How many of us have went through 5 or more emails or phone calls each day that looked like promising leads, but in the end only turned up 20% in the form of sales? I know I go through 2-3 emails a day for my blog design company that add up to 14-21 over the entire week and of those 20 (average) emails, I close about 2-3 of those deals. How much more profit would I gain from doubling or tripling these conversions? How much more money could YOU make if you converted twice as many people each week into paying customers?
In the below video it is discussed that by simply changing the way we ask a question, the conversion rates could triple. Please take a second to watch the video (its 2:10 long) and then follow with me as I break down what the gentlemen talks about in the video.
So by simply applying the “would you be willing to” phrase instead of the normal “if you can’t” phrase, the resturaunt owner took is no-shows from 30+ % to 10% overnight. As I watched this video I thought to myself “this guy has a point”. Especially since 9 times out of 10, the person would not mind saying “yes” when they are asked “would you be willing to call/email” and then once they realize that they might need to cancel or pull out of a deal, they now either have to call to honor their word, or go through with the deal. Sometimes, playing on someones emotions and pride can work to your advantage and this is definitely one case it does.
Now, I am not saying to play with someones mind, but lets face it, sales, marketing and advertisements are all about emotions and drawing specific emotions out of people in order to generate sales. So why should your end statement over the phone or through an email be any different.
Lets experiment together
Lets try this together for a week and see what type of results we can generate. I am going to track my leads/sales this week and see where I am at this point next week and will post a follow up article on my results. I can only assume that I will be pleased with the results. So, what do you say? would you be willing to try this experiment with me? 
Update: Out of 24 emails with “would you” written in it, I’ve got 19 replies and 13 sales!
August 28th, 2008 at 9:02 am
Excellent post! Simple but effective. I’m going to pass this onto my sales guys and extend the challenge to them for one week. In fact, I’ve just asked them all via phone if they would be willing to conduct the experiment. Guess what they said?
August 28th, 2008 at 9:23 am
I bet they said yes
August 28th, 2008 at 6:44 pm
This sounds great for people on the fence.
October 5th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
I can’t seem to find the video… could someone point it out?
October 5th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
Hi Arron, I have added the video back in. It somehow got deleted.