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Note: This is Part 1 of a 7-part series revealing the exact “Branding, Marketing, Sales” systems I use every day to sell over $2M worth of coaching, consulting, and professional services every year. A new article will be posted each day over the next week – all leading up to A Special 2-Day Live Event I’m holding in Salt Lake City, UT later this month.
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Branding : brand·ing | \ ˈbran-diŋ
This one word “branding” is perhaps the most misunderstood, misused, and screwed-up idea in all of business.
When someone says “branding”, most people think of logos, slogans, and signs on the office wall.
None of that is going to make any difference in your business.
But dedicating yourself to “results-based branding” will make everything else in your business 10X easier.
So, what is “results-based branding?”
It’s a simple formula for grabbing the “pre-frame” from your prospects so that you are in control from the very beginning in terms of how they think of you, how they experience you, and how they compare you to the competition.
With it, your marketing will convert higher, cost you less, and be able to impact a vastly broader audience. Without it, you’ll be lumped into the same dustbin in the back of your prospect’s mind that all ads, pitches, and presentations go to die.
If you’re running a small business, this is truly “do or die.”
Here’s how to do it…
Results-Based Branding is all about 3 Things…
- Stating clearly and boldly exactly who you help.
- Stating clearly and boldly the exact problem you solve for the prospect you help.
- Getting your previous clients to tell stories about the transformation they had working with you.
If you nail those 3 simple (but often difficult) things, it will make all the difference. It changes everything because it takes you completely out of…
- making claims
- bragging
- promising
- competing
- convincing
- comparing
- demonstrating
- presenting
Here’s exactly why and how this works:
Everyone comes into your presence through a frame. This happens as soon as they become aware of you. The “frame” is who they think you are before they know who you are.
If you don’t control this frame, they’ll automatically experience you exactly the same as every other person they’ve been marketed and sold by before you. By default, they will begin their experience with you through the default frame. This is the frame they use to view everyone who they perceive as trying to sell something to them. It’s terrible.
The Default Frame looks like this:
- scarcity (how much is this going cost?)
- skepticism (yeah right, I bet everyone says that.)
- protectionism (great, she’s trying to sell me something.)
- distance (I need to get out of this conversation.)
- resistance (nope, he’s not going to get me.)
You’re not going to sell much of anything from that frame – no matter how good your product is or how great your service and personality are.
So, how can you control the pre-frame to be something that positions you powerfully? Specifically, how do you position yourself as a Celebrity Expert Authority? (Someone they feel like they already “know, like, & trust” even though they just met you.)
In this new power pre-frame, they want to like you. They want you to be who you say you are. They’re already in your corner before any detail or specifics are discussed. That’s where the power lies.
Here’s how you control the pre-frame:
Start with this – Don’t talk about you. (Pretty much ever)
Instead, talk about them. They have a deadly, advanced, built-in defense system for warding off sales pitches, claims, explanations, demonstrations, etc. Don’t even try to overcome this. You’ll never get through.
Instead, just walk in the front door. How? Talk about them. They don’t have any resistance to themselves. They love themselves. They love being talked about, cared for, championed and encouraged.
Most of all, they love being understood.
Consider this quote:
“When you can articulate another person’s problem better than they can they automatically and unconsciously credit you with knowing the solution.” – Wyatt Woodsmall
Wyatt Woodsmall was Tony Robbins’ original coach and mentor, so it’s safe to say he was on to something.
This leads us directly to Step #1 of “Results-Based Branding.”
Results-Based Branding Step #1 – State clearly and boldly exactly you serve.
If you’re a realtor and you serve people who need to buy a house, that’s weak. It’s not specific and it will do nothing to get you out of the default frame in your prospect’s mind. That’s where all realtors get imprisoned.
Why? Because of how many non-powerful realtor experiences they’ve had already.
Most every realtor I’ve ever met will sell a house to anyone who wants to buy one. Most all of them also have great service, relationships with mortgage lenders, access to the MLS, and cheery disposition. Who cares? There’s nothing unique about any of that. I don’t want that. I want something truly amazing.
Remember, the default frame is completely negative. There is no neutral pre-frame. If you’re not awesome, you’re crap. If it’s not positive, it’s negative – because people’s view of getting pitched by someone starts with skepticism, argument, and resistance.
So, who is killing it in real-estate?
- The queen of short sales in the Southeast Valley.
- The king of luxury estates in Paradise Ridge.
- The master of unique and hard to sell properties in Landover Lakes.
- The champion of first-time homebuyers on Washington Heights.
- The hero who places families with animals in perfect pet-friendly pockets.
These examples are made up – but the point is real. The more specific the better.
Exactly who do you serve?
Exactly what problem do you solve for them?
This concept of serving a tight niche buyer creates what we call a “branding center of gravity” around which all of your messaging, ads, videos, podcasts, and sales calls and meetings start to swing. Soon the entire market starts to get sucked in by the certainty and energy of your gravity and the whole world starts to tilt in your favor.
Doing this grabs the pre-frame by doing exactly the opposite of what 99% of your competition is doing.
Instead of telling everyone all about you, your products, systems, services, and advantages… (YUCK) you tell them about them. You explain their problem better they can. In fact, you’re so accurate in your description of their problems that they think you must live under their kitchen table and hear the conversations they have at the breakfast table every morning.
And… you accomplish all of this while they are in a completely neutral state of mind because remember, they love talking about them and they love other people talking about them. You haven’t asked them for a single thing yet, except for a moment of their time.
That’s why it’s called the “pre-frame.” It’s the frame you guide them through before you ask them to do anything.
By the time you make your request – ask for an appointment, produce the contract, pitch the deal, get their credit card number, etc. – they already want to do business with you. From there, you are “branded” and you’re halfway home already. Now you’ve got them looking for reasons to do business with you, convincing themselves that you’re the right choice, and answering their own objections.
That’s the power of “Results-Based Branding.”
And we didn’t even talk about multiplying all your results with simple “results-based” testimonials from past clients. We’ll talk about that later and I’ll explain why it usually doubles your conversation rates.
Has this been helpful for you?
Can you see how doing what everyone else does will get you the same results everyone else has?
Let’s keep this going and make sure you’re doing what the top 1% of producers in your industry are doing. Alright?
In tomorrow’s post…
We’re going to build on this concept of “results-based branding” to explain why marketing is so much cheaper, more profitable, more consistent, less frustrating, and less “icky” feeling when you combine “results-based branding” with a specific marketing strategy I call “HRA-HRO.”
I’m so excited to share it with you. It’s going to open huge doors for you.
Oh… I’ll also explain the only 3 metrics that really matter in marketing and exactly what you can do to improve, optimize, and scale them so you can out-market your competition all the way to the bank.
See you tomorrow.
Setema
P.S. – Would it help you if I and my entire marketing team sat down in a room with you and showed you the exact systems, ads, funnels and sales scripts we use to do $2M dollars plus in coaching sales every year?
Would it be beneficial if watched over your shoulder as you built-out your systems using everything we do as an exact template and all you had to do was fill in the blanks?
I’m doing a 2-day “Branding, Marketing, Sales” live training event in Utah on November 25-26th.