As happened before, the inspiration for today's post came from Kim Willis's Facebook group. Kim teaches organic methods of building a business. He leads by example in his Facebook group, posting videos and asking questions that get his members thinking.
Kim offers free and paid training. I recommend both, and I'm NOT an affiliate.
Before you go charging off to contact him, here's an example of a discussion within his group.
(Reproduced with permission, and with my own thoughts added.)
More Money Than Sense?
Kim made a Facebook live video, explaining how he often cringes when he sees perfectly sane people spend vast amounts of cash on “money-making-programs” without having a clue how to generate traffic, leads, and sales – the lifeblood of any business. He added….
To compound the problem they spend another chunk of money on Facebook ads and assorted lead and buyer packages.
When those tactics (and that's all they are, certainly not a strategy) fail, they spend a bunch more on coaching services guaranteed to make the problem worse. (Reason: the coach will almost certainly be teaching the same failed strategies).
Kim asked why people think that the rules of normal business are suspended when starting an online business?
Essential Rule For Making Profits
Turnover is vanity, profit is sanity. Click To Tweet
Readers won't need reminding that to make a profit, you need a product and a customer eager to pay for that product, usually to fix a problem they (think they) are experiencing. Then “rinse and repeat”. Business 101.
Kim suggested that many of those looking to “make money online” forget this because they don't come from a business background. That's often the case. But not for me.
Having had a background in offline business (where I STILL never made a profit on ANY ad campaign) I eventually drew on that experience to cut the time wasted discovering that the same rules of business DO apply, both online and offline.
Another possible reason (my own downfall) is that some people (me) are too trusting!
Aspiring online entrepreneurs believe the hype and rubbish that's peddled by so many “self-styled gurus” who “teach, but have never succeeded at what they teach”.
Or…. who have succeeded, but have not come up with a strategy that lets a beginner see cost-effective, early success.
For many months I really believed that everyone but me was making oodles of cash!
Then, in frustration I insisted that my “expert” marketing coach designed the next PPC ad campaign himself. It bombed just as badly as mine had. Another loss-maker – but by the expert, not by me.
What To Sell?
Many who commented on Kim's video agreed – well, how could you NOT agree?
One member, Darren, said:
I agree with you Kim. But what I am unable to grasp is that as a marketer or an affiliate of these big ticket items, we seem to sell the same intangible product, even to a raving audience, that costs a fortune and gives them nothing in return unless they sell it on. It's like a human roundabout.
We train to sell, so we can sell the training. I truly don't mean to offend anyone but it has never sat well with me, which in turn makes me embarrassed to tell people I connect with what it is that I am trying to sell.
I'd dare anyone to try to explain to a room full of construction workers what “name of high-ticket program” actually is. It's a huge challenge. At least with something like “xyz physical product” they have a tangible product, that when used correctly, can actually change lives and get a great result.
In a funny way, I think I've just explained my own dilemma. One will never successfully sell anything, if you lack complete faith in the product. WOW!! I just blew my own mind!
Kim replied:
Although it's Sunday, I had to respond because your comment was golden. Not simply because you made a discovery about high ticket marketing etc. But also because of your articulation of the message. You may not realise it, but I see another breakthrough for you. It's your ability to create worthwhile content – all good online marketers including people like Peter Beckenham and Joy Healey use content as their foundational building block. It's your turn now.
The Take-away
This was a great example of Kim's methods – a video post that generated discussion and self-discovery. It's wonderful that Darren had this breakthrough, AND a new direction for his marketing.
After my brief foray into the high-ticket market place I reached the same conclusion as Darren and went a different route. My feeling was that, as I hadn't been successful with it, how could I encourage others to do what hadn't worked for me?
I wish I had learned Kim's methods before my own high-ticket experience. I'm sure it would have turned out differently. Certainly the high-ticket logic is right and many people (including Kim) have great success with high ticket products.
Moving forward, if – as Kim suggests – Darren applies his obvious writing talents, I'm sure he'll go far following Kim's training.
Paid vs Free Sales Prospecting
A criticism that some people level against the free, organic methods Kim teaches is that they are time-consuming and you (probably) don't get instant results.
Paid Traffic Methods
The instant feedback I had from buying leads, even the “expensive, quality” ones, was a big fat zero. But I got it quickly, so that's OK. Is it?
Then there were my attempts at designing Facebook and PPC ads.
- Testing and tweaking different wording took me forever.
- Fighting Facebook about the amount of text on my image etc etc.
That was slow… but the results came in fast. Zero profit, and the modest number of tyre-kickers who signed up for the $1 report, soon unsubscribed.
I didn't try these paid marketing methods just once and then give up – if only…. I persisted until I could no longer fool myself that they were going to make a profit.
As well as costing money, the paid traffic methods were costing time. And all for zero results.
Organic Traffic Methods
Organic methods are both ethical and practical, because they let you connect with and assess people in slow time, without wasting time and money on adverts.
Some of the people you connect with as prospects will probably NEVER make money online. So unless you're comfortable “setting them up for failure” best you find out ASAP and cost-free, for your benefit as well as theirs. There's little more dispiriting than trying to train / motivate someone who's full of excuses.
More Free Training
In my business we have a great free training on how to assess personalities and improve communicating with people. I'll be writing about it shortly.
And, of course, credit for the ideas behind this post are due to Kim Willis and his training methods. Contact Kim Willis here.
Do you use paid traffic, or organic methods? Please share your experiences in the comments below.
