Perhaps there could be a better title, but I think you’ll not only get the picture of what I mean soon enough…but you’ll like it.
See, I think marketing is an interesting thing.
I started studying it back in 1997 as a college baseball coach as a means of improving our recruiting – and frankly, I lucked out.
The first marketing book I ever read beginning to end was The Wizard of Ads by Roy Williams.
I’d tried to read a couple other books and they were far too dry and textbook-ish.
But this book was engaging, short essays by an author who really got it. He’d be an advertising agency owner initially serving small businesses and, boy, did that book make a series of light bulbs go off over my head.
(As a side note, Roy Williams is something of a marketing legend now...fortunately, I caught some of his wisdom early, while he was still not nearly as well known.)
This book really helped me understand that the magic in marketing was largely about two things…
1. What benefit you could provide to the person you wanted to serve.
2. Your unique story.
I immediately reshaped everything about how I approached recruiting based around these concepts…and the results were nothing short of astounding.
Let’s face it…if you can appeal to someone’s self-interests and also present yourself and different than the rest…it’s a pretty magical combination.
But if you look at what goes on in our industry…it’s pretty much the opposite of that.
We have this awful habit of selling features like price, program length, time slots and the such.
If you want to go a step further…the typical business in our industry doesn’t really think much about the prospect’s self-interests at all.
We want them to do what’s convenient for us.
To join the moment we offer.
To fit into our schedule, timeline and approach.
We ask them to rearrange their world, pay us in advance of results…which isn’t all that common in the service world…and then blame them if they don’t follow the plan.
Oh…and we make them feel guilty for missing days here or there rather than celebrating the 100+ times to do come see us each year.
Now, I’m not saying that’s you…but as an industry, it’s no wonder we’re not making much of a dent in the obesity rates.
Then, as for that second part…sharing your unique story…we don’t seem to eager to do that at all.
Now look, I share a lot of done-for-you stuff and I get the appeal of it…but personally, I don’t think I’d ever just deploy something like that without at least editing 20% of it to make it congruent with my voice.
I hate staring at a blank page as much as anyone, so getting a massive head start is wonderful…but the goal isn’t to just get ads or emails out…it’s to persuade someone to choose us.
Think about how Groupon worked…once they got a few offers that converted, the almost forced you to use those instead of being authentic.
Most of the FB ad agencies are pretty much the same. They have one size fits all ads and landing pages and say ‘this works, use it’.
Great…but let’s define what ‘works’ means.
See, I think ‘works’ is that someone really loves your message and feels like you’re the best option to help them reach their goals.
I love when I get on a call with a prospect who says they’ve read my emails for quite a while.
If they still want to get on a call with me at that point…they have a really good feel for me, how I think and really what I’m about. My values, my approach…you name it.
Contrast that with someone who just saw an ad with 100 words of text and a stock image.
Which person do you think is more qualified? More likely to be a fit and be compliant?
More enjoyable as a client?
So how can you use this approach and also even still take advantage of the use of done-for-you stuff too?
Well, here’s where I’d start.
First, I’d try to think about the entire client journey…from their perspective.
I don’t think we do that enough…think about things through the perspective of a prospect.
Now you’re not going to be really objective about this when it comes to your own business…so think about it when you’re on the other side of things.
When you’re hiring a service provider or making a big purchase…how do you make decisions? Especially when you aren’t an expert in the thing your purchasing.
We’ve all got our own self-interests in mind in those situations and we all have ways we go from being initially interested to making a purchase or commitment.
We want to feel informed and knowledgeable.
We want confidence that we’re making the right choice. We want to have trust in who we’re buying from.
We want to know things fit into budgets and schedules.
So, let’s think about the prospect of your business for a moment.
What’s going through their head?
They want to feel better about themselves.
Lose weight. Feel confident. Do the things they want to do without pain, discomfort & embarrassment.
But what else is going through their head?
How about things like…
● I’ve failed before…why will this be different?
● I won’t know anyone there?
● Everyone is already ahead of me…the thought of being the beginner and looking foolish is terrifying?
● Can I afford this?
● Am I going to commit to some long-term contract and want out of it in a couple weeks?
● I don’t want any part of being treated like I’m joining the Army and having some drill sergeant yelling at me.
● How am I going to fit this in during the morning with getting the kids ready for school?
● How am I going to fit this in after school with sports, homework & dinner?
● Are they going to make me go on some stupid diet, be miserable for 6 weeks and tell me that it will all be worth it when I lose the weight? Then…when I stop eating like a bird, all the weight will come right back…
See, I’m guessing, just based on my study of people, that your prospects want the benefit…but they don’t want to go through a process they hate to
They probably have some negative experience with
an experience with a business or maybe it was just a feeling of failure for not meeting their own goals and expectations.
We need to see things from their perspective and meet them there.
If we tell they we can help them get where they want to go…that’s the initial benefit.
But then, we need to overcome all those things in their head telling them they can’t or shouldn’t do it…and that’s more than an itemized list of meal plans and other stuff they get when they join your challenge.
Then, once we get that we have to help them believe that they can actually achieve their goals…we have to share our unique story so they see us as the person to help them along the way.
I’m sure you’ve heard it many times…but people buy people.
They buy people they like, trust and feel can help them achieve their goals.
And if you don’t share your personality, your story and what makes you different…they can’t ever have that with you.
an experience with a business or maybe it was just a feeling of failure for not meeting their own goals and expectations.
We need to see things from their perspective and meet them there.
If we tell they we can help them get where they want to go…that’s the initial benefit.
But then, we need to overcome all those things in their head telling them they can’t or shouldn’t do it…and that’s more than an itemized list of meal plans and other stuff they get when they join your challenge.
Then, once we get that we have to help them believe that they can actually achieve their goals…we have to share our unique story so they see us as the person to help them along the way.
I’m sure you’ve heard it many times…but people buy people.
They buy people they like, trust and feel can help them achieve their goals.
And if you don’t share your personality, your story and what makes you different…they can’t ever have that with you.
Pat Rigsby is a father, husband, entrepreneur, coach and author. He has built over a dozen businesses as a CEO and Co-Owner, with five becoming million dollar or multi-million dollar ventures.
