button.

Then you come in with the guide. We understand this is a problem. It can be frustrating. But we are the guides, we're the credible guides to fix for you. Here's why we're credible. Call the action button. Then you go into the three steps. How do I get it? What do I have to do to get it?

Call to action button. Go into the explanatory paragraph, which is you just laying out the prospect story. It's your one liner. What problem do you solve? What's your process for solving it? And how does that process create success?

Call the action button. And then that last, last. All right, now it's time to make a decision.

Are you going to continue having failure, continue failing, or are you going to Are you going to take the steps it needs? You need to have success. And that steps really easy. Call the action button.

If you guys build a site like that from top to bottom, I promise you, number one, it will lead to people actually scheduling appointments. But number two, if somebody comes to your website after they've met you, which is what they do, and that story aligns with what they just heard come out of your mouth.

That'S gold.

I heard somebody start to ask a question.

Andy.

What do you see the most effective call to action? Is it just like a form with name, phone number, email address or.

Yep, yep. I would often what people will have on a site, Greg, is when you hit the call to act that schedule an appointment, it just goes to a landing page where it's put your name, phone number. You know, all the stuff you need to put. If you wanted to, you could. If somebody owns their own agency so they don't have a ton of producers, you could put like a calendly link in there where somebody could literally put themselves on your calendar. But for an agency where you have multiple producers, I would just send them to a landing page. First name, last name, email address, would love to know. Then they're saying, I want to learn more, I want to schedule an appointment. Yeah.

What other questions, guys?