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Using A Story to Connect & Sell

So as I mentioned earlier, everyone here is an idea person everyone here is an idea person you get really excited about your ideas, whether they're like kind of psychological ideas like jessica specializes in whether their personal development ideas like sasha specializes in whether their user experience ideas like whitney specializes in or whether they're design ideas, materials you might geek out about techniques you might geek out about its whatever, you know, your ideas are the things that just turn you on about what you d'oh there's a problem with that, though the problem is not you getting turned on by your ideas but that you fixate on them so that you tend to start at the end instead of the beginning of the story, right? So, um, jessica's may not be a perfect example for this, but one unexamined alot of this could be, you know, the idea of old fashioned discipline or new fashioned discipline and why that doesn't work and starting a story with that it's going to be compelling to ...

some people who were really aware of the fact that they bought into a particular school of thought now they're looking to make a transition and it's one of the reasons they're following you and yeah, it's so exciting that jessica's putting something out now, right? Those air early adopters, okay? They're idea people too in not just in general but in your field specifically they're interested in ideas in your field but it's not gonna land to the majority of buyers and so while it's okay sometimes to start with ideas to start with the things that you geek out about you will get exponentially mohr customers if you go to the majority of those customers with what's actually going to resonate with them what they're actually experiencing in that moment and not an idea makes sense good and then I just have to say again that it's such a huge problem that I see makers, service providers, designers, photographers, everybody fixate on ideas I've done it too I still do it and still have to catch myself and pull myself back it's a still a conscious a process for me but I guarantee you it is worth every penny of your time to rethink it to start over again to catch yourself and keep moving so will lead is essentially a story that you tell about the before the after the key insight and hypothesis and specifically the key insight and hypothesis become your destination. You are building a story that is going to inevitably lead people toe understanding your key insight and buying into your hypothesis okay? And one of the number one reasons are one of the number one mistakes I may not I make I see people make well losing it now is that while they may have this idea of what their key and sight is, they've got this these kind of like understandings are explanations of what's going wrong they don't lead people there they don't create a story that feels coherent and that feels consistent and leads people to that focused, singular message that we've crafted here okay, so this is super important so as I said, the a great lead starts where the customer is at with what is most relevant to them right here right now, okay, thinking back to that coffee shop example, what is it that they're saying today to a friend? What is it that they're doing by themselves or with friends? What is it that they're thinking? What is it that they're feeling? And if you can get into that thinking and feeling place you're really you're unlocking information you're creating an even stronger tie between your ideas and their heart because you know those air that's the kind of response you get when people say how did you know? I was thinking that how did you know I was feeling that way and that some of the best feedback you khun get as a marketer so really take time to figure out where your customer is that right now and then think about the steps that you need to lead them down toe work them through the before and the after transitioning just like we did with jessica here to get them to your key insight and hypothesis uh ok and then a lead leads them to the insight they need to make to make a great buying decision that's what we're doing here is we're setting people up for success in there buying decision I don't want people to buy who don't immediately aren't immediately tugged at by the story that I'm telling you I don't want people to buy who don't buy into the key insight that I have what I want is for those people who the product is right for I want them to see something that makes sense in a way that says yes, this is for me I want the right people to buy and telling the story about the right people is the best way to do it so let's do some kind of self analysis right now if you had all had an experience of selling that didn't land really well so far. I want you to think about where you started that conversation where you started that lead story and think what might have been a better place to sell or to start what might have been a better place to start so hop on twitter, hop in the chat room and tell us what's a better place to start your sales conversation where you starting it now and what would be a better place so I'd like to hear from somebody in the studio audience what the product that you've had that didn't go over quite a swell a ce you thought it was going teo on, do you think that it might be due? Teo, where you were starting the story? Whitney? So of your sogo I tried launching these workshops that when I had done them with some clients had been really successful, so I thought, okay, I need to sell these workshops more and I started with you need a workshop, you need a workshop, your team needs a workshop, your company needs a workshop on dh it was starting with my idea with the solution, not with the problem that they're facing. Yeah, absolutely. You made such a good point, kind of implicitly of what you just said, which is that the product was awesome. The reason it wasn't selling was not because the product wasn't awesome, which is another thing that creeps up in terms of fear and you know, our own distrust of ourselves as marketers and creators, we assume that if something doesn't sell it's because people don't like the product that's not true. They haven't gotten that far yet right because the fact of the matter is whatever story you were telling whatever conversation you were having they've been actually get to the point where they were even considering the product let alone having an experience of the product I'm sure you've all had the city the experience of being on a sales page or being on a landing page or reading a product description or having a conversation with someone and you know maybe they make a pitch to you and you know you just let it go in one ear and out the other because it's not relevant to you you just assume it's not the right thing it could be the perfect thing for you and that person wasn't telling the right story so thanks for that takes both for that example and for that point as well because that's huge sasha well, I'm living this right now because I'm doing these one on one sells conversations for a group program and so I have been starting them like typical first calls for a one on one coaching relationship with understanding who the person is and what they want to explore but it's not giving me a strong base to sell the program which I have it constructed now is a mix of one on one and group so I've been sort of trying to understand should the sales call be like a regular coaching call or now I'm seeing well, maybe I need a stronger key insight because I'm trying to bridge how I would sell them on individual coaching to the group program and not succeeding yeah, the key insight might actually be what you need to craft that initial session around, but instead of a targeting like saying, we're goingto talk about this key inside instead talk about like three steps ahead of that where you need to work them through to get to them to that realization remember, one of the questions that we have when we're brainstorming key insights was what would be an haha moment someone would need to have to make this offer more compelling and so you could think, what are maybe what are three ah ha moments that people have had or could have in relation to what your coaching them on the you know, that could tie you into telling the story about your key insight and the whole point of that initial sales conversation then could be starting them from where, you know they're at to having that ah ha moment so I mean first it's drawing them out. I mean, really? Because I don't know where they're at, you know? So I listened to them and then I respond, I'm going to challenge you on that you know exactly where your people are at I do, but there's variety I mean, each person is a little different I think that this comes down it was this tension you were talking about about the different types of people and coming up with a group thing and, you know, and part of my quirky thing is that people are individual and like, you know, but it is a group thing yeah, true so you know that maybe a situation where having to say a long longform sales page may not actually serve you because your clients have such a high value for their own individuality and that you may know there's a script that you're using for the sales conversation but that you individualize it or you create the experience of individuality because that's part of going and meeting them where they're at, where they're at, I'm going to have a conversation with you about this thing because I know you're doing this this this and they don't know that there's twenty other people are a hundred other people are a thousand other people that are also doing this this and this but you you're kind of paying homage to their own individuality by having those individual sales calls and so maybe it's maybe it's not so much case of your doing it incorrectly, but maybe of crafting the experience so that the experience is actually part of the story does that make sense? Yeah it's very conceptual at this point we talk about it more, but yeah, no, it makes sense, there's something about the bridge between the individual and the key insight and just really feeling secure on that. Yeah, yeah, definitely. Alright, I wouldn't look at some examples. You guys want to look at some examples? Okay, cool. I picked, um, um some that you might recognise. So the first one is from melissa mccreary, who I mentioned in our very first segment. You can find this at where thin begins dot com if you want to follow along on. I kind of took out the headline here because the headline wasn't to me the important part. So if remembering back melissa had originally launched a program that didn't meet her sales goals called healthy, happy and thrive, and it was it was a little open ended, it wasn't clear what you were getting. It wasn't clear why you would fit into this program or not, and what results you would actually want to get out of it. So she re messaged the program around this idea of where thin begins getting down to the fundamentals of the choices that we make that make us feel healthy and happy and thriving, right? But not, but in terms of what is actually important to the people who are in her audience, which is being thin okay if that makes sense so I'm going to read this down quick and you can follow along but it says losing weight sounds so easy eat less move more there are a million probably more plans out there and no shortage of experts not to mention well intentioned acquaintances who are more than happy to share their advice the latest truth or the best way to get healthy lose weight and feel fab fabulous which would all be great except if you're reading this this is not your first rodeo the rest of your life reflects that you are a smart hard worker and a determined individual knowing and being able to do are two different things in short, you're stuck in a place where hard work effort and desire don't correlate with results. So what did she do here? This paragraph here is essentially reading her clients minds people are like of course I know what to do to lose weight right eat less exercise more it's sounds easy why can't I do it that's what this paragraph is all about it also acknowledges that they're engaged in other conversations about weight loss okay? And then her before here is really interesting because it acknowledges the state that this is not just them trying to lose weight for the first time this is a continual problem it's an endemic problem for that and so her before isn't the typical weight loss before instead she really has focused in on who her audiences this is not your first rodeo you have tried other things and they have not worked out for you or you've tried other things they've worked and now they're not working anymore you are a smart, hard working and determined individual so you don't buy that crap that if you have more will power this would get done and then third knowing and this is kind of like a personal realization for these people they know, but they're not doing their still making choices that don't result in the results that they want and then she has the transitional sentence here in short, you're stuck in a place where hard at work, effort and desire don't correlate with results, which is exactly what the rest of the industry is telling people right then she leads into exactly what we had jessica d'oh, which is three insights about why people aren't losing weight this can happen for many reasons, but here three of the biggest I just I clipped one but you're busy and food is an easy stopgap measure. In other words, you're too busy to take care of yourself you're too busy to meditate you're too busy teo find other ways to stimulate your brains pleasure centers and so you eat because eating zizi right now she has two others in addition to that but then here's where she gets teo the key insight and hypothesis lasting results maury's enjoy a life and a lifestyle that work better for you that's where thin begins it's time to stop working so hard feeling so frustrated and ease into a life and plan that really fits you good sound good where thin begins dot com people no let me tell you something else about the sales page that melissa rowe she did it in less than two hours I think she wrote it while she was on a phone call with me not me personally she was listening and writing at the same time this was fast this was fast and it's super duper compelling any questions about what she did here? No okay it's brilliant uh this it is from our guest instructor bridget lions she has a pr agency called b it's b the forward thinking agency pr agency on dh so you can find her at b think forward dot com it's the letter b for bridget I hear she's doing a little bit different thing this is a much shorter sales paige it's essentially just a description of what working with her agency within their mentoring program which is sort of a hybrid between coaching and pr services so that you can both have them help you do stuff and learn how to do it yourself okay, so her headline here is opt out of the grind reach millions with medium entering from b too often provocative ideas and innovative products get overlooked because their creators think they have to make a big before they reach out to mainstream media instead of leveraging the media to reach thousands if not me millions u turn out block post after block post you make sporadic efforts to guest post usually right before a big launch and you've created a system to grow your social media platform all this effort translates into ten new customers here or a hundred new customers there here's the thing you can opt out of the grind this is all I clipped from her page because this is essentially the before after key height key insight and hypothesis in just that a little bit of text okay this is the key insight that all of the work that people do leads to very few results it's good but it's not as good as it could be there's also another standing of what's standing in the way for people which is this idea that they have to make it big before they go to mainstream media that's one of the misconceptions standing in people's way on dh then one of the other kind of ideas that stuck in people's heads is that they have to keep grinding away so she's got before you're right block post after block post you guessed post do you use social media she's got after which is kind of implied you khun reach thousands if not millions on dh then she's got this key hype key inside hypothesis thing, which is opt out of the grind right like it's a great way to just sum up what she's offering you khun get better results doing less work by leveraging media again kind of implied but it's all there right? I'm not making this stuff up. Okay, good. So that's another great example. Then I decided to give you an example from my own stuff because it's fun! So I mentioned this earlier headline here being being independent shouldn't mean being alone support community and a library of resource is for businesses that are lean and mean uh, here's the before normally I'm a big bullet points person, but in this particular page I wanted to create something a little bit more conversational and at the same time a little stronger. I am going to describe your situation to you growing a business khun b a lonely proposition long days locked away in your home office decisions made in a vacuum. Family and friends who have heard one too many stories about people you met on twitter can all add up to feeling isolated despite living in the connected age, we find many business owners report not having relationships that champion their values ventures it doesn't have to be this way you should have access to fellow business owners tackling this same problems you are resource is that answer your questions quickly and experts that respond to your needs so here's the before right in the very first paragraph noticed the details that I used here um locked away in your home office resonate everybody yeah decisions made in a vacuum feeling like layers no one else to ask and family and friends have heard one too many stories about people you met on twitter oh my gosh! When I first met my boyfriend, I pretty sure he thought I was crazy when I told him all that all of my friends I'd met on twitter right on guess I suppose I am a little crazy but that's something that we can all I understand and if not twitter again here's the details thing right? If not twitter, insert instagram pinterest, facebook, we all do that our brains do that naturally okay, so you don't have to worry about picking I uh one detail over another go with the one that feels good in the sentence or feels good in conversation on dh then you know still after before here we find many business owners report not having relationships the champion, their venture ventures, that's one thing that people say to me all the time is I just wish my family and friends would support me maur and they don't mean support in terms of you know, be there in the decision making process, right? Or be there in terms of, like, retweeting their stuff, what would the point of that be? What they really mean is they want people to believe that they can make their business's biggest, they want it to be or as successful as they wanted to be, they want someone to champion them, okay? It doesn't have to be this way, and then we leave them into what is essentially the key the key insight here, because I've already defined kickstart labs as being a support community and resource library of like minded entrepreneurs that's kind of implied in my hypothesis here, when you're a kickstart labs member, community training and access is exactly what you get. Okay, super duper, simple, alright business owners who get regular support, make better decisions, get more results and feel more confident in their ability to grow their business more hypothesis. Just because you've chosen your own path doesn't mean you can't have the support you need. In fact, support is the key to having the success you crave this essentially the menace, the key insight, right, which I looped back to from the headline. Okay, got it. You sold? Yeah, okay, good. And then, if you notice, I'm actually following this out here with testimonials that reinforced that same message which is we're going to talk more about this in sales pages on day three but this is a really underutilized opportunity you khun you don't have to just put testimonials up on your page uh or you know on your product page or sales page wherever that tell people how wonderful you are or how wonderful your product is get testimonials that we enforce the sales messaging that you're using so here sean think from abundant mama project duck abundant mamma dot com is saying I need brainstorming with talented people and then there's a little testimonial here that says that's what she gets with kickstart labs ali shapiro from alan shapiro dot com says a small business owners huge sigh of relief all right we're talking about the stress of being alone earlier and making decisions in a vacuum so these are reinforcing that messaging so that the lead is reinforced over and over again and feels assistant and coherent focused, singular and it just sets people up from making a really great buying decision so this two five how do are we understanding what a leader is sweets awesome so this question is from amy m c how do you fix the wrong message when it's already out there and this is I think a really common question how do you keep experimenting without giving your prospect of customers the idea that you don't know what you're doing um so we kind of talked about this earlier, but I think that the process of um messaging should be iterative and it should start in a smaller nugget as possible okay, so you take that message that you think you want to build out the whole launch with and instead of building out the whole launch, you tested that message little bit by little bit by little bit now that's best case scenario what if you've gone wrong? What if you know your message is the wrong message here's the really good news people aren't paying attention nearly as much as you think they're paying attention so what do you do if your cells messages wrong? You change your sales page you tell a different story you drop what you're doing, you reframe it and you launch again. We were having this conversation in our pre production meeting yesterday I said you know, this is this, uh, courses really applicable if you're re launching a product if you're launching an old product too and the producers said, well, what do you mean re launching an old product? Why would you do that? You do it all the time you should do you should build it into your business on a regular basis first of all but second of all sometimes you mess up, sometimes I mess up sometimes the best of that mass up because you don't really know until you put things out there from the get go, you know, in in actuality and sometimes despite all that text it testing, we still make a wrong move no problem you could test different headlines you contest different leads, you contest different testimonials and the best way to test it is to make the changes sometimes you make big wholesale changes, sometimes you make small tweaks or you reinforce the messaging maybe your message wasn't focused and singular enough and so you really hone in on it and then just drive new traffic to that page or pick up the phone and have more sales conversations. You will be really surprised how much you can still get out of that kind of failed launch in terms of messaging. All right? I don't feel like everyone is watching you because they're not they're really, really not. Uh like for instance, in terms of launching this workshop, I mean, I sent out probably ten maybe different emails all about this workshop and still to the last email was having people click through an r s v p now some of that is the product of the summer, right? But there's always something going on most people are absolutely ignoring what you say, which is just another reason to be redundant, to be focused and be singular with your sales message so your lead is a story you tell that guides prospects from where they are to where you want them to be to where they need to be to make the best buying decision. Your lead is a story you tell that guides prospects from where they are toe where you want them to be, which leads us to our last quiet power strategy of the day you're the navigator, you're the navigator. This is right up whitney sally I saw that smile you are the navigator don't expect people to get in their cars without google maps and get to your party, right? You would never ask someone who's never been to your house before to just get to your house without giving them the address without telling giving them directions or suggesting that they pop it into their they're google maps app, right? So don't do that for your customers as well. Figure out where they're starting find the most direct route. Sometimes you don't even have to find the most direct route. Sometimes a very curly circuitous route is the best way to go because sometimes it takes people longer to make decisions or to talk about that too. But it's your job to be the navigator whether you think of yourself as your customers, personal gps or whether you're the person in the drive in the passenger seat next to them or whether you know, you give them long, detailed directions of the absolute best way to get to your house. You choose your role in the sales process. We've heard about a few of them already today. But in the end, it's your job to navigate from point a to point b.