Nurture

My friend Kursten dropped an insight bomb on me yesterday.

We are planning a program together and were discussing the contents.

He said:

“Confused minds don’t buy”

The feedback we had gotten was there is too much in the program outline. It’s all important for success but as with any successful teachings you need to unpack it in the correct order to ensure action is taken at each step.

We need to remove or reprioritise the contents to ensure the value is clear and the path to success is mapped for participants.

People often approach websites or products looking what to add in an effort to improve them.

A better question to ask is:

What can I remove to make this more compelling?

If someone was holding a gun to your head and forced you to list only 3 reasons someone should buy from you; what are they?

What is an obvious and immediate gain someone gets from buying your product?

What pain does your product quickly and painlessly solve?

What does your customer secretly desire?

You probably feel you need more ‘traffic’ and ‘awareness’ to make more sales.

While more traffic and awareness are welcome, they are usually not essential.

Giving your current visitors and prospects clarity and value is essential.

Because confused minds don’t buy.

and when you DO get more traffic and awareness it multiplies it’s ROI.

Put yourself in your customers shoes.

Are you giving them clarity?

Or confusion?

There is an unavoidable truth online:

If you do it long enough eventually you’ll get your first troll.

It can come in many forms:

Pithy comments on Facebook posts.

Strange abuse in response to emails.

Fake reviews with bizarre explanations.

These things are like paper cuts. Not deadly but annoying and slightly painful at the time.

But I see people making fundamental strategic business decisions over them.

“I’m going to send less email because a customer told me we send too many”

“I’m turning off that Facebook ad because a comment said I smelt like cheese”

It’s madness and it must stop.

The vocal minority has always existed but the internet has now given them multiple channels to throw up their opinions onto.

At GrabOne I would always hear; “Why do you send so many emails? You need to send less”.

The answer: because it worked.

If we had listened to everyone we would have sent emails twice a year and only when the moon was in its third phase.

(fun fact: there were over 3000 people who got 10+ emails A DAY from us and bought stuff)

The only response you need from marketing is sales.

If you’re being authentic to your personal and values then you’re on the track you need to be on. It’s that simple.

Trolls will troll. Just don’t feed them.

and it was all in my head.

Squats are the greatest exercise known the man. You need to recruit every muscle in your body and deal with the fact that there is a bar on your shoulders trying to drill you into the ground.

My programming today was working up to heavy set of 5.

Warmed up with the bar and jumped to 60,70,80,90,100,110,120.

All going fine.

Loaded the bar with 130 and did 3 reps. Felt heavy but was going up easily enough. The last 2 reps were ugly.

Which surprised me.

It felt like someone had snuck an extra 10kgs on each side while I wasn’t looking.

Now for the money set.

135.

3 reps. Grind them out.

Rep 4 took about 8 seconds to get out of the hole.

Lots of deep breathes. Lower myself down into the bottom position.

Started pushing.

Then the defining moment.

My mind told me I wasn’t going to make it.

My body lost just enough energy for me to drop back down and dump the bar on the safety rack.

I was pissed. I still am.

You know why?

I have squatted more than this many times. My body is capable but today my mind didn’t have the core ingredient you need to do anything.

Belief.

In that micro-second I lost belief and I failed.

You have to believe you can lift heavy weights.

You have to believe you can start a business.

You have to believe you can lose weight.

You have to believe you can find a partner.

You have to believe even when others don’t believe in your dreams.

If you think you can’t you’re automatically right.

Believe or get buried

Yesterday I sent you an email without a subject line. oops.

I’ve made a lot of mistakes this year.

Here are some you can learn from and how I’m personally tackling them in 2017:

Not thinking big enough
I’ve directly helped 187 businesses this year and engaged with 5x that. While significant it’s a tiny number. Next year I will impact and help 1000 business owners grow sustainable, impactful businesses that they love and serve them and their families.

Not packaging my content
I’ve never regretted a single word I’ve typed. People tell me they took something valuable from things I created years ago. I have created over 180,000 words this year which is 3-4 books worth. Creating isn’t enough, packaging content so you can consume it and take action from it will be my priority. Expect a new book.

Putting myself into the equation too often
Whether it’s my program, consulting or my services businesses I am engaged for a result. Too often in 2016 I became an informational and delivery bottleneck. Results were achieved but I slowed them down. To fix this I am about to launch a new content portal for the program and add more resources to the business. Paradoxically, sometimes the biggest asset can become a short term liability.

Not being obsessed
I believe the concept of balance is nonsense. If you try and balance things you end up in the middle. Average and only partly committed. If you’re not obsessed with something you wont succeed at it. This year I was obsessed with growing my business. I was obsessed with my family. But sometimes I didn’t make the complete switch. Pick up my phone and check emails while I’m with my son or daughter. Typing a message while having a conversation with my wife. From now I’m going to be obsessed with what’s in front of me.

Not doing enough video
Video is a huge competitive advantage. If you’re prepared to put yourself on camera you will reap serious rewards in engagement, trust and attention – especially if its live. I did some but haven’t developed a ‘video habit’. I will be investing serious time and $$ in 2017 in producing more video.

More in person
People love attending my workshops and events. They get energy, inspiration and mine are uniquely actionable. I love running them and teaching live forces me to think quickly and accelerates my own learning. I did a few in 2016 but will do a lot more in 2017. Watch out for events in NZ in Jan/Feb/March, Australia in Apr/May and USA in Jun/Jul.

Not saying no enough
Bad projects, bad attitudes, bad businesses and bad ideas. I said yes to all of those during the course of 2016. 2017 is the year of F*&k Yes or No. There is no middle ground.

Not sharpening the saw
This year has been a huge year of personal and financial growth. My biggest ever. But I’ve regularly deprioritised two areas – my mind and my body. While I’m fit and strong I can barely touch my toes. Sometimes I push too far through discomfort into overwhelm and this is not where I function well. Simple fix is that my 5-6 am time will be back to Headspace and ROMWOD to start the day.

“The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realise, the less I know.”
― Michel Legrand

What are your lessons for 2016 and what changes are you making for 2017?

The two currencies we trade in online are trust and attention.

If people don’t trust your store they wont buy from you.

If you cant get their attention they wont find you.

In responses to:

What is your biggest challenge selling online?

Corey says:

“Getting the attention of the reader, and creating the emotion to take action from a distracted, busy audience. Finding the right time, and the right cord to hit.”

Marketers are a fluffy bunch.

They drink the brand Kool Aid and wax lyrical about all the amazing benefits of a product. Traditional marketing teaches you to list the benefits of a product over the features.

This isn’t bad advice, it’s just limited.

While it may appear that you’re competing against other people in your category you’re actually competing against something much more powerful.

Nothing

Huh?

The easiest decision a customer can make when confronted with a product is to do nothing. Not buy it. Walk away.

There is no obvious downside to them. The money is still in their pocket. Life goes on oblivious to a different future.

To move them away from doing nothing you need to convince them they are better off with your product in their life than without.

This requires reaching into their psyche and going deeper into the emotions. It doesn’t mean introducing fear unnecessarily but it does mean pointing out some truths.

The ‘cord to hit’ needs to lead with honesty and transparency. Proof that others have been better off for taking the leap and buying.

Pulling back the curtain on a better future.

Communicate with them on a one-to-one human level.

Market with extreme empathy.

Have belief that you can make their future better and communicate it with passion.

It’s the only way.

On Sunday I asked you:

What is your biggest challenge selling online?

What about business in general?

I got over 150 reply’s and there are some common themes.

Tracy says:

“I am very new to online selling so I’m still learning the ropes. I’m not great at putting the content together so it’s consistent and also engaging enough so my clients feel they need to action my emails.”

Creating regular content is easy once you know how.

I call it 20 Minute Marketing as that’s how long it should take to put together a piece of content that you can utilise across multiple channels.

If you cant find 20 minutes a day to focus on growth then you need to look at your priorities.

It’s a cliche, but focus on delivering value to your audience rather than selling. Selling is a natural by-product of trust and connection. Forming a 20 minute a day habit of delivering to your audience will build the habit in them of consuming, engaging and buying.