While you may be intimidated by these big name brands using these chatbots, don’t be. Dozens of companies offer a specialized platform that creates these bots for nominal monthly fees. While they all have basic free accounts you can start with, if you want more robust features you’ll have to pay a monthly fee, anywhere from $10 – $99 per month. These platforms and these costs are also for do-it-yourselfers who will customize their own bots. Each company has a support team waiting to help you and answer questions, but keep in mind this is a DIY project unless you have a larger budget to pay one of their specialists to do it for you.

Analyze If You Need a Bot

Before you sign up for a free chatbot account, determine if a chatbot is necessary for your business. Bots primarily handle customer service and sales inquiries, so first examine how many customer service calls or emails you handle. Do you receive multiple calls a day or just once or twice a month? Do you get other calls or inquiries that are not customer service or sales related? You can probably create a bot to handle those calls.

Can you afford a monthly fee? Again, you can start for free with most of these companies however you’ll have access to fewer features and some companies place a watermark on the messages associated with a free account. So, what features do you really need and how professional will it look to clients or prospects to have another company’s watermark on your chatbot? It appears that each of these companies have tiered pricing and allow you to upgrade as you need it.

Do you have the time to create these conversations? You’ll have to play mind reader a bit to anticipate what questions your prospects will ask and you’ll want to craft a warm welcome message. All this takes time unless you hire a ghostwriter to do it for you. Writing will also take you away from your coaching and marketing tasks so you’ll need to determine if writing your bot conversations is the best use of your time.

Can you see the value in having a bot or is this “bright shiny object syndrome?” In other words, are you drawn to purchasing products or trainings because it’s the latest and greatest thing or because it will add value to your business? Investing in a bot – no matter how big or small the price tag – is only worthwhile if it gets used.

Making a Plan for Your Chatbot

One of the best ways to determine if a chatbot is a good investment for your business is to make a plan of action. With my latest planner, Close Sales with Facebook Messenger Bots, I’ll walk you through the process of choosing a chatbot company (including recommendations), help you set a goal for your bot, and give you some writing tips for crafting your messages. Every chapter has exercises for you to complete since your business is unique from other coaches and you’ll have a much better understanding of how bots work and how they can work for you. [INSERT PURCHASE LINK HERE]

Is a Facebook Messenger Bot Right for Your Business?

Have you heard of these Facebook Messenger bots or seen them in action? It’s a very interesting technology that allows a brand to connect directly with their consumers to help them with a problem. You can order a Domino’s Pizza from their bot or select a bouquet of flowers to be delivered from the 1-800-Flowers bot. Or you can look up a quick recipe on the Whole Foods bot and know which ingredients you need after work. Other big name brands that use bots include Uber, Lowe’s, Volkswagon, and Budweiser.

While you may be intimidated by these big name brands using these chatbots, don’t be. Dozens of companies offer a specialized platform that creates these bots for nominal monthly fees. While they all have basic free accounts you can start with, if you want more robust features you’ll have to pay a monthly fee, anywhere from $10 – $99 per month. These platforms and these costs are also for do-it-yourselfers who will customize their own bots. Each company has a support team waiting to help you and answer questions, but keep in mind this is a DIY project unless you have a larger budget to pay one of their specialists to do it for you.

Analyze If You Need a Bot

Before you sign up for a free chatbot account, determine if a chatbot is necessary for your business. Bots primarily handle customer service and sales inquiries, so first examine how many customer service calls or emails you handle. Do you receive multiple calls a day or just once or twice a month? Do you get other calls or inquiries that are not customer service or sales related? You can probably create a bot to handle those calls.

Can you afford a monthly fee? Again, you can start for free with most of these companies however you’ll have access to fewer features and some companies place a watermark on the messages associated with a free account. So, what features do you really need and how professional will it look to clients or prospects to have another company’s watermark on your chatbot? It appears that each of these companies have tiered pricing and allow you to upgrade as you need it.

Do you have the time to create these conversations? You’ll have to play mind reader a bit to anticipate what questions your prospects will ask and you’ll want to craft a warm welcome message. All this takes time unless you hire a ghostwriter to do it for you. Writing will also take you away from your coaching and marketing tasks so you’ll need to determine if writing your bot conversations is the best use of your time.

Can you see the value in having a bot or is this “bright shiny object syndrome?” In other words, are you drawn to purchasing products or trainings because it’s the latest and greatest thing or because it will add value to your business? Investing in a bot – no matter how big or small the price tag – is only worthwhile if it gets used.

Making a Plan for Your Chatbot

One of the best ways to determine if a chatbot is a good investment for your business is to make a plan of action. With my latest planner, Close Sales with Facebook Messenger Bots, I’ll walk you through the process of choosing a chatbot company (including recommendations), help you set a goal for your bot, and give you some writing tips for crafting your messages. Every chapter has exercises for you to complete since your business is unique from other coaches and you’ll have a much better understanding of how bots work and how they can work for you. [INSERT PURCHASE LINK HERE]

The post Is a Facebook Messenger Bot Right for Your Business? appeared first on ReviewsPop.

Myth #1: You must use every single social media platform.

Expanding your reach is certainly a goal for business owners and coaches as that yields more sales and personal clients, which equals increased income. However, the real question to ask before signing up for every platform is: where is my ideal client? Using Facebook just because it has over 1 billion users doesn’t mean those 1 billion users will find you and start purchasing. Identify your ideal client and find out where they hang out. Those are the platforms you should use.

Myth #2: Aim for every post to go viral.

It’s always fun to see a post go viral as they are usually entertaining or thought provoking but of the viral campaigns you’ve noticed recently, could you say what company sponsored them? I can’t either. Aim to provide value in your posts mixed in with some of your personality as opposed to aiming for shock or entertainment value. Your ideal client wants to learn from you so your valuable lesson will be heard and remembered long after the latest viral video fades away.

Myth #3: Having a large number of followers equals increased profits.

It sure is an ego boost to see a large number of social media followers but are these followers interacting with you? Are they liking or sharing your posts? Are they leaving comments? If not, then chances are they are not your ideal client and chances are they will never purchase one of your packages. Evaluate your own posts; it’s quite possible they’re boring and that’s the reason for no response. Be more creative with your posts and watch for audience interaction. This directs back to the need for niching down to your ideal customer. You’re not appealing to everyone; you’re appealing to a small fraction of the world’s population. Pay attention to finding that demographic and the number of engaged audience members will follow, as will the profits.

Develop Your Personalized Action Plan at Social Media Bootcamp

Dig deeper into your business and develop your unique social media plan by joining my Social Media Bootcamp. In this home study course, you’ll receive 4 modules that focus on the important steps necessary to craft a strategic social media plan. Work at your own pace; no pressure from me! Each module has thought-provoking exercises plus Action Plans to use as to do lists for making things happen in your social media world. Invest in yourself and you’ll see a change in your audience and your engagement. JOIN THE CLUB NOW !

The post 3 Social Media Myths Busted… appeared first on ReviewsPop.

Here’s an example: You go out to dinner at your favorite restaurant and you fall in love with your entrée. A few weeks later you take a friend to the same restaurant, order the same meal, but it tastes different and you send it back to the kitchen. Their lack of consistency in how your meal was prepared will now leave doubt in your head about that particular dish and possibly about the whole restaurant in general.

Doubt in a customer’s mind generally means you have to rebuild that trust again to show that they should continue doing business with you. It’s not impossible to earn their trust again but you’re basically starting from square one. Just like when your weight loss efforts are halted during the holiday season and you have to lose those same 5 pounds multiple times. Working your business consistently and focusing on superb content and excellent customer service will help to keep your clients happy and trusting in you.

Have you ever had this occur: You opt-in to an email list that has great potential. You receive a few weekly emails and then nothing. Crickets. Then a month or two later you receive an email from that person again, making an offer to purchase their product. How does that lack of consistency make you feel? I’m guessing your first reaction would be, “Who the heck is this person?” Lack of consistency will cause you to forget who they are and why you signed up for their list in the first place. Lack of name recognition generally leads to, “I don’t know who you are so why would I give you my money?” Again, this business owner just made themselves a much harder task to win you over again.

Consistency with Your Brand Image

Have you noticed how many gurus there are, each proclaiming to have the answers to earning 6- or 7-figure incomes? If you tried implementing all of their different strategies, you’d be exhausted from keeping up with it all and your audience would be very confused about your overall message.

When it comes to branding, consistency and repetition will help develop name recognition. If you always wear clothes that match your website colors, people will make the connection. If your trademark is a purple stripe in your hair, don’t go changing it to fire engine red; your followers won’t recognize you! Be consistent with your brand image, colors, and message, both online and offline so you’re always recognized.

If you’d like to learn more about how to create a consistent brand image, come to my webinar, “5 Steps to Build an Engaged Audience on Social Media.” Engaged audiences are those who already trust you, like what you have to say, and are eager to have a conversation with you. These are the people who will sing your praises to others, thereby growing your business. And being consistent is a simple way to keep that audience engaged. JOIN THE CLUB NOW !

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