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Episode 19 - Part 4: How to explain your USPs to stand out from the crowd
88 Plays2 years ago
In Part 4 of Episode 19, we're speaking with Simon Bath from PinLocal about how you explain why you charge the fee you do and convert leads at the right price.
Simon is the CEO of iPlaceGlobal which operates PinLocal, Moveable, iPlace Financial Services and Altium Legal.
Over the four parts of this episode, Simon shares his thoughts on a range of topics around sales, conversion rates and optimising processes.
In this fourth and final part, we discuss:
🍰 Segmenting customers through optional services
⭐ Importance of reviews in validating your quality
👋 The importance of human interaction
🗓️ How current are your reviews
🤷♂️ Trust building
🔍 Transparency of your pricing
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Transcript
Standing Out in Lead Generation
00:00:00
Speaker
I'd like to discuss how do you stand out and explain your offering? I think you'll potentially have a good insight on this as a lead generation site from two perspectives really. One, there are I suppose different options online for comparing surveyors and so on. So how do you make your own system stand out to consumers versus others? That informs the same process, I guess.
00:00:25
Speaker
And then the other is, I suppose, from all the different partners you work with, whether that's in surveying or the other aspects like conveyancing and so on. What do you see works well for distinguishing yourself from the back?
Understanding Consumer Behavior
00:00:41
Speaker
Yeah. And again, I know we've covered this in previously in the discussion, but it's about understanding the consumer behavior now and the consumer behavior. Absolutely. We see it across all aspects of the home moving space.
00:00:55
Speaker
from a state agency to mortgage to conveyance into survey. The consumer feels more empowered to desktop research and making those informed decisions themselves. So it's about understanding, therefore, what that typical user is going to be looking for. So really clear, really concise price front and center.
00:01:21
Speaker
make it simple to understand what those USPs are going to be. And again, I know I sound like a bit of a stuck record, but getting that third party validation, if you can get some linking through to a, spend some time on creating a really nice trust pilot account, really nice Google account, they really are the distinguishing factors.
00:01:45
Speaker
to building that confidence in somebody that's never heard, likely never heard of your brand, never seen your logo and spend too much time on creating a, you know, all single dancing logo. It's about getting that third party validation piece.
Strategy for Quotes and Pricing
00:01:59
Speaker
When's the right time to put the quote aspect in there? Because this is something you see different, I think quite a lot in the industry, which is fair enough. Everyone's got a different way of pricing and so on. But I suppose the three main ways people price, one is instant pricing. For example, the price that they provide, whether it's through their insights or a comparison, whatever it might be is the price they go with. Others might be an estimate. So we use that as an approximate gauge until they've checked the property.
00:02:29
Speaker
others won't give any price at all until they've had a chat with the customer, you know, looked at all the details online. So, when's the right time to give that price? Because I suppose there is an element of if you want to be able to talk to the customer to explain your value, so it doesn't just get lost, there's my price in an email, that's the direct comparison. How do you provide that price, I suppose is my question, without it being the only thing someone's thinking about when they compare four people, for example, side by side, or two, or power money.
00:03:00
Speaker
I definitely think price is important. And I think, you know, it's changing the mindset to being scared of putting a price up, to being bold about putting the price up. We can say that on the information that we've received, the price is going to be this. Because then that, and it's not a snake orb, but it gives that ability to come back and say, oh, okay, I didn't realize that it was this factor's going to have this change on the price.
00:03:30
Speaker
So for the information that I've received today, Mr. Customer, yeah, absolutely the price is going to be this. During that conversation, and there should be that, we've touched on this before, there should be that human interaction. There should be that trust building piece. If I understand more information, well, then the price is going to flex. And that's the confidence then in transparency of pricing upfront, but actually that you've understood my requirements properly. So I accept that the price is going to change because I didn't tell you that beforehand.
00:03:59
Speaker
I think that again is another trust builder throughout the journey.
Upselling with Additional Services
00:04:04
Speaker
Yeah that's true and I suppose one of the other things is and we try and encourage this is upsells and it's not looking at a customer as a cash cow in terms of how much can you e-counter them it's about the value you can provide but what it does help you to do is allow the customer to segment themselves into what they're willing to pay for what service they get so
00:04:22
Speaker
I suppose by that I mean, you can have your standard report, which can be a higher level and still be a higher price, but then you can have additional things like the drone roof inspection that gives you an extra detailed view of more information or, I don't know, express turnaround is the one that I'm thinking of in terms of value, but there's different services I suppose you can add in addition as well when you're discussing that price point. So it's not just, you know, here's everything you could have at this price.
00:04:52
Speaker
I think it also shows the level of domain expertise. You know, if I'm speaking to somebody who's, you know, is respecting what they do, I checked out the TPV, there are reviews, and then, you know, I'm getting asked questions about additional services that might enhance the product that I'm getting, expecting that there's going to be an associated cost. I think that builds an overall level of trust again with that provider.
Gathering Consumer Reviews
00:05:17
Speaker
On the reviews point, are there things that you can do in terms of the way you request reviews that can make them more valuable than someone else having five-star reviews? Because, for example, if you've got two firms, each have got X number of five-star reviews. Are there things that you can do to make those reviews more meaty or more engaging than just a quick, yeah, it was great, thanks.
00:05:43
Speaker
Yeah, we definitely find that currency is good, right? So if you've got reviews within the last week, month, couple of months, rather than reviews where you can see where somebody had a splurge in 2022 when they realized that getting reviews was a really good thing and then there's been nothing since. So on the face of, you know, two companies with five star reviews, just making sure that there's
00:06:10
Speaker
a flow, a steady, consistent flow of reviews over time. And all of these, again, not endorsing one over the other, but all of these review sites now have really neat and cool ways of garnering customer reviews that are independent, that get rid of all the phony internal ones. So it's an additional cost, a subscription associated with them, but I really think that
00:06:37
Speaker
to win in this direct to consumer market where you have no brand presence, you have nobody selling on your behalf.
Using Video Testimonials
00:06:43
Speaker
I think they're crucial.
00:06:45
Speaker
Awesome. Interesting. And I agree with that. I think, I think also the video testimonials are potentially quite good ways for your site. Yeah. So you can still have the widgets for, you know, the Google reviews, the trust pilots, but also someone who's willing to go on camera really means that you've got someone that loved what you did. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Perhaps that's something to look at as well, but probably harder to keep those current, in terms of the more up-to-date data on it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
00:07:15
Speaker
Maybe that's the future, right? Yeah, I think there's some really interesting discussion points on there. And thanks for coming and discussing the downward pressure aspects. I think it's a hot topic and one that could be shied away from. So I appreciate having a decent debate around that. All good. If anyone wants to get in touch with you, just ask about either pin local or just general questions around lead conversion strategies, all that type of stuff. How can they get in touch?
00:07:42
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. So if they go to www.pinlocal.com, we've got a contact from one there that goes straight through to the account management team that look after our new and existing survey and lead buyers. And feel free to ask any questions around sales conversion, around lead types. Yeah, we'd be really interested to speak to you. Awesome. But yeah, thanks for coming in today and discussing it. Brilliant. Cheers, Matt. Good to see you again.