Barking up the wrong tree can be amazingly interesting. And educational. Sure you may think that making a mistake is a waste of time, but you couldn’t be further from the truth. Because making mistakes is what enables us to attract clients.

Imagine a world where everything went absolutely right for you. Where you never ever made a mistake. Well, that would indeed be an interesting world. And most people would peg you as a resident of Jupiter. Because for one, your client would never be able to relate to you.

Understand this: Most of our clients are quite impressed, even intimidated by our abilities.
Yes, we think what we do is ‘nothing’, but to the client, those ‘nothing’ skills are quite valuable. So if you’re able to relate your mistakes, that makes you less formidable, and the client feels an intense connection to your failures (and consequent success). Plus you stop being considered a ‘Jupiterian’ and become an ‘Earthling’ instead

When I conduct the Website Masterclass, I show my clients all my mistakes
And how we fixed them. That enables the client to see what’s achievable, and creates a safety net for the client as well. Now, they not only feel comfortable with you, but also feel comfortable about their own progress.

Plus mistakes are profitable.

Very profitable.

I’ll explain more in my next post.

——————————————–
http://www.psychotactics.com
Why Customers Back Away At The Very Last Minute? Find out at the link above.

Do you actually sell on blogs? It depends. Are you in the mood for asking stupid questions?

If you, for one second believe, that you’re going to get action from your customers by simply ‘expecting them to work out’ what you sell–well, you are indeed in the mood for stupidity. Because let’s look at a blog as impassively as you’d look at a newspaper. You read the newspaper. And it talks about a new product. Does that article cause you to buy the product?

Nope. You read the newspaper. And you’re off for the day, right? You read loads of stuff, just like that, and it makes not a whit of a difference. But then you see an ad. And the ad creates urgency or desirability to buy the product. Um, can you hear the knock on your brain?

Yes, customers are waiting to be led. Customers are ’sheeple’. And when I say customers, I say you, me and almost everyone else on this planet.

Logically, sheep should come home by sundown
But they don’t. The woof, woof, woof, has to happen. The sheepdog has to play his role, barking madly. Then the ’sheep’ file back to the farm from the paddock.

Customers are just the same. If you stupidly believe that they’re going to buy, then you’re out of your mind. They need to be led. And contrary to what you believe, leading customers–playing sheepdog is a good thing. Because if you don’t really direct customers, they do the sheep thing. They wander around. Hang around. Do nothing. Or something.

You’re doing your customers a disfavour
You’re doing yourself a disfavour.
Plus, there’s the stupidity thing

What attracts?

Wellllllll…..that’s a loaded question. But what distracts?
Bad grammar. That’s what distracts.

And here’s a good way to learn how to fix your grammer (er…grammar)

First, you need to know something.

With zero advertising, zero affiliates, zero Google Adwords, zero whatever–we’ve filled the Website Masterclass for the second time in a row. Now this ain’t some piddly $20 class. Each participant pays between $2200-$2500 to be at the event. This isn’t counting food, travel, hotel stay etc.

Attraction of course, played its part

But hey, it’s not just attraction, or conversion, or blahdeeblah. It’s follow up. We followed up no more than nine times, in less than six weeks. With solid information.

With over five hours of useful, zero-sales pitch content (there goes that zero word again). And follow up was consistent. To get customers to sign up to the first stage. Then to move them to the next stage. In all, in under six weeks, a customer may have been ‘touched’ a good fifteen times.

Isn’t fifteen times too much in six weeks?

Free can attract.

And attract well.

See this two stage attraction and conversion?

Stage 1: When Lynda.com offered me a free trial (Yeah, I know it sounds so simple)

Stage 3: Now I’m on their list–and they’re selling.

So where’s Stage 2?
Stage 2 was the consumption stage, right? So they got me to ‘consume’ for seven days, before they said, “Oops, you have to buy.” (I have to admit, they sent up a follow up email once–I think–in those seven days, reminding to go back to ‘consume’)

But was seven days enough?
Is seven days enough?
And how could Lynda.com have done it better?

Ok, so you’re high on ‘consumption.’ But do you understand what it means?

Suppose you’re a web-designer and the client asks you to make a change on the website, and you say: “Nope, won’t do that. You’ve got to learn how to do it all yourself, Ms.Client. You’ve got to consume.”

Ok, just for the record, that’s not consumption.

Consumption is when the customer asks for ‘the meal’ and you help them to ‘eat that meal.’ So if the client asks to help her to make the change on her website, then it’s all very fine to suggest the steps to make that change.

But it the client is simply saying: Can you make that change? then what you have to do is ‘make that change.’

Being high on consumption is fine.
But you can’t make the client eat ’something they haven’t asked for.’

Have you ever mixed up the concept of consumption? Have you tried to get the client to do something when she didn’t want to do it? And how did you get out of the mess?

Do you know what makes a No.1 hit song a No.1 hit song? The rock group A-ha! certainly knew. When they launched their song way back (and I do mean way back), they created an underground campaign of sorts. As their song got played on the radio, they’d organise dozens of their friends to call in and request the song–again and again.

You know what happened next, right? By mere virtue of air-play on the radio, the song became popular. The more the radio stations played the song, the higher it climbed up the charts. Attraction, it seemed, created attraction.

The reason why some books sell more than others isn’t because they’re better than others. The reason why a No.1 song stays No.1 isn’t necessarily because it’s the catchiest song going. The core of why it survives is attraction.

So what’s a small business to do?  How can you climb to the top of the ‘charts’ when you’re just an unknown? How can you create attraction to in turn create attraction?

If there’s one thing that’s impossible, it’s trying to achieve the impossible. Ok, so I’m babbling, but consumption enters the realm of the babble-zone. Consumption is when you’re trying to get the customer to ‘consume’ what they’ve purchased. While in theory, that ‘consumption’ is none of your business, in reality it is.

Firstly, customers don’t always consume. How do we know that? You download files that you never read. You order meals that you never eat. You throw away stuff all the time, because most marketers give a damn about consumption. They don’t care at all if you’re going to use the product, because their job stops at conversion.

But does it?

The third audio/notes on Consumption show you otherwise. Getting customers to keep coming back, is not a matter of pestering them to return. It’s a matter of consumption. If you get them to consume, they’ll see the value, and they will return. Doesn’t mean you don’t or won’t nudge them. But hey, you don’t need to ‘persuade’ these customers any more.

Consumption does all the hard work for you! And yes, completes the unending cycle of attversumption.

But before we head back to babble-zone again, here’s the audio/text. Enjoy.
http://www.psychotactics.com/websitemasterclass02.htm

Can your business exist for ten years? Or twenty years? Or five hundred years? Maybe a few thousand? And if a business could last that long, and be very profitable, it means that business needs to run without you. Yes, without you. How can that be possible? That’s what we’ll explore, reveal and what you’ll find a solid plan when you get to the Website Masterclass. Check it out. You’ll be amazed at what you find.

The world of marketing says: It’s not your business, if the customer doesn’t use your product/service. Your job is to attract, and to get them to buy. You can’t control what the customer does. I disagree. I’m saying it’s your business to get customers to consume. If not all your information/services, at least a chunky bit.

Do you agree? Or disagree?

Is it your duty to get customers to consume?
What would be the problems? And the  benefits? Why would you even bother getting customers to consume?

Is conversion as hard as it’s made out to be? Sure it can be. But only when you goof up big time. There’s a time to convert, and there’s a time to lay off converting. And how the heck are you going to know when’s a good time? Well, you can start guessing, or you can start reading and listening to this audio/transcript on Conversion.

http://www.psychotactics.com/websitemasterclass01.htm

And yes, those 6 seats aren’t going to stay cold for long. What you’re going to learn in California, isn’t just some hyped up stuff. You’ll learn how to build a business without affiliates, without joint ventures, without advertising, without stomping on your competition, and without a huge list. Sounds incredible? Welllll it is (the workshop, I mean). Check it out. I think you’ll like what you see.