Author Archive for Robert Plank
Testing the Wrong Thing: How Often to Send Emails? (And Other Dangerous Ideas)
What do you think would happen if you spent all your time...
- Trying to come up with the perfect product name?
- Trying to figure out what's the best time of day to send out emails?
- Trying to find the perfect price?
- Trying to decide if your product should have 4 modules, 8 modules, 100 pages, 5 hours, 10 hours?
- Trying to add more content to that product before it was launched?
- Trying to decide if you should send 1 email per day, 1 email per week, or 1 email per month?
I hate to be a broken record for the last decade, but this is how you make money on the internet...
- Find that overlap between: a real need people are having (and are willing to pay money for), and the perfect solution you can provide using your skillset
- Cut up that solution into four "parts" or modules, making sure people get real tangible results from module #1 that erases the entire cost of the course and that modules 2, 3, and 4 build on top of that
- Record a 1-hour video for each module, making sure to give them a goal or result after each lesson
- Put those inside a membership site, create a payment button so people have to pay at LEAST $97 for access, add that button to a blank web page
- Create a sales letter above that payment button,
Persuasion & Influence: The Most Important Blog Post You’ll Ever Read If You Ever Wanted to Sell Anything Online
Component #1: Stage of the Selling Process
(A.I.D.A.)
- Attention: what's in this for me, why should I give you 30 seconds of my time? (usually a shocking statement, bold claim, promise, or newsworthy statement)
- Interest: who are you, why should I listen, how does it relate to me?
- Desire: what is your offer, what does it do, why would I want it?
- Action: what do you want me to do right now to get it?
A very common mistake I see with sales letters (or with teaching of any kind) is that someone's got this in the wrong order. They're trying to sell something before they've demonstrated the importance of it, or they haven't captured my attention before they began talking to me. Some of them don't have a very clear call to action!
The point is, just look at your webinar presentation and sales letter and make sure that the ENTIRE presentation as a whole follows AIDA. Starts with attention, moves to interest, then desire, then finally action -- the pitch! Every piece of the webinar itself (intro, teaching, and pitching) should follow AIDA on its own and every slide should also follow AIDA -- even if the "attention" part is the headline of your slide, and the "action" is just to continue listening, watching, and participating in that webinar.
Now that we know the order we're going to proceed in, let's look at what tools we're going to use to do the job -- they are pretty interchangeable...
Component #2: Persuasion Tool
(Robert Cialdini "6 Keys of Influence")
I've seen many people try to explain their "system" for selling and persuading, but only explain one small piece. For example, has anyone tried to be your best friend in order to get you to buy from them (likeability)? It didn't always work, did it? On the other hand, if someone presented a trial offer (reciprocity) it made you buy... but not always, right?
These are the six tools you always use to get what you want, whether you realize it or not:
- Authority: demonstrate higher value, you've got what I want, you know what you're talking about and I should listen to you
- Likeability: we have common ground, we connect on several levels
- Reciprocity: you've done something for me (either a literal gift or taught valuable information) so I want to return the favor
- Commitment & Consistency: I've already agreed with you 20 times in a row, or I've sat through your 1-hour webinar, I want to keep following you
- Social Proof: others see value in what you have so I do too
- Scarcity: if I don't act on this right away, I will miss out in some way (won't be able to buy, will have to buy at a higher price, or won't get results if I wait)
I hope you seeing this list makes you realize why you sell to some people and not others. Honestly, some people will buy from you because they feel like they are you (likeability), because they feel the need to give back to you (reciprocity), because others like you (social proof), or just because you lit a fire under their butt to get them to buy right away (scarcity)...
And the way this REALLY makes sense to me is that authority, likeability, and reciprocity are the high-level strategies you'd use over time to sell high-ticket items. You play on your audience's need for certainty, love, and contribution.
While commitment & consistency, social proof, and scarcity are the cheap "gimmicks" that work great for low-ticket impulse buy sales. Think about it. Bucket brigades, hand raising, and multiple facts in a row (commitment and consistency) will give you a boost. Social proof (testimonials) will give you a boost. Deciding to only offer 100 copies or raise the price on Wednesday, will give you a boost!
The point of these six keys of influence: you need to have SOME of each of the six keys. Even if you don't have testimonials are your social proof, have case studies or explain to me how SOMEONE uses your product.
BUT! I think you're going to realize that the next time you create (or dissect) one of your own headlines, the effective ones uses one of these 6 keys as its MAIN driving force, probably with a 2nd a 3rd. For example, look at this headline:
"43 Smart Marketers Create 94 Information Products In Just A Few Short Weeks, Each In A Single Take, Starting With Almost Zero Training!
You Too Can Create Your Own Online Show, Event, or E-Class Just Like Two Guys Who Have Logged 545 Webinars (Totaling 1050 Hours)"
You could look at that and say it's a SOCIAL PROOF headline. Look at what these people did and you can do it too. I would say the secondary tool we used here was AUTHORITY, check out how well we train our students and how many webinars we ourselves have run. Finally, a 3rd tool that's just barely in there is LIKEABILITY -- we run online shows, events, and e-classes and would like you to do it as well.
Component #3: Underlying Need
(Anthony Robbins "6 Human Needs")
Here's where it gets super cool... if we know where we are in our selling process, we know what our end goal is at this point in time (get them to start reading, or to align with us, or listen to our offer, or buy now). That was component #1. Any of those 6 keys of influence will do it... but how do we know WHICH tool to use???
Ahhh... the answer is to know who you're selling to -- what are their needs? If you think about WHY someone buys your course on Facebook traffic, it's might be because they want to help as many people as possible with their training (contribution) or because they want everyone to know about them (significance)...
I've looked at every which way people try to simplify human needs but motivational speaker Tony Robbins was the only one I've found to break it down in a way that I can always remember...
- Certainty: we need stability in our lives and to maintain what we have
- Variety: we need new adventures and excitement
- Significance: we need others to recognize how great we are
- Love: we need to connect with other human beings
- Growth: we need today to be better than it was 5 years ago
- Contribution: we need to contribute to the greater good
Once again, how does this relate? To make a huge generalization, I would argue that most older men desire CERTAINTY the most. They want to be able to pay their bills and not have to worry. Their #2 need is VARIETY -- can't have the same exact day as yesterday. And #3 for them is SIGNIFICANCE. They still need love, growth, and contribution, but they see those things coming almost automatically as a result of meeting those other three needs. (Picture the ultimate "alpha male" -- William Shatner, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Steve Jobs, Donald Trump -- they want certainty, variety and significance ABOVE ALL ELSE!)
Likewise, I would argue that MOST older women value those bottom three items the most... love, growth, and contribution. Do you think Oprah cares if she has $2 billion vs. $3 billion? NOT knowing her personally, I would say that Oprah belives in connecting with people (love), bettering herself as a person (growth), and helping others improve their lives as well (contribution) -- and that any certainty (money), variety (her business), and significance (fame) comes as an automatic result of that and therefore isn't so important.
Customer Avatar
You're going to have some Trumps as your subscribers, some Oprahs and everyone in between but once you get to know enough of your ideal customers you're going to discover your "ideal prospect" (Frank Kern and Eben Pagan call this your customer avatar) -- one imaginary person in your mind that adequately represents your ideal subscriber.
You'll figure out their name, age, appearance, what they do, what their income is, what they buy and THEN when you create a sales letter, or write a headline, you're just writing to that single person. And because you know what motivates them (their #1, #2, and #3 ranking needs), which tool you'll use to match those needs (which of the 6 Cialdini keys) -- then all you need to do is figure out which order to use them in! (which is Attention, Desire, Interest, and Action)
Bringing It All Together...
If you look at it correctly, this table will solve all your problems:
| Need / Solution | AUTHORITY | LIKEABILITY | RECIPROCITY | COMMITMENT & CONSISTENCY | SOCIAL PROOF | SCARCITY |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CERTAINTY | credentials | facts | multiple agreeing statements | time limit | trust | demonstration |
| VARIETY | your story or easy avoidance | simple | potential uses | disappearing bonuses | before & after | testimonial |
| SIGNIFICANCE | follow my template or follow in my footsteps | rhetoric | thought leader fact or quote | limited slots | trial | case study |
| LOVE | personalize or call out your audience | "I'm just like you" | question | price increase | promise | "Who else..." |
| GROWTH | challenge | common goal | what if | consequences of inaction | pay it forward | you too |
| CONTRIBUTION | I want you on my team | let's be friends | if-then statements | exclusivity | free info | community |
Let me show you how to use it. Let's say your customer avatar is a slightly selfish person who values Variety, Significance, and Growth above all else. Let's also say you were selling a low ticket product so you're going to use Commitment & Consistency, Social Proof, and Scarcity to sell your product.
Now, we've decided that it would make the most sense if we opened with Social Proof, used Commitment & Consistency to keep them reading, and ended with Scarcity to really push them to buy right now.
Here's what we have so far:
- Attention: Variety + Social Proof
- Interest: Significance + Commitment & Consistency
- Desire: ???
- Action: Growth + Scarcity
We want to begin, build and end strong so I've listed our avatar's top three human needs in order as Attention, Interest, and Action, respectively. By the time someone is in the "Desire" stage, we're already explaining our offer to them, so we can put the remaining weakest pieces in there.
- Attention: Variety + Social Proof
- Interest: Significance + Commitment & Consistency
- Desire: (Certainty, Love, Contribution) + (Authority, Likability, Reciprocity)
- Action: Growth + Scarcity
How does this all come together? Let's consult our chart... for the headline (Action phase) we're going to start with a before and after statement, such as...
"If You're Not Using These Video Sales Tactics In Every Website and Sales Letter You Create, You Might as Well Throw $10 in the Trash Every Time Someone Visits Your Landing Page!
On the Other Hand, Apply This Easy 6-Step Formula and You'll Notice an Increase in Traffic, Higher Customer Response, and More Sales... Which Means More Money For You!"
Now for the "interest" step... significance + commitment & consistency = limited slots.
How to Index, Scape, Build a Spreadsheet, and Download an Entire YouTube Channel in 2022
Step 1: Get the List of YouTube Video Links from the Channel
Extract All YouTube Links from a Web Page: Go to the Chrome Developer Console (F12), click in Console and paste in:
var urls = document.getElementsByTagName('a');
for (url in urls) {
console.log ( urls[url].href );
}Select All (Ctrl-A), Copy, and Paste (Ctrl-V) into a text editor to sort out the list. I've used EditPlus for over 20 years because it allows me to use regular expressions when doing a search-and-replace... use the ^ (hat character or shift-6) to place text at the beginning of every line and $ (dollar sign or shift-4) to place text at the end of each line.
Step 2: Get the "Metadata" (Title, Number of Views, etc.) for Each Video Link
Start with just ONE YouTube video before building a "batch file." I use YT-DLP (a command-line tool).
yt-dlp -o "%%(id)s %%(upload_date)s %%(title)s %%(view_count)s %%(duration)s" --get-filename https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rl1wkoG-os0 >> list.txtThis will dump the video ID, upload date, title, view count, duration (in seconds) into a new line in the file "list.txt."
I use a "search-and-replace" regular expression in EditPlus to add the special command to the left and right of each YouTube video, then save the file as "batch1.bat" (with the quotes), and then I can let it run and fill up the text file containing the list.
Because I separated the "columns" with a "tab" character, it pastes right into any Excel or Google Sheets spreadsheet.
Step 3: Download Every YouTube Video in the Channel
You could almost figure this out on your own, without me having to tell you. Build a batch file with the list of YouTube videos, a search-and-replace regular expression in EditPlus:
yt-dlp --output "%%(id)s %%(title)s.%%(ext)s" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rl1wkoG-os0How to Build a Successful Internet Marketing Business in 2022
I've been really consistent with the podcast lately, showing up to all my scheduled interviews -- 6 this week.
The real secret to creating a successful podcast that doesn't simply fail, is to interview other people. You create a Calendly account (free), to setup a special link with your "office hours" -- your future guest submits their bio to you and it adds the meeting to your Google Calendar. When the meeting times rolls around, you click the one button to open your Zoom room, have a discussion with your guest for 20 minutes, and that's an episode. We explain this inside our Podcast Crusher system and we have a monthly service called DFY Podcast where we do all the tasks for your podcast like editing, production, publishing to all the channels, marketing like writing your promotional emails, social graphics, etc.
When most people think about a "podcast" they think about sitting alone in a room for hundreds of episodes on end, or maybe with the same host every time. Instead, network with other people in your industry or even a little bit outside your industry... they give you content, traffic, and "networking"... and you even pick up all kinds of cool ideas for yourself.
For example, yesterday I interviewed Smooth Sailing Captain Lyndsay Phillips (the "other" Capt. Phillips) who delivered this juicy morsel: create the occasional blog post or promo email that's a "round up" or "curation" of some of your recent podcast episodes. We haven't premiered the episode yet, but that's what I'm doing now!
What's interesting about this idea for YOU and your podcast is that you can "string" together a little bit of an action plan. For example:
Website Rental Local Lead Generation Side Hustle
I was really impressed with guest Luke Van Der Veer's "Website Rental" idea. Click here to listen to the episode. His concept works like this:
- choose a service-based industry located in your local area, like "garage door opener repair."
- create a landing page to collect leads, optimize that page for Google ranking, use your internet marketing skills to start sending traffic
- while you're waiting for those steps to pay off, monitor social media -- I'm talking about Facebook groups focused on your geographical area, NextDoor, places like that -- proactively looking for people seeking garage door repair
When that "local" lead seeking garage door repair comes in, perhaps someone you found on social media, you now call around your local area to locate that garage door repairman, and land them that new business for free.
Repeat this process until you are consistently finding garage door repair leads and hooking them up with a solution that same day. By this point, you ideally get some consistent traffic, and perhaps you rank highly in Google for "[city name] garage door repair" at which point, you can charge that garage door repair client a monthly fee in exchange for the leads your landing page is bringing in. It's a cool "side hustle" of an idea that could grow into a larger business for you.
Charge What You're Worth By Working Less
Mike Killen, author of Five Figure Funnels, was also an extremely impressive guest you should check out. His idea: you're working too hard. Instead of scrambling for low-ticket clients, Mike says you should work backwards...
- Let's say you want to earn $100k per year...
- Cut this up into landing four $25k clients
- Spend each quarter marketing your $25k package with the goal of landing one sale
It's an interesting way for you to stop "scrambling" so much and to simplify what you do.
Make Sure It All Leads to Something
Finally, another guest that completely blew me away was John Warrillow, from "Built to Sell." The usual paradox with selling a business is: in order to find an excited buyer, the business has to be on its way up (instead of something you're tired of), and consistently making money.
John's answer to this is: you should make the steps to sell your business anyway, so that you'll have more freedom. If someone buys your business, you can use that money to retire OR buy a new business and repeat the process.
The overall strategy with selling your business is sort of like "e-myth on crack." The point of The E-Myth is that you're probably doing all the work in your business, so you should systematize what you do into a repeatable checklist, and then act as the "Manager" who tells the "Workers" what tasks to complete. Then, hire a "Manager" (or many managers) to tell the workers what to do, making you the "Boss."
John says that you should continue this process until you pay a "Boss" to run your company, making the hierarchy Owner -> Boss -> Managers -> Workers.
Your sole job as the "Owner" is no longer to run the company, but spend all your time finding a buyer.
I am more than willing to introduce you to any of the guests from my podcast as guests for your show, if you're in need of content, connections, and traffic. The secret to you creating a podcast is just getting started (our DFY Podcast team will setup your podcast for free) and the secret to continuing your successful podcast is to delegate the "hard" technical work. Just show up to your interviews so it's not a time suck or a "beast" that requires you to learn -- and perform -- a ton of tasks. Just show up to your podcast as the "talent" and let our team do everything else.
651: Rise Together to Find Leadership Within Your Organization: Strategic Clarity, Accountability and Systems, Governance, and Rivalty Control with Ron Carucci
Ron Carucci is co-founder and managing partner at Navalent, working with CEOs and executives pursuing transformational change for their organizations, leaders, and industries. He has a thirty year track record helping some of the world’s most influential executives tackle challenges of strategy, organization and leadership. From start-ups to Fortune 10’s, turn-arounds to new markets and strategies, overhauling leadership and culture to re-designing for growth, he has worked in more than 25 countries on 4 continents. In addition to being a regular contributor to HBR and Forbes, and has been featured in Fortune, CEO Magazine, BusinessInsider, MSNBC, Inc, Business Week, Smart Business, and thought leaders.
Resources
- Navalent (official site)
- Leading Transformation: An Owner's Manual (free e-book)
- Rising Together Cohort (Live event)
- Ron Carucci (LinkedIn)
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650: How To Convert Customers Faster and Build Stronger Relationships Through Content Marketing with Lyndsay Phillips
Lyndsay Phillips is a serial entrepreneur, self-professed organizational freak, client-appointed task master plus project ninja and warrior content marketer for life & business coaches, accountants and other online entrepreneurs across the globe.
As the CEO & Founder of Smooth Sailing Business Growth & Smooth Business Growth Podcast– 15 Minutes Of Pure Marketing Strategies Proven To Move The Needle. She leads a rock star team to support entrepreneurs who are seeking fast-paced business growth but finally have come to the realization that they can’t do it alone, do it all, and do it well.
She is also loves sharing practical tips, business building & content marketing strategies so that you can be more productive and attract more customers faster.
Resources
Smooth Business Podcasting (Website)
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649: Convert More Prospects into Profitable Clients with Phone Sales Doctor Chris Mullins
Law Firm Conversions was founded by sales and marketing expert, Chris Mullins. For more than 30 years, through her proprietary and guided training and programs, Chris and her team have helped hundreds of law firms around the country convert more prospects into profitable clients.
Law Firm Conversions™ was created because, as the headline points out, “Great Marketing is Not Enough When Your Prospects Don’t Convert.”
Whether your firm invests $50,000 or $250,000 on marketing, if your front-line team is not trained properly how to handle each and every inquiry, those marketing dollars are completely and utterly wasted.
Law Firm Conversions™ is a total business solution that transforms how law firms and call centers train, coach, hire and retain intake specialists, and how front-line staff handles legal intakes. Using Chris’ proprietary training, clients are able to achieve significant financial breakthroughs in record time with less struggle and less costly, yet more effective intake conversion strategies.
Now, instead of your law firm spending MORE money on marketing and advertising to generate inquiries, Law Firm Conversions™ helps you make the most of what you’re already getting. Imagine investing the same marketing dollars you are now, but converting more prospects into profitable clients–that’s what is possible with Law Firm Conversions™
Using online and offline products, services, training and coaching programs, Law Firm Conversions™ shows attorneys and their team how to handle intake calls, how to be MORE effective on the phone, in person or online with prospective clients.
Law Firm Conversions™ brings together exclusive groups of like-minded attorneys, partners, intake specialist, receptionists, and managers who want to increase their case load with ideal clients, maximize their marketing dollars and create a better client experience and more rewarding law practice.
Law Firm Conversions™ teaches better intake and conversion by concentrating on a proven IN.T.A.K.E.™ system, which focuses on four core areas.
- Relationships first business second
- Consistent, integrity-based sales process
- Empowering and enabling staff with the right skills
- On-going coaching and reinforcement to ensure intake quality
- Unfortunately, far too many law firms ignore this straightforward and proven approach. Instead, they rely on a marketing strategy that can best be described as “Spend and Hope”- whereby they SPEND more on marketing each year and HOPE that a prospective client will choose their firm to represent them.
Law Firm Conversions™ helps clients understand how and where their law firm is “leaving money on the table” and provides a proven system and strategy to convert more prospects into profitable clients.
If you’re tired of the “Spend and Hope” approach to growing your law firm, then contact us today and schedule your Free Mystery Call Debrief with Chris Mullins personally, and let Chris and her team of professionals show you how to convert more prospects into profitable clients.
Resources
Law Firm Conversions (Website)
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648: Indies United: Create and Market Your Self-Published Book with Lisa Orban
Lisa Orban is an author and founder of the publishing house "Indies United." She's the author of several books, including "I'd rather Starve than Cook! A Cookbook For People Who Hate to Cook." It has received over 100 excellent ratings and reviews on Amazon and GoodReads.
In 2015, she published her first book, "It'll Feel Better When It Quits Hurting: A Memoir" and has received critical acclaim by top-rated Amazon reviewers. She's published a second memoir, political satire, four optical illusion adult coloring books, and others.
In 2018, she opened the publishing house Indies United to give indie authors a safe haven to publish books and avoid the pitfalls so common to this industry.
Resources
- Indies United (official site)
- Indies United Publishing House, LLC (Twitter)
- Indies United Publishing House (Youtube)
- Indies United Publishing House (Instagram)
- Lisa Orban (LinkedIn)
647: Live the E-Commerce Dropship Lifestyle and Make Your Shopify Store the Best It Can Be with Anton Kraly
Anton Kraly is the founder and CEO of Drop Ship Lifestyle & eCommerce Lifestyle. He focuses on empowering people through eCommerce and better marketing. He and his team are constantly researching and testing to discover what works best in digital marketing and eCommerce.
Resources
- Dropship Lifestyle (Website)
- eCommerce Lifestyle (Website)
- Anton Kraly - Drop Ship Lifestyle (YouTube)
- Anton Kraly (LinkedIn)
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