Too many business owners are terrified of making the wrong choice when it comes to technology. They’re afraid whatever they pick won’t allow them to compete… or won’t allow the customer a good experience… or won’t allow them to find a customer in the first place. Since when did the technology become such a burden? Why do so many people get stuck, spending months, analyzing tech options? Is there a better way? Those are the answers Adrienne and I discuss in today’s episode.
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Technology is amazing.
It’s an incredibly powerful tool.
We can literally find, enroll and serve clients around the world. Plus, tech allows us to reach our ideal clients at a ridiculously low cost compared to what businesses had to spend 25 or 50 years ago.
BUT… there’s a dark side to technology too…
If you believe technology is the be all, end all, it can stop you before you start. Instead of helping you leverage your reach, it can quickly become a place to hide out. It’s one of those “noble distractions” because you’re “figuring out” the best… email service… webinar platform… CRM…etc…
TRUTH = None of those things really matter.
Still, fear can leave you terrified of making the wrong choice. Afraid whatever you pick won’t allow you to compete… or give the customer a good experience… or even find a customer in the first place.
So you get stuck analyzing every possible software choice.
The trouble is, as fast as you can make a list of possible choices, three more pop up. And with the speed at which new technology is being launched, it’s IMPOSSIBLE to keep up.
So what is a business owner using online technology to do?
How do you take advantage of the gift of marketing online without letting the details derail you?
First and foremost, realize technology is NOT what makes a business succeed or fail. Not even close.
The mistake I see people making all the time is looking at some super successful competitor or someone they admire… figuring out what tech the guru uses… then believing: “That’s it! That’s what I’ve been missing.”
Believe me, that’s NOT going to be what cracks everything open for you.
There are always new apps. There’s always new software. There’s always new stuff, new tools you can use…
But the one thing I invite you to consider is this:
Even though technology changes, human nature never does.
If that’s true, and I believe it is, then the bedrock on which you’ll want to build your business is a firm understanding of the principles that make human beings tic… how they think… why they do what they do.
Because if you understand that at a deep, deep level, then you’ll always be able to adapt to whatever technology comes next.
Of course, that begs the question:
What principles do we need to understand to create that bedrock on which we’ll build our business?
There are five I believe stand out above all the others…
PRINCIPLE #1 — KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE
This is very, very different from the way that most marketers teach “know your audience.”
The typical stuff is to…
… do market research,
… are you targeting men/women
… what’s the age range, etc
Basic demographics. Then, your more advanced marketers might get into what they call psychographics…
… what do they read?
… what car do they like?
… are they conservative or liberal?
That stuff is important, I suppose. But then there’s a whole different level of knowing your audience I’ve found to be — off the charts — more important.
What’s really important (and powerful) is to be able to put into words exactly what it’s like for your ideal client to live with the problem you solve every single day.
As an example, let’s say you help people put the pieces back together in a crumbling marriage. What would you need to know about your audience?
It’s not the stuff above. That’s not enough. What you really want to know are things like…
— What does it FEEL like to be in a marriage that isn’t working?
— What does it FEEL like to wake up and go to bed two feet away from someone that you’ve loved for years, but suddenly you feel like you’re miles apart?
— What does it FEEL like to wake up in the morning in that situation… to go to bed at night with that dread and doubt and uncertainty… to have to handle your kids while you tiptoe around each other… just to do life and to get through the day when you have this terrible problem, this tension, hanging over you?
In fact, if there was a 10 minute exercise I could force marketers to do every day, it’d be grabbing a piece of paper and writing out what it’s like to be your client every single day.
Literally write out the answers to:
— What’s the first thought running through their head when they wake up?
— What about at 9:30am? While sitting at the drive thru getting lunch, alone? 2:15pm? During the drive home from the office? From school?
When you can describe their thoughts, feelings, doubts, fears and pain as well, or better, than they can… game over. Technology becomes virtually irrelevant. You could send your message by carrier pigeon and still get them as a client.
Why is this true? Because…
PRINCIPLE #2 — PEOPLE WANT OUTCOMES
People don’t care about your certifications… your education… or even your story. They don’t care about your program… your course… how many modules or bonuses it has. None of it actually matters.
What people want is to SOLVE THEIR PROBLEM. Period.
And the easier, faster and more directly you can show them you know their problem, then the faster they’ll hire you to help them solve it.
In the example above of a crumbling marriage, they want their boyfriend/girlfriend back… they want their wedding day back… the hope restored… the joy renewed… the excitement… the passion… they want the problem solved… they want a specific, amazing outcome… not a process.
They don’t care about 6 counseling sessions and a workbook. That’s the wrapping paper and the box. They want the gift inside… their problem SOLVED. GONE.
Which is why I believe…
PRINCIPLE #3 — INFORMATION IS DEAD
No one needs or wants more information. We are bombarded with information. Saturated. We now spend more time and energy sorting through, eliminating and discarding useless information… than we do consuming it.
And yet, 96% of businesses are expanding and investing in producing MORE content next year.
So if not information, then what?
This…
Transformation.
When you help someone actually solve or eliminate a problem, it transforms their life.
There are a couple of basic components you need in order to go from delivering information to delivering a transformational outcome:
- A step-by-step process for solving the problem and
- Hand-holding to walk them through and beyond where they get stuck in the process.
Whatever support you need to offer to make that happen is what’s required to create a truly transformational offer.
For us, that means we have mindset coaches on staff… we have copy coaches on staff… we have a world class sales trainer on staff… we have ad specialists on staff… and we have technology experts.
Our clients interact with all of these people as we help them solve their pain of not having enough of the right clients, at the right time, at the right prices.
Notice, there is plenty of information on ALL of that stuff available to our clients. That didn’t help. In fact it made it worse.
What they needed is to be led by the hand and to be guided step-by-step through our process so they get the biggest outcome in the least amount of time.
PRINCIPLE #4 — ONE CALL ENROLLMENT
It’s easy to think of technology as computers and software and apps. But what we tend to forget is the one amazing (and old) technology that makes human interaction work…
Language.
Specifically, conversation. The ability to communicate voice to voice with another human being is still one of the most powerful technologies we have available to us.
And yet, we create more and more technology that allows, even forces, us to avoid conversation. Technology like texting. Shopping carts. Messenger bots. Email.
We’ve sacrificed real communication… real conversation… at the alter of comfort and avoiding tough conversations. But here’s the thing…
A two-way conversation is still where the most powerful, most transformative breakthroughs happen.
That’s why we leverage all our technology to drive people to a conversation. On that conversation we can find out, in real time, what’s working, what’s not working, what they would love to have happen next, and how we can help.
That’s REALLY hard to do on a written sales page. Sure, you can make a lot of assumptions. But it’s really hard. And at best you’ll convert 3–5% of those people… and by at best I mean hiring the world’s greatest copywriter and hoping they nail the sales pages copy. Even then, you probably won’t be able to sell much more than information.
However, in a conversation, especially the way we do it, we can enroll 40% of our ideal clients at our ideal price point into the transformational process of getting their problem solved.
Think about it. Even Apple, the tech darling of the last decade, staffs its stores (which are always the busiest store in the mall or shopping center) with real people… having real conversations… answering and solving real problems. The result? Apple continues its streak of producing the highest revenue per square foot of retail space on the planet. Nearly double the next retailer. Coincidence? I don’t think so.
Lastly…
PRINCIPLE #5 — BE TRANSPARENT
Despite Colonel Nathan Jessup’s claim to Lt. Kaffee in A Few Good Men that he “CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH!”, I’ve found people (at least ones who are really ready to get rid of a problem) desperately want the truth — the more transparent the better.
Why? Because they are sick and tired of the BS… the lies… the misinformation… the deception… the sugar coating… the fake news.
They’ve had enough. It’s why the best selling fitness programs no longer talk about how easy it is. Instead, they tell you how hard the workout is going to be…. how much you’re going to hate the process… even though you’ll love the results.
In short, people want honesty. They already KNOW transformation is not going to be easy. They may not like it. They may try to avoid the work for years. But deep down, they know doing what’s been uncomfortable is the doorway to transformation. That’s why…
— If you’ve got the guts to shoot straight with your future client about that toughness.
— If you let them know there’s a proven process.
— And if you’re willing to be in conversation and reassure them you’ll hold their hand as, together, you solve or eliminate that big problem in their life…
THEN, you’ve got a really good shot at earning their business and changing their life in a real, meaningful way.
More importantly, you’ve now got a business strong enough to stand the test of time no matter what technology looks like next week, next year, or next decade.
So listen, I want to invite you to begin to build your business on this kind of a foundation. A very solid foundation where you know…
… the exact outcome you want to provide for people
… exactly who you want to work with and
… who you don’t want to work with
Where all of your marketing is built around an outcome and a really powerful one-to-one conversation resulting in your ideal client actually signing up to work with you after just ONE call.
You don’t have to hide. You can be who you really are. You don’t have to pretend you’re somebody that you’re not.
If that’s what you want, then I want to invite you to reach out to us…
www.clientsondemand.com/discover
After watching the webinar — Book a call with our team.
You can tell us exactly what your goals are, exactly what you want to achieve, exactly any concerns you have. We’ll talk about…
What’s been holding you back? What fears have been keeping you locked down? What strategies have you tried that haven’t been working?
Let’s figure it out. And then we can introduce you to a whole new way of running your business where you get the clients you want… at a premium price you want to be charging… so you are able to provide the support to get them incredible outcomes. Outcomes so amazing they thank God they found you.
If you’d like that in your life, go to:
www.clientsondemand.com/discover
…because we’d love to talk about helping you make that a reality.
