WEBVTT NOTE This file was generated by Descript 00:00:01.119 --> 00:00:02.019 Hey, this is Mark Butler. 00:00:02.019 --> 00:00:04.780 And you are listening to a podcast for coaches. 00:00:05.939 --> 00:00:10.930 I have in mind that I want to create a multi hour philosophical 00:00:10.930 --> 00:00:12.910 analysis of the industry of coaching. 00:00:13.240 --> 00:00:16.750 And if you know me outside this podcast, and if you know me through this podcast, 00:00:16.759 --> 00:00:21.059 you might know that I have a tendency to overthink, and I have a tendency to 00:00:21.070 --> 00:00:23.060 take what is simple and make it complex. 00:00:23.439 --> 00:00:26.840 Now there's certain areas of my life where that has really served me, but 00:00:26.840 --> 00:00:29.269 where it doesn't serve me is when you're trying to create a podcast 00:00:29.269 --> 00:00:35.050 episode that is actually immediately applicable and useful to this handful 00:00:35.050 --> 00:00:36.330 of people you have in your audience. 00:00:37.269 --> 00:00:40.400 So I've successfully redirected myself away from. 00:00:41.184 --> 00:00:46.974 That multi hour analysis and I've boiled it down in my mind to one topic. 00:00:48.025 --> 00:00:50.165 That's why the episode is called how to read a sales page. 00:00:52.254 --> 00:00:54.114 Now maybe somebody sent you this podcast. 00:00:54.134 --> 00:00:55.394 Maybe you don't know who I am. 00:00:55.405 --> 00:00:58.814 Let me take just a second and tell you why I think I'm qualified to comment 00:00:58.814 --> 00:01:02.144 on how you should read a sales page or how you can read a sales page. 00:01:03.364 --> 00:01:06.934 I wrote my first sales copy in around 2007 or 2008. 00:01:07.375 --> 00:01:09.554 And it was actually to sell coaching. 00:01:11.545 --> 00:01:14.825 In fact, I remember how hard I worked on it and how flowery 00:01:14.825 --> 00:01:16.195 it was and how dramatic it was. 00:01:16.195 --> 00:01:18.355 And now I kind of laughed, but it did work. 00:01:18.355 --> 00:01:19.195 We sold some coaching. 00:01:19.195 --> 00:01:21.355 I had a, I had a business partner at the time we'd sold some coaching. 00:01:21.355 --> 00:01:26.115 And then I went on to have the experience of writing sales copy 00:01:26.115 --> 00:01:30.765 that generated, I think, a total of about 2 million in the period between 00:01:30.895 --> 00:01:33.805 around 2008 and the beginning of 2013. 00:01:34.705 --> 00:01:37.565 The product that that copy sold was a membership a bunch of people 00:01:37.565 --> 00:01:41.654 went through that membership and most of the 2 million I referenced 00:01:41.654 --> 00:01:43.215 was generated from that thing. 00:01:43.475 --> 00:01:48.345 And since 2012, 2013, somewhere in there, my copy that I write 00:01:48.364 --> 00:01:51.085 has not really had a sales intent. 00:01:51.104 --> 00:01:52.955 It hasn't had to because of my business model. 00:01:53.445 --> 00:01:58.875 So I haven't written a lot of persuasive copy even in the last 10 or 12 years, but. 00:01:59.585 --> 00:02:04.995 Starting in about 2014, 2015, I started to be an advisor to other coaches. 00:02:05.035 --> 00:02:06.635 Now advisor can mean a lot of things. 00:02:07.045 --> 00:02:09.235 In my case, it meant that I was their bookkeeper. 00:02:09.264 --> 00:02:12.574 In many cases, I was their CFO. 00:02:12.684 --> 00:02:16.914 In some cases, in other cases, I was sort of a thought partner, a strategist 00:02:16.914 --> 00:02:19.165 where we were talking about how they were going to do what they were going to do. 00:02:20.285 --> 00:02:22.195 And in some cases, I was more of a pure life coach, where we're 00:02:22.195 --> 00:02:25.865 talking about their mindset, their relationships, their emotional state. 00:02:26.955 --> 00:02:31.645 But what it gave me was, The opportunity to be inside a bunch 00:02:31.675 --> 00:02:34.715 of businesses at a bunch of levels. 00:02:35.645 --> 00:02:37.714 I've worked in businesses that generate a hundred thousand a year. 00:02:37.714 --> 00:02:39.055 I've worked in businesses that generate. 00:02:39.455 --> 00:02:40.185 2 million a year. 00:02:40.185 --> 00:02:42.265 I worked in one business that generate Ted. 00:02:42.305 --> 00:02:45.145 I don't know what it generates now, but at the time it was generating 25 million 00:02:45.485 --> 00:02:51.764 plus in a year and it let me see inside and outside so I could see the copy that's 00:02:51.775 --> 00:02:55.465 being written and I can have a personal relationship with the person writing it. 00:02:56.165 --> 00:02:59.485 I can talk to them about the product they're selling and understand in 00:02:59.485 --> 00:03:02.025 a one on one setting what their psychology is around their own product. 00:03:02.045 --> 00:03:04.165 And then I can read the copy and see how they sell it. 00:03:05.215 --> 00:03:09.925 Now, I'm happy to say, and I want it to be clear that I'm not bringing 00:03:09.925 --> 00:03:14.155 you a cynical or a hypercritical view of this whole topic. 00:03:14.215 --> 00:03:15.355 I have been fortunate. 00:03:15.394 --> 00:03:21.475 I've never in the, in the 10 plus years now that I've been interacting with 00:03:21.505 --> 00:03:28.295 and supporting other coaches, I've still never come across a client who I 00:03:28.295 --> 00:03:32.005 believed had any ill intent whatsoever. 00:03:32.405 --> 00:03:35.345 The way they did what they did might not be how I would do it. 00:03:35.480 --> 00:03:42.089 But I've never ever worked for a client who I thought was lying or intending 00:03:42.090 --> 00:03:43.730 to deceive or intending to harm. 00:03:44.620 --> 00:03:47.330 So I'm not coming to you today to say, Oh, this is a takedown. 00:03:48.040 --> 00:03:51.090 This is a takedown of, of anybody or of any way of being. 00:03:51.100 --> 00:03:52.019 That's not what this is. 00:03:52.900 --> 00:03:56.820 This episode is an attempt to have you approach persuasive content 00:03:56.830 --> 00:04:01.169 online, particularly content that attempts to sell you training. 00:04:01.605 --> 00:04:07.695 Or sell you experiences and to approach that persuasive material in a way 00:04:08.375 --> 00:04:14.655 that makes it so you're less likely to regret your decision later, because I 00:04:14.655 --> 00:04:16.585 can hold two ideas at the same time. 00:04:16.595 --> 00:04:22.125 One idea that I'm able to hold is that training and community are powerful. 00:04:22.195 --> 00:04:23.495 They are positive. 00:04:24.065 --> 00:04:27.705 They help people transform their thoughts, their emotional states, 00:04:27.765 --> 00:04:30.125 their ways of being and produce. 00:04:30.640 --> 00:04:34.640 Great new results in their life, and I find it very easy to hold that thought 00:04:34.790 --> 00:04:41.420 and to believe that I Also hold the belief that the hopes the dreams the 00:04:41.420 --> 00:04:49.300 aspirations and in too many cases the self confidence of So many people are 00:04:49.300 --> 00:04:56.300 buried in an invisible graveyard that we don't hear very much about and The 00:04:56.300 --> 00:05:01.560 reason they're buried in that invisible graveyard is because they They didn't 00:05:01.570 --> 00:05:06.090 take a thoughtful approach to the persuasive material that they encountered. 00:05:07.560 --> 00:05:11.290 They made one purchase and then multiple purchases, and then they formed a 00:05:11.300 --> 00:05:18.650 habit of purchasing that led to regret, self doubt, loss of confidence, shame. 00:05:20.730 --> 00:05:24.649 And so since I have both of those ideas in my head. 00:05:25.164 --> 00:05:27.714 Both of those strongly held beliefs in my head. 00:05:28.324 --> 00:05:35.144 I bring this episode to you not to Critique anyone or anything. 00:05:35.144 --> 00:05:40.859 Although I suppose my opinions will come through But to try to create a 00:05:40.859 --> 00:05:47.579 tool that a person might come back to multiple times to help themselves engage 00:05:47.609 --> 00:05:53.839 productively with whatever persuasive material they're seeing, so that they are 00:05:53.839 --> 00:05:56.879 less likely to regret the decision later. 00:05:57.369 --> 00:06:01.189 See, the industry does an amazing job with working on how they can be happy 00:06:01.190 --> 00:06:05.909 about the decision later, but the industry doesn't do much with the acknowledgement 00:06:05.909 --> 00:06:10.039 that there is such a thing as making a decision that later on you very. 00:06:11.099 --> 00:06:17.869 Honestly, regret that's not coming from a place of blame or from a victim mentality. 00:06:19.099 --> 00:06:23.009 It's just you coming back to a decision later and saying, I'm not happy 00:06:23.009 --> 00:06:25.169 with the way I made that decision. 00:06:26.329 --> 00:06:29.519 And I'm not happy with the results that that decision produced 00:06:30.839 --> 00:06:34.089 In addition to the invisible graveyard, where some people's hopes, dreams, 00:06:34.459 --> 00:06:37.349 aspirations, and self confidence are, are potentially buried. 00:06:37.909 --> 00:06:39.989 We also have real financial consequence. 00:06:40.359 --> 00:06:44.459 We have people walking around in some cases with tens of thousands 00:06:44.459 --> 00:06:51.519 of dollars in debt that they don't have any clear path to paying off 00:06:53.009 --> 00:06:57.029 Because they didn't know how to engage productively with 00:06:58.229 --> 00:06:59.569 persuasive material online. 00:07:00.719 --> 00:07:03.809 We do this thing in the industry, by the way, where we tend to be very all or 00:07:03.809 --> 00:07:07.399 nothing about this topic, which is funny because as coaches, we really discourage 00:07:07.399 --> 00:07:09.099 our clients from all or nothing thinking. 00:07:10.219 --> 00:07:15.209 But when we talk about offers we make or offers that we've made in the past, 00:07:15.919 --> 00:07:17.389 we tend to be very all or nothing. 00:07:17.439 --> 00:07:20.429 We tend to say things like, well, if you're all in, if you go all in, then 00:07:20.429 --> 00:07:22.239 you will succeed, you cannot fail. 00:07:23.349 --> 00:07:27.139 And if a person doesn't get a good result, we tend to be 00:07:27.289 --> 00:07:28.619 very all or nothing about that. 00:07:28.639 --> 00:07:33.799 We tend to say, well, if you'd put in the effort, and we tend to say things 00:07:33.799 --> 00:07:36.769 like, Well, there was a guarantee there was a money back guarantee 00:07:36.769 --> 00:07:39.209 and you didn't meet the requirements of the money back guarantee. 00:07:39.219 --> 00:07:40.109 So it's your fault. 00:07:40.109 --> 00:07:45.899 We have, there is a, a temptation to blame the client in our industry, 00:07:46.659 --> 00:07:49.129 which I think is very unhealthy. 00:07:49.909 --> 00:07:53.789 We have a tendency not to acknowledge that all human relationships are entered 00:07:53.789 --> 00:07:56.549 into with some level of ignorance. 00:07:56.549 --> 00:07:56.589 Thanks. 00:07:58.024 --> 00:08:00.894 There's confidence, but there's also ignorance. 00:08:01.564 --> 00:08:04.664 So there's hope, but there's not certainty. 00:08:04.914 --> 00:08:07.084 And I'm not just being abstract and philosophical. 00:08:07.084 --> 00:08:07.984 Look at it this way. 00:08:09.414 --> 00:08:12.654 We have to acknowledge that sometimes a person makes a decision that 00:08:12.704 --> 00:08:14.464 isn't the best decision for them. 00:08:16.444 --> 00:08:21.729 There are scenarios Where we, in our effort to be persuasive and in our 00:08:21.769 --> 00:08:27.159 effort to give the highest possible service, we invite a person into 00:08:27.159 --> 00:08:30.339 a relationship that they actually don't have any business getting into. 00:08:31.129 --> 00:08:34.829 But once the money changes hands, there, there's a weird dynamic 00:08:34.829 --> 00:08:38.969 that can be introduced where we say, well, you gave me the money. 00:08:38.969 --> 00:08:44.299 So now the contract is final and where there's no going back, but 00:08:44.299 --> 00:08:45.279 we're not acknowledging that. 00:08:45.789 --> 00:08:49.069 There's a real possibility that that person is not better off for 00:08:49.069 --> 00:08:51.189 having entered into that contract. 00:08:52.849 --> 00:08:54.249 That doesn't make us a liar. 00:08:54.669 --> 00:08:57.979 It just means that every relationship has started with some uncertainty. 00:08:58.379 --> 00:09:02.059 And just because money has changed hands does not negate 00:09:02.069 --> 00:09:03.539 the uncertainty that was there. 00:09:05.589 --> 00:09:10.139 So in the same way that it makes sense for a person to say yes to a program, 00:09:11.349 --> 00:09:16.334 it makes sense for them to back away from that same program when they 00:09:16.334 --> 00:09:21.364 have new information and as easy as it was for us to take their money, 00:09:22.264 --> 00:09:26.214 it should be just as easy to give it back when we have new information., 00:09:27.014 --> 00:09:28.084 I know it's very opinionated. 00:09:28.814 --> 00:09:31.474 I'm bringing strong opinions to that, but I would ask you to consider it. 00:09:31.664 --> 00:09:35.274 It's why, since the beginning of having anything that looks like a coaching 00:09:35.274 --> 00:09:41.174 business, my refund policy has been, if you ask for a refund, I will give it. 00:09:42.219 --> 00:09:46.019 It doesn't need to be named in some fancy way. 00:09:46.709 --> 00:09:50.459 It doesn't need to be based on 61 pages of legal ease. 00:09:51.089 --> 00:09:52.429 I've never had a contract. 00:09:52.459 --> 00:09:54.399 I will never have a contract. 00:09:55.079 --> 00:09:57.599 If you ask for a refund, I will give it. 00:10:00.889 --> 00:10:05.779 That has led at some points to me giving refunds that I don't think were deserved. 00:10:06.424 --> 00:10:09.734 That I think I earned the money that I was paid, and I don't think the person 00:10:09.734 --> 00:10:11.694 is, is right to ask for it in return. 00:10:12.834 --> 00:10:14.224 But what's my option in that moment? 00:10:14.654 --> 00:10:22.574 My option is to hang onto that money and fight, or to know in my heart of 00:10:22.574 --> 00:10:26.114 hearts that I made a good faith effort, that I've met my end of the contract. 00:10:26.504 --> 00:10:29.974 And then now I release myself from having to do any thinking in the 00:10:29.974 --> 00:10:32.184 future about that relationship. 00:10:33.654 --> 00:10:34.144 I just. 00:10:34.619 --> 00:10:35.549 Giving the money back. 00:10:36.229 --> 00:10:39.069 That's the thing they care about, apparently, so that's 00:10:39.069 --> 00:10:40.039 the thing I will give them. 00:10:42.069 --> 00:10:43.869 If you want a refund, I will give it. 00:10:46.259 --> 00:10:48.229 Anyway, we're supposed to be talking about a sales page. 00:10:48.559 --> 00:10:51.219 Here is how to read a sales page. 00:10:53.149 --> 00:10:53.789 Number one. 00:10:55.329 --> 00:10:56.159 Find the price. 00:10:57.369 --> 00:11:01.659 Scroll past all those beautiful images, scroll past all the headline 00:11:01.659 --> 00:11:05.329 and all the subheads, scroll past the bullet points, scroll past 00:11:05.329 --> 00:11:07.769 the testimonials, find the price. 00:11:09.229 --> 00:11:13.779 By the way, if there's no price published for me, we're done. 00:11:14.949 --> 00:11:18.309 If you're going to give me a sales page, but no price, I'm not sure why 00:11:18.309 --> 00:11:21.209 we would continue the conversation because the message you give me. 00:11:22.124 --> 00:11:25.894 Is that you don't think I'm capable of evaluating the program in 00:11:25.894 --> 00:11:30.324 the context of, of its features, its benefits, and its cost. 00:11:31.484 --> 00:11:32.574 So there's an indication. 00:11:32.604 --> 00:11:33.984 And again, this is my opinion. 00:11:34.364 --> 00:11:37.574 There's an indication that you don't trust me. 00:11:39.334 --> 00:11:43.754 And you're saying I can give you the information that I think serves me best, 00:11:44.594 --> 00:11:48.554 but not the information that I think might hurt the possibility of a yes. 00:11:49.269 --> 00:11:52.159 So if you do all that scrolling and you still can't find a price, 00:11:52.189 --> 00:11:57.429 and if it's something like fill out an application, but no price for 00:11:57.429 --> 00:11:59.679 me, the relationship is concluded. 00:12:01.179 --> 00:12:02.389 I need you to respect me. 00:12:02.509 --> 00:12:03.589 I need you to trust me. 00:12:04.179 --> 00:12:08.469 If we're going to get into a relationship, I need to know that you 00:12:08.629 --> 00:12:12.309 want to be transparent and give me all the information that I might need to 00:12:12.309 --> 00:12:18.389 make the decision without me having to escalate the relationship further. 00:12:20.099 --> 00:12:21.479 For me, it feels like manipulation. 00:12:23.639 --> 00:12:26.749 Do I think, do I think that makes the person inherently manipulative? 00:12:26.749 --> 00:12:31.469 No, I, the person who doesn't put the price on the sales page, I'm not 00:12:31.469 --> 00:12:33.049 saying they're acting in bad faith. 00:12:33.389 --> 00:12:35.239 I'm saying they have their own fears. 00:12:35.269 --> 00:12:37.799 And that's one of the ways their fears are being expressed. 00:12:40.829 --> 00:12:43.779 It's not a confident person that hides the price. 00:12:44.009 --> 00:12:46.149 It's a fearful person that hides the price. 00:12:46.299 --> 00:12:46.719 Okay. 00:12:48.249 --> 00:12:50.449 If you're afraid of that, I'm just not that sure I want to get 00:12:50.449 --> 00:12:51.489 into a relationship with you. 00:12:52.259 --> 00:12:55.809 So for me, you scroll down, you find the price. 00:12:56.924 --> 00:13:00.444 After you see the price, you've already seen the headline. 00:13:00.474 --> 00:13:03.824 Even if you scrolled quickly, you saw the headline, you saw the beautiful 00:13:03.824 --> 00:13:06.484 pictures, you probably saw some testimonials on your way to the price. 00:13:06.484 --> 00:13:07.224 Now you have the price. 00:13:07.504 --> 00:13:10.334 Now, in my opinion, what you do is you close that browser tab and you walk 00:13:10.334 --> 00:13:14.654 away and you spend time with the price. 00:13:17.334 --> 00:13:17.834 Why? 00:13:19.124 --> 00:13:24.314 Because there is a real cost to using money on one thing and not another. 00:13:26.234 --> 00:13:33.914 One of the things we do in a persuasive setting is we make every effort to show 00:13:33.914 --> 00:13:39.834 the benefits of the thing, such that there's no perceived trade off in the 00:13:39.834 --> 00:13:44.664 purchase, meaning you pay me this money and it doesn't actually cost you anything 00:13:44.914 --> 00:13:48.054 for all these reasons, but it's not true. 00:13:48.739 --> 00:13:51.659 Trade offs are a fact of our life. 00:13:51.969 --> 00:13:55.579 And if I put a dollar here, I can't also put it there. 00:13:56.339 --> 00:14:01.139 So I'm encouraging you to walk away from the sales page for 24 hours, maybe for 00:14:01.139 --> 00:14:03.809 a week and spend time with the price. 00:14:04.529 --> 00:14:06.099 Ask yourself some questions about it. 00:14:06.819 --> 00:14:10.379 First and foremost, what else would I do with that money? 00:14:10.399 --> 00:14:12.784 If I weren't doing this with it? 00:14:13.934 --> 00:14:17.134 I want to make big financial decisions in the context of my 00:14:17.134 --> 00:14:19.054 next best use of that money. 00:14:20.264 --> 00:14:23.464 And I want to notice how I negotiate with myself, especially 00:14:23.464 --> 00:14:24.654 when it comes to trainings. 00:14:25.824 --> 00:14:30.344 If I'm saying, well, yeah, that 15, 000 could pay for a family vacation. 00:14:30.344 --> 00:14:31.774 It could pay for a car. 00:14:32.414 --> 00:14:33.824 It could pay for. 00:14:34.934 --> 00:14:35.934 pay down some debt. 00:14:37.704 --> 00:14:41.174 It could do all these other things, but no, no, all those things are going 00:14:41.174 --> 00:14:43.884 to be better after I do the training because then I'll have more money. 00:14:43.934 --> 00:14:51.294 If you notice yourself having to negotiate hard with yourself, that is a strong sign. 00:14:51.664 --> 00:14:54.904 It doesn't mean you absolutely shouldn't do that training. 00:14:55.384 --> 00:14:59.644 It means that you are not finding it to be easily settled about. 00:15:00.409 --> 00:15:01.629 The cost of the training. 00:15:03.149 --> 00:15:06.659 Another thing that we're prone to in the industry is we tell people 00:15:06.929 --> 00:15:11.979 that that unsettled feeling they have is fundamentally untrustworthy 00:15:12.539 --> 00:15:14.109 because it's based in fear. 00:15:16.399 --> 00:15:19.149 And I agree that that is one possibility. 00:15:20.119 --> 00:15:24.059 The other possibility is that person is feeling unsettled because 00:15:24.059 --> 00:15:27.569 they have a sense, a feeling, you could call it an intuition. 00:15:27.569 --> 00:15:33.249 And That the decision actually is wrong for them, and they just don't have 00:15:33.269 --> 00:15:39.829 perfect words for describing why yet as the person offering the training, it's 00:15:39.839 --> 00:15:46.199 not my job to try to manipulate their emotional state in the way that serves me. 00:15:47.339 --> 00:15:51.529 If I'm truly an advisor, it's my job to create an environment in which 00:15:51.729 --> 00:15:55.639 they're able to explore their emotional state in a way that serves them. 00:15:57.659 --> 00:16:00.959 So if they walk away from my sales page for 24 hours or for seven 00:16:00.959 --> 00:16:05.509 days, that's not them being scared. 00:16:06.129 --> 00:16:08.519 Although it might be, that might be part of it. 00:16:09.259 --> 00:16:13.919 It's them giving themselves some space and time to consider and to 00:16:13.989 --> 00:16:18.819 parse and to be with their emotions as they think about the decision. 00:16:19.969 --> 00:16:24.669 If a person comes back to that decision, having processed 00:16:24.669 --> 00:16:25.849 their own emotions about it. 00:16:27.334 --> 00:16:33.704 Having thought through different scenarios about it and they make the decision. 00:16:35.384 --> 00:16:36.034 Fantastic. 00:16:36.044 --> 00:16:36.584 Amazing. 00:16:37.364 --> 00:16:41.124 That's much less likely to be a decision that carries regret later. 00:16:44.474 --> 00:16:51.124 But I, as a coach want to give someone an opportunity to feel right in their body. 00:16:51.734 --> 00:16:55.454 Very coachy thing to say, I know I want them to have an opportunity to 00:16:55.454 --> 00:16:59.444 feel right in their body when they're putting their credit card into that, 00:16:59.624 --> 00:17:06.354 into that form, if they are dysregulated and unsettled, as that transaction is 00:17:06.354 --> 00:17:10.804 happening, the likelihood that they're going to come back later, filled 00:17:10.804 --> 00:17:18.624 with regret is much higher, by the way, as the provider of the training. 00:17:19.419 --> 00:17:25.349 I don't want a room full of people who had to convince themselves to be in the room. 00:17:27.239 --> 00:17:30.939 They are going to send the most customer service emails. 00:17:31.059 --> 00:17:33.559 They're going to have the most concerns during the training. 00:17:34.409 --> 00:17:39.529 They are going to bring up the cost of the training during the training. 00:17:40.019 --> 00:17:42.769 They're going to talk about how they're afraid of not 00:17:42.779 --> 00:17:44.929 getting quote, the full value. 00:17:46.729 --> 00:17:47.759 I don't want them in the room. 00:17:48.749 --> 00:17:51.629 The person that I want in the room, when I sell Mark Butler's super 00:17:51.629 --> 00:17:56.319 expensive training about who knows what is the person who finds it to 00:17:56.319 --> 00:18:03.799 be the calmest bordering on boring sort of, of course I'm in the room. 00:18:05.199 --> 00:18:07.749 This was the easiest action I've ever taken. 00:18:07.769 --> 00:18:09.189 It wasn't an easy decision. 00:18:09.209 --> 00:18:14.009 I took a long time making the decision, but the action itself to sign up 00:18:14.749 --> 00:18:16.129 turned out to be quite easy for me. 00:18:16.819 --> 00:18:18.689 That's the person that I want in the room. 00:18:18.919 --> 00:18:20.439 We're going to have an amazing relationship. 00:18:21.299 --> 00:18:26.249 So, that is why step one, in my opinion, find the price and walk 00:18:26.249 --> 00:18:28.669 away and spend time with the price. 00:18:28.849 --> 00:18:34.049 Oh, side note,, ask yourselves how many times you could spend that amount of 00:18:34.049 --> 00:18:40.319 money without having it meaningfully impact or even harm your life. 00:18:42.059 --> 00:18:47.869 So, for example, if the amount of money that you'll spend on the training, even 00:18:47.869 --> 00:18:55.359 one time, creates some amount of jeopardy in your finances, for me, walk away. 00:18:57.879 --> 00:18:59.839 Because even if the training is great. 00:19:01.984 --> 00:19:05.474 Spending that money has changed the risk profile in your life, 00:19:05.724 --> 00:19:09.384 such that it can only turn out one way and still be a good thing. 00:19:10.184 --> 00:19:11.384 Now we have pressure. 00:19:12.484 --> 00:19:14.014 Now we have increased uncertainty. 00:19:14.124 --> 00:19:18.344 We have potentially more contention in our key relationships. 00:19:19.714 --> 00:19:25.344 So if you look at a price and say, I'm not sure I can even spend that amount once 00:19:25.364 --> 00:19:27.534 without creating jeopardy in my finances. 00:19:28.354 --> 00:19:28.844 Walk away. 00:19:29.454 --> 00:19:32.834 Go save up, go save up. 00:19:33.204 --> 00:19:33.724 Trust me. 00:19:33.724 --> 00:19:39.964 I've been in the industry over 10 years, nothing in that training is 00:19:39.964 --> 00:19:44.854 so time sensitive that you can't walk away, save up and come back 00:19:44.894 --> 00:19:46.514 and have missed anything meaningful. 00:19:48.904 --> 00:19:49.454 Trust me. 00:19:51.294 --> 00:19:56.414 There's nothing in that training that you can't go experience on your own. 00:19:56.494 --> 00:19:57.634 That doesn't mean. 00:19:58.469 --> 00:19:59.749 You shouldn't do the training. 00:20:00.289 --> 00:20:04.469 It just means there's nothing in a training that through experience 00:20:04.469 --> 00:20:06.919 and trial and error that we can't figure out by ourselves. 00:20:07.909 --> 00:20:11.819 So if the money is going to truly negatively impact our life in the 00:20:11.819 --> 00:20:16.049 short term, then we can say, instead of incurring that cost, I'm going to 00:20:16.049 --> 00:20:17.489 incur the cost of trial and error. 00:20:17.489 --> 00:20:19.619 I'm going to do it knowingly and thoughtfully. 00:20:20.219 --> 00:20:22.419 I'm going to save up some money and then I'll come back and do the training. 00:20:22.489 --> 00:20:24.559 If I decide I will still want it. 00:20:25.659 --> 00:20:28.709 You may discover that that training isn't so important a year later. 00:20:29.934 --> 00:20:32.034 So ask yourself how many times you can spend that amount of 00:20:32.034 --> 00:20:35.724 money without meaningfully impact or harming your finances. 00:20:36.444 --> 00:20:39.654 By the way, it's true on the low end of the price spectrum as well. 00:20:40.234 --> 00:20:46.594 If you could spend that amount of money a thousand times, 5,000 times, that also 00:20:46.594 --> 00:20:51.074 calls into question the value of the thing, because if it's that easy to get 00:20:51.074 --> 00:20:53.654 into, it might not be that valuable. 00:20:54.974 --> 00:20:57.524 This is the phenomenon that I've started calling Funnel Cake. 00:20:58.194 --> 00:20:59.924 Some of you don't even know what funnel cake is. 00:21:00.054 --> 00:21:06.364 Funnel cake is like a greasy, delicious, you know, flour, sugar 00:21:06.364 --> 00:21:11.614 combination that you get at the local fair or at the local sporting 00:21:11.614 --> 00:21:16.454 event, which is just fried dopamine. 00:21:18.294 --> 00:21:21.814 If a product is for sale inside of a person's sales 00:21:21.814 --> 00:21:24.014 funnel, I call it funnel cake. 00:21:24.044 --> 00:21:29.834 Now, I have very good friends and clients who may be upset with me. 00:21:29.864 --> 00:21:35.144 We may have to talk about funnel cake, but because they sell stuff inside 00:21:35.144 --> 00:21:39.964 funnels, but I'm not afraid to call into question the value of a thing 00:21:40.804 --> 00:21:47.944 whose primary purpose is to escalate a person's decision making toward a bigger. 00:21:47.944 --> 00:21:48.464 Yes. 00:21:49.359 --> 00:21:54.619 So if, if I know after, again, a decade of seeing sales pages and sales funnels, 00:21:54.839 --> 00:21:59.899 if I know that the only real purpose of the thing that I'm being offered is to 00:21:59.899 --> 00:22:06.699 prepare me to receive the next higher ticket offer, then the thing that's in 00:22:06.699 --> 00:22:10.209 front of me might not be that valuable. 00:22:10.819 --> 00:22:12.339 I was just on a client call yesterday. 00:22:13.519 --> 00:22:15.509 We were going through the client's finances and I saw 00:22:15.509 --> 00:22:17.429 a charge for 4 and 95 cents. 00:22:18.539 --> 00:22:20.279 And I said to her, Oh, you're in a funnel. 00:22:21.419 --> 00:22:23.159 She's like, I don't, I don't remember what that even was. 00:22:23.159 --> 00:22:24.399 And I said, I know what it is. 00:22:24.689 --> 00:22:27.179 I know, based on the price that you're inside of a funnel. 00:22:28.659 --> 00:22:29.539 So we Googled it. 00:22:29.659 --> 00:22:31.119 She's like, Oh yeah, it's this funnel thing. 00:22:31.119 --> 00:22:31.589 I was like, right. 00:22:31.609 --> 00:22:31.869 I know. 00:22:31.879 --> 00:22:33.019 I told you it's a funnel. 00:22:33.039 --> 00:22:33.869 She said, you're good at this. 00:22:33.869 --> 00:22:35.109 I said, it's not that I'm good at this. 00:22:35.119 --> 00:22:41.089 It's that I've done it a hundred thousand times and knowing what I know, 00:22:41.109 --> 00:22:45.639 having had the experience that I've had, I'll say, Oh, you're in a funnel. 00:22:46.649 --> 00:22:51.369 And then I'll say, what are you stressed out about what's going on that 00:22:51.369 --> 00:22:52.759 you're out there in people's funnels? 00:22:53.619 --> 00:22:56.289 Because usually when people are in funnels, they're in some 00:22:56.289 --> 00:22:57.599 sort of state of dysregulation. 00:22:57.659 --> 00:22:58.779 Yeah, that's my opinion. 00:23:00.119 --> 00:23:03.199 And now I'm probably going to have to answer for that opinion with some 00:23:03.389 --> 00:23:04.809 clients in the not too distant future. 00:23:04.859 --> 00:23:08.849 Anyway, if something is so cheap that you could buy it a thousand times, 00:23:10.399 --> 00:23:11.929 I'm not sure how valuable it is. 00:23:13.294 --> 00:23:14.874 People might say, well, don't you like books? 00:23:14.884 --> 00:23:16.084 I love books. 00:23:16.504 --> 00:23:20.794 The thing about a book is I can spend 10 or 20 or 25 and then it 00:23:20.794 --> 00:23:25.004 lives on my Kindle and it becomes part of my personal knowledge bank. 00:23:25.034 --> 00:23:29.114 My assets that I can refer to anytime I want. 00:23:29.124 --> 00:23:30.254 I can drop in there. 00:23:30.454 --> 00:23:36.004 The technology exists to make that information, not just low cost to own, 00:23:36.004 --> 00:23:40.704 but low cost to access funnel cake. 00:23:41.554 --> 00:23:46.484 Very often lives behind a login or it's a PDF. 00:23:46.484 --> 00:23:51.184 I mean, it's low cost to own, but it's high cost to benefit 00:23:51.184 --> 00:23:54.134 from in a way that books are not. 00:23:54.794 --> 00:23:56.344 So yeah, I love buying books. 00:23:56.814 --> 00:24:00.524 I love having a big library, but a big part of the value of that 00:24:00.524 --> 00:24:01.934 library is its accessibility. 00:24:03.604 --> 00:24:03.864 Okay. 00:24:03.864 --> 00:24:05.034 I'm really going on some tangents here, 00:24:05.034 --> 00:24:05.274 okay. 00:24:05.274 --> 00:24:08.154 Next up, the next thing we're going to look at on the sales page. 00:24:08.894 --> 00:24:11.604 I want you to try reading sales pages in plain text only. 00:24:12.524 --> 00:24:13.204 Here's what you do. 00:24:13.694 --> 00:24:14.944 You're looking at the sales page. 00:24:14.974 --> 00:24:20.424 You do select all, right click, select all or command a on a Mac or 00:24:20.474 --> 00:24:29.344 control a on a, on a PC and you paste the text only into a Google doc. 00:24:30.954 --> 00:24:31.764 Why do you do this? 00:24:32.144 --> 00:24:35.884 I want to get rid of all the beautiful imagery and the amazing web design. 00:24:36.054 --> 00:24:41.424 Sorry to any web designers in the audience, beautiful design and beautiful 00:24:41.424 --> 00:24:43.284 images play on our lower brains. 00:24:45.779 --> 00:24:52.199 You know, the woman sees the other woman's amazing hair or fit figure, 00:24:52.549 --> 00:24:58.699 the man sees the other man's incredible jawline or hairline, which I'll say for 00:24:58.699 --> 00:25:01.599 no particular reason, it's definitely not a source of insecurity for me. 00:25:01.609 --> 00:25:02.679 I don't know why you would ask. 00:25:03.369 --> 00:25:07.509 They see the amazing jawline, they see the amazing hairline, and that is now 00:25:07.519 --> 00:25:09.909 muddying the water of the decision. 00:25:10.729 --> 00:25:14.689 Now I'm not evaluating the thing on what transformation it offers me. 00:25:15.074 --> 00:25:15.604 Why? 00:25:16.494 --> 00:25:22.254 Because beautiful design and beautiful imagery plays on our lower brains. 00:25:23.834 --> 00:25:26.144 Now sometimes we want that. 00:25:27.144 --> 00:25:29.064 Sometimes just being in the physical presence of a 00:25:29.064 --> 00:25:30.699 beautiful thing is a good thing. 00:25:31.039 --> 00:25:36.489 Changes our state for the better in the case of making a financial decision, 00:25:36.499 --> 00:25:38.089 especially a big financial decision. 00:25:38.129 --> 00:25:41.539 I at least want to have some awareness around what. 00:25:41.539 --> 00:25:44.799 Is working on my lower brain and what is available to my higher brain. 00:25:45.259 --> 00:25:48.149 So if I take a sales page and I just look at it in plain text, 00:25:48.879 --> 00:25:53.589 now I'm more confident that it's my higher brain that is involved. 00:25:54.019 --> 00:26:00.159 So if I extract the text and get the text into a Google Doc, now 00:26:00.159 --> 00:26:03.759 I've at least minimized the impact of all the beautiful imagery. 00:26:04.869 --> 00:26:08.989 And now I'm starting to evaluate the thing more in terms of its 00:26:09.939 --> 00:26:13.249 higher brain value, what is actually being offered to me? 00:26:13.279 --> 00:26:16.559 How is it actually going to transform me and my experience? 00:26:17.999 --> 00:26:22.589 After I'm working with plain text, I go a step further, or I would encourage you 00:26:22.589 --> 00:26:27.659 to go a step further and delete the main headline and delete the testimonials. 00:26:28.129 --> 00:26:29.649 I know this is crazy. 00:26:30.589 --> 00:26:31.259 Hear me out. 00:26:32.189 --> 00:26:36.039 You've all probably seen videos or read books or heard podcasts that say that, 00:26:36.039 --> 00:26:37.964 you know, it in a persuasive setting. 00:26:38.964 --> 00:26:41.794 The headline is the most persuasive thing. 00:26:43.174 --> 00:26:50.064 If that's true, then I want to delete it because the headline is not long enough 00:26:50.084 --> 00:26:54.744 to hold enough information to actually help me make a more informed decision. 00:26:55.809 --> 00:26:58.529 It's going to play on something in my lower brain. 00:26:58.539 --> 00:26:59.629 Now, is that always true? 00:26:59.649 --> 00:27:00.099 No. 00:27:00.189 --> 00:27:03.679 Someday, when you see Mark Butler, super expensive training, and it's 00:27:03.679 --> 00:27:08.159 a sales page, it will probably say something like, welcome to Mark 00:27:08.159 --> 00:27:09.749 Butler's super expensive training. 00:27:09.799 --> 00:27:11.459 And then the price will be beneath it. 00:27:11.689 --> 00:27:15.789 And then beneath that, there will be, if you'd like to talk about it, let me know. 00:27:15.809 --> 00:27:18.519 I mean, that's just probably be the whole, that will probably 00:27:18.519 --> 00:27:19.449 be the whole sales page. 00:27:20.459 --> 00:27:24.119 So a headline can't contain enough information to really 00:27:24.119 --> 00:27:25.649 help an informed decision. 00:27:26.969 --> 00:27:32.869 And if the research says it's highly persuasive, then my conclusion is it must 00:27:32.869 --> 00:27:38.329 be a little bit, not manipulative, that's not the right word, but distracting. 00:27:40.019 --> 00:27:42.259 If so few words carry so much weight. 00:27:43.824 --> 00:27:48.324 I want them out and I want what's left over to have to do the heavy lifting. 00:27:49.574 --> 00:27:51.224 Now, why am I going to delete the testimonials? 00:27:51.224 --> 00:27:54.924 Because come on, if you've written sales pages, you know, that most 00:27:54.924 --> 00:27:57.814 of the time the clients themselves didn't even write the testimonials. 00:27:57.834 --> 00:28:01.304 Usually the smart marketer says, you're not good at this. 00:28:01.314 --> 00:28:02.914 I'll write your testimonial for you. 00:28:03.224 --> 00:28:05.504 I want you to read it and tell me if it's true. 00:28:06.059 --> 00:28:09.489 According to your experience, but I'm not going to let you write it. 00:28:09.659 --> 00:28:10.759 You're bad at this. 00:28:12.029 --> 00:28:15.009 So the testimonials tend to be low information. 00:28:15.299 --> 00:28:17.419 Here's what I would encourage you to employ instead. 00:28:19.069 --> 00:28:21.059 There's a hack that you can use when you're buying books. 00:28:21.089 --> 00:28:24.839 By the way, you ignore the five star reviews and you 00:28:24.839 --> 00:28:26.249 ignore the one star reviews. 00:28:27.059 --> 00:28:28.449 You go to the three star reviews. 00:28:30.039 --> 00:28:34.499 The three star reviews will usually speak to the benefits of the book. 00:28:34.934 --> 00:28:37.994 And they will also acknowledge where the book could have been better. 00:28:38.824 --> 00:28:41.124 Oh, I liked this about it, but I didn't love that. 00:28:42.994 --> 00:28:45.364 That's useful to the person making the decision. 00:28:46.224 --> 00:28:49.884 I have found that when I focus on three star reviews for books, I'm, 00:28:49.924 --> 00:28:53.784 I become even more likely to buy the book because I feel more confident 00:28:53.784 --> 00:28:56.084 that I know what the book actually is. 00:28:56.814 --> 00:29:00.394 So testimonials on sales pages are like five star reviews. 00:29:01.194 --> 00:29:02.444 They are cherry picked. 00:29:03.069 --> 00:29:08.509 And they are safe to ignore, , by the way, angry social media threads or angry 00:29:08.509 --> 00:29:13.529 community forums about a person or a program, those are like one star reviews 00:29:13.559 --> 00:29:19.769 and they can be safely ignored in my opinion, because what you'll find if you 00:29:20.139 --> 00:29:23.839 take any time, which weirdly I have, if you go into some of these communities 00:29:23.839 --> 00:29:29.059 where people are railing against coaches and their programs, what you'll find is 00:29:29.059 --> 00:29:31.339 that the people who participate in those. 00:29:31.619 --> 00:29:35.729 Oftentimes, not always, sometimes people are in there just hurting and wanting to 00:29:35.729 --> 00:29:38.839 get some validation in their pain, and I actually completely understand that, 00:29:38.889 --> 00:29:42.229 but there are some people who post in those communities where if you click on 00:29:42.229 --> 00:29:47.719 their profile and you go sort of follow them around the community, you discover 00:29:47.719 --> 00:29:49.839 that they're mad about everything. 00:29:50.639 --> 00:29:51.889 They're mad about everything. 00:29:52.279 --> 00:29:54.009 Every single thing. 00:29:54.699 --> 00:29:58.069 And if a person is mad about everything and railing and raging 00:29:58.069 --> 00:30:00.689 against everything, their opinion is not worth very much to me. 00:30:01.359 --> 00:30:02.179 So I ignore them. 00:30:04.389 --> 00:30:08.639 So in that spirit, I delete the testimonials because those are the 00:30:08.649 --> 00:30:11.809 five star reviews that are cherry picked and probably handcrafted. 00:30:11.899 --> 00:30:16.069 And I ignore the one star reviews because they're mostly just mad for being mad. 00:30:17.139 --> 00:30:18.529 And I want to find three star reviews. 00:30:18.529 --> 00:30:24.154 Now it's really hard to find three star reviews for, you know, Certifications, 00:30:24.214 --> 00:30:25.894 coaching programs, masterminds. 00:30:26.574 --> 00:30:30.754 So there's some work to be done here and trying to have conversations, have one, 00:30:30.754 --> 00:30:36.084 two, three conversations with people who've actually participated and listen 00:30:36.084 --> 00:30:38.314 to what they call the pros and cons. 00:30:39.949 --> 00:30:45.159 Because we want to be psychologically consistent, it's very hard for us 00:30:45.169 --> 00:30:49.299 to say that spending a bunch of money on a thing was a bad move. 00:30:50.159 --> 00:30:53.769 So we work very hard to rationalize and justify ourselves after the fact. 00:30:55.159 --> 00:30:58.439 And since that's fundamental to our psychology, my 00:30:58.439 --> 00:31:00.159 psychology, your psychology. 00:31:00.269 --> 00:31:04.364 If someone asks me, Would I make that decision again? 00:31:04.414 --> 00:31:05.804 Would you spend that money again? 00:31:05.824 --> 00:31:08.504 And if I say the truth is I probably wouldn't. 00:31:09.404 --> 00:31:14.034 That's an expensive thing for me to admit and therefore more 00:31:14.034 --> 00:31:19.734 trustworthy because I had to go against basic psychology to say it. 00:31:20.864 --> 00:31:24.034 But if I say to you, okay, here's the thing. 00:31:24.324 --> 00:31:25.694 There's a lot of it that I loved. 00:31:25.964 --> 00:31:29.394 Here are the few things that I really thought were weak. 00:31:30.054 --> 00:31:30.914 I didn't like them. 00:31:32.174 --> 00:31:35.334 Here's where I think that the program did not live up to the 00:31:35.334 --> 00:31:37.094 promise that the sales page made. 00:31:37.774 --> 00:31:41.964 If a person can say that clearly and calmly, that's an incredibly 00:31:41.964 --> 00:31:44.344 useful, , information set for you. 00:31:44.774 --> 00:31:47.324 Who are trying to make the decision of whether to do it in the first place. 00:31:48.414 --> 00:31:53.674 So come on, if you're going to spend 10 000, you're going to tell 00:31:53.674 --> 00:31:56.684 me that it's not worth finding and having conversations with a couple 00:31:56.684 --> 00:31:57.834 of people who've already done it. 00:32:00.094 --> 00:32:03.714 And then within those conversations, you can also kind of ignore the five 00:32:03.714 --> 00:32:07.584 stars and the one stars and look for the three star material where 00:32:07.584 --> 00:32:10.229 they say, This was the good stuff. 00:32:10.259 --> 00:32:11.779 This is where it could have been improved. 00:32:11.819 --> 00:32:12.509 Overall. 00:32:12.729 --> 00:32:13.759 I'm pretty happy with it. 00:32:14.679 --> 00:32:16.789 That's going to help you make a much more informed decision. 00:32:16.799 --> 00:32:21.489 So plain text only delete the headline, delete the testimonials. 00:32:21.529 --> 00:32:22.259 What's left. 00:32:22.319 --> 00:32:24.719 Most of what will be left will be bullet points. 00:32:25.119 --> 00:32:29.999 , we all know the bullet points we find on sales pages, bullet points tend 00:32:29.999 --> 00:32:31.999 to follow a feature benefit model. 00:32:32.579 --> 00:32:35.179 You will get this and here's how that benefits you. 00:32:36.339 --> 00:32:36.889 Great. 00:32:36.979 --> 00:32:41.629 I think these should be, can be the most useful for helping you make your decision. 00:32:42.059 --> 00:32:45.039 What I'll encourage you to do is take each of those bullet points and ask 00:32:45.039 --> 00:32:46.389 yourself some questions about it. 00:32:47.709 --> 00:32:48.859 What is the feature? 00:32:49.529 --> 00:32:53.344 What is their proposed or claimed benefit about that feature? 00:32:53.644 --> 00:32:58.734 And then how does that compare to what I know is most important and useful to me 00:32:58.774 --> 00:33:04.524 today, wherever I am in my journey, I'm encouraging you to take a little extra 00:33:04.524 --> 00:33:08.404 time and ask yourself what is offered? 00:33:08.584 --> 00:33:10.104 Why does it matter? 00:33:11.669 --> 00:33:17.219 And does that benefit still seem compelling given what I 00:33:17.219 --> 00:33:19.019 know about my current situation? 00:33:20.249 --> 00:33:23.549 Now you might find yourself in a situation where you don't know what you don't know. 00:33:24.819 --> 00:33:28.319 My opinion would be, that's not the time to whip out the credit card. 00:33:28.369 --> 00:33:31.579 My opinion would be that you're better off acknowledging that you don't know what you 00:33:31.579 --> 00:33:40.164 don't know and going and discovering what you don't know by using Whatever YouTube 00:33:41.314 --> 00:33:48.764 books, free content, but approaching all of that with a critical thinking critical 00:33:48.774 --> 00:33:55.084 as in careful, thoughtful, not negative, approaching all of that with a critical 00:33:55.094 --> 00:33:58.404 thinking view and saying, what is it? 00:33:59.644 --> 00:34:00.534 Why does it matter? 00:34:00.744 --> 00:34:02.574 And how does it relate to my current situation? 00:34:04.679 --> 00:34:08.189 For any given feature, by the way, you want to be looking at , if there's text 00:34:08.219 --> 00:34:13.639 offered in the thing, what, what reason do I have to believe that the text is 00:34:13.809 --> 00:34:16.729 more useful and more consumable than what I would get from a Kindle book? 00:34:17.769 --> 00:34:21.749 If it's video, what reason do I have to believe that it's more useful and 00:34:21.759 --> 00:34:23.519 more consumable than YouTube video? 00:34:25.289 --> 00:34:28.779 If it's audio, what podcasts are there? 00:34:29.549 --> 00:34:30.689 And if it's coaching. 00:34:32.634 --> 00:34:37.114 I really have to ask myself, do I believe that sitting in a room with 00:34:37.124 --> 00:34:43.744 somewhere between five and 500 other people receiving nearly no attention 00:34:43.754 --> 00:34:50.254 from the coach, I have to have a way of believing that that's more useful 00:34:50.284 --> 00:34:52.484 than hiring my own one on one coach. 00:34:53.514 --> 00:34:55.544 There are situations where I believe that's the case. 00:34:55.744 --> 00:34:58.584 I've experienced them when I've consumed certain trainings. 00:35:00.969 --> 00:35:04.129 But I do at least want to ask the question because there is one on one 00:35:04.129 --> 00:35:08.669 coaching available from all kinds of coaches out there So I have to ask myself 00:35:08.669 --> 00:35:12.339 in What situation does it make sense? 00:35:12.919 --> 00:35:18.979 For me to pay the same or more money for much less attention and 00:35:18.979 --> 00:35:22.929 personalization Now the standard answer that we give is well we 00:35:22.929 --> 00:35:27.554 benefit from observing other people's experiences And I completely agree. 00:35:28.234 --> 00:35:30.974 We just want to make sure that that's what we're expecting. 00:35:30.984 --> 00:35:35.734 And that's what we're getting in the program, because if I go into a program 00:35:35.734 --> 00:35:38.574 saying, I really want to benefit from other people's insights, I want to 00:35:38.574 --> 00:35:42.764 benefit from other people's experiences, but then we find in the program that the 00:35:42.764 --> 00:35:47.284 facilitation is not done in such a way that that actually happens where we're 00:35:47.284 --> 00:35:48.854 all kind of sitting in our zoom room. 00:35:49.539 --> 00:35:50.879 We're all staring at our screen. 00:35:50.939 --> 00:35:53.559 We're not really having an opportunity to make a contribution. 00:35:53.819 --> 00:35:56.949 We're not really having an opportunity to engage with the other participants. 00:35:57.639 --> 00:36:02.009 Well, now I have a potentially a lecture and listen situation that I 00:36:02.019 --> 00:36:06.639 have to admit to myself is lower value than my alternative, which would have 00:36:06.639 --> 00:36:09.809 been hiring a one on one coach and getting all the attention for myself. 00:36:10.679 --> 00:36:14.969 So for every bullet point, for every feature and proposed benefit, I've got 00:36:14.969 --> 00:36:17.379 to say to myself, what is the feature? 00:36:17.429 --> 00:36:18.859 What is the claimed benefit? 00:36:19.179 --> 00:36:23.279 And what do I think of that potential benefit in the context of what I already 00:36:23.279 --> 00:36:24.769 know about myself and my situation? 00:36:26.224 --> 00:36:31.394 There's a thing that happens where people will buy a program based on 00:36:31.404 --> 00:36:33.284 one promised feature and benefit. 00:36:33.344 --> 00:36:35.214 So they'll see a list of 10 bullet points. 00:36:35.654 --> 00:36:39.014 One of those bullet points will be so compelling to them that they 00:36:39.014 --> 00:36:40.394 make the purchase based on that. 00:36:41.104 --> 00:36:42.184 Do I think that's wrong? 00:36:42.224 --> 00:36:43.354 I don't think it's wrong. 00:36:43.384 --> 00:36:44.754 Do I think it's higher risk? 00:36:44.834 --> 00:36:49.574 I do., my reminder for people when they're approaching a decision in 00:36:49.574 --> 00:36:54.024 this way is don't forget, there's a ton of protein in milkshakes. 00:36:55.494 --> 00:37:00.034 And what I mean by that is if you look at a milkshake and say, I'm going to buy 00:37:00.034 --> 00:37:04.584 it because it has all the protein, you'd say, there's actually ways to get that 00:37:04.584 --> 00:37:10.464 protein that don't come with all the carbs and fat or with fewer carbs and fat. 00:37:13.744 --> 00:37:17.324 So you have to ask yourself, am I buying a milkshake right now? 00:37:18.189 --> 00:37:25.209 Or am I having, you know, chicken and broccoli, which is a ridiculous thing 00:37:25.209 --> 00:37:27.549 for me to say because I'm not choosing the chicken and broccoli the vast 00:37:27.549 --> 00:37:33.039 majority of the time, but I'm being more honest than I ever have been about the 00:37:33.039 --> 00:37:36.239 fact that the protein in a milkshake is buried in a bunch of carbs and fat. 00:37:38.189 --> 00:37:42.189 And I think that happens with people buying trainings in the coaching world. 00:37:43.439 --> 00:37:48.059 This suggests that you ought to have your own hypothesis about 00:37:48.059 --> 00:37:52.679 what is true about you and about your coaching practice or whatever 00:37:52.679 --> 00:37:54.029 training you're considering consuming. 00:37:54.109 --> 00:37:57.929 It, it suggests that you ought to have a hypothesis about this is who I am. 00:37:57.939 --> 00:37:58.879 This is what I want. 00:37:59.189 --> 00:38:00.299 This is what I care about. 00:38:00.499 --> 00:38:03.059 And these are the pain points I have that I'm actually trying to 00:38:03.059 --> 00:38:07.709 solve right now so that we don't get distracted by shiny sales pages. 00:38:08.029 --> 00:38:13.869 And let the person who wrote the sales page tell us who we are and what we 00:38:13.869 --> 00:38:17.249 care about and what our pain is right now, because if they're a very good 00:38:17.269 --> 00:38:22.589 copywriter, they can do that in the course of one sales page or one sales sequence. 00:38:22.599 --> 00:38:27.839 They can persuade you to buy into a new version of yourself. 00:38:29.374 --> 00:38:32.564 And a new definition of your current circumstances and a 00:38:32.564 --> 00:38:34.904 new belief in the solutions. 00:38:35.974 --> 00:38:38.944 The tricky thing about our world is everything I just said, I could 00:38:38.944 --> 00:38:41.134 probably say in another setting. 00:38:41.194 --> 00:38:42.074 Wow, that's great. 00:38:43.434 --> 00:38:45.724 It's great to offer people a new view of themselves. 00:38:46.004 --> 00:38:50.034 It's great to suggest new definitions for their problems 00:38:50.114 --> 00:38:51.434 and new potential solutions. 00:38:52.144 --> 00:38:54.514 In another setting, I'd be calling that great leadership. 00:38:56.154 --> 00:38:58.164 So all of this has to be done together. 00:38:58.214 --> 00:38:59.644 , I want to consider the price. 00:39:00.104 --> 00:39:01.714 I want to consider the features. 00:39:01.824 --> 00:39:04.034 I want to ignore the headline and the testimonials. 00:39:04.324 --> 00:39:07.604 I want to evaluate the proposed individual benefits. 00:39:08.074 --> 00:39:11.054 And I want to measure all of that against what I believe to be true about myself. 00:39:12.519 --> 00:39:16.969 And once I've done that, then I can acknowledge the new version of 00:39:16.969 --> 00:39:20.449 me that is being offered to me and the new way of thinking and the 00:39:20.449 --> 00:39:22.289 new solutions to the old problem. 00:39:22.529 --> 00:39:27.479 I can do all of that with clear thoughts and settled emotions. 00:39:28.599 --> 00:39:34.059 And having done that, I'm so much less likely to regret the decision that I make. 00:39:35.439 --> 00:39:39.239 And so much more likely to go into that training energetic, 00:39:39.429 --> 00:39:40.809 happy, and enthusiastic. 00:39:40.979 --> 00:39:42.499 It's going to have its bumps in the road. 00:39:42.729 --> 00:39:45.869 There's no perfect training program, and I'm not suggesting that anybody has 00:39:45.869 --> 00:39:47.479 to create the perfect training program. 00:39:50.099 --> 00:39:55.449 But if we start the relationship in the right way, I think we drastically 00:39:55.449 --> 00:39:56.964 reduce the likelihood of regret. 00:39:59.214 --> 00:40:00.844 We can see how that's good for clients. 00:40:00.844 --> 00:40:05.664 If you're a coach, if you're a trainer, this is also good for the brand. 00:40:06.764 --> 00:40:13.454 I talked earlier about these insane reddit threads where I mean, I have 00:40:13.454 --> 00:40:18.194 some commentary on some people's way of being in their training businesses. 00:40:18.364 --> 00:40:20.714 I've got my opinions even about past clients. 00:40:20.724 --> 00:40:23.304 I can say, well, I wouldn't do that. 00:40:23.374 --> 00:40:24.974 I don't love how that was done. 00:40:26.104 --> 00:40:29.839 But these Reddit threads are so absurd. 00:40:31.829 --> 00:40:34.619 And I think part of the reason they go to such a crazy place is 00:40:34.619 --> 00:40:39.619 that the well intentioned trainer offering what they're offering. 00:40:40.409 --> 00:40:44.449 They didn't consider the fact that the better you get at selling, the 00:40:44.449 --> 00:40:49.249 more likely you are to sell someone who's mad at you later, because 00:40:49.309 --> 00:40:53.509 you persuaded them harder than they were able to persuade themselves. 00:40:54.139 --> 00:40:58.339 And at some point they're going to come back and want to punish you for it. 00:41:00.639 --> 00:41:06.849 A brand's best move is to sell with a little bit more care and even 00:41:06.849 --> 00:41:10.949 a little bit more caution so that if somebody does make it into the 00:41:10.949 --> 00:41:13.489 room, they're happy to be there. 00:41:13.739 --> 00:41:19.669 And they're very, very unlikely to go out screaming into the world 00:41:19.709 --> 00:41:21.249 about what a horrible person you are. 00:41:22.449 --> 00:41:24.409 That's the worst case scenario of all this. 00:41:24.959 --> 00:41:28.169 It's more prevalent, I think, in 2024 than it's ever been, because 00:41:28.169 --> 00:41:31.719 there are more places for it to happen than it's ever happened. 00:41:32.969 --> 00:41:37.199 And I think it all comes from a person who thinks their job 00:41:37.199 --> 00:41:38.899 is to persuade at all costs. 00:41:40.789 --> 00:41:45.989 And I would rather have a person in my program who was persuaded in a pretty 00:41:45.989 --> 00:41:48.219 mediocre way, and they said yes anyway. 00:41:49.289 --> 00:41:53.049 Because now I think we've entered into the relationship in a healthy way. 00:41:54.149 --> 00:41:56.359 Does anybody want to date a pickup artist? 00:41:57.499 --> 00:42:02.139 Maybe I guess I've been, I've been out of the dating game for 22 years. 00:42:02.139 --> 00:42:06.869 So maybe I'm, maybe this isn't the metaphor for me to reach for, but the 00:42:06.869 --> 00:42:11.099 fact that a person can be incredibly skilled at getting into a romantic 00:42:11.099 --> 00:42:16.209 interaction does not mean they're a person you want to relationship with. 00:42:17.929 --> 00:42:21.629 So if a has an absolutely incredible funnel and sales page. 00:42:22.919 --> 00:42:29.039 You have to ask yourself, is this a pickup artist or is it a person with whom I 00:42:29.039 --> 00:42:30.809 want to be in a long term relationship? 00:42:31.239 --> 00:42:32.329 It's just food for thought. 00:42:33.219 --> 00:42:38.819 All I'm trying to do is create some counterbalance in an industry where 00:42:38.819 --> 00:42:41.959 there is so much powerful persuasion, 00:42:43.069 --> 00:42:47.699 but maybe not quite enough acknowledgement that these decisions can be made a little 00:42:47.699 --> 00:42:50.349 more slowly, a little more thoughtfully. 00:42:50.889 --> 00:42:55.959 And frankly, There, there probably should be fewer yeses in the industry. 00:42:56.539 --> 00:43:02.599 There probably should be a little bit of a balancing out where some of the 00:43:02.599 --> 00:43:07.079 people who are buying these trainings would be happier if they didn't. 00:43:09.129 --> 00:43:10.389 So that's how to read a sales page. 00:43:11.999 --> 00:43:14.619 I hope it's useful to you and I'll talk to you next time.