by Jason Owens | Mar 16, 2020 | Uncategorized
We all dream of having so much organic traffic coming to our site that list building becomes effortless.
Those of us who live in the real world, however, don’t have a bajillion hits of organic traffic each week. We’re willing to build our list any way we can.
Recently, I was talking with a member of my community, Jonathan Hill. He and his wife, Faith, run Fortified Health Club.
Jonathan told me of an amazing success he had with a tool which is a sister product to a service many of us have heard of in this community — LeadPages.
I won’t go into detail on that now, but I do want to talk about the tool Jonathan is using: LeadDigits.
LeadDigits
LeadDigits is a premium product you can get when you choose one of the higher levels of service offered by LeadPages.
[shareable]A great way for public speakers to build a list! Completely automated.[/shareable]
Many of you have seen signs when you’re around town; “Text PIZZA to 47474 for a free slice and a drink”.
Jonathan put this very technique to use when Faith was delivering a talk at a local chiropractic clinic a few days ago.
[callout]Disclaimer: I don’t want you guys to get hung up on the audience size. What I want you to concentrate on is the conversion percentage.[/callout]
Let’s go to Jonathan now as he frames the scenario:
[guestpost]The talk was called ‘Toxic Beauty’ for a women’s event, and texting that phrase will get you a list of ingredients to always avoid in your cosmetics regime. Immediately after texting it, you will receive the list via email. — Jonathan Hill[/guestpost]
The step-by-step follows:
- Faith is in front of the small audience at this chiropractor’s office, and she’s talking about health and nutrition.
- At a few key points in the presentation, Faith simply says something to the effect of, “If you’d like more information on this, take out your phones now, and I’ll send it to you right away.”
- She then offers the keyword CLEARSKIN and instructs attendees to send that to 44222.
- While Faith is in the front of the room making the offer, Jonathan is in the back of the room watching all these results happen in real time.
What blows me away is the conversion rate they received!
Of the 14 people in attendance in this room, 12 of them used texted the CLEARSKIN keyword to get the freebie Faith had offered.
For those of you keeping score at home that’s an 86% conversion rate!
[shareable]Read about this list building technique that garnered an 86% conversion rate![/shareable]
Imagine if you started doing this very same technique and began experimenting with it during your talks!
[callout]Try it right now! Text CLEARSKIN to 44222 to check out the user experience and to get the freebie![/callout]
If I understand the integration LeadDigits correctly, you can connect it to your existing email marketing system to do the delivery of the actual freebie.
It works just as if somebody were to opt in on the opt-in page of your site. I created a similar campaign for one of my clients several months ago, and we used InfusionSoft to do the delivery.
[reminder]What list-building hacks have worked for you? What ideas have NOT worked so well? Let’s get a conversation started![/reminder]
by Jason Owens | Mar 9, 2020 | Sales
Experience is the best teacher.
Last year I went all out on a product launch. I had just purchased Jeff Walker’s new book, Launch, and devoured it cover to cover.
I HIGHLY recommend this book. If you are considering launching any kind of knowledge product, you are simply nuts for not reading this book cover to cover.
With that said, I followed the formula as well as I knew how.
I created a bunch of videos, and wrote a metric ton of emails.
I put everything into my fancy email marketing system.
In all it was a LOT of work, and after weighing the time I had invested, I really wasn’t that impressed with the results.
I had blown it somewhere, but could not figure out where.
My Latest Attempt at a Product Launch
I started over a few months ago.
I chose an entirely different market and took a totally different approach to developing the product.
I vowed not to spend a tremendous amount of time shooting videos and wrestling with email automation.
All of my efforts are going into rapid development mode.
Make a little, sell a little, learn a lot.
[Tweet “Make a little. Sell a little. Learn a lot.”]
On this launch, I’m doing everything differently.
I figured out that I blew it on the product development phase last time. I didn’t spent enough time with the customers first.
For the record, this time around…
- I didn’t expect to sell a bajillion dollars worth of stuff, and my list was only 23 people.
- The product I tested is a full-day workshop, and my research showed that it should support a $99 price point.
- I did this launch in the margins of my life between client obligations and family commitments.
My Pre-Pre-Launch
If I followed any part of the textbook formula correctly, it was here in the pre-pre-launch.
Think of this as the market research stage on steroids.
I did interviews — lots of interviews.
[Tweet “Product Development: When in doubt, do more interviews!”]
I interviewed somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 people — authors, coaches, experts, and a variety of people who had created online programs, and membership sites.
I had 4 questions that I asked each of them, and these came to me compliments of Brendon Burchard.
- What frustrates you most about your business (or the business you are trying to create)?
- What are you hoping to accomplish in your business in the next 12 months?
- What would double your income or double your happiness in the next 12 months?
- What have you tried that has worked and has not worked?
These questions are pure marketing gold!
I took copious notes during my 20-minute sessions with these experts, and then analyzed these notes for themes.
To anyone out there who wants to create some type of scalable knowledge product, I can’t recommend enough that you start here.
The Pre-Launch
From here I begin to depart from the textbook formula simply because I just don’t have capacity to do all the steps.
So, in my new abbreviated launch I needed to warm up my audience. It had been 6-8 weeks since they had heard from me in the interview phase.
I warmed up my list by announcing guest speaker #1. Two days later I warmed up my list again by announcing guest speaker #2.
The day prior to opening the cart I sent my Get Ready for the Cart to Open Tomorrow email.
The Launch
What follows is the day-by-day emotional account of how I felt at each step of the launch.
For those of you not familiar with a launch week, there is a LOT happening here. Many emails. New leads coming in from every direction. Lots of questions to answer.
Here is the series of emails that I had planned to send:
- Cart is open!
- Cart closing soon
- Final notice (early on the last day)
- Really the final notice (later on the last day)
My Day-By-Day Experience
The cart is supposed to open on Monday and close on Friday.
I would love to tell you that everything went according to plan, but I was off schedule from day 1.
I had time scheduled to write the Open Cart email, however, an unforeseen client demand erased my time.
My launch didn’t start until Wednesday.
Mentally I felt like I was launching with one hand tied behind my back.
Wednesday
Launch Day. Finally!
I’m happy to say that I sent the Open Cart email, and I’m eager to see the results of all my hard work that I did during the research stage.
By the end of the day I sold a whopping two tickets.
I don’t know what I expected, but I expected way more than two sales.
Don’t get me wrong. I was extremely happy to be on the board, to have scored some revenue.
During my interviews several people told me how excited they were about attending. I just couldn’t understand why I had only two tickets sell from the entire list.
Ok, I know, I know. I should not expect a lot from campaigning a list of 23 people.
But, truth is, I really did expect more than 2 sales on my first day.
I had done my homework and created the very product they told me to create at the very price point they told me would work.
I start kicking myself for failing to remember the most basic of product research lessons learned a thousand times over in companies all across the globe — what the customer says and what the customer does are two different things.
I felt my marketing plans come unhinged.
If I can’t depend on even the most basic of market research to come through for me, if I can’t rely on my hard work amounting to anything, then why am I investing so much effort here?
Am I about to repeat the failed launch I experienced last year?
Thursday
No new sales over night. Not feeling great at this point.
Not time to panic, but certainly not running a victory lap here.
Friday
I get another sale on Day 3, and this lifts my spirits a bit.
I have lined up a sensibly-priced conference room at a hotel here in town, and with this 3rd sale I have just about covered my costs for the event.
Looks like I won’t go in the hole for this event after all!
I can’t say I’m in great spirits, but I’m not in the doldrums either.
Since I opened the cart so late in the week I’m feeling a bit behind in my timing.
Should I close the cart on Friday?
Doesn’t feel right to do this because I’ve only had the cart open 3 days.
Saturday
I check my email on Saturday morning and instantly turn into a basket case.
I had hoped the Launch Fairy would send me another few customers Friday night as people took time to get caught up on their emails from the week.
I’ve spent a lot of time preparing for this event, and it looks like I’ll have 3 paying attendees, 2 guest speakers, and myself.
Emotionally I am not doing well, and at this point I start entertaining all options.
I strongly considered calling off the event, refunding everyone’s money, and burying my head somewhere.
I really thought I would be a lot further along than this.
I also had to wrestle with when to close the cart.
I know that I should close the cart on Wednesday of the next week to stick with the regular one-week launch window, but who closes a cart on a Wednesday?
My regular workload for the coming week is pretty heavy, and I’m really having problems making time to write the remaining emails for next week.
I decide to use my busy work schedule to my advantage by expanding my open cart window a few days to Friday of next week.
By mid-day Saturday I realized that I needed to get some emotional distance from all this because it has been consuming nearly every free moment for the past several days.
I let the whole matter drop till Sunday evening.
Sunday
By the end of the day Sunday I am no further along than I was on Saturday.
While I haven’t had any more sales in the last 24 hours, I decide not to cancel the event.
I had resolved myself to the fact that I would be doing a 5 person event, and would barely break even.
This wouldn’t be a total loss.
Every journey has to start somewhere, right?
Monday
On Monday evening I realized that I had completely forgotten to include any bonuses up to this point.
This could be a game-changer!
I whack myself on the side of the head for forgetting something as basic as bonus stacking, which I have read about 30 times.
I made a mental note to come up with some bonuses on the fly.
I’m on the road today, so I can’t do much on the launch.
Tuesday
My extreme workload keeps me from creating the bonuses today, but I did manage to capture a few ideas in my journal.
Emotionally I slide back to negative territory. I hyperventilate at the thought of doing a 5-person event, and I am back to wondering how I will even remotely save face in this predicament.
Despite my quandary I draw a very firm line in the sand — I will not comp anyone a free ticket to this event or offer any scholarships just to inflate the headcount.
I already did this once this year during another one of my workshops, and I said I would not do it this time.
I need to grow my marketing skills, and feel that providing free seats is just a way to fool myself.
Wednesday
Announce Bonus #1 – Email Marketing Summit
My workload and client calls don’t provide much free time during the day.
I manage to make phone calls to 2 of my prospects, and both times I had to leave messages.
I do manage to create my first bonus — a free ticket to my upcoming Email Marketing Summit —and this feels like real progress.
I craft my Bonus #1 announcement and send it to my list.
At least for today I was able to beat Resistance. I showed up. I created. I shipped.
It feels good to fight back!
Thursday
One new sale!
I can’t tell you if it was Bonus 1 or the phone call I made the day prior, and it doesn’t matter.
My inbox showed those magic words that I love so much “You’ve got money!”
With this newfound enthusiasm, I double down on my attempts to reach out to my prospects by phone.
I creating a phone list with the name and number for each person on my prospect list.
I rack my brain on what to offer for my second bonus.
I don’t have time to create a new information product, I don’t have time to shoot and edit videos, and I don’t have time to write a new report.
In addition to my workload, my daughter is starting swim practice, which takes some portion of my time 2 days a week.
I’ve been married for 20 years, and I really value spending time with my wife each day. She’s been very understanding with this launch consuming most of my evenings, but I know I can’t push this much further
I come to realize that I’m doing this launch in the margins of my life — with the leftovers.
The lightbulb comes on part-way through my day!
I realize that my client load tapers off immediately following my AEPC Group event, so I decide to offer a few bonus coaching sessions to incentivize my prospects.
I created a quick “bonus coaching calls” calendar in my TimeTrade account, and created several slots of available times. It looks doable, and fits perfectly around my client commitments.
I draft my Bonus #2 email and send it out to my prospects.
Emotionally I’m feeling really frustrated.
Remember when I said that I had started the day with a phone list for my prospects? I only managed to call 2 of them. Like yesterday, I had to leave messages both times.
I end the day feeling good for having figured out my bonus #2 issue, but mixed because I really could use a few more sales.
Time is running out.
Friday
Friday morning. No new sales.
Part of me is ready to throw myself off a cliff, and part of me is ok with this being a 6 person event (including my 2 guest speakers).
I rationalize that I at least made progress.
At least I sold 4 tickets.
This is the most money I have ever charged for one of my events, and at least I sold something.
Right?
I sent my final cart closing email using my email marketing system (remember, I’ve just been using gmail this entire time), and include one of those fancy countdown clocks.
Looks really snazzy!
The Launch Fairy Arrives
Finally!
By closing time on Friday my email inbox registers 5 more sales!
I can’t believe it!
Keep in mind now that I’ve broken so many rules and gone against so many conventions that it is a miracle I sold even one ticket.
This is the highest paid self-promoted event that I’ve ever run.
On my first fledgling attempt about 12 months ago I ran a workshop where I charged $25 a head, and sold about 10 seats.
On my second event I partnered with several affiliates, and made a little more. Had almost 40 people in the room, but had to scholarship several people to get head count that high.
In this, my 3rd self-promoted event, I had no affiliates and provided no scholarships. I had 9 paying attendees and was able to actually pay myself something for my time.
Emotionally I am over the moon now, and I feel I can hand-carve a hole in a mountain.
No obstacle is too big for me on days like this!
I’m ready to tackle the world!
But Why Didn’t You (fill in the blank)?
Sure, my list was only 23 people. Some could argue that I could have saved myself a lot of time by just doing a phone campaign for a few days.
I agree.
Yes, I probably would have been able to accomplish the same results far quicker by just working the phones, but I didn’t want to turn this into a phone campaign.
I specifically wanted to grow my skills in doing a scalable launch.
You see, the same effort that I put into doing this launch for 23 people could easily be spread to 230 people or a list of 2300 people.
You can only scale phone calls so far.
What I learned here by doing this stripped-down version of a launch — a minimum viable launch — now gives me the confidence to invest more time and effort to follow the textbook more closely.
In fact, if you want to take a look at what I would do differently in launching my next product, just sign up to receive my updates. You’ll be the first to see the article where I do the postmortem on this launch.
The 5 Dips I Experienced During my Product Launch
- Launching in the margins of my life.
- Setting expectations too high for my first day.
- Failing to have my bonuses figured out ahead of time.
- Relying too heavily on email. I should have made more time to call.
- Under estimating the power of the final day.
by Jason Owens | Mar 8, 2020 | Self-Employed Sweet Spot
I Almost Quit Trying to Build a List
As business owners we all realize at some level that getting a list of people’s names and emails should be pretty important.
Yet most of us don’t do it.
Seriously, one of the biggest things we can do to grow our business goes completely undone.
I think I know why – most of this advice doesn’t fit my business (and I’m guessing doesn’t fit yours either).
If you go online you’ll find a ton of advice. You’ll hear lots about “giving away something of great value” and “free ebook” and “downloadable kits”. This advice is all well and good if you actually:
- Have a blog or some type of online presence.
- Already have some type of downloadable PDF or free goodie developed.
Otherwise, who has time to aimlessly post on a blog or can find an extra 20 hours to write an ebook?
Ok, so let’s back up for a minute.
Maybe you aren’t a techie.
Maybe you don’t have a blog or a website.
That is perfectly fine because building a list of potential clients can be done just the same (or better) offline than online.
Ways I’ve Tried to Build my List Online
Here is a list of just some of the methods I’ve tried to generate opt ins from my blog:
- Blog home page – Free give away, One Page Manifesto
- Blog home page – Free give away, Ebook
- Blog home page – Free give away, Block of 4 Video Lessons
- Landing page – Free give away, Ebook
- Landing page – Free give away, Video training session
I have driven traffic to these opt in pages through just about every channel including
- Facebook Ads
- Posting to my Facebook Profile
- Posting to my Facebook Page
- Posting to Twitter
- SEO
I would have to say that most of these have left me with incredibly miserable results. In all I think I’ve had about 20 opt ins from all of these tools.
About 3 months ago I became so frustrated with my online efforts that I decided to take matters offline.
Here is one offline list building hack that is working quite well for me. In fact, I just used it last night, and I’ll bet that nearly anyone reading this page can implement this simple technique with similar or better results by the end of the day.
Offline List Building Works Better for Me
What these experts don’t address is how to start from a zero base, how to start from nothing when you are building a following.
This is my situation as I have paltry site traffic, and don’t have 3 years to blog every day in hopes that the gods of SEO will favor me. I must take matters into my own hands.
You can do this without feeling gimmicky or smarmy, and it is perfectly safe for introverts, too.
You can do this much the same way I have, just tailor the wording to fit your business.
Here is one technique that has been working for me.
I know you’ve seen these things several places in your town, maybe at a grocery store, your dry cleaners, or in a local mom and pop restaurant.
Go find one of those cork boards where people tack their cards by the dozen. You’ll find things like realtors, mortgage people, your local Avon rep, and then you’ll find a lot more. I love working with new and aspiring business owners, so I’m looking for business cards that, quite honestly, look like they’ve been done for the first time.
I came across such a cork board a few days ago and harvested 20 cards from it. At home I simply use email (introverts unite!) to reach out to people one-to-one. Here is the exact text I used in my outreach letters that I sent last night.
John,
I know you are busy, so I won’t keep you…
I just wanted to know if I could stay connected with you?
I research entrepreneurs and offer classes to help
you build your business and make more money.
The classes that I offer through Rowan Cabarrus Community
College are FREE to the general public.
I’d love to add you to my list.
Is that ok?
Enjoy your evening,
Jason
P.S. - If you’d like to check out my work and what I do,
just jump to my site jasonrowens.com.
P.P.S. - I have a class in SALISBURY coming up soon. I can
notify you when registration opens.
There are a couple of nuances here that help. Sure, I could have just copy/pasted this same text on everyone’s email and been done in half the time.
However, I found that using the last P.P.S. to customize the email to be very important, and this single piece of customization accounts for most of my opt ins.
Examples that I use are “I love the owl on your business card”, “My daughter has been taking riding lessons most of the year”, “I really like how you integrated your ETSY store into your site” or anything else that adds a little touch of customization to the email.
You come across as being very genuine here because you ARE being very genuine.
Here is one of the exact responses I received last night. “Thank you for contacting me. Yes, I’m interested in hearing what you offer. PS: thanks for the compliment …. I love owls.”
In the span of 5 minutes at the cork board I have 20 names. What I’m looking for at this point is engagement. Typically I get anywhere from a 10% to 20% optin rate from these emails.
There is a way that you can put all of this in turbo mode and really jack up your opt in rates. If you want to know how I boosted my opt in rate to over 50% using a variation of this offline technique, just ask.
[reminder]What have you done to boost your list-building efforts? Please leave me a comment below.[/reminder]
by Jason Owens | Mar 8, 2020 | Uncategorized
It happened again just this week. Someone reversed course on me. Didn’t do what they said they were going to do.
I had been running a phone campaign pretty heavily all week in an effort to book speaking gigs and workshops. I had a great conversation with one individual in particular. We connected on one of my workshop offerings, and the answer was, “Call me back tomorrow so we can book some dates.”
Now, I know. I know. A true salesperson never gets emotionally involved in the sale. I should do a better job of distancing myself, but I’m selling me, my dream, my message, so it is a little difficult not to get emotionally involved in the sale.
I did call back only to hear the dreaded, “no”. Something had come up, and he is not able to book me at all. Ever.
As many times as I have been through this, it still feels like a personal rejection. Like I’m getting dumped at the 7th grade dance.
Do You Know What is at Stake?
Readers, when this happens to you, you must understand exactly where you are. For years, I did not understand what was at stake, and I did not know how to navigate this inner terrain.
When you meet with that instant of jarring defeat, there is only one thing you can do.
Years ago, before I was familiar with this part of the roller coaster, I would go straight to just feeling rejected. I was hurt, so I did something to nurse my wounds. This usually involved some type of “woe is me” catastrophizing or getting out of the house to run some errand that had suddenly become so important.
This week I did something much different — I got back on the horse. You see, for me, if I don’t pick up the phone and make that next dial, I have a great history of letting that loss, that rejection, become the defining moment of my day.
Avoid the Spiral
When I met with rejection in the past I used to go down this mental spiral of despair. It involved doubting my call, thinking I was misinterpreting my purpose, and waking to the fact that God was really trying to tell me that I just wasn’t cut out for this. Then I would spend the next few days not doing anything really productive in my business.
I can’t tell you how many times I did this.
Years later as I started studying individual performance for my doctoral degree I learned that there is a name for what I was doing. It is called emotion-based coping. It is classic avoidance behavior, and it is usually not a good thing.
After I had some time and some distance I was finally able to see just how damaging my behavior was to my long-term success. Now that I can see this — the accumulated effect of my emotion-based coping — it makes it much easier for me to pick up the phone to place that next call.
I have learned the valuable lesson of making a molehill out of a mountain. What could be something that derails your entire day can, instead, turn into just a momentary loss if you treat it right.
The Results are Powerful
In sheer determination of NOT allowing my setback to ruin my day, I picked up the phone and dialed about half a dozen more prospects. I could feel the sting of rejection start to leave with the very first call.
By the end of call #4 I had spoken with someone who wanted me to send a proposal.
I did, and she booked a workshop!
Years ago I would have missed this win because I would be nursing my wound of rejection for the next several days.
When you fall, get back on the horse.
by Jason Owens | May 13, 2018 | Sales
Your mental game shapes your business and your entire world.
If you can master these 3 fundamental aspects of your work life, you can create just about any business that you desire.
- Affect (feelings)
- Behavior (interactions)
- Cognition (thought)
The Upward Spiral of Awesomeness
How you feel about generating leads for your business largely determines what you will do, how you will do it, and how frequently.
Take networking meetings.
I know one lady who made it a point to attend 8 networking functions a week! It was the bread and butter of her business and she loved doing it.
Here’s the best part — when I asked her if she enjoyed doing this much networking, she got a twinkle in her eye, smiled wide, and said, “Of course I like it! I am getting really good at it!”
Her desire and hunger (feelings) to grow her business gave her the initial push to try networking (behavior). Once she got out there and did it several times, she started to get the hang of it (more behavior).
Now she sees herself as a master networker (thoughts) and loves using this technique to grow her business.
This feeling-behavior-thought pattern reinforces her behavior week after week and she is producing consistent results in her business.
Oh, that we were all so fortunate.
The Downward Spiral of Doom
This cycle, however, works both ways. If you are not as lucky, as skilled, or as fortunate as the lady I mentioned above, you could find networking to be a real drag on your business.
You may have the same desire and hunger (feelings) to grow your business, and you may even go the length of attending 3-4 networking events (behavior).
If you get nothing in return for all of your effort, it would be easy to conclude that you are not good at networking (cognition) or that networking is a waste of time (more cognition).
Keys to Breaking the Downward Spiral
When you have gone out on a limb, tried something new, and failed miserably, it is easy to want to give up. The keys to breaking the downward spiral, giving up, and throwing in the towel are:
- Self-Compassion
- Deliberate Practice.
Self compassion is the act of being very forgiving of yourself. If shame, self-doubt, or self-hatred get their hooks into you, you will not have the desire to take the next step — getting back on the horse.
Deliberate practice is the committed process of trying something over and over again — with proper guidance from a trusted and skilled advisor. The point is to practice doing the prospecting activity correctly, not just winging it.
Repeated practice with proper guidance will allow you to win so you feel like prospecting again and again.
Reference
Jhangiani & Tarry (n.d.) Affect, Behavior, and Cognition https://opentextbc.ca/socialpsychology/chapter/affect-behavior-and-cognition/
![002: Fantastic Case Study on my Recent Successful Flash Sale [Podcast]](https://jasonrowens.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/The-Jason-Owens-Podcast-Ep-2-Case-Study-on-Flash-Sale.png)
