SFR 292: To Customize, Or Not To Customize

Published: Dec. 17, 2019, 9:06 p.m.

The offer is a two-way agreement, not a beg-session to get anyone to buy from you.\xa0

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Here's when I STOP customizing my offers\u2026

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My friends, I'm pumped for this - grab a pen and paper\xa0 - 'cause this can simplify your business.

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\xa0A while back, there was an interesting post in my group\u2026

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Here's what went down\u2026

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Someone purchased a service, product or whatever, and after they bought it - they didn't like the fulfillment.\xa0

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So they went back to the seller and said, "Hey, Mr. Seller,\xa0 I don't like this..." and the seller said, "Oh, so sorry about that," and gave their money back.

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And this actually made the customer mad.\xa0

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I was a little bit confused by this response because something similar happened to me...

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There was a guy who paid me for a one-hour consultation, (I don't really sell that anymore... ), but he scheduled it during the speeches at Funnel Hacking Live.\xa0

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\xa0And so I was like, "Oh crap, sorry about that."\xa0

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I reached back out and said, "Hey I'm so sorry,\u201d and I just refunded his money.\xa0

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I was like, "Hey, here you go."\xa0

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Here\u2019s the thing, the refund didn\u2019t make him happy - in fact, guy was livid and made tons of nasty posts all over the place.

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The dude finally got so loud that I blocked him\xa0

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Originally, I was confused by his reaction so I reached out and asked...

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  1. Why are you mad that I gave you your money back? What's wrong with that? Our call was scheduled for a time that I couldn\u2019t do\u2026?

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  1. \xa0Why do you think I\u2019d wanna get on a call for an hour with you after you've been lighting me up across the whole internet?

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\xa0\u2026 that's crazy!

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\xa0I'm NOT obligated to spend time with you. I can give you your money back and I no longer have an obligation, right?

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So, let\u2019s go back to the post\u2026

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THE CUSTOMER ISN\u2019T ALWAYS RIGHT!

The guy was super frustrated... he was so mad about getting a refund, and I was like, "I guess there's a pattern here."\xa0

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So let me tell you exactly how I respond\u2026

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It was a good enough response that Mr. Russell actually liked it.\xa0

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Here\u2019s how I started\u2026

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\xa0After digging into this, I kinda understand the story.\xa0

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Now you paid somebody...\xa0

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  • You didn't like it
  • You brought it up

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\u2026 and instead of getting more as you wanted, they refunded you.

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I said\u2026

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\xa0Buying is a two-way relationship; I create an offer, set a price and a value, and use the offer as the anchor of the relationship, NOT the money.

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The offer is the anchor, NOT the money.\xa0

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This is a *BIG* mistake a lot of entrepreneurs make.\xa0

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So let me teach you something really cool here that will help simplify your business...\xa0

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When a customer uses their money as the anchor of a relationship, it forces the seller to dance at the customer's will.

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This violates the very first step of my offer creation formula - The Who.\xa0

Just because someone has money doesn't mean I should sell them.\xa0

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That's NOT the only qualifier for you to sell to somebody.\xa0

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The offer is my agreement with the customer. If I keep changing the offer to each person, it equals a dizzying level of customization. That's WHY I don't change my offers for each person. If so I charge significant levels higher.

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In my mind, it sounds like the seller is just doing what they thought was fair, and like myself was unwilling to change their offer, so, they refund you - that's not spitting in your face.\xa0

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The customer is NOT always right.

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Whoever started that whole thing, "The customer is always right," \xa0in my opinion, that person has NEVER had a successful business!

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\xa0Or they worked in an industry that was 100% customization, you know what I mean (and even then the customer is not always right)?\xa0

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'Cause\u2026

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\xa0The customer is NOT always right.



I don't want to fight the doctor if I'm about to go in surgery

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\xa0\u2018Doctor, cut here and not here."\xa0

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\xa0The customer is ALWAYS right????

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\xa0That's a stupid phrase\u2026 overall, it's just NOT true.\xa0

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And a lot of your businesses will be simplified by removing that belief and that vernacular\u2026

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\xa0"The customer's always right..." No, they're not, you are too - that's why you're the seller.

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An offer is a two-way agreement, you can't keep customizing the offer per person - that's why we have a value ladder.\xa0

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HOW TO IMPROVE CUSTOMER SERVICE BY SAYING \u2018NO!\u2019

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One of the major reasons why you don't customize everything is because of how hard it is on your actual business.\xa0

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It is hard for me to ALWAY be changing the offer\xa0 - because it makes it hard for me to create business systems.\xa0

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You have to understand the major functions of a business - and there are a lot of different theories/ competing beliefs around this\u2026

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\xa0But I'm just going to draw the major functions of any business.

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  • The first function of any business is to generate a lead, obviously.

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  • Then you have to be able to convert the lead.\xa0

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There's a lot of great books with different views... \u201cThere are varying points... there are four points. No, there are five points of any business. No, there's six points of any business.\u201d

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\xa0However, they're all around the same area for EVERY business.

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This is the reason why funnels work for any company. Every company has to be able to\u2026

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  1. \xa0Generate a lead

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  1. Convert the lead

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  1. Deliver/fulfill on the purchase

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  1. Upsell

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  1. (And then some people add...) Retain

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Again, various places have differing opinions, but it's basically that\u2026

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\xa0A business is nothing more than a series of systems that generate and fulfills a lead.\xa0

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*THAT\u2019S IT*

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\u2026 it's NOT some fishy hokey-pokey thing.\xa0

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It has nothing to do with some clever slogan... I don't have a mission statement, 'cause \xa0\u201cUrrrgh!\u201d

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Anyway...

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For example: Say I go generate a lead by creating an offer\xa0

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\xa0Let's say that I'm selling some widget\u2026

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  • \xa0I need to go generate a lead who is most likely and has a predisposition to purchase that widget.\xa0

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  • If I continually change the widget I have to continually re-set up new lead machines.\xa0

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One of the reasons why some of my webinars have done so well in the past and I've only touched them once, (and it's been over a year and a half since I've touched one of the largest ones)...

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\xa0The reason why that works is that I'm not sitting here continually changing the offer.\xa0

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I change it for a while and I'm like, "Okay, this feels like a safe place for it to land!"\xa0

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\u2026 I stop touching the offer.\xa0

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*DON\u2019T TOUCH THE OFFER*

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  • My job is no longer to keep tweaking the offer.\xa0

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  • My role and my business changes to finding more people to fit the offer rather than continually changing the offer.\xa0

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PRODUCT CUSTOMIZATION - WHEN TO *STOP*

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Most businesses have a good enough offer to\u2026

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  1. \xa0Make A LOT of money.\xa0

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  1. Have consistent purchases.\xa0

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But as marketers, we tend to get so focused on changing the offer that we forget about the next step\u2026

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Take it from the guy who's the self-proclaimed offer guy, stop changing your offer so much.\xa0

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PHASE #2

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Find the person who fits the offer - that's way easier than constantly changing your offer.\xa0

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So back to my Facebook Group\u2026

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\xa0This guy gets frustrated and says, "Oh my gosh. You're not willing to change the offer for me? And you gave my money back to me?"\xa0

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Like, \u201cYEAH!\u201d (ALL CAPS)

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  • \xa0First of all, that's fair.\xa0

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  • Second of all, it's smart on the business owner\u2019s side.

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\xa0Any time as any level of real genuine customization, it sucks!

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That\u2019s one of the reasons why a lot of entrepreneurs feel like their business wheels are spinning - they don't have a business.\xa0

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You can't make a business where it's constant 24/7 100% pure true customization for every person that comes in.

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Now, if your business is\u2026

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  • \xa0"I build custom sales funnels for people."

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  • "I do custom body jobs in a car shop."\xa0

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\u2026 there's still a system you can build around that.\xa0

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I'm talking about when you're NOT customizing on purpose, and you keep changing all the stuff inside your offer.\xa0

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After a while...\xa0

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STOP!\xa0

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It's extremely hard to create a consistent powerful lead machine when your offer's changing all the time. It's very hard to convert if your offer isn\u2019t consistent...\xa0

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I\u2019ll change my offer for a while\u2026 but after a certain point, it's like\u2026

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\xa0*STOP*.

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The next phase is to become good at finding people who fit the offer, instead of convincing EVERYBODY that they fit your offer.

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\xa0(I'm hoping this is not too techy)

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I want to\u2026

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  1. Generate a lead under the lens of those who have a predisposition to purchase the offer.

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  1. Keep converting, (obviously), under the lens of the offer itself.

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  1. Fulfill on what they purchased and *ONLY THAT* -\xa0 it\u2019s a two-way agreement, right?\xa0

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  1. Keep up-selling people... but it's still anchoring off the offer.\xa0

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The offer is NOT just a marketing tool - for me, it acts as an anchor.

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Think of it this way...\xa0

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(I hope I'm not talking in circles here with this, but this is such a key thing!)

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HOW TO IMPROVE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE BY FINDING THE \u2018WHO!

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I've had several people who reach out and be like, "You're not willing to do this, extra thing for me?"\xa0

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I'm like, "No, you knew the agreement. The agreement was I was gonna provide this, this, this and this at this price, at this time frame."\xa0

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And it's funny\u2026

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\xa0We call it an offer, but it's also an agreement between the buyer and the seller.

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BAM! (Write that down!!!!)

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Here\u2019s the equation\u2026

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BUYER + SELLLER + OFFER = AGREEMENT

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Let me illustrate this another way...

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There's a place where my wife and I take our car where we know they're gonna act like our car is gonna fall apart in a second!

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... and then, they try to charge us like three extra grand for repairs that don't matter.\xa0

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You know what I'm saying? \U0001f609

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So we don't take our car to those people anymore!

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Instead, if we ever need even simple maintenance or an oil change, we take it to another spot\u2026 because the guy is ALWAYS fair with us.\xa0

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A lot of times car places say\u2026

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  • These are the things that are terrible with your car.\xa0

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  • These are the things that are kinda in the yellow that are a warning.

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  • Here are the things that you should worry about kinda in the future.

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(It's very clever on their part by the way.)

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They're like, "Here's my offer. I will fix these things for these prices."

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After they start on the work of the car, if I want something else done on I have to pay more money\u2026 and it's assumed.\xa0

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It's the same thing with your offer!

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  • Just because it's an info product\u2026

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  • \xa0Just because it's some other business besides cars...

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... does NOT mean it's different, right?\xa0

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I will charge MORE something is outside of the offer -\xa0 it makes sense.\xa0

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I have to do MORE.\xa0

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DO YOU HAVE A BUSINESS?

Trey Llewellyn is an absolute animal. I look up to him - he's a beast, and I\u2019ve gotten to know him a little bit more recently.\xa0

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We're both pretty darn busy but I think we both watched each other a from afar.

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#SBB (Steve Before Beard)

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Trey is an e-com genius - the guy makes tons of money.\xa0

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Anyway, Trey found is that every time you add a new SKU, (a new product, a new offer to your business), you increase the complexity of your fulfillment systems by 17X.\xa0

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Every new SKU increases the complexity of your fulfillment systems by 17X.

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So, my friends, the reason I'm going through this is NOT just for the individual who posted in my group kinda having a hard time\u2026

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It's to help *you* understand the role of the offer in your business systems,\xa0 NOT just marketing.\xa0

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A consistent offer allows you to have consistency across all major functions of a business - which allows you to create systems - which allows you to remain strategic.

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Here is the difference, check this out...\xa0



ARE YOU CUSTOMIZING YOURSELF TO DEATH?

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When I was in college, I started learning how to drive traffic, lots of it.\xa0

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I got pretty good at driving just tens of thousands of clicks to certain things and it's actually opened a ton of doors for me - it was a lot of fun.

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\xa0Under that one service, me and my buddy had a waiting list of 15 businesses\u2026

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\xa0Contrast that to about two years later \xa0(after I knew what ClickFunnels was) and I started doing funnels for other people\u2026

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I found myself with a 12 business waiting list, but my service was different every time.

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  • \xa0I was building different funnels

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  • I was doing different campaigns.\xa0

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It was mind-numbing...\xa0

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Not the boring kinda \u2018mind-numbing\u2019 - \xa0it was too much and was crippling to me.\xa0

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I see A LOT of people being overwhelmed because they don\u2019t know when to STOP customizing a product\u2026

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"I'm doing this... and I'm doing this ...and I'm doing this... and I'm doing this\u2026 and this!"

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Here\u2019s the rub\u2026

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You're confusing the number of opportunities that you're running at with success.\xa0

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That's NOT true at all.\xa0

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Go look at like some of the people who are making the most money, they have one main offer, that\u2019s it.\xa0

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Alex Hormozi = GymLaunch

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\xa0BAM!\xa0

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They did that one thing till (I think) they crossed $10 million... then they added the next thing.

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It\u2019s the same in my business\u2026

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HERE\u2019S WHAT I\u2019M NOT DOING

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People ask:

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Q: "Stephen how come you haven't launched like a mastermind yet?"\xa0

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A: Don't worry, I will, but...

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  1. I don't have the business systems to fulfill on it the way I want to yet, so it wouldn't be smart for me.\xa0

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  1. I don't want to yet, okay \U0001f602

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Q: \u201cStephen, how comes you haven't written a book yet?"\xa0

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A: Man, I'm focusing on the one thing on my value ladder, okay?\xa0

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That's the other reason we have a value ladder,\xa0 we say\u2026

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\xa0"Alright, okay, market place, okay community\u2026\u201d

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  • \xa0Here is my value ladder.

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  • Here are the things that I am agreeing.

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  • \xa0Here are the things that you can purchase from me

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... but also the things that I'm willing to fulfill on.

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Here's the offer and here's the exact thing I'm saying yes to\u2026

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I've had many people reach out and they're like\u2026

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\u201cStephen what can I buy from you?"\xa0

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Man, go to capitalistcoaching.com, and you'll see EVERYTHING you can buy from me right now...\xa0

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That's all the stuff I'm willing to do and fulfill on at that price point\u2026

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\xa0And it's ALL set up for a specific\u2026

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  • \u2018WHO\u2019

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  • \u2018Dream Customer\u2019\xa0

...that I know will 'cause the fastest success story.\xa0

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At the top of my value ladder, my application funnels at are real application funnels.

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\xa0It is NOT me just trying to get anyone who has the money - people actually apply\xa0 - \u2018cause\xa0 I'm legitimately trying to see if they are \u2018a good fit\u2019 for me.

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\xa0A lot of people ask\u2026

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  • \xa0"How come you're not doing this Stephen?\u201d\xa0

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  • \u201cHow come you're not doing this Stephen?\u201d\xa0

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  • \u201cHow come you're not doing this Stephen?"

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A: \xa0It's because I know that there are certain things that I should and should not be doing and if I constantly have a changing offer it affects\u2026

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  • \xa0All of my business systems

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  • Every major function of my company

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  • The type of person that I bring in

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And instead of focusing on *ONE* \u2018dream who,\u2019\xa0 - I get a lot of different ones coming on in from all walks of life.

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\xa0*I DON\u2019T WANT THAT*

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I want one main type of \u2018who\u2019 = one main type of dream customer.

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It also affects my ability to create or NOT create a value ladder.

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TESTING MY OFFER

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You have to understand, there\u2019s a timeline for when I launch a new offer\u2026

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  • \xa0I test the offer

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  • I make tweaks\xa0

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  • I\xa0 change things for a while.

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... but there comes a moment where I stop and say, "I will no longer change, this offer is what it is... and my role progressing forward is NOT to keep changing the offer."\xa0

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  • STAGE #1 = Change the offer

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  • STAGE #2 = Find more veins of \u2018the dream who.\u2019

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I launch and start changing the offer (which includes the message), and then once I've got it validated, I update to continually find \u2018the dream who.\u2019

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FINDING \u2018MY DREAM WHO!\u2019

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Q: How do I find my Dream who?\xa0

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A: With additional traffic sources.\xa0

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I have four major awesome traffic sources that I like and use, and I just dump in between them.\xa0

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Q: How do I get those traffic sources to find it?

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A: I have a list of Launch campaigns and Evergreen campaigns to get those traffic sources and those \u2018dream who's\u2019 to actually see my offer - bam, bam, bam.

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Anyway\u2026

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\xa0I did not do a lot of storytelling in this one, it was a little bit more of a tactical episode here but it's because\u2026

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If you keep changing your offer, past the testing period, by kowtowing and bowing to everyone just to get the sale\u2026

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You literally...\xa0

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Drop your ability to have faster and greater success rates with your customers.\xa0

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So, set your offer and understand this is NOT about you going, "I will do whatever it takes to get the sale.\u201d

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\xa0I will NOT do *anything* for a sale - because of ALL the things I've been talking about here.\xa0

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The offer is an agreement between me and the seller, it is NOT me begging the seller for a purchase.

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Alright, hopefully, this has been a helpful episode - this is a very key topic and one that I'm definitely passionate about!\xa0

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Partly it's because I went through 34 tries (over about 5- years) without a big success.\xa0

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And looking back, I can see that\u2026

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  • \xa0I didn't have any clear dream customer -\xa0 so no wonder I couldn't create good marketing.\xa0

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  • I had no clear offer\xa0 - 'cause I was like, "Whoever gives me the sale, whoever gives me the sale, whoever gives me the sale."\xa0

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...and it was one of the MOST painful lessons I ever went through!

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If you do wanna go see the things that I have available... if you\u2019re like\u2026

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  • \xa0"Oh, I wanna work with him more."

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  • \xa0"How is it I can get more of his time and attention?"\xa0

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...which I get many of you guys reaching out about -\xa0 go to capitalistcoaching.com, and you'll see all those things right there.

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\xa0It is literally my value ladder with clickable links to the things that it's referencing.

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There are some things on there (just so you know) that are not actually available yet... or where we're just focusing on the current students.

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I find that most people have zero clarity on their business - so how can a customer have any clarity on what you're offering?\xa0

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They can't - it's very hard!!!

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\xa0It sets this weird precedence (or no precedence at all) for what you actually will or *won't* provide,

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\xa0Hard to have a life when you keep changing your offer. You will literally be tied to the business if you keep changing your offer.

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If you guys got any value from this please tag me on social media and let me know\u2026

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"Steve, that was fresh to death, that was awesome!"\xa0

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Let me know what you liked about it - I'm trying to just provide epic value for you.\xa0

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#StayTuned

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There are some fun surprises coming up in the next few episodes thatI'm very very pumped about!!!\xa0

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Alright!\xa0

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*You* reading this right now, you're in one of two scenarios.\xa0

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Either\u2026

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\xa0You're currently selling a product and you've got a slick sales funnel and traffic...

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\xa0There are ads and you have content, bringing in new customers. You have upsells, downsells,\xa0 and phone sales.\xa0

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You've almost automated it, making money while doing everyday things.\xa0

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Either that's all set up and going\u2026

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\xa0OR\u2026

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\xa0The second option is you don't have any of that, and you're still trying to make this work and tie all of these pieces together.\xa0

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If you want my help, just go to capitalistcoaching.com and see where you can get started.

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\xa0It took me a long time to get the skills for all this to get moving\u2026

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  • Writing the sales letter

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  • Making the sales videos




  • Building the funnel

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  • Writing follow-up emails

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  • Promo campaigns

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  • Promo emails

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  • Fulfillment plans

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  • Fresh new ads

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... there's A LOT.\xa0

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And the path to move forward is different for each person.\xa0

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So I created capitalistcoaching.com for you to check out where *you* need to start.\xa0

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Whether you're just starting out with\u2026

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  • \xa0No product

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  • No list

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  • No single clue on what to do next.\xa0

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OR\u2026

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\xa0If you're like one of our BIG corporate clients who just need to add more revenue and scale your offer, go to capitalistcoaching.com.

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\xa0I don't really believe in shortcuts, but I do know you can speed up the path on the journey

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\xa0Figure out the BEST place to start by going to capitalistcoaching.com now