Sales Tanking? WHY DIGITAL MARKETERS ARE STRUGGLING RIGHT NOW. (HINT: It is an OFFER / PRICE issue and there are 4 things you need to do right away, so scroll down.
I am inundated with digital marketers (admittedly largely from one particular mastermind, but it is a REALLY BIG mastermind) who are coming to me because their sales are TANKING. They are finding sales harder and harder to come by. They are even going back to 1:1 sales calls… and STILL report that selling feels like pulling teeth. They ALL come looking for the secret sauce, the fix, the “how can I save this thing?”
Because they are scared.
Their teams are big.
Their outgo is oversized.
And their income is — maybe for the first time — micro-sized.
Digital marketers have been self-soothing and commiserating for a LONG time… “everyone is struggling.”
NOT
FREAKING
TRUE.
The people struggling in the digital marketing space (across industries… so biz development, personal development, relational stuff, food stuff, spiritual stuff) are CONTINUING TO TRY TO SELL DIGITAL PRODUCTS FOR PREMIUM PRICES.
Get ready to clutch your pearls or your Louis Vuitton bag, woman… Because the 6-month “coaching program” with 6 group zoom calls for $1500? Those days are — for the MOST part, and with VERY few exceptions — over. Done with. Kaput.
Your year-long “mastermind” which includes a micro group of peers meeting via zoom to talk for $3600 will be a REALLY HARD sell.
this is NOT because of any economic situation. It is SIMPLY that times have changed. INFORMATION is the cost of admission. Marketing has demanded that we put our content “out there,” and with just a COUPLE of inquiries of some AI platform, they can basically figure out your system… the one you used to hide behind a paywall.
Here is an analogy for you: It USED to be that people would get EXCITED to buy a $47.00 “ebook” in nearly ANY niche. Parenting. Nutrition. Business. Marriage. Dating. Raising Lillies or Roses or Tomatoes.
The DELIVERY was new and instant. EVEN though they called it an “ebook” the newness of the DELIVERY was exciting to us. Heck, we’d even PRINT THAT SUCKER and bind it ourselves.
But today
again in EVERY niche,
ebooks are everywhere.
If they’re not free, we do NOT want to pay more than $2.99 for it. MAYBE $9.99.
Our expectations have shifted. Public PERCEPTION has shifted. And so buying behavior has shifted.
Now, for a WHILE there, we could write an ebook and SELL it as a “digital download” or “roadmap” or “program.” And the $47 or even $97 price would stand firm.
BUT the TECHNOLOGICAL and MARKETING awareness of the market shifted. They grew wise. And they are wise about ANY information-based offer…
Now, no matter WHAT industry you’re in,
you need to know that YOUR market:
❌ is WISE to your thinly veiled sales conversation offered as a “session.” (They resent it. They talk about it. And you WILL see people not even signing up for your FREE 1:1 opportunities.)
❌ No matter WHAT you call your Zoom group training / session/ etc. it is STILL looked at as a zoom session.
❌ has had the same sales tactics you learned used on them to sell them everything from supplements to private-pay therapy to blood work to coaching to dating advice. They are SICK of being sold.
AND
❌ they don’t want to LEARN as much any more. They want to APPLY… They want EXPERIENCE. Frankly, even pure experience retreats (i.e. get a bunch of girl friends together and let’s tour Italy) sell BETTER and EASIER than learning-based retreats (i.e. Let’s get together for a biz mastermind in Italy.)
Guys, I wish some of this wasn’t true, PARTICULARLY that last one. But denying it doesn’t make me any money, and it MAY Be costing you A LOT.
So, where do we go from here?
➡️ RE-IMAGINE YOUR OFFER. Please. RE-IMAGINE it entirely. A $197 offer is no longer low end, particularly for pre-recorded, dripped, information. RE-imagine the delivery, the platform AND the price. BE HONEST with yourself about the VALUE you are providing in an INFO- AND EXPERT- SATURATED world.
Think: INTRO offer (Less than $40, and $40 IS high end for this purpose.) CORE offer ($180 – $400 DEPENDING on market) and a PREMIUM offer, which MUST have hard core deliverables.
Think: “you will LEARN” should be replaced with DELIVERABLES. What will they HAVE, CREATE, BECOME?
➡️CREATE A NO BRAINER INTRO OFFER (that has some real value.) that is a REAL place to START with you.
Why waste time 1:1 (or even pay someone on your team to waste time 1:1) with someone who is a tire kicker??? I would rather have 1000 people on my list who ALL paid for a $9 offer than 10,000 people who opted in for a free checklist. The first is INFINITELY more profitable. If you are using ads and funnels, do NOT pay to get FREEBIE seekers on your list. Run ads to a PAID deliverable.
➡️ TRIM DOWN YOUR EMAIL LIST. Some of you are carrying around (and paying to have your CRM carry around) what I call “comfort lists.” lol.. You like being able to say that you have X thousand on your email list, but they are a DRAG on your business. If they do not spend money in 12 months, delete them. No goodbye. No warning. Just a sweet release.
➡️START ACTUALLY TALKING TO YOUR MARKET. Forget the glossy, AI-created, professional speak. TALK to them. Get in the weeds with them, see things from their perspective. LISTEN to what they say. WATCH the people they watch and share. KNOW them better than anyone else.
➡️ Focus on building AUTHORITY, not just being SEEN but being seen as the Go To person. Media is brilliant for this and unparalleled as an authority building tool. So, reach out to me if I can help get you featured.
Bottom line: I DO generally and genuinely hate change. I do. BUT sometimes the pain and expense of RESISTING it is way way way bigger than going with the flow. So, enter the world YOUR market is in NOW, so that you can sell to them again
