Do potential prospects have to go digging through your website to find out what you do and who you do it for? That’s not going to get you more clients. You’ve got to cut to the chase to generate interest straight away.

Digital agency owners often tell me that they’re trying to get out there and reach their market. But their websites don’t really speak to the pains and problems that their ideal clients have.

And that leads to one of the most common questions that I get:

What do I do about it?

Do you have to rebuild your website from the ground up to get people to pay attention?

No, you don’t.

Sometimes, you just need to cut to the chase a little faster to grab the attention of your visitors. I’m going to show you how to do that without redesigning your whole website. 

Redefine Your Position in the Marketplace

What I aim to do with this article is to help you to redefine your position in the marketplace.

What I mean by that is that your website itself is not meant to sell to your customers. That’s what you’re for.

Your website exists for one basic thing – booking the appointment.

We don’t need our websites to sell for us, especially in the early stages of your agency. Later on, you may start to use it that way. But that’s an advanced use that comes into play once you’ve scaled.

For now, you are your own best salesperson. That means you’re going to struggle to get appointments if you’re relying on your website to sell for you. You’re forcing people to wade through a bunch of information before they can make a decision.

You want them ready to book as soon as they hit your site. 

That means your website is basically a landing page. 

You need to prove that it can actually generate leads before you use it for anything else.

That means you’ve got to cut to the chase as quickly as possible when it comes to the messages you share.

How Do You Cut to the Chase?

Where do your visitors have to go to find out what you do, who you do it for, and what they get if they work with you?

I see a lot of agency owners burying that information on page six of their websites. Their visitors have to go searching for it just to understand why they should work with you.

Every second that they spend searching is another second in which they might bounce away from your website.

The purpose of cutting to the chase is to get the message across as quickly as possible. You want a single sentence that goes right below your hook.

And it needs to tell them all of the information that they need to know.

What Your Cut to the Chase Sentence Should Not Be

Here’s the thing about your sentence.

It’s not a marketing tool or a way to build your brand. Instead, it needs to be really plain, specific, and direct.

Your headline is what’s going to grab the client emotionally and make them go “Ooh, this is interesting!”

The cut to the chase sentence underneath is going to be super direct.

Be Like a Tesla Dealership

Here’s why you want to cut to the chase with your website. 

Think of your website like a Tesla dealership. Have you been to the mall and walked by a Tesla store? 

It’s totally different from any other type of dealership.

They literally have one model of each of their cars. You can go up to them and touch them, and they have the price on them. You’re getting all of the important information about the car in a matter of seconds.

They have more information about all of the different options you can get up on the wall. But the dealership itself is super spacious and anybody can climb into one of the cars.

It’s clear cut as to who they are, what they sell, and how the process works.

Now, compare that to the typical car dealership. 

There’s this absolute sea of cars and you walk in without a clear idea of where to go. The place is so big that you basically just wander around looking lost.

That’s how the dealership’s salesperson knows that they found a potential mark. They’re going to come up to you and try to guide you to all of these different cars. And you’re going to feel lost in all of the information to the point where you rely on the salesperson to cover the basics.

Those dealerships aren’t cutting to the chase.

I want you to be Tesla. Don’t be the used car dealership. Don’t try to confuse your client or be indirect with your message.

Cut to the chase and clearly state what you do, who you do it for, and what people get from you.

Let’s come back to the original question about how you do it. These four tips will help you create the perfect cut to the chase sentence.

Tip #1 – Use Language for the Less Than Average

It’s natural to assume that your client understands everything that you do. They run a business so they must know about the basics of digital marketing.

And they may. But that doesn’t mean that they’re sophisticated clients. Knowing the basics doesn’t mean that they know what your agency does.

That’s why you need to use language for the less-than-average in your statement. Make it simple enough for anyone to understand so there’s no room for confusion.

Now, don’t consider this as an insult to your clients. When I say “less than average”, I’m referring specifically to their understanding of your agency and what it does. The point is that you should avoid all of the digital marketing jargon that makes your message difficult to understand.

Tip #2 – Stop Hiding What You Do

My friend Eben Pagan says:

“You can’t convince anyone of anything. You can only give them the right information so they convince themselves.”

If you’ve buried the information that your visitors need on page six of your website, they’re not going to convince themselves to work with you. If anything, they’re going to convince themselves that it’s too much hassle.

Don’t hide what you do. Instead, place it front and center on your appointment funnel. Your cut to the chase statement needs to be above the fold and on the first page. That’s going to make it one of the first things that your visitors see. This makes it much easier for them to convince themselves to work with you. 

Tip #3 – Polish Not Pizzazz

I mentioned earlier that your cut to the chase sentence isn’t a marketing tool.

You’re not looking to wow visitors with information about how many awards you’ve won or any of that stuff.

Instead, you need a direct and clear sentence that tells them what they need to hear.

That’s where the idea behind polishing rather than adding pizzazz comes from. 

Write your sentence down and read it back to yourself. Does it say what you do, who you do it for, and what a visitor gets if they work with you?

If it doesn’t, the sentence needs reworking.

Similarly, ask yourself if the sentence feels salesy. Does it sound like you’re trying to convince the visitor to work with you?

If it does, you may need to make another change.

Remember that your website doesn’t need to sell to the client. It just needs to tell them the key information while making it easy for them to book an appointment.

Tip #4 – Compare it to the Newspapers

Take a look at the Wall Street Journal or New York Times. Specifically, look at what they do with their headlines.

You’re usually going to see them use a sentence for the headline and a cut to the chase sentence below.

It’s always two sentences.

The headline catches your attention. It’s usually more creative and emotionally engaging. It may even use punctuation in the wrong places to get you to look.

The second sentence is more of a straight report. It tells you what the story is about in the space of a line or two. Here’s an example:

“UGURUS offers one-on-one and group coaching, training programs, and community connection for digital agency owners to grow their businesses.”

It’s simple, complete, and direct. Apply that same type of thinking when creating your cut to the chase sentence. The headline covers the emotion while the sentence conveys the key information.

Start Cutting to the Chase

The key to all of this is that you get that single sentence down and you put it somewhere that the visitor can see it. Make it front and center while using language that anybody can understand.

That’s going to help you get more appointments through your website than any complicated sales spiel ever would.

But that’s just one part of maximizing appointments and redefining your positioning using your website. I have a lot more to show agency owners in UACADEMY.

How do you get started?

Apply for a FREE strategy session today to find out if you’re eligible to join.