“Are you sure it’s your message?”
That’s what I ask clients who come to me for the 7th time in six weeks wanting to change their message.
Cause if you’re not converting clients or making sales like you know you can, your message may not be the problem.
And this is where too many entrepreneurs make a critical mistake.
And it usually looks like:
- Finding some new course to buy
- Finding some new tool that “everyone is using”.
- Falling in love with some upstart marketing guru with a crazy theory whose stuff really works. Until it doesn’t.
In other words:
The “throw-it-at-the-wall-and hope-it-sticks” school of problem solving that never works.
Here’s a better idea. One that will save you a lot of money and a ton of heartache:
Because your business is only as successful and profitable as it’s weakest link.
- Fixing a closing problem doesn’t help if you don’t have any leads to close.
- Tweaking a message that’s working fine won’t fix a lousy offer.
- Creating videos with that funky Zoom background won’t help if no one understands what you do.
So, the critical thing to do is to slow down, take a deep breath and ask yourself one important question:
WHERE IS IT STOPPING?
The secret to solving any problem is knowing what the problem is in the first place.
When you know what’s gumming up the gears and slowing the machine down, you know precisely where to drop in the oil to fix it.
And when you do, you’re often surprised how little it takes to get things humming again.
It’s like the Vulcan Neck Pinch Spock used to do in the old Star Trek Series.
Even in the midst of the fiercest fights, a little pressure applied at a precise point at the base of the neck would render the most potent foes powerless.
When you know exactly where your forward momentum stops, you can apply your efforts at the precise spot that makes the maximum difference.
No guessing. No frustration. And its astonishingly effective.
AND THERE ARE FOUR COMMON STOPPING POINTS YOU CAN TARGET THAT MAKE IT SIMPLE!
You Have a Message Problem
If you’re not getting ANY interest – not even a forced smile or a “that’s cool” – you have a message problem.
Your message is not an inclusive description of everything you do. It’s a short, attention grabbing summary of your IMPACT.
Too many entrepreneurs make this “laundry list” messaging mistake, so their enrollment efforts stall before they even begin.
A great place to test new messages quickly is speaking or networking venues, where you get live, real-time reactions and feedback from your actual market. Instead of friends who just want to make you feel good.
Even when that speaking or networking is virtual, you can still gauge the response and make adjustments on the fly.
You Have an Engagement Problem
If you get an initial wave of recognition from your message, but it doesn’t go any farther, you have an engagement problem.
It’s important to have a way to deepen a prospect’s initial interest so they’re receptive to an invitation to talk in greater detail on a phone call.
But here’s where another common mistake happens: You suffocate potential engagement by yakking, yakking and then yakking some more.
But that’s what we’re supposed to do right? They want to hear more details, right?
Not really. Prospects engage at a much deeper level when what you say is a response to what THEY’RE interested in and what they need.
So give them the chance … by asking:
- “So what did you find so interesting about what I said?”
- “Why is that so valuable for you?”
- “What kind of difference would that make for you if you had that?”
Your exact questions will come from how the prospect is responding to you, rather than any canned script I could give you.
But these are a great start to get a back-and-forth exchange going, which is the key to upping the engagement level that turns into a sales call.
Instead of holding court – which will not.
You Have an Offer Problem
If you get initial interest, that grows to the point where they’re willing to get on the phone with you … but they respond to your opportunity with a hard no … you have an offer problem.
A great, well-packaged offer will fly … even if you suck at sales.
“FREE date with Bradley Cooper!”
See what I mean?
The key to up the urgency and desirability of your offer is to craft it as a response to your prospect’s biggest struggles and their most yearned for goals.
So instead of trying to force them into your offer (which they don’t like) you’re wrapping your offer around what they most want to escape and what they most want to experience.
So they feel you have the exact thing they’ve been searching for.
Think of it this way:
Your client never buys your program. They buy the specific future your program makes possible for them.
You Have a Closing Problem
If you move them almost all the way to a Yes:
You awaken their interest.
You deepen that interest to desire.
That desire leads to a conversation and an offer they are receptive to …
… but they’re still on the fence: You have a closing problem.
Entire books have been written and courses taught in this area, so I’m not going to try to tie this up in a bow in a few sentences.
What I will say is many closing mistakes come from either trying to force a yes on the client. Or giving up entirely at the slightest resistance.
Neither path is in the best interest of the prospect.
Instead, it’s a productive idea to revisit and reinforce many of the steps that got them this far:
- How excited they were about the possibility of working with you.
- The extent of the pain their primary problem was causing them.
- The joy they felt when theyt imaginged leaving that problem behind forever.
- The experience of their life if nothing changes.
- How committed they said they were to solving their issue.
No matter how juiced they are in any or all of these areas, commitment to work with you can feel like a scary leap, in terms of time and expense.
Prompting even the most gung-ho prospect to falter at the moment of truth.
So you want to compare the cost of working with you with the cost of NOT working with you – in terms of lost time, lost opportunity, continuing to live with struggle and yes, even lost money.
When the cost of of No is greater than the cost of Yes, they find a way to say Yes.
TO RECAP:
In our breakneck, mile-a-minute, “excuse me I have to check my Facebook feed” world, it’s not easy to slow down. Stop. Take a deep breath. And look at exactly where things stop.
It can even be painful, or make you feel like a failure.
But only if you’ve never followed the process through before.
Because the truth is: Every enrollment problem has a cause.
And the cause isn’t: “I’m not good enough”. The problem is something you did, that you can do differently once you know what it is.
The only other option (and it isn’t really an option) is to continue to play Internet Marketing Roulette, throwing money, time and effort into detours that may have ZERO impact on the real issue.
Asking yourself, “Where is this stopping?” is a faster, simpler much more effective way to reboot your momentum. And move through any obstacles that stand bewteen you and your own personal business goals.
Speaking of reaching your business goals:
Would it help to have magnetic messaging nuggets in your back pocket to help grow your list and make more money?
OK, that’s a silly question. Let me rephrase that … Would it help to have 125 subject lines, a proven 7-step copy conversion formula and a formula for seductive bullet points that ignite interest and excitement for your great stuff?
(And that’s most of the time …)
Then check out this Seductive List Booster Bundle. Until I change my mind, it won’t cost you a dime!
