Strengthen the Offer Until They Can’t Say No
On today’s episode of Just the Tips, Dean comes through with the promise of something he teased in an earlier episode, which is a hugely successful marketing strategy that he’s implemented for his own business. In the last episode, Dean said he was working on the strategy that had been crushing it, but then he turned it into an episode of Zero Tips and wouldn’t tell us what it actually was. Well, today the wait is over, and we can now hear about what Dean has been up to and how he’s been killing it lately. Dean apparently has been getting death threats since the episode aired for not saying what the strategy was, so we’re here to clear both the air and Dean’s good name (what’s left of it). And as a bonus, you get the inside scoop on a killer approach to marketing.
Know your customers, serve your customers
Dean told me about how he has a number of lists from all of the different projects he’s done over the years, and of course the most valuable of those lists is the customer list, the one comprised of people who have purchased something from his business. So he surveyed those customers and one of the most common bits of feedback he received was that business owners have invested all they can, and they don’t have more money to put into another offer. And rather than just accept the answer that they didn’t have the money to spend, Dean thought about how his offers could actually help these people. So he followed up, sending another survey, to figure out where these people were stuck. This is pretty remarkable, the amount of attention Dean is giving to his customers knowing full well that there may be nothing in it for him, in the end.
Identify the pain points
Dean spent a week poring over the answers to the survey questions, and looking for commonalities, what pain points his customers shared. The end goal was to sell a coaching program that could help them bypass those pain points. But people don’t want to hear they’re being sold a coaching program when they’re hurting for cash, even if that program could help them. So all he said was, “I’ve read over your feedback, and I’m considering putting together something that could help you. If you think I should do that and you’d be interested in it, reply to this email.” And what’s fascinating is that when he emailed the list saying he was going to create this, he had more people respond to that email, than to his initial email. And that is how you know you’ve hit on something. This is a really fascinating case study on this week’s Just the Tips, that you have to hear.
Be systematic about it
Now that he knew he had something people wanted, Dean had to create the something. So what he offered them was a day-by-day plan, where they could actually watch him tackle their problems as if he were in their shoes. So for one hour a day, he would act as though he were in their position, and show them exactly what he would do to get over the hurdles. Now how he got the people to sign up is a stroke of brilliance that includes lowering the offer price, creating exclusivity, and building an offer that sells out in just a couple of hours. This is truly a clinic in how to get people to buy into what you’re selling, and it’s a great story that Dean shares on this week’s Just the Tips.
Track your soldiers
One of the most important lessons Dean shares on this week episode of just the tips is that the important thing in any marketing campaign or any sales how about selling that initial service for initial product. It’s about building a long-term relationship with a customer. And so after that initial offering Dean emailed the 50 people who had signed up and said “I’m thinking of continuing this program now that it’s over, would you be interested?” And 35 said they were. Now that is a return and it shows how Dean and really created something of value to his customers. This episode is no exception and you have to hear it, to hear how Dean pulled it off.
Outline of This Episode
- [2:29] The basics of Dean’s approach
- [11:54] The subtle offer
- [15:55] How he got the sign-ups
- [22:00] The real takeaway
- [26:15] You must over-deliver
- [35:00] Everyone is a buyer
- [42:40] Everyone has a problem to solve
- [46:30] Talk to your customers
Music for “Just The Tips” is titled, “Happy Happy Game Show” by Kevin MacLeod (http://incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
