I’ve got a confession.
I’ve been busier than a hippy at a tie-die contest.
And because of that I’ve quite frankly sucked at keeping in regular contact with you.
Which if i’m brutally honest with you… is not good enough.
Because I love dropping into your inbox and telling you what it’s like at the pointy end of the spear.
So you might be wondering what I’ve been up to and where I’ve been cutting my teeth the last month or two…
Well for starters, we acquired an education company. It’s been a whirlwind of a ride. When the dust settles, I’ll have to tell you about it.
I’ve got a few ripper stories and some lessons worth a brick of pure gold.
Putting it another way, I can’t wait to save you a tonne of green ones if you ever want to consider buying a company outright… or even buying into a company (no matter how many or few shares you get).
Anyway, Lachy and I put it this way:
It is the cost of doing business at the pointy end of the spear.
Sometimes we kill it…
Sometimes it hurts.
It reminds me of that quote out of Venom. Did you watch it?
It’s got one of the best business lessons out there.
Eddy Brock (Venom) is at the local convenience store.
The cashier (a direct, self-made Asian lady) gets a gun held to her head while the baddie robs her.
Eddy doesn’t have powers yet, so he hides behind a shelf of chips.
After the bad guy leaves, Eddy emerges.
The cashier, as zen as you’ll ever be, says to Eddie:
“Life hurts Eddy. It just does.”
Ooft.
That’s business.
Sometimes we kill it.
Sometimes it hurts.
Anywhoo…
The education company has launched to some great feedback so it’s only up from here…
So should we get to the subject matter that I promised at the top?
In the last few months, I’ve invested more in business in one sale than I ever have before… I dropped 46k on a years mentorship.
You think I’m crazy?
I was crazy not to.
Our business has gone from a close-knit team of 6 in 2020 to a team of 25.
I’m facing a scale of problem now that I’ve never had to deal with before… and I’d be stupid not to pay someone who has been there, done that, and is still doing it.
…. Because I stand to lose way more than $46,000 US if I get it wrong…
(for perspective, $46,000 is two-weeks worth of wages… so it’s nothing in the grand scheme of things for the business… but still big in absolute terms).
So want to piggy back off my money and find out what I’ve learned?
Of course you do!
Here is the standout piece of advice I’ve gotten so far (which has almost paid back the investment already).
If you want to increase the perceived value of your offer, you need to optimise it for 4 things. This is what they are.
1. Speed.
2. Effort/Sacrifice.
3. Clarity of Outcome.
4. Likelihood of achievement.
Let’s break that down.
1. Speed is King
People care most about speed. If they have a problem, they want it fixed, fast. The longer it takes for you to solve their problem, the less valuable what you do is to them.
Not convinced?
Amazon… next-day shipping of anything you want delivered straight to your door.
Uber… never wait more than a couple of minutes for a ride that you can call from anywhere.
Google… get the answers you need in seconds.
Facebook… speak to anyone in the world faster than it takes to find the international number code…
You get the drift.
So how does that work with rehabbing a long injury?
Or improving someone’s performance for their next season of sport?
Or losing 40kgs?
Easy.
Chunk the goal down.
If they’ve got an end goal that will take time, what can they chase this month that will give them that dopamine rush and sense of achievement?
What can they chase this week?
What can they chase tomorrow?
Speed is King. Help them get to what they want faster and you’ll skyrocket the value of what you do.
2. Effort and Sacrifice
To do anything, you have to not do something. If you want to inspire action with your clients, then they have to see what they’re not going to do as worth leaving behind.
The sacrifice needs to be worth making.
How you make them look at effort and sacrifice makes all the difference… that’s called framing.
3. Clarity of Outcome
If your clients are approaching you with a surface level problem (lose weight, rehab a sore back, get stronger etc)… then that is the tip of the iceberg.
If you accept that at face value and run with it, then you’ve missed your chance to get clear on what they really want.
Dig deeper by asking better questions.
“It sounds like losing weight is important to you. Do you know why that is?
Or…
“It sounds like rehabbing your back is something you really want to focus on. Why do you think it’s so important to you?
Or…
“It sounds like you love your sport and want to improve. What’s it going to mean to you to feel like you’re playing sport more competitively?
Keep digging ’til you strike gold.
It’ll ring like a damn Church Bell when you finally hit it…
4. Likelihood of Achievement
Want people to trust the process more? That’s up to you, not them. The better you can map out their journey… identify the key landmarks along the way… and then SHOW them how they’ll get what they want… the better.
Don’t tell, show.
Because the more they believe in the journey to get them what they want, the more they’ll believe in your offer. Map out the journey so well that it is like reading instructions made for a 3-year old.
It should make sense. The path should be clear. The outcome guaranteed.
So yeah, that’s the biggest takeaway so far.
Adding this framework to what we do here has added zero’s to our bank balance… and made happier customers, too.
Run your offer by these 4 filters and see the dollars start flowing in.
Anyway, that’s enough for one evening.
Karl Goodman
