The Instagram Story template that helps you make sales in your business

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:: 00:00

You can sell in Instagram stories and if you're not doing so, you are missing a trick. It's Janet Murray here, and here's how to create an Instagram story that will help you make sales in your business. A few years ago, I hired a new window cleaner, but it quickly became apparent that he wasn't the right window cleaner for us. So why did it take me five years?

:: 00:21

Just hack him and find someone new? Well, it was all down to the principle of consistency and commitment. This is actually a psychological principle, which helps to explain human behavior and really what it comes down to is this as human beings, we are bombarded with hundreds of choices to make every single day. So when we commit to something, whether it's a statement,

:: 00:44

a stand, a political affiliation, or some kind of identity, we tend to stick with what we've chosen because doing otherwise can actually feel like quite a big upheaval and a hassle. So how does this apply to your marketing? And in particular, how does it apply to excelling in Instagram stories? Well, it comes down to this. If you can get somebody to make a small commitment to you,

:: 01:12

so to say yes to something small, then it's much more likely that they will say yes to other things that you ask them. This is why I never create an Instagram story where I go straight in and ask for the sale. I start by asking you a question that gets people to give me a small amount of commitment, which means it's much easier to ask for the sale further down the line.

:: 01:40

Let me take you through my Instagram story sales template. So you can see what I mean, step number one, start with a question that relates to the problem that your product or service solves and invites viewers of your Instagram stories. I think fear is, is, is probably the right way to describe it. Invites them to get in a conversation with you.

:: 02:00

So let's say for example, you're a public speaking coach asking a question like, how do you feel about public speaking, love it or hate it. You can use the poll function on Instagram stories to do that, or let's say for example, that you sell candles, you could use the quiz function on Instagram stories to ask a question with multiple answers,

:: 02:20

or you could just put them on the story yourself and ask people to DM you back with ABC or D or 1, 2, 3, and four. The idea really is always to make it as easy as possible for people to respond. So if you have a candle business, you might ask people what annoys you most about handles a they don't last long enough and they trip wax everywhere.

:: 02:39

B the WIC always breaks. I don't make handles if you do you'll know the kind of things to ask, but getting that small piece of commitment, getting people involved in a conversation with you that relates to your product or service and the problems people might be having with it, or certainly products or services like Yours is a great way to get that small bit of commitment that will lead into a sales conversation.

:: 03:05

Set. Number two, having got that commitment is to show how your product or service solves that problem and to focus on the benefits rather than the features. So let's take that candle example. You could give three ways that your candles do not cause some of the problems that your Instagram story viewers have said that they have of candles. So for example, and very much I know nothing about candles,

:: 03:32

my candles last 12 hours. So you can stop wasting money on candles that don't last very long to my Wix are made with an unbreakable material and say what that material is. So you won't get frustrated because your candles only last a few hours. Example, number three, my handles are made with insert whatever ingredients. So they don't cause headaches or trigger allergies.

:: 04:00

Notice that I'm talking here about the benefits of the candles. I'm not describing the features. For example, they come in certain number of colors. They come in a lovely gift box. I'm showing how problems that you might previously have had with candles are not going to happen with this particular brand. So that's step two. Step three is to ask a hand raiser question.

:: 04:22

So hands up, this is not my phrase. I picked this up from some marketing guys you might know called Andrew and Pete. And this is really about getting some further commitment from your ideal customers or clients. So you ask the question that relates to your product or service that gets people to give you an indication as to whether they might be interested in investing in it.

:: 04:44

But you're not saying here's a link and buy from me. You're just getting some interest. So you might ask a question, like thinking about running a program for nervous public speakers in January, would you be interested? Yes or no? Again, you can use the poll function. Andrew and Pete have a trick they use called the yes. And yes.

:: 05:03

So you might have two options one's oh yes. Sounds amazing. The other option might be maybe. So all of the people who reply are showing some kind of interest. If you have a product-based business, we can go back to our candle example for a moment you can simply ask, would you be interested in a discount code for my candles? You could do.

:: 05:26

Yes or no. Or you could do the double. Yes. Where you say yes, please. Or definitely. And then you're going to get people who are voting on your poll, who haven't said, yes, I definitely want to buy. They've said I would like a discount code, or I might be interested if you do run that particular program by this stage,

:: 05:44

you should have group of people. Who've given you two shows of commitment. The last part of your story is going to be your call to action. I always ask people to DM me. Now I've had the swipe up function on Instagram stories for eight years, which means that you can put links in, but actually I will to know who's interested in buying my products or services.

:: 06:05

So my next part of my story, it would always be DME for the link because yes, it's convenient to have swipe up function, but I don't know if people are going to check out my website or the link I've given them. I would rather have the inconvenience of making a list of the names and going back to each of them individually, because I'm much more likely to make sales that way.

:: 06:26

So I'm just going to run you through that structure. Again, you're going to start with a question that basically gets people to opt in, identify with some of the problems or one of the problems that your product or service solves. So that's step one, step two. You're going to talk about how your product or service or what you do can help with those problems or help solve those problems.

:: 06:49

So to go back to the example of the public speaking coach, you might say something like I work with my clients on this so that they can so using those. So that statements we're always talking about the benefits of your service was as in the features, instead of talking about you get this many sessions with me and they all lost 90 minutes long, that's not what people are interested in.

:: 07:10

You talk about what you do and the how that's going to help. The next step is to ask a handraiser question where you're getting people to give you another bit of commitment. They're not saying I'm definitely gonna buy, but they're just raising their hand saying, yeah, I might be interested in that. And then you're giving a call to action as to where they can buy or get on the wait list or whatever it is that you want them to do.

:: 07:33

And I would always recommend that you DM them. I'm going to finish up with a question that I get asked a lot. So if you are doing polls like this in your Instagram stories, is it okay to follow up with people who vote in your polls and say, you voted in my poll to say that you were interested in X, Y, or Z,

:: 07:50

or you having problem with this, that, and the other just wanted to let you know about this. Absolutely. If they don't DM you back then no problem at all with you going back and saying, I noticed you said that this was a problem for you. I've got this solution here. Here's the link. Let me know if you have any questions.

:: 08:07

Absolutely no problem with that at all. So I hope you found that useful as ever. I do love hearing from you. If you try this out in your Instagram stories, I'd love to know how you get on. You can connect with me on Instagram at Jan Murray, UK.