The IM Inside Track

What is the lifetime value of everyone on your email list? This might be something you’ve thought about or it might be something you’ve never thought about.

Of course, you always hope that everyone on your list will go on to become a buyer. The fact...

You’ve done a lot of work creating a product, or you plan to. Unless you’ve sold products before, you might not know where you’re actually going to sell your product. There’s something a little scary about wondering where you’re going to find customers and make sales if you’ve never done it before.

First, I want you to know that you don’t have to worry. In fact, it’s easier today to sell your products than it ever has been before. There are several really good solutions for selling your digital products.

And that’s a caveat there. I’m assuming that you plan to sell digital products vs. physical products. If you do plan to sell physical products, then I highly recommend Fulfillment By Amazon. If you sell something crafty, many people like Etsy.

As far as digital products are concerned, there are a few things to consider.

Ease of use

Activity of customers

Features

Potential profitability

Let’s talk about each of these things in turn. Then, we’ll talk about some possible options. When we talk about specific options, please note that there are new marketplaces and seller solutions popping up all the time. It’s always best to find where competitors are selling their products and where current customers (and affiliates) are likely looking to find new products.

Marketplace vs. Sales Solution

I want to briefly mention that I’ll be talking about two different things here. A sales solution is something like Nanacast.com or E-Junkie.com. These are solutions that allow you to manage your sales and customers. These link with PayPal and other payment solutions, help with the delivery of your product, and a lot more.

A marketplace is something like the Warrior Forum Special Offer section—a spot where product creators can list their products for sale.

There are some that are a combination, like ClickBank.com. And honestly, there are shades of grey and combinations in between. These (like JVZoo.com and others) both help you manage sales and are marketplaces where affiliates and customers can find your product.

You can use a sales solution in combination with a marketplace. For example, you can use JVZoo as your sales solution and feature your links on the Warrior Forum Special Offer section (or at least they have allowed this, this can change at any time). That way you’ll get to take advantage of the WSO section as well as the JVZoo marketplace. That can be the best of both worlds.

I don’t mean to make this confusing. In most cases, I think you should choose what you use based on the sales solution you want to use. If they have a marketplace, great… that’s secondary. It’s important that they have an affiliate solution you can use. Otherwise, you’ll typically make the most sales of your digital products via your own website/sales page.

Ease of Use

This point is especially important if you’re new to selling digital products online. It’s going to be important that you feel comfortable using the sales solution or marketplace you choose.

It’s lucky that they are mostly pretty simple to use these days. There might be a small learning curve if you look to some of the more feature heavy solutions.

Note that if there’s a certain option that appeals to you but you don’t know how to set it up or use it, you can always hire someone to help you. If that won’t work, most solutions have help files, videos, and support staff that can help you figure things out. It’s like riding a bike—it’s so much easier and something you never forget once you do it the first time.

Activity of Customers

Whichever option you choose needs to be easy to use for your customers. The easier it is for your customers to buy, the more likely they are to buy. For example, allowing buyers to pay via PayPal might be a good thing if you’re a new seller. It’s something people are used to using for buying digital products.

Consider where customers are currently going to buy products similar to yours. Which marketplaces do they frequent?

It can be really hard to make the right choices in your business. There are so many different things you can do, choices you can make, and things that can go wrong. You want to make sure everything goes right in your business. You want to make sure you...

You’re sick and tired… and you're sick and tired of being sick and tired. It's hard to wake up everyday and get to work when you aren't feeling your best. In fact, it seems impossible most days.

It's not that you're lazy and you do want to work- you absolutely do. You have big dreams and goals and you will stop at nothing to achieve those goals. You know that means working hard.

Eventually, when you're feeling better, that is. For now, you're trying to run through quicksand. Your brain is foggy and your eyes are drooping. It doesn't matter what time of day it is; you're exhausted. You’re barely surviving.

The good news is that it doesn't have to be this way. There are steps you can take to feel good and invigorated again. It’s important to pay attention to your health and wellness, for example. It's also a matter of getting excited about what you're doing and feeling alive again.

What’s Your Health Like?

Let's talk about what is perhaps the most obvious issue here. Are you getting enough sleep? Don't roll your eyes and dismiss this question as being silly or insignificant. Sometimes, the simplest answer is the best and most important one.

When do you go to sleep at night? Do you get a full seven to eight hours of sleep? If you don't, make that a priority. You’ll feel better and you’ll be a lot more productive.

Sometimes, there are chronic health issues that really make it difficult to be productive. Whether it's something like chronic pain, depression, or another illness.

There are certainly no easy answers to things like this. You can't just snap your fingers and feel better. But you can visit your doctor and see what can be done. You can make sure you’re getting enough sleep at night. You can take care of yourself.

Sometimes, when you’re working really hard, taking care of yourself falls by the wayside. You think you should be working, working, working non-stop. How else are you going to succeed? At least, that’s your train of thought. The fact is that you’ll do better and be so much more productive if you do take the time to rest up.

Take breaks, even short naps especially if you’re working from home. Go for a walk. Eat right. Exercise. It’s advice we hear all the time for a variety of problems but we don’t always pay attention to it. But if you want to be more productive in your business and earn more and truly succeed in business, it’s exactly this advice that we need to pay attention to.

Getting More Done By Working Less

Let’s continue on with that thought. Part of the reason you’re so fatigued is likely because you’re working so much. If you’re in the early stages of your business, then you might be studying, reading, and experimenting. If you’ve been in business for a while and haven’t yet found the success you want to find, then you might be spending most of your time, day and night, simply trying to stay afloat.

That’s exhausting. It’s exhausting to always be “on” when it comes to your work. You (and everyone else) need a break. You need some time for some rest and relaxation. That’s one of the main reasons my wife and I purchased our beach condo. You need to get away from the office, clear your head, reconnect with nature, take part in your hobbies, and things of that nature.

You’re not superhuman. As much as you wish you were or as much as you think you must try to be, it’s impossible. We aren’t designed to work day to night, stuck in front of the computer. We need time away from work.

You’ll feel refreshed and revived if you give yourself that time off. You’ll be so much more productive when you do return to your work. Things that used to take you hours upon hours now might take just a short time.

Your body and mind are telling you something if you feel fatigued all the time. Fatigue is death to productivity. So now you have to work with your mind and body to figure out what you need to do to feel revived, refreshed, and powerful when it comes to working each day.

Become More Productive With Flow

What if I told you that you could become twice as productive if only you knew how to tap into something that’s already inside of you? That’s pretty exciting, right? Well, your life’s about to change in a major way—it’s time for you to learn more about the Flow Zone.

We’re going to get into exactly what Flow is and how you can tap into it to do everything in business better. You’ll start to feel more in control of your business, happier with your work, more productive, and less stressed. There are so many incredible benefits that come along with tapping into a state of flow.

First, let’s talk about what this flow state is. I’d like to draw your attention to the fact that you’ve most likely been in a state of flow before. Think back to a time when you were completely immersed in your work.

Everything was running smoothly and you were “in the zone.” You weren’t distracted, you weren’t thinking about other things, and you felt ultimately happy and productive. You were fully in control. Do you remember it? You probably got a lot more done in that time than you’d gotten done the entire week prior.

Why can’t that happen more often, even most of the time? It can-- I’m going to cover exactly how to enter “the zone” whenever you need to so you can be more productive. As you know, the more productive you are, the more profitable you can be. You’ll be able to work smarter, you’ll have higher-quality output, and you’ll be able to earn a lot more money overall.

An Exercise To Start With

Now, I want you to try a little exercise in getting into a state of flow. This exercise should allow you to instantly become more productive. Write down everything you have to do today, both big and small. These are all the tasks you would get done if you were a superhero.

Now, circle the three tasks you deem to be most important to your business. For now, ignore the other tasks. Then, choose the top most important task – again, whether it’s a large task or a small task. Break that task down into its smaller parts if needed.

Figure out exactly what do you need to do to complete this task, and by when? Which tools do you need? How can you make it easier? How can you make it more fun? Consider what your ideal mindset should be as you complete this task.

Close your eyes and visualize yourself moving through this task and following it through to completion. See yourself smiling as you work, happily completing the task faster and more efficiently than you ever have before.

Then, take steps to complete that task without doing anything else. Already, you should feel relaxed and ready to go since you’ve completely broken the task down into its smaller parts. It’s not a monster anymore; it even seems fun. You’ve also fed your mind with the exact visuals it needs to help you produce that ideal environment.

This is just one exercise you can do to encourage your mind to go into a state of flow as you work.

More on How to Get Into a State of Flow

There are certain things you can do to your external environment to facilitate entering into a state of flow. For example, you can set your to-do list ahead of time, break your tasks down into smaller chunks, clearly define your goals, and eliminate distractions.

There are also things you can do to your internal environment to facilitate entering into a state of flow. For example, you can make sure you’re doing work you’re intrinsically motivated to do. You can take steps to eliminate stress and to focus on what’s important in life and business.

You can get into the state of flow by:

Having clearly defined goals

Doing work you like to do

Working on something that’s meaningful

Challenging yourself… but not so much that you have to stop and think about the next step all the time

Doing something in line with your natural talents

Releasing stress before working

Choosing a Topic for Your Book

In this episode, I’ll mainly focus on brainstorming a book topic, but it’s most helpful to choose a great, general niche or topic to write about before you start to brainstorm an exact topic.

I feel I should mention n...

Some of your coaching clients will come to you ready to do something great. You’ll take a look at their current strategies, systems, and business in general and wonder what you’re supposed to help them with. They seem to have it all together. Your role might be to help them take risks.

Why is it important to take risks in business? Without risks, we don’t get nearly as many rewards. Your client may have come to you because they are ready for those great rewards. They can’t seem to get over the hump and go after it themselves, though.

What Does it Mean to Take Risks?

We take risks with everything we do— in life and business. It’s often our perception of a risk that makes it “scary” or not. Some risks have a much greater likelihood of ending badly than others, of course.

As business people, we have to make an honest assessment of whether a risk is worth taking or not. This means paying attention to competition, customers, the world and local economy, personal skill level, and a variety of factors that come into play depending on what’s being assessed.

Your client may be fearful of taking a risk and losing money or something else. These are real risks that can have real consequences.

Often, though, the risks aren’t that bad after all. It’s just that your client has built it up so much in their mind that they’ve lost perspective. It can be really scary if they’ve come up with a new idea or are trying something new.

Stepping Away From “Real” Risks

As a coach, you don’t want to get yourself caught up in risk that can have financial consequences or otherwise. That’s outside of your scope of practice as a business coach. This is a case where you’d want to refer your client to a professional in that particular area of risk to protect yourself.

Encouraging your Client to Take Risks

It is, however, completely within your scope of practice to encourage your client through risks that push their boundaries. People often step back when they feel psychological discomfort. They hesitate or pull back altogether.

As a coach, it’s your job to point out that the greatest inventions and movements forward in our world came at great risk to the innovators. If they want to do great things, they have to try new things.

They are interested in taking this new risk because they don’t like where they are. They aren’t satisfied with something about their life or business. Help them come up with a solid game plan to move forward with their idea or to implement whatever it is they want to try.

Dealing with Failure

Sometimes, those great risks won’t pan out. As their coach, it’s your job to help them see the glass as half full. They haven’t failed… they just have more data to work with next time. They will learn from this and grow from this and go on to do great things.

Use failure or setbacks as a way to illustrate how important it is to assess, adjust, and try again. It’s so important not to wallow in mistakes or failure. Once your clients understand that they’ll accept risks a lot more readily.

Dealing with Success

Sometimes, success can have surprising consequences. For instance, maybe they didn’t realize they’d have so much customer service to handle after a particularly successful offer.

It’s exhilarating when something is risky but really pays off. As much planning as you do, you never know exactly what’s going to happen when the dream comes true.

Help your client analyze their success in a way that will help them rinse and repeat. Help them investigate ways they can do even better next time. Also, help them strategize to deal with anything unexpected that happens as a result of their success.

You’re not going to get very far as a coach if you can’t first persuade people to hire you. Then, once you do get people to hire you, you have to persuade them to take action even when they couldn’t before.

Some people seem to be more persuasive than others. What’s their secret? The first “secret” is that you can fairly easily become more persuasive— both to convince people to hire you in the first place and convince them to take action after they hire you.

Many of your clients will be very familiar with the coaching process already. Some of them will have hired coaches in the past with varying results. Your goal, of course, is to stand out as the best of the best. That means being able to motivate and persuade people to take action in new and exciting ways.

The Timing of Persuasion

You’re going to do some work upfront to make sure your client is ready to be persuaded. You can’t jump right in and try to persuade them to work harder or to try a totally new strategy if they aren’t ready to hear that yet. You have to find the right timing… and learn how to encourage that timing along.

They Need to Trust You

If you’re going to persuade people to action, they need to trust you first. They have to know that you have their best interests at heart. That’s why it’s so important to get to know them first and to share of yourself. Let them feel like you’ve been through everything they’ve been through.

Stay Consistent

As a coach, you need to stay consistent. They have to know what to expect from you. If they know they can get away with not checking in with you, not following through, and not doing anything at all, they will. Stay true to your message that daily action leads to results.

You’ll be more persuasive if you’re consistent. Stay on top of your message. Better yet, stay true to it yourself. It’s easier to tell someone else to do something than it is to do it yourself. Practice what you preach and you’ll be much more persuasive as a result.

Don’t Assume Anything

This is especially true when you’re trying to get coaching clients in the first place. Don’t assume that they can’t afford you or don’t want you. Don’t assume that you have to charge a really small amount for your services. Don’t assume anything. Research your market and present your offer— persuade people based on what you’re worth and the fact that no one else can offer what you can.

Remember, you are not your market, you do not make the purchasing decisions for someone else. Maybe you wouldn’t pay top dollar for a top coach (or maybe you would), your concern should be giving enough value to your clients so that those who truly need and appreciate you will consider your rates to be money well spent.

Pay Attention to Your Energy

Have you ever noticed that being around certain people seems to drain you of energy? You can’t stand to be around them after a while because it just takes everything out of you. These people tend to be the complainers.

If you have bad energy, you’re going to have a hard time persuading people. You can’t be negative and down in the dumps and expect people to hire you. Even if they do hire you, you can’t then expect them to follow through with what you say.

You’re going to have good days and bad days. But, you have to be in a good enough place in your own business and energy that you can pass that good energy on to others. They can sense when you’re down and when you’re “on.” You’ll be much more persuasive if you have good energy.

Pay Attention to What’s Important To Your Client

If you follow through with nothing else in this section, follow through with this one.

This is part 2 of a 2-part series about using Facebook Live to promote a product…

Method #3: Do An Interview

There are two ways to do this type of live video:

Interview someone else. This is a great option if you’re ...

Facebook Live is a pretty powerful way to promote your business, because it gives you a way to interact directly with your prospects and customers. Not only that, your live video replay is also available, so prospects and customers can watch it for days, weeks, or months to come.

So while there are plenty of ways to use Facebook Live to promote your business, there’s one way that you’ll definitely want to try. And that way is to promote a product in your live video. There are multiple ways to do this, which we’ll cover in this tutorial.

Now before we get into those methods, let me share with you four tips for making the most of your videos…

Promote your video ahead of time. Get people excited about watching your live video by promoting it starting as early as a week before you do the video.

Interact with people personally. Greet your viewers by name and thank them for watching. This personal touch will keep people engaged.

Run your video for at least 10 minutes. This gives more people a chance to notice your video and start watching.

Keep an eye on the reactions and comments. These will be floating across your screen. This will give you an idea as to whether people are bored or engaged. If reactions and comments drop off, switch things up to re-engage people.

So with those general tips in mind, let’s have a look at different ways to promote a product…

Method #1: Sell a Product Directly

The idea here is to basically create a video sales letter, but you do it live. Use home-shopping channels as a guide when it comes to presenting your benefits while keeping your audience entertained. (Hint: it helps to have another person on the video to banter with about the product.)

Follow this outline:

Start with the problem. Explain the signs and symptoms of a problem. Remind people of the pain of the problem. The point here is to get your viewer’s to self-identify and say, “Hey, I have this problem!”

E.G., “Do you wake up during the night and have troubles falling back to sleep?”

Introduce the solution. Now that you’ve identified the problem, you next introduce your product as the solution to the problem. Up until this point you’ve been reminding people of the pain of their problem. Now you offer them hope and get them to imagine relief from their problem.

Showcase the benefits of the product. If this was a text sales letter, this is where you’d offer your bulleted list of benefits. You can demo your product and point out the features and benefits as you go through the top five or so benefits that your product offers.

Provide a call to action. At this point your audience should be fairly excited about the product, so now you offer a call to action where you tell them how to order the product.

Answer questions. This is a live video, so make use of the live function by fielding questions from your audience. As you do so, continue to reiterate the benefits. And be sure to mention your call to action from time to time.

So this is a pretty hard-sell method, and it will end up looking like an infomercial on the home shopping network. Use this method sparingly, as social media followers don’t typically like hopping on Facebook just to watch an advertisement.

Method #2: Demo a Product

This is a great option if you’re selling a physical product or another product where you can do a demonstration, such as software. This can be done in two ways:

Direct demo. This is where the video revolves around the product demo.

For example, if you’re selling a blog plugin, you’d give viewers a tour of the plugin’s dashboard, show how easy it is to install, and show viewers what the plugin can do for them.

Another example: If you’re demo’ing a product like exercise equipment, you’d point out all the features and benefits of the equipment. And then you’d actually use the equipment to show people how well it works.