I Make My Money On The Back End

Get your mind out of the gutter… I know what you’re thinking about the headline of this post…lol.

Once again I find myself sitting in an airport writing a blog post. Thank God for mobile technology.

This time I’m headed to Phoenix, AZ to film Joe Polish’s 24K group (that’s what he calls it) for Add To Cart movie.

Before I left the office this morning I did a phone interview with Craig Ballantyne for his Online Super Profits newsletter and CD of the month. We spent a good amount of time talking about how to get people to buy over and over and over again.

See the real money is in the backend. Its never about the one time sale… its about multiple backend sales.

A strong back-end sales system is like fishing with dynamite.

It gives you an unfair advantage over your competitors. If you’re an Internet marketer actively selling fitness info products, heck even if you sell offline training for that matter, this article is going to show you four back-end secrets that will multiply your profit margins.

See, when you have strong back-end systems in place you can afford to out-market your competitors in a big way. And if you have affiliates, like I do, then you can afford to pay out serious commissions and have them as your army of motivated sales reps since you’ll be raking in the profits on the back-end.

Let’s say that you sell a $49 info product. Unless you have a systematic back-end in place, you’re missing out on some serious profits. Without a back-end you’re always trying to chase down new customers-a process that costs you time and money and frankly can get pretty frustrating.

Here are four secrets you can use to blow up business on the back-end.

Back-End Secret #1: The 9,000% Price Increase

Your existing customers are seven times more likely to buy again - that’s a lot easier than finding a brand new customer. But where most marketers fail to “get it” is that they only have one product to sell. And those that do have a second or third product to compliment the first purchase usually put it in the same price range as the first product.

Big mistake… here’s why.

Once your customers know, like and trust you. Once they see you as the authority on a subject they’re ready to invest more money into your products and services. So having several “big ticket” back-ends products and services are important.

Here’s an example of a 9000% back-end increase. These are actual numbers from someone I know really well

Lets say that this person sells a client getting and marketing course in a niche market for $297. That’s just his front end product.

One of the back-end offers he has in place is a 12 month coaching and consulting program for this product. So while the front-end product costs $297, his back-end offer of the 12 month coaching and consulting program costs $9,000 (spread over 12 payments).

How to present the back-end offer:

Included in the original product is a sales letter for the 12 month coaching and consulting program. Plus he uses auto responders and snail mail to offer his coaching program to those who have invested in his sales and marketing course.

This particular back-end works so well that he typically has a waiting list that’s four to six months long at any given time.

Back-End Secret #2: The ol’ Up-Sell

This is the easiest back-end strategy and it yields killer returns and costs you no additional marketing dollars or time. McDonalds perfected this system with their “Want fries with that?” offer. Then they took it to a whole new level when they started asking “Would you like to Super Size that?”

A certain percentage of your customers will upgrade to a bigger, better more costly version on the spot if you give them the opportunity. For example, if you sell a $49 info product you can easily up-sell to a platinum version which includes the written transcripts for only $69. Or how about an up-sell to an ‘Inner Circle Members Only’ monthly tele-seminar for an additional $29/month? Call it your “Super Success Program”.

For one of my products I offer an upgrade option on my shopping cart checkout page. This simple up grade results in 48% up-sell conversion. Not too shabby.

Back-End Secret #3: The Thank You Page & Email

The best time to make a back-end offer is immediately after the initial sale is made. That’s when your customer’s desire to buy again is at its greatest. Often times the “Thank You” page for most websites is grossly overlooked as a profit center.

Big mistake.

Your “Thank You” page should reassure the customer that the order has been processed and then it should make them another offer that compliments the purchase that the customer just made.

For example: On one of my sites I sell a $67 ebook. But on the “thank you” page I confirm their order and offer the buyer the opportunity to “Click Here” to watch a free four-minute video on how to automate their client referral process with the use of another one of my products - a membership site. The four minute video leads them into a 21-day auto responder series t hat has a very high conversion rate.

Back-End Secret #4: The First 21 Days

Consider the first 21 days after a purchase is made as your window of opportunity. The sooner you can communicate your back-end offer with your customer in that time, the better the results. Any product or service that can benefit the customer’s purchase should be systematically offered and reinforced.

It goes without saying that this works best when your initial front-end product is quality, has depth and offers a high ROI for the consumer.

Want to know more of my money multiplying secrets and clever tactics for getting creating more free time in your schedule while adding more income streams? Be sure to check out my Hybrid 12 Month Coaching Program. (its not for everyone… but maybe it’s for you.)