When it comes to business and selling, there are two types of clients. One that comes with a low-risk, low-rewards scenario. And the second are the ones that come associated with high risk. But, those who are high-risk often have the possibility of a greater reward. So, which do you pursue?
Well, going after the low-ticket sales might seem like a feasible approach. However, know that you’ll need a substantial amount of such clients to keep the business up and running smoothly in a sustainable manner. Although low ticket sales are sometimes necessary, too many of such clients can slow down business growth and keep holding you back from reaching your full potential.
That said, understand that going after high-ticket clients or sales can be a better approach. High-ticket customers are ones who are willing to pay more or a premium price for products or services sold by you in return for the desired result being obtained. Such clients can help you progress through the initial stages of the business and increase growth.
Before we dive into all about high-ticket sales, know that the idea behind such an approach is not about getting rich quickly. High-ticket sales require training, practicing, and persistence. In this article, we will cover everything about high-ticket sales. This includes developing an understanding of what such products or services could be.
But that’s not all. We’ll go into detail about why such products or services are necessary, funnels and strategies you can use, understanding pain points, developing trust, and how you can close high ticket sales.
So, without further ado, let’s get started.
What Are High Ticket Items?
To get a grasp on how to increase high-ticket sales, one must first understand what high-ticket items are. These are basically products or services that might initially come at a higher cost than others. But, the potential customers acquired by you will generally be willing to pay more for these items.
The concept of high-ticket selling might come as a surprise to most people. However, what you need to know is that people pay for such items all the time. In fact, it’s right in front of our eyes. Houses, cars, and vacations are common examples of such products. But these things aren’t a limit on what such products or services could be.
The range for a high-ticket product’s prices can be between $3,000 to $ 20,000, and in some cases, it may even be $100,000 or more. However, it’s essential for you to comprehend that such products or services aren’t limited to being physical. They can be digital items or services bought and used online.
Examples of High-Ticket Items
As far as traditional high-ticket products are concerned, common examples can be jewelry, cars, expensive electronics, and so on. However, high-ticket items are prevalent in a digital form, too. Such products oftentimes are found in the service industry and prevalent with agencies or coaching programs.
As for an agency, a high-ticket item could be things like customized sales funnels or analytics solutions, or any other services clients are willing to spend more money on. For coaching programs, high-ticket items examples can be a customized training program or courses, webinars, premium memberships, and so on.
Digital High-Ticket Products
Before we get into how you can sell high-ticket items, focus on getting familiar with digital products a little more. The first thing you need to know is that not everything that’s sold online is a digital product. For any item to classify as a digital product, it must be presented or used online making it part of the digital media industry.
Recent statistics have shown that the market for such products, in 2023 alone, is expected to reach around $174 billion. But that’s not all. Digital goods are gaining popularity among American customers, too. In fact, a recent survey has shown US adults spending’s on digital products on a monthly basis.
As per the survey reports, these products and services are spread out through twelve different categories that include virtual learning experiences, live streaming platforms, and more. Such stats provide grounds for entrepreneurs to believe that they can create a sustainable business by creating a high-ticket digital product.
However, when developing high-ticket digital products, there are a few things that you need to be aware of. First up, you, as an entrepreneur, must comprehend that these items are not priced using a different method than one used for traditional products. The pricing mechanism for digital products lies in determining the amount based on the perceived value.
On the contrary, prices are set for traditional items based on developmental costs and market competition. But that’s now all. You also must know that to create a digital product, you need to leverage leading technologies ensuring they are incorporated as a contributing factor to the consumption experience.
Augmented or virtual reality are common examples of such technologies. In addition, you also need to know that creating high-value content is crucial. It needs to offer in-depth knowledge and applicable tips and should be presented in an appealing manner.
Overview Of High-Ticket Sales
You see, high-ticket selling is basically the process of getting the customer to buy something that costs more than the average product or service. However, it offers more value, too. Selling high-priced products is not something you can do with a mass marketing approach as you would with low-ticket items.
As far as selling high-ticket items is concerned, marketing professionals must define a target audience that’s razor sharp. Before we dive deep into the topic, know that finding qualifying buyers and convincing them to make a purchase requires the use of different sales funnels and persuasion techniques.
“Customers will never pay that much” is, in most cases, oftentimes the first thought that comes to mind when most people think about pursuing high ticket sales. Due to this, some can abandon the idea altogether. However, know that making high ticket sales is essential for your business.
Why Sell High-Ticket Products Or Services?
Selling high-ticket products might be a challenging thing, but is one that’s essential for your business for several different reasons that include profitability, revenue growth, sustainability, and more. Let’s dive deep and explore these reasons in detail.
Revenue Growth
Getting more customers is the layman approach many resort to when trying to take the revenues up. However, one must acknowledge the fact such an approach might not pay off with low-ticket sales given that the profit margin is low. High-ticket items, on the contrary, have larger profit margins. Therefore pursuing such an option is feasible for increasing revenue.
When you work with high-ticket clients, you can, in practicality, earn more money with less customers. The way this plays out is that if you want to reach $1 million and are selling a product at $10, you’d need to see 100,000 units. But, if you had a high ticket product sold by you at $1,200, units sold by you would need to be a little less than 850. See the difference between the two?
Fair Pricing
Ever experienced the dilemma of having to keep prices low because of market competition, but inside knowing that your product or service is worth much more? Well, high ticket sales take care of this too. As mentioned before in a previous section, high-ticket products are priced based on their value.
What this means is that you don’t have to be a part of the price wars with competitors. Benefits and results are what the price of your product will be determined by. So if you were selling online training for digital marketing and those who took the training could increase their return on ad spend (ROAS) tenfold, then your price should be higher than $50 or $60 per session.
Customer Satisfaction
Being able to meet the customers’ needs and wants is something that all businesses strive to do. Know that selling high-ticket products can help you achieve this goal. You see, the likelihood of the customer actually using the product increases when the product is more expensive.
But that’s where the benefit ends. The more expensive a product is, the more likely the customer is to value it. If the product or service is designed in accordance with the customer’s needs and requirement, transformative results is what it will lead to. This, coupled with the probability of increased use and more value, will in turn, make your customers more satisfied.
Marketing Models For High-Ticket Sales
When it comes to marketing high-ticket items, there are different marketing models that can be used regardless of whether the product is being sold in a digital or physical environment. The high ticket sales funnel, among them, has been one of the most preferred ones. It has not only withstood the test of time but also has a proven track record of success.
But, it’s not the only option there is. With that in mind, let’s explore two of the most promising high-ticket sales funnels.
Sales Funnel Strategy
The sales funnel is one of the oldest strategies used towards the purpose of getting prospects to buy a product or service. It focuses on taking customers through four different stages that include awareness, consideration, conversion, and loyalty.
Awareness – the aim in this stage of the funnel, as the name suggests, is not to get any sales but simply to make the ideal customer more aware of the product and services that you have to sell. Here, you basically have shown the prospect that you have an understanding of their problems or desire and focus on how your offering is the solution.
Consideration – at this stage, the future customer is interested in your product, and the aim here is to build confidence with them. To do this, an explanation of how the product or solution works should be provided by you. But that’s not all. You can also share reviews and testimonials of how your solutions have worked for others.
Conversion – by the time your customer gets to this stage, they’re ready to consider your offer for purchase but still aren’t a hundred percent sure. At this stage, you have to present clear and compelling reasons as to why your high-ticket product or service is the most suitable option for the customer.
Loyalty – at the last stage of the high ticket sales funnel, your aim is to build loyalty with the customer. Remember that during this stage, it’s essential to keep your purchase and the post-purchase process as per the customers’ requirements. Building loyalty not only makes that customer a repeat buyer, but ensures that they recommend your services to others, too.
Community Flywheel Model
The community flywheel is yet another high-ticket sales funnel model that you can use to get customers for your business. The model basically states that you need to build relationships with relevant audiences. Converting your followers and subscribers into members is how this can be done.
The way this model works is something you must understand. You see, what happens is the relevant audiences are basically attracted to your purpose, which you promote. Based on this, they become members and get value from communicating with each other. This communication and engagement then transition into transformable results.
Experiencing these results then turns the members into advocates of your brand, allowing you to sell to more high-ticket customers. This model might come off as pretty simple at first, but there are a few things you need to do to make this work.
You must have a community-based approach to targeting where you’re not aiming to reach out to one person, you are reaching out to an entire group. However, prior to entering or engaging with a community, you must be aware of the following:
The reasons pertaining to members’ contribution.
Feelings members have towards the brand and its products.
What member needs are not being met.
How they like to be addressed.
What drives their purchase needs.
The next thing you must do is focus your engagement efforts on a few products or services that are relevant to the community and designed to create a buzz. When guiding customers towards these such items:
Initiate discussions pertaining to the products within the community.
Leverage influencer marketing for product demos and discount codes.
Develop and deploy interactive marketing tools that facilitate customer interaction.
Ensure that products relevant to the community being targeted by you are easily discoverable.
Brands should also focus on building credibility by communicating the values they believed in by them and what they stand for. However, during such pursuits, it’s essential to reflect the customer’s language in the messaging and keep it compelling enough to capture their attention.
Implement a community-centric model for engagement and monitor influencer and customer activities. You should also gauge feedback and incorporate these ideas into products to make them more desired.
Have a fast and seamless transaction process as it can aid in the pursuit of the minimization of cart abandonment and make the customer buying experience more pleasant.
Tesla’s $1,000 Deposit Launch Funnel: A High-Ticket Example
Now that you have a fundamental understanding of the sales funnels that can be used to promote and sell high-ticket items, let’s deep dive into some events from real life. One example is the sales funnel strategy used for launching Tesla’s Model 3 is one of the most successful ones in history. Prior to proceeding further, know that the fundamental reason for the success was Elon’s ability to target and communicate to a community interested in shifting away from gas vehicles. The funnel is divided into three stages. Let’s look at each one.
Initial Step: Registering For The Webinar
For the launch of Model 3, the company decided to develop, communicate, and engage with a community. To gather members for this purpose, the use of webinars was finalized. In the initial stage of the funnel, customers were asked to register and opt-in for the webinar. The registration page was free of clutter and only asked potential members for their names and email.
Second Step: Engaging Through the Live Webinar
During the second stage of the funnel, members were directed to the webinar page and were already interested in the Model 3. Capitalizing on this interest, engagement was built. To do this, Elon started the webinar by communicating to the members the values of the company and its greater purpose.
Doing so helped develop a connection with members allowing them to think, feel, and believe that they had a contributing part to play towards the greater purpose. Building off this positive connection, Elon then talks about how Tesla is trying to achieve their greater purpose.
As he did, he talked about the enterprise’s previous problems, challenges, products, and milestones and developed social proof. Members at the event then had a connection with the company either developed or strengthened due to such communication. Afterwards, to build and capitalize on curiosity, the features and benefits of the Model 3 were talked upon without the model being unveiled.
Final Step: Navigating To The Checkout Page
Model 3 was presented to the audience towards the end of the webinar. Upon conclusion, those who had attended the event online were presented with a call-to-action (CTA) link. When clicked upon, members were directed to a checkout page. The form on the page asked them to reserve a preorder for Model 3 by depositing only $1,000.
Over $14 billion in pre-orders were placed. Due to such a strategy, the company was able to get members to make a small contribution towards the total costs of the buying Model 3 allowing them to maximize the number of high-ticket leads who would order the product down the road and pay the full amount.
$8,000 Coaching Service Funnel: High-Ticket Client Strategy
Now that a funnel for traditional high-ticket items has been looked upon, let’s see what funnels can be for high-priced digital products. For the example purpose, we will see a strategy used for coaching. This service is provided by Winning International and helps coaches in different varying industries scale their businesses.
These industries include dating, finance, fitness, health, business, and more. Before we get further into more detail, know that they use Facebook ads to drive traffic to their website.
First Phase: Crafting The Landing Page
During the first stage of the funnel, traffic is directed to a landing page. Here the visitors are presented with a lead magnet in the form of a sales funnel template that can be downloaded free of cost. The message on the landing page shows the desired results that can be obtained from downloading and making use of the template.
It then transitions into talking about the pain point of a cold sales call that coaches likely experience oftentimes and how it can be addressed. Prior to the CTA, the message on the landing page mentions exactly what users will get and then asks them to download the template. It’s worth noting that providing valuable content for free helps in the establishment of trust and credibility.
Middle Phase: Offering A Free Consultation
In addition to the downloadable template, a free consultation is also provided by Winning International. A CTA button for the consultation is available on the top right. When a visitor clicks on the button, they are redirected to a page with different CTAs allowing them to book a free call.
It’s essential to understand that the free call can be utilized for the development of trust, competence, and confidence and additionally even aids the sales teams in comprehending the leads’ needs thoroughly.
Closing Phase: Creating An Impactful Thank You Page
During the closing phase of the funnel, visitors, after downloading the lead magnet, are taken to a thank you page. This page again prompts visitors to book a free call. The messaging on the page positions the call as an offer with limited space. It’s essential for you to know that the positioning of the offer in such a manner is done to capitalize on the fear of missing out (FOMO) effect. When the visitors claim their free call, they transition from being a lead to a client.
Revamping To A Million-Dollar Sales Funnel: High-Ticket Strategy
Before we continue a comparison of funnels and the flywheel model, let’s see one example of a funnel used to get high-ticket sales. This example is for a company called Gravy. Helping subscriptions based companies get hold of failed payments is the service being offered by this business.
Gravy worked with another coaching company called Growth Tools for the purpose of revamping their existing sales funnels and to achieve desired results. The coaching company worked with them to create an optimized funnel and created a new Facebook ad, landing page, booking call, and an email response. Let’s examine all in detail.
Starting Point: Launching A New Facebook Ad
Prior to working with the coaching company, Gravy’s lead generation ad on Facebook did not have an effective ad copy. It essentially just stated that they understand their target audience’s problem and have ways to solve it. To succeed with building high-ticket funnels, you need to know that the ad copy should be clear and answer questions customers may have.
This is something not being done by their copy at the time. The ad copy created by Growth Tool for them started off with an empathic tone and message that connected with the audience. This led to the acquisition of the audience’s attention and ensured that they read on. As they continued to read, the ad copy went into details about problems likely being faced by the group.
What these details did is ensure that the audience felt understood as opposed to being told they are understood. It then offered clarity pertaining to the solutions being offered and then provided a link to a free checklist that could be downloaded and served the purpose of a lead magnet.
Next Step: Optimizing The Landing Page
Once the audience’s interest was captured by Facebook and they had clicked on the lead magnet they were redirected to a landing page. The page was kept free of cluttering information and stated the visitors could download the checklist for free by providing their email in return. Asking visitors for their email addresses and providing content of value in return without any associated costs helped turn traffic into leads.
Progressing Further: Scheduling A Call
The next step of the funnel required nurturing the leads. To do this, the process of redirecting the visitor to another landing page was used. Here, the visitors were asked to schedule a free audit call. If they chose to proceed further, they were then redirected to a third landing page where a confirmation pertaining to the call booking request was required.
However, information regarding what the call would be about was shared with leads. For this, a video and two case studies were provided. Both helped nurture the lead as they ensured the development of familiarization and awareness of the audit process and what to expect.
Concluding Touch: Crafting The Final Email
Now for the final stage of the funnel, a conclusive and instructional email was sent to the lead. In the email, a link to an assessment was provided, and leads were asked to bring the results of the assessment to the call. This helped nurture the lead further so they could be transformed from a lead to a high-ticket sale.
Comparing Funnels And Flywheels In High-Ticket Sales
Two marketing models that can be used by you for high-ticket closing for traditional and digital products like business or personal growth coaching etc., were mentioned. Although both models are effective, comparing the two can aid in determining the option more feasible. For this, various factors mentioned below will be looked at.
How the selling is being done.
Movements of potential customers.
Upselling and customer acquisition.
What happens to leads that have not converted.
Before we proceed, know that all these factors are essential to a business owner and their marketing and sales team. They are of aid when it’s time to qualify leads, building rapport, and selling a high-ticket item ultimately. In a funnel, companies and the marketing copies they use are the sole factors toward generating a sale.
Whereas, in a flywheels model, the firm, their efforts, and the members of the community prevail as contributors to the sale. The prevalence of member contributions towards a sale is made evident through the growth and word-of-mouth promotions they bring.
Additionally, another difference is how customers move throughout the entire process. With a funnel in use, customer movements are generally straight and subject to either success or failure looming at each stage. But, with the flywheels models, such movements can be best defined with great accuracy as one of constant nurturing.
This happens as leads move in a circle throughout the continuous process and have kept engaged with relevant discussions and conversations, prolonging the possibility of a conversion. A mckinsey article states that those implementing the community flywheel model see a gross profit increase by reducing marketing spending as the marketing will be coming from user-generated content voluntarily published. In a funnel, you need to invest money to acquire new potential customers. However, things are a tad bit different in a flywheels models.
In such a model, member contributions are the primary driver of organic growth, which generates high-quality prospects, genuinely interested in the offerings. Pretty amazing, right? You also don’t have to break a sweat about upsells, as customers look for them on their own out of curiosity and interest, and leads that don’t qualify stay as a part of the ecosystem as opposed to being dropped out.
Mastering High-Ticket Sales: Key Strategies
To be effective in high-ticket sales, there are some key strategies that have to be mastered by you. Understanding who your ideal customer is, qualifying leads, demonstrating empathy, and selecting the optimal model are all paramount. Let’s go over each of these in elaborate detail so a more comprehensive understanding can be obtained.
Identifying Your Ideal Member
Every product or service, whether traditional or digital, has an ideal customer, and identifying this customer is essential for getting high-ticket sales. When doing so, the fundamental principle is that you look for a customer who sees the value in what you have to offer and is willing to pay for it. To do this, focus on:
Addressing The Pain Point
One of the first things you need to do to identify your ideal customer is to know and address their pain point. Without understanding what the person is frustrated about, you won’t be able to position your solutions as relevant to them.
This is often easier said than done and can be quite challenging. Determining what the desired or outcome the customer is after and understanding how not having it feels can be of significant aid.
Resolving Doubts In Sales
When you begin to identify your ideal customer, you will come across the prevalence of doubts in sales. You need to comprehend what these doubts are to truly comprehend who your ideal customer is.
To help potential customers overcome such doubt, and to identify which among them is the ideal one, communicate with them about why they are doubtful. Also, mention how your product can help and how they can use it on their own.
Navigating The Cost Factor
Another thing that will filter out ideal customers from leads is the cost. Most leads may claim that the product is too expensive and, for that reason, not make a purchase. Here, you need to know that cost is merely an excuse, and they don’t see the value in the offering.
When people pursue a high-ticket product or service, they are aware of the price bracket. To help them see the value, mention the time, resources, and efforts required to obtain their desired result without what you have to offer.
Cultivating Customer Desire
This is another key factor that will be of aid to you when determining who your ideal customer is desire. Understand that desire has the ability to shape decisions and if cultivated by you, can possibly turn leads into long-term customers.
To cultivate desire, you need to have meaningful connections with your prospects to an extent where what you say is genuinely seen of value. Afterward, you can help them envision the end result of pursuing your offering.
Building Support For Your Product
Next up on the list is building support for your product. People are more likely to buy something that their family, friends, or those they interact with frequently would approve of. Understand that chances are that such individuals are already part of the community.
The marketing and communication protocols you use should ensure that such individuals see your offering as competent and of value. Doing so will help in cultivating support for your offering prior to an opinion from the ideal customer being sought.
Establishing Trust With Client
Lastly, the extent of trust you have with prospects is another differentiating factor that will aid in helping you filter ideal customers from ordinary leads. Understand that individuals must trust your offering, method of use, and you as a person are paramount for conversion.
If you find any gaps in any of these, then you may not have certain prospects trust you or the product. To cater to this, focus on developing and portraying empathy and mention how your solution can cater to their pain points and help them achieve the desired result.Show them that you understand their problem by providing examples of how you’ve experienced this before, either yourself or with a previous client. Show them you are familiar with their concerns, then provide a solution.
Understanding High-Ticket Sales Psychology
Getting to know where the customer is coming from is highly essential when you’re selling high-ticket products or services. You need to know why the customer is willing to pay for what you have. Do people buy a Maybach for transportation? Give it a thought! Of course, they don’t. They buy it for the luxury and the status. Keeping a firm grip on the high-ticket psychology will help you get a possible increase in your chances of getting an order.
Effective Lead Qualification Techniques
It is essential for high-ticket professionals to develop and implement strategies pertaining to lead qualification. Using filters to narrow down and choose from the leads you have can help aid in better optimization of resource use, suitable customers, and the creation of overall harmony in the community. To qualify, leads determine the motivation or purpose, participation in previous programs in the past, community contributions, and relevance.
Building Members And Not Customers
Another thing that’s highly essential to high-ticket items is the fact that professionals must see that efforts are dedicated to building members. The fundamental difference between the two is the fact that customers are transactional. They’ll buy from you once and move on. Members, however, might not buy from you on a regular basis or initially, but they will remain a part of the community and will generate positive word-of-mouth.
Surpassing Customer Expectations
Whether you’re selling a training program and or an high-end actionable service, know that one thing you do to make the purchasing decision go in your favor is to exceed expectations. Delivering on what you promise is mandatory. But, however, going above and beyond will allow you to create a “Wow” experience. High-ticket customers will be a part of the community such an element will transition into organic promotion and more customers.
Selecting The Optimal Business Model
Another thing that’s often overlooked when selling high-value products at higher prices is the business model. Most people, oftentimes, opt for a funnel model, thinking that it generates warm leads. Using flywheels models can be more beneficial as it not only will generate competent prospects, but will also ensure the creation and fostering of a community. In such a community, users will interact with each other and promote your offering all on their own.
Training Teams For High-Value Client Interaction
With fewer but profitable customers to manage, you’ll have more time to provide free training to your team. It’s imperative for senior professionals to provide guidance and support to their subordinates, teaching them how to deal with prospects looking to buy expensive products. Doing so will not only help them find the best solution for prospects but will also allow them to retain existing customers.
Effective Follow-Up Strategies
This is something that often doesn’t get the much-needed attention from professionals but is paramount in such a career path. Following up with a prospect is essential as it shows them you value their concerns and have allocated the time needed to address them. Not only this, but developing and the implementation follow-up strategies ensures that you’re able to turn more prospects into paying customers.
Closing The High-ticket Deal
Most people tend to sometimes think of closing as smooth talk and matching the expected price of customers. Whether you’re selling expensive products on an ecommerce store or offering coaching, you will have had a call or meeting prior to the closing. It’s imperative to ensure that the closing and the proposals should be seen as an extension of the previous meeting as the customer will remember what was initially promised.
Key Takeaways
To sum it all up, it’s essential to remember that while low-ticket customers might come at a regular basis, and high-ticket ones are challenging, they’re the ones that’ll make your business grow. High-ticket buyers are willing to pay more for an offering in return for greater value.
To succeed in such a pursuit, one must adopt a business model that stems from the facilitation and nurturing of the community. This group of individuals engage with each other and talk about your product meaning organic promotions for you. Following up, training teams, and exceeding expectations are something you can do to succeed in the high-ticket industry.
