🎯 Work Smart Wednesday - September 11, 2024
10 lessons from selling $10m of digital products, steal this email sales sequence, and a quote from Samuel Johnson
Work Smart Wednesday
👋 Hey there!
Here is your fortnightly dose of Work Smart Wednesday.
In these emails I will share with you 3 things to help you work smarter.
1. 💡 10 lessons from selling $10m of digital products
This is one of the best, most actionable, insightful, articles I have read for a long time.
I am conscious of overwriting here, so instead of telling you about it in depth I am going to include some of my favourite lessons and snippets from the article instead.
There’s also a YouTube version if you prefer to watch than read.
These are just some, I strongly encourage you to read this article regardless of your business type.
There’s no such thing as “passive income.” (Definitely read his explanation re: organic vs. paid)
Books and eBooks are one of the worst business models for selling information, but can work great in other ways (like credibility or initial entry points).
The best digital education products are 50% education, 50% belief-breaking. (I would argue it’s even higher towards belief-breaking)
“You will learn that the hard skills of whatever you’re teaching or explaining aren’t the real bottleneck on the person’s growth. 99% of the time, the bottleneck is rooted in some sort of faulty belief or internal objection—and so if your education product doesn’t ALSO address these objections, the “How To” information isn’t going to land.”
People drastically underestimate how much work everything takes, largely because they do the wrong things or things in the wrong order. Paying for professional help to shortcut this is well worth it.
Sell people what they want, not what they need.
A tell-tale sign this is the case is if the positioning of the digital product is to “learn.” The truth is, nobody wants to learn (just like how nobody wants to go to the gym). What people really want and care about is the outcome they can expect as a result of learning (just like how people want 6-pack abs in time for summer).
Not all digital products are created equal.
Each vehicle has a different business model, and each business model has different pros and cons. For example, the way a customer values an eBook is completely different than the way they value an online course.
There are only 3 pricing tiers for selling an online course.
The psychological distance between prices is more important than the absolute financial distance. The difference between a $1000 service and a $2000 service is smaller than between a $99 service and a $499 service
The broader your front-end product, the harder it will be to build a high-converting backend product.
Don’t give away too much. Charging high prices can actually help your customers
“The moment someone joins a “membership” with instant access to lots of different education products, the perceived value of all those products immediately goes to $0.”. This is because people have “abundance”, they no longer covet the resources as they have unlimited access. You can help people to actually implement things and get the value by charging appropriately and/or adding other barriers to access (like levels or pre-requisites)
The structure for making kickass course content:
Reasons Why (Benefits)
Mistakes To Avoid (Problems)
Steps How To (Action)
Commonly Asked Questions (Objections)
Walkthrough Example (Proof)
Critique of your own walkthrough (Analysis)
These were all very timely reminders of useful insights.
You can find the article by
here:
2. 🏴☠️ Steal this sales sequence
As mentioned in the previous point, it takes an average of 20 sales emails to your audience to sell them on something.
Here’s a 2-part strategy and full automatable 20-email sequence anyone can implement to increase their sales.
While different leads should be treated differently, a former client is quite different to someone who signed up to your email list, this sequence is a good (albeit generic) starting point.
Let’s dive in.
Part 1: 100% Education
These emails are intended to do 2 very specific things:
Show the customer you are the right person to help them.
Remind them you have a product/service for sale.
These emails should be 99% free value + 1% “Oh, by the way, you can sign up here” CTA at the end.
Except for the very first email—which sets the frame for what your offer is.
Email #1: Plain Pitch. “Here’s what I have for sale, here’s what problem it solves, here’s how you can buy it.”
Email #2: Who This Is For. “Here are the 3 archetypes of people I believe I can help most—and why. Which one are you?”
Email #3: 10 Biggest Problems. “I know what your biggest problems are. I know why you’re experiencing them. I know what you’ve tried in the past to solve or overcome them. Here’s why those things didn’t work—and here’s why my approach is different.”
Email #4: 3 Desired Outcomes. “I know the Top 3 outcomes you want. I know why these 3 outcomes are the ones you value more than all the others. I know because these were the outcomes I wanted when I was in your shoes. Here’s how I can help you get there.”
Email #5: My Story. “I used to be exactly where you are now. Here were my problems. Here were the outcomes I wanted. Here’s what I tried and why it didn’t work. Here’s what changed. And here’s where I am today. Now, I’d like to help you do the same.”
Email #6: Stop/Start. “Here are the things you’re probably trying right now to solve this on your own. STOP. Here’s why those aren’t working. Instead, START doing this—it’ll have a much bigger impact. And by the way, this is what I help you do.”
Email #7: Myths. “Here are the faulty beliefs most people have when they set out to solve these problems/achieve these outcomes. Here’s why those beliefs are faulty. And here’s some mental reframes so you can think about this the right way.”
Email #8: Quick Tips. “Let’s say you want to do this on your own. That’s fine. To help you, here are some tips I would give anyone struggling with these problems/trying to unlock these outcomes—and here’s how to quickly implement them into your life.”
Email #9: Mistakes. “Ah, but here are the mistakes most people make when they set out to do this on their own. Here’s why those mistakes happen. By the way, I can help you avoid these mistakes.”
Email #10: Templates. “I wanted to share this with you… it’s my favorite template for quickly and easily solving this specific problem. Oh, and by the way, I give you tons of these templates in my product/service.”
Part 2: 100% Sales
The second part of this 20-email sequence are emails intended to do the opposite of the first 10 emails.
You’ve given them a TON of free value. So here, you SHOULD hard pitch people on your list.
And the goal should be:
• Buy
• Or Unsubscribe
You do not want people sitting on your list doing nothing, the quality of the lead will start to decay. They will start to get frustrated with your content and stop opening email or start marking you as spam, which affects your ability to reach new people who are interested high quality leads. Move them through, or move them off.
So this second sequence is a good way of figuring out who is actually going to grow with you, and who was never going to grow in the first place.
Email #11: Everything That’s Included. “Here’s how my product/service is structured. Here’s everything you get.”
Email #12: Bonuses. “But that’s not all. When you join, you also get these 3 bonuses.”
Email #13: Testimonial Roundup. “Want proof? Look at all the people I’ve worked with who have been successful! Chances are, you resonate with one of their stories.”
Email #14: Where Will You Be 1 Year From Now? “Ask yourself a quick question: where will you be 1 year from now if you don’t take action? Compared to… where will you be if you DO? If you know a year from now you’ll be disappointed if you don’t make any progress, then let’s avoid that path. Here’s how I can help.”
Email #15: Testimonial Deep Dive. “Here’s 1 student in particular. Here’s their full Zero to Hero journey. This could be you.”
Email #16: The Tale of 2 Archetypes. “Here’s a quick story of 2 different types of people. 1 of them took action. The other didn’t. Here’s where they both ended up. Which one are you going to be?”
Email #17: What Has You On The Fence Survey. “Real quick, would you mind letting me know what has you on the fence? Which of the following 3 options is it? Time? Not sure if you’re ready? Or cost? Let me know so I can help find a solution.”
Email #18: Behind The Scenes Look. “Just so you know everything you’re getting, here’s a sneak peek at the first couple lessons/modules/resources. Let me walk you through it so you know what you’re stepping into.”
Email #19: Disappearing Bonus or reverse discount. “Let’s sweeten the deal. If you take action in the next 48 hours, I’ll also throw in this other bonus worth $ X OR the price is currently $ X but I am raising it in 48 hours. After 48 hours, this goes away.”
Email #20: Last chance “Your time to get the bonus is almost up. Use it now or lose it forever. This will be your last chance before I stop regularly contacting you, it is now or never.”
Found this useful? Check out this month’s bonus outlined below.
🆕 This month’s resource for referrals has been updated - you can now earn my template “Warm Outreach Scripts, Sequences, and Examples”.
🎁 Receive rewards for referring your friends 🎁
📩 A document outlining exactly what to say, when, and to which kind of lead (e.g. past customer, lead magnet signup, friends and family, etc).
Includes full sequences plus real examples that I or my clients have successfully used and proven.This custom template is not sold anywhere, you can only get it by sending Work Smart Wednesday to your friend. I rotate these templates monthly. This template is only available in September.
3. 💡 Quote I'm pondering
"People need to be reminded more than they need to be told” - Samuel Johnson
I genuinely believe people have the answers, they just need to be asked the right question.
In line with this philosophy, the most valuable ideas and information are rarely novel. While an introduction to a new concept can unlock huge growth, much more often huge growth only requires a timely reminder of a concept you’re already familiar with.
I like to apply this to business in three key ways:
I keep reminding people I exist.
People don’t need to be told new ways how I can help them, they just need to be reminded I exist and reminded that I can help them. If they aren’t ready, that is fine. I tell them what the criteria is to “qualify” them as ready for future, then I drop in every once in a while to see where they “are” with things now. Timing is more important than people realise.
I relax about my own technical knowledge, I don’t need to know everything. It is more important that I know the right questions.
This is extremely important for helping clients, especially in fields that I have limited knowledge. I don’t need to tell someone something new for it to be valuable, often I need to give a timely reminder of something valuable. For example, I have recently very successfully helped a current client, Benoist (who you can see in videos here), to increase revenue 56% while reducing his time requirements in the business by 80% without him needing to hire anybody new. This is all despite me knowing almost nothing about his industry, paragliding equipment. I made such a big difference for him because I know how business fundamentally works, and I knew what the right questions were to ask him at the right time. He now enjoys his time, can work fully remotely, and recently took one of our calls from the top of a mountain.
Benoist mountaintop lake view in Colorado, working remotely (24 seconds)
I ask for referrals
I have an extremely high referral rate. Almost all of my clients throughout all time have referred me to at least 1 new client, and most have referred me to multiple. Only 2 of my current clients haven’t referred me to somebody yet, and both have said they want to (they likely haven’t yet as I have only started working with them relatively recently). It helps that I deliver a high-quality service and have great retention, but more importantly these referrals come from my systematic approach to requesting referrals. You see, your happy clients might well intend to refer you to other people but life gets in the way. They forget. Or your request comes at a bad time. Or they don’t know who to refer you to yet. I have automated sequences set up to regularly remind all leads, not just current or past clients but all qualified leads, to refer me to new clients. Thanks to my system, these referrals are both consistent and reliable. A simple reminder goes a long way.
We often learn things, then fail to implement them or fail to remain consistent in their implementation. A timely reminder is often enough to unlock real growth. People need to be reminded more than they need to be told.
Side note: one of my favourite podcasts, Empire, covered Samuel Johnson in an episode in their series on Slavery. Samuel Johnson is famous for inventing the dictionary, but few people know that he left everything to his black heir, Francis Barber, which was considered scandalous at the time. A great episode and I thoroughly recommend the Empire podcast (I found their series on the East India Company and the British Empire in India particularly interesting).
👋 Want to work together?
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That's it! I can't wait to hear what you think. What did you find most useful? What do you want more or less of? Reply to this email now and let me know
Also, if you have anything interesting to share, I want to know about it😊
Have a great week,
John
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