There are typically two reactions when I start to talk about the content framework I shared in our last email where you think through the details of what it takes for potential clients to be ready to buy.

One is “wow – that's brilliant – I can see how that will work perfectly” (and I did indeed get a few emails back saying similar).

The other is “wow – that sounds like so much work – you can't possibly do that whenever you create content can you?” (you guys were too polite to send me emails saying that, but it's the kind of thing I would have been thinking).

Both responses are right.

By thinking through the specific beliefs you need to establish for your potential clients to be ready to buy you significantly increase your chances of it happening.

But it is a lot of work.

It's not something you'd do for every email or article at all.

If you're writing a quick ad hoc piece of content you may have the ideas in the back of your head to make sure you touch on some of the points. But you don't formally work through them.

Or if the goal for your content is less about getting people ready to buy and more about getting your content shared (a typical SEO goal) then you tend to be writing more to hit “share triggers” than you are to hit “buying hot buttons”.

Or if your goal is simply to send something useful to keep your relationship bubbling along without a specific sales goal then you tend not to get so formal with content frameworks.

I don't have anything to sell related to these current emails for example. There's no “content publishing masterclass” on offer or a “call me and we can talk about how I can help with this”. So I've focused on how the content can be helpful rather than thinking about getting anyone ready to buy.

But there are specific times when it really pays off to use the framework.

When people first join your email list for example.

That's a process that lots of people will go through. And the reason they're joining your email list is usually to get some kind of useful information to help them with a problem or goal.

So thinking through what it will take to get them ready to buy and then sequencing your initial autoresponder emails to hit those buttons will have a big ROI.

Whenever you launch a new product. Or you're building a webinar. Or any time you're investing time and money to sell something…

…you'll get much better results if rather than thinking “how can I persuade them to buy?” as a one-off, you think “how can I get them ready to buy over time?”

Persuading cold prospects to buy something big in one event takes world class marketing skills.

But warming people up over time so they're ready to buy is much easier.

And it has a bigger effect. Because even if they don't buy then, they're much closer to being ready to buy next time, or the time after that.

So pick your moments.

Next time we'll jump into how.