People will give you their money, after they've given you their time.
Also…
People will also give you their time, after they've given you their money.
Another way to say this is “People have to pay, to pay attention.”
And you either “pay” with your time or your money.
The reason the wise man is at the top of the mountain and not at Starbucks letting people pick his brain…is because he knows this.
(That's not surprising…I mean he IS the wise man after all.)
If someone has to work hard, put in the time, effort, & resources to get something, they are more likely to value it.
There's even a modern term for this called the “Ikea effect” which is defined as the tendency for people to place a disproportionately high value on objects that they assembled themselves. Such as furniture from IKEA…or that terrible home-brew beer that your neighbor makes in his basement that he swears is “the best.”
(If you home-brew I'm totally not talking about you, you are obviously the ONE exception to this rule!)
AND…the more someone values something, the more likely they are to use it.
And isn't that the whole point!
Otherwise, aren't we all just spinning our wheels?
There are armies of people out there willing to under-value you, your expertise, your authority, your knowledge and when you give any of it away FREE, then you're simply the general of the army.
So freakin' stop it.
No one else is going to assign you a value if you won't assign yourself a value first and always.
Kim Walsh Phillips is a kinder person than I am and is more willing to help others, but never FREE.
When she encounters a friend or family member who wants to “pick her brain” about a business idea or marketing she says “Gladly! Just read the book Platform by Michael Hyatt, let me know what you think and then we can meet.”
Since putting up this tiny hurdle, she's only had one person who ever did this and after meeting they implemented what she said and experienced a ton of success. They spent their time, so they valued her opinion.
When I was a young (and stupid…mostly because I listened the the unsuccessful masses) real estate broker, if a call came in from someone who wanted to see a home, I'd excitedly rush out and meet them at the home already having mentally spent the large commission check I'm sure I'd make when this stranger bought this home.
I did this literally hundreds of times my first year in the business.
Like I said…stupid.
A year in I looked at all my sales and realized a total of one of the people I rushed out to meet actually ended up buying a home with me. That was less than 1% yet EVERYONE was doing this.
Saying there ‘had to be a better way' I found an agent, Jeff, that everyone (the unsuccessful masses) thought was an arrogant jerk because he rarely socialized with the other agents during working hours, had a large office with a door he kept closed and a sign on the outside of the door that said, “Don't come in, I'm busy making money.”
But in a sellers-market where everyone only wanted to list homes for sale, he almost exclusively worked with buyers and made a ton of money doing it.
I called Jeff up and asked him how he did it.
His answer, “I'm giving a class on that next month…you should come. You can reserve your spot for $297.” (Honestly, I don't remember the exact price but it was somewhere in this ballpark.)
I paid for the class.
I attended.
And I discovered that when he got a call from a potential buyer who wanted to see a home that was for sale Jeff said, “Sure. Just meet me at my office tomorrow at 5pm and I'll take you through everything you need to know before buying a home. It'll take about 60 minutes. Then I'll not only show you the home you've called about, but several others in the area that just came on, or are coming on the market soon that I think you'll like.”
And guess what?!?
Most people declined his offer and called someone else. But he was getting tons of calls and the ones that gave their time to him first, valued him, worked with him, and he made money. Again…lots of it!
Fast-forward to the end of year two after implementing this system…when I followed this same process, over 80% of the people who met with me for my “buyers presentation” ended up buying a home through me.
Not surprisingly I made a lot more money year two than year one.
I paid to learn a system. So I used it.
Prospects paid with their time. So they used me.
It was a win-win.
When other agents asked me about my success, I told them about Jeff's system.
Funny thing is, not only had most of them heard of his system, they had gone through the same exact training on it I did!
Turns out Jeff used to give the presentation to ALL new agents at the company and they were required to take it. The brokerage paid for him to do this, the new agents paid nothing. And they assigned it little to no value.
Which brings me (admittedly the long way around…though I hope you found value in this diatribe) to my real point.
Said in-elegantly…”Replays Suck!”
Period, end of story.
This part may or may not directly apply to you but will be informative either way.
For years now (more than I really like to count) I've worked with companies to help them sell products online. Oftentimes through live broadcasts online.
These broadcasts are entertaining, informative, and filled with actionable money-making strategies.
They also are designed to sell something at the end for those that want the complete system for hundreds or thousands of dollars. The highest producing one I've worked on to date generated over $420,000 in four hours. Others done weekly generate $5,000 – $15,000 week in and week out in less than 60 minutes a week.
Every time we do a live broadcast (advertised as such) there are lots of people who reserve their spots and don't show up. Depending on the audience you're attracting, you can generally expect 30% to 45% to show up. Of those that show up, buy. Usually 10%-20% of attendees of the live presentation.
Many of those that don't attend inevitably ask for a replay.
When I was a young (and stupid) marketer, I'd say yes. I organized a number of replay events at times convenient for those who called in and pleaded for replays. Many times for hundreds of people for a single replay.
These people, the ones who “begged” for a replay, watched it LESS THAN 10% OF THE TIME.
Of those that did watch the replay…LESS THAN 1% BOUGHT the product or system being sold.
Hence…replays suck!
People don't value them in general and even those that give their time have already shown once that they valued something else above the information you were going to give so it's not surprising that those who attend live are 1,000% – 2,000% more likely to buy.
Let me say that again…those who attend live are 1,000% to 2,000% MORE likely to buy!
Now sometimes the numbers are large enough that they can still be worth doing. If you have a list of tens or hundreds of thousands of people, even if just 10% watch and 1% buy then the numbers can still work.
But this is a dangerous path to go down anyway.
If people come to expect a replay, they are more likely to place a higher priority on something else knowing there will always be a second (and maybe third, or fourth, or…I think you get the idea) chance to watch.
Therefore, over time, as the general of the army of those who assign you no value, you've now recruited previously valuable customers and knowingly devalued your own worth.
But…and there is a big but.
If you charge for the replay people attend!
Don't miss this or gloss over it.
When people PAY, cash-money, they attend.
AND they buy!!!
In our most recent study (done by me) I found that they actually buy as much, OR MORE, as those that attend live FREE.
(I'm sharing those exact numbers and everything we found, and what you should do in next month's edition of Powerful Professionals. If you're not already a member of Powerful Professionals click here to rectify that and we can still be friends.)
If you made it to this point, you've given your time. Hopefully you value what you read and act upon it. While I may not give advice FREE, (even if you read a book first) I sincerely want you to be successful and hope you'll see how this relates to you and your business.
Until next time!
NOTE: Kim has just announced she will do a live encore presentation of G.U.R.U. Academy Live. To get all the details just go to http://guruacademylive.com
If you can't make it but want a replay…you're out of luck. Kind of. There will be NO replay. But you can buy the entire unedited recordings for just $17 at http://powerfulprofessionals.com/gururecordings
love it , very good information. Thinking of charging for my live presentation
That can work for sure. Would love to know about your results!
I read the article and have two questions. Q1 – how do you offer an evergreen course, for instance, without having to continuously and repeatedly deliver the webinar live? And Q2, how do you address Mike Koenigs assertion that the fortune is in the followup and in the replay, and that more people buy on the replay (whether you call it an encore, or not) than bought on the live? When two gurus that I respect give opposite advice, my head sort of explodes.
Lorna, thanks so much for your questions! To answer them…
A1 – We don’t currently offer this evergreen. That is coming and that does work. A2 – Mike Koenigs is an excellent marketer and there are many ways to skin a cat. I’d be interested in Mikes methodology because I’ve never found a true replay to be nearly as valuable. I don’t want to speculate as I may be using the term “replay” differently than he is. I would still contend, if you’re looking to continuously sell to your list, than training them that there will always be replays acts as a deterrent from coming on live. Mike gets a lot of new traffic and he may be using replays as a way to convert them in the first place and then train them to be on live. If you have info on his exact process, I’d be glad to test it and let you know the results. More interested in being profitable than being “right”. 😉
Most modern-day online schools allow you to learn in your own ideal timing – and that is their main benefit. Why do you think that a fixed webinar time (that is repeated subsequently anyway) will be more valued than a replay?
I would personally value and appreciate much more the courtesy of a replay than none.
Luca, Thanks for your question. I’d contend it’s a little different. If you purchase a course like you would for a school, then you can take it on your own time. As to why it’s more valued than a replay, the numbers don’t lie. I’ve never found replays to have much worth in terms or attendance or sales. Welcome to try on your own but after doing this seven years this is what I’ve found.
Excellent advice, Mike. Increasing your value begins with how you perceive your own value first. If you truly value your time, skills, and talents, you will want to make them scarce and not give them away to anyone who asks. Marketers are way over saturated with the “give away tons of valuable content and they will buy” nonsense. As you said, all it does is train your prospects to NOT buy from you. There is a way to produce content and attract quality prospects without “spilling your hard earned candy all over the floor.”
Love this strategy for webinars.