OK. So nothing is really the “secret” of sales. There's no one single thing that guarantees you success.

But whether we're talking about sales online, on webinars or face to face;  there is one thing that today makes a huge difference in whether you emerge from the fray having signed up a client.

It's your ability to create “lightbulb moments”.

Of course, the foundation of all sales is to solve your client's problems. To match your services or products with their issues, challenges or goals so they can see that by working with you they'll egt the results they want.

Trouble is, today that's a commodity.

Partly because clients have access to so many more competent suppliers these days who can all propose solid solutions to their problems. Gone are the days where geography gave service providers little local monopolies. 

Clients can now find dozens of competent service providers – often willing to do the work at very keen prices.

And they do their own research too. They already know the basics of what their problem is and what needs to be done to solve it before they ever speak to you (or at least they think they do).

So if you want to win the work (and get paid a reasonable fee for doing it) you have to do something more.

Many people will tell you you need to differentiate. But if your client doesn't see the value in your difference it doesn't get you far.

Often the best way to win a sale is to change the frame of reference. Give your potential client a “lightbulb moment” that brings new insights and gets them thinking about their problem in a different way. That way when all the other suppliers are solving problem X with a product that ticks boxes A, B and C, you've changed things so the client actually wants a solution to problem Y and needs boxes D, E and F to be ticked.

It's the same with webinars.

To succeed with webinars you need to tread a tricky line. Give too much information away and people won't feel they need to buy your product. Give too little and they'll feel cheated, like they haven't had value. 

I've seen it happen both ways. Webinars where the presenter gives away a ton of value and details yet doesn't get many sales (I've done that myself).

And webinars where the presenter only shares the “what” and not the “how” where most attendees feel short changed because they already knew the “what”.

Lightbulb moments change the frame again. Instead of dancing between telling people the “what” they already know or going into details on the “how” that will preclude sales; you focus on “what” level information they don't know.

It's why webinars introducing a new technology or technique work really well. The value the attendees get is in the new idea – they don't need the details yet. So they rave about the webinar and they're happy to buy the product to get the details.

I got that the first webinar I watched on Linkedin about 5 years ago. Lots of lightbulbs, and I bought the training product. The same when I saw a webinar about a technique for writing a book quickly. All new for me so I was really satisfied by the webinar, and I bought the training product.

Same happened for Facebook advertising and marketing funnels a few years ago too. Webinar lightbulbs = Ian getting out the credit card.

So what lightbulbs do you set off for your clients? It's not easy to come up with them. You have to really know your stuff and think hard to create them.

But it's an awful lot easier to sell if you're bringing new insight than if you're just treading old ground.