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Don’t Make This Alienating Mistake on Webinars

I just clicked onto a webinar a few moments ago and I had to almost immediately leave to write you this quick note. As I watched the two people on screen I found myself physically moving away from my device. In fact I could not seem to get far enough away from these two people. Where I had been hunched over my laptop, my back was now pressed into the back of the chair, my head was turned away like I was about to flee, and I realized something was terribly wrong.

Don’t Make This Alienating Mistake on Webinars

So the question is, why am I having this physical reaction to these two webinar presenters? What is it in my primitive brain that is causing me, without conscious thinking, to put more physical space between them and me?

And what does it mean for their odds of making the sale at the end of this webinar?

My best guess is my subconscious brain – which is always on the lookout for threats – thinks they are putting on an act or pretense in order to somehow take advantage of me.

Here’s a paraphrased excerpt of what they were saying: “THIS IS AMAZING! WE’RE GOING TO HAVE AN AMAZING TIME! YOU’RE GOING TO LOVE THIS AMAZING INFORMATION! IT’S GOING TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE IN AMAZING WAYS!”

Their hands are waving in the air, their faces bobbing up and down, they’re just so… I don’t know… ENTHUSIASTICALLY PHONY.

Don’t get me wrong… real enthusiasm for your niche, for what you teach and for your products is commendable and a trait you should cultivate. But come on, it’s got to be REAL and not contrived.

People who put on webinars are almost never professional actors and they shouldn’t try to be actors. They’ve got to be themselves. Real. Authentic. Someone the viewer can relate to.

Right now I’m about as inclined to stay on the webinar and buy their product (whatever it might be, I don’t have a clue) as I am to deliberately run my car into a brick wall.

Which begs the question… how do you display enthusiasm on a webinar without alienating people? The same way you sell to people. You start where they are and you walk with them to where you want them to go.

Picture yourself looking at a used car on a warm summer day when two salespeople approach you. The first salesperson says, “THIS IS THE GREATEST CAR EVER IN THE HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSE AND IT IS AN ABSOLUTE BARGAIN AND YOU WILL LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS AMAZING CAR!”

Gulp.

The second salesperson says, “This car is 3 years old, it’s got 45,000 miles on it and a small ding in the back bumper. It’s also rated as being one of the most reliable cars on the road, the interior looks almost brand new, it drives like a dream and the air conditioner blows the coldest air I’ve felt all summer.”

Which salesperson do you trust?

It’s a no brainer. The second salesperson started out where you are, looking at the reality of the situation. It’s a used car. It’s got some miles. It has a small ding you’ve already noticed. This person is standing right there beside you like a friend, telling you exactly how it is. You trust them because they are telling you what you already know.

That’s why when they start telling you all the good points of the car, you believe them. They are taking you along step-by-step from where you’re starting out (skeptical prospective buyer who doesn’t want to get ripped off) to where they want you to be (confident buyer who knows you’re getting a fair deal.)

The first salesperson is standing apart from you, shouting at you to come across this gulf between the two of you. This causes natural resistance on your part and a desire to flee the scene and never come back.

Now that I’ve written all of this, that webinar is 20 minutes in and I don’t plan on going back to it. I only want to work with authentic people who understand that I’m not going to fall for hyped up fake enthusiasm.

Just tell me like it is. Give me the truth. Point out all the good reasons why things can be much better if I’ll just follow along with you, and I guarantee I’ll stay right there and listen to your every word, and I’ll probably buy, too.

It really is that simple.

The #1 Way to Cure Email Delete-itus and Get Your Emails READ

Your prospect opens your email… Reads the first few sentences… And then DELETES your email IN FRUSTRATION.

The #1Way to Cure Email Delete-itus and Get Your Emails READ

Why?

Because your first few sentences didn’t match the subject line and it confused and frustrated them.

The email felt like a waste of time…

Like maybe the subject line was clickbait.

It’s like opening the door to a chocolate shop and finding lawn mowers.

YOU WERE PROMISED CHOCOLATE!

“Where’s the chocolate??!”

“This can’t be the right place… let’s get out of here!”

I just opened an email that promised… “How to get budget approval for copywriting school.” Yes, this was written not just by a copywriter, but by someone who TEACHES COPYWRITING.

And yet the first 33 lines of that email don’t say a word about getting budget approval for copywriting school (I kid you not!)

Halfway through the email the writer finally (FINALLY!) states:

So what’s getting in the way of you joining 9 gazillion (my number) copywriters and marketers in my fantastic copywriting school?

Most likely:

Budget approval.

Chop off the entire first half of the email, start with these three lines and then go from there, and it could be an effective email.

But what did I do when I first received this email? After reading several lines that appeared unrelated to the subject line, I closed it.

Then I reopened it and scrolled down because I was thinking this could make a good lesson for all of us. As I was scrolling I found a totally unrelated large gif of a woman closing her eyes and shaking her head. Guess what? That only confused me more.

We shouldn’t have to rewrite emails written by someone who teaches copy. And yet, here we are.

Received within the same hour from an online marketer I KNOW is pulling down a minimum of 7 figures was this subject line and first two lines of this email:

Subject Line: System to add 30K to 100K per month

First line of email: Want to work together to add [30K to 100K+] per month to your monthly bottom line?

Second line: My system produces this type of revenue for winners who add in “big-fee” or “high-priced” programs to what they do… or to those who need a more compelling and irresistible offer.

Notice the first line expands on the subject line. No confusion here, and we get more clarification, too. The second line explains how this is possible, building credibility that he knows what he’s talking about.

I’m two lines into this email and instead of confusion I have a VERY good idea of what’s going on, how it works and why I would benefit by reading the rest of the email.

Notice it’s not even written all that well. Adding 30K per month to your monthly bottom line? No English teacher would let that go, and yet the reader knows exactly what he’s saying.

I’d lose the “for winners” and instead say something like, “for smart marketers”. But that’s just me nit-picking.

The fact is, you’ve only got seconds to make your subscriber GLAD she opened the email. Don’t confuse her. Don’t make her slog through 30 lines to get to the point. Respect her time and get to the heart of the matter FAST.

This doesn’t mean you can’t tell stories, either. After that second line above, you might launch into a story of how you helped poor miserable Marketing Mavis do this exact thing. The point is, your reader now knows what the devil you’re talking about and she’s now willing to go along on the journey with you because you TOLD HER exactly what this email is all about.

Whew.

Sorry, I know sometimes I go off on a rant when I see shoddy marketing like this, but I just get so frustrated at how people get in their own way.

Keep it simple. Make your first line expand on your subject line. Lay out the foundation immediately so that readers know they are in the RIGHT PLACE. Then and only then should you launch into your fancy stuff, stories, details and so forth.

Try it and see if your click-through rate doesn’t improve dramatically.

But…

But is an interesting word, it’s defined as a reason someone gives for not doing or agreeing with something. It is probably the most overused word in the English language and also the one word that causes the most problems with regards to procrastination.

But...

From “Oh, I was going to do it but…” to “But it…” stems all our excuses for indecision or inactivity.

What do we fear so much that we have to presuppose a failure and wrap that possibility up with a “but”? And here is the more interesting question… Are we committing to that failure by raising that as a possibility?

What if we never actually said the ‘but’? What if we didn’t allow into our consciousness the possibility of failures, could that prevent them from occurring?

Now I know that seems naïve, but when we were children, we didn’t see failures as something bad, it was simply just a lesson to learn along the way. We learned to walk by taking a few steps then falling, then we just picked ourselves up and tried again, and again, until after those few false starts and those initial faltering steps we were indeed able to walk, and then run.

As children, it never occurred to us to even think in terms of “I’m going to walk, but maybe I won’t.” We just kept on trying and trying until we succeeded, and that is the difference between the entrepreneurs and everyone else.

Where everyone else acknowledges the “but”, we don’t breathe as much life into that uncertainty. We don’t have time for buts… We are far too busy getting the job done to worry about whether our independent vision might not work.

A funny phrase I heard once: “If ifs and buts were candy and nuts, we’d all have a merry Christmas.” It’s a great throwaway statement that shows how often we use those two particular words.

Banish them from your life and your outlook. You have businesses to build and successes to achieve and there is no time for a ‘but’ in your exciting journey ahead!

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