Know anyone who’s ever featured in a photo with both Larry King and the Dalai Lama? Not only that, but shared the stage with the likes of Ariana Huffington, Sir Richard Branson, Tony Robbins and a whole host of world-renowned thought leaders? In this week’s edition of our Business Models Online series, we profile a guy who has done just that and more – one of the world’s most widely followed personal development trainers, Brendon Burchard.
While Brendon is often recognized in the world of personal development, he is also a marketing adviser to some of the world’s leading companies and celebrities. This is a guy whose online marketing campaigns have been setting world records for large numbers of sales in short periods of time. He launched 12 online promotions in a row which all grossed over $1 million in sales in less than 7 days and has run campaigns for well-known names such as Tim Ferris and Paulo Coelho.
Here we pull out some key lessons on business, life and online marketing taken from various interviews, events and observations of Brendon’s work:
1. Be humble
In an interview with Forbes magazine a couple of years ago, Brendon revealed what he believes to be the key ingredient to success, particularly if you are positioned as an expert: “sincere humility and deep respect for every single human you meet”. Those who reduce their success trajectory are those who dismiss others, believing that there is nothing they can learn from them…
2. Give away value
Brendon has many different examples out there of content which he gives away, but one recent example is his new book The Charge. He made available a limited number of hardback copies which he is giving away free to those who sign up and pay only the shipping and handling. Along with this giveaway he offers bonus videos which tie in nicely with his coaching program, High Performance Academy.
This has three main effects:
1) it engenders good-will with those who opt-in and get a quality book for free;
2) it puts him out there as an expert in his field;
3) it gives people a taste of what his coaching program is like in order to create the desire for more.
It could even be that he is using a similar strategy to other marketers out there who have given away books – perhaps the book is not really being marketed for profit but is a tool to attract people into his various other programs and products by demonstrating value and expertise.
3. Always have an upsell
If you go through the process of ordering a free copy of The Charge, you find that once you have completed the order screen, you are taken to a page with an offer. In this case it was 90% discount off a coaching program which of course is another indication of value to the client and is a very enticing offer! Could you add an upsell offer to a giveaway or low-priced purchase? There is a science behind this – those who have already just signed up or purchased from you are much more likely to buy that next level up. It’s a kind of “striking while the iron’s hot” technique and can make a huge difference to the bottom line of your business.
4. The best things to give away help cement your position
Sure, you could give away pens or a set of Ginsu knives, but how will these position you in your marketplace? Are they likely to be remembered? If you give away a valuable piece of content which is designed to help people in your target market, you are much more likely to not only be remembered, but to be positioned as an expert.
5. Be you
If you check out any of Brendon’s work, from his highly popular YouTube channel, to his websites, even to his autoresponder emails they are consistently injected with his own enthusiastic personality. He gives a key piece of advice on one of the bonus videos he offers with the free book where he goes through 6 key areas on which the most highly successful people focus. One of those was persuasion and the question he says you should ask yourself several times a day is; ” am I demonstrating bold enthusiasm”? It’s a good question – if you’re not particularly enthusiastic about your product or service, why should anyone else be?