Are you Simply Advertising for your Competitors?
When you talk about your offer if it solves a common problem, you are actually advertising for your competitors if you are not clearly different—both in the delivery of the offer and clearly differentiated as the only one they want to buy from!
This is the year of the personal brand.
Be too much like your competitors means they are just as likely to choose them as you.
Most everyone in the marketplace misunderstands:
1. Why people buy, and
2. How people buy.
People don’t buy with logic.
They are not even buying with their conscious mind.
People are buying in the primal brain. The subconscious, where most decisions take place and we aren’t even aware.
Let me explain this a little bit.
When you are comparing something to buy your brain prefers the most efficient decision-making. We don't like to think too hard.
If you have an offer that looks like another offer in the industry. And if you are similar in your personal brand. And if your messaging and content is similar, the buying brain of your client has a hard time deciding between the two and usually won’t buy either one.
Or that client will go off and find someone who is different, then they will buy from that person.
Because if the brain has a third option that is distinctly different it sees two things that are comparable and decides it’s too hard to choose between, then sees one thing that is quite different— we think the third item is desirable and superlative. It’s an easy choice for my subconscious brain.
“Different” can be in the offer and in the brand. Preferably in the brand first.
Because if someone falls in love with you and your brand, they will not buy from other people. They will wait for what you put out into the marketplace.
They will read your emails. They will follow your content. They will recommend you. And they will be client evangelists for you telling people to follow you.
This year is already insanely competitive. I’ve been saying that before, but I’m seeing it more and more.
There’s less good content out there and more controversial content because people are trying to gain your attention.
It has nothing to do with making you mad it has everything to do with getting a reaction and getting engagement. Because it’s getting harder and harder to come by because everything is comparable.
Our brains are overwhelmed with choices.
If you don’t stand out as different, you will not get the sale.
This is the year of the personal brand. You must lean all the way into your differentiator. You must lean all the way into authenticity with yourself.
If you don’t understand positioning, it is the perception about your brand as compared to other people who sell what you sell.
You need to set yourself apart from the rest of the competition.
While everyone else positions themselves based on their skill set, features, etc., you are able to move into the personal brand space where you don’t have competition.
There is no competitor for Beyoncé. You cannot get a Beyoncé concert from Boys 2 Men, no matter how they come to the end of the road. If you want to see Beyoncé, you must get tickets to Beyoncé. There is only one. She is no longer comparative.
This is how you will sell out your high ticket offers this year. By becoming the market of one, the only one who can deliver your programs the way you deliver them.
It’s time to move beyond “know, like, trust.”
Most people are still using the “know like trust.”method.
Get your audience to know about you, like you, and then nurture so they trust you. We still need leads. However, getting the attention of the lead and getting the attention of the right kind of leads in your market is getting harder and harder. It’s also getting more expensive because people are competing for a smaller share of the market, the only part of the market that’s buying.
Since the middle of last year interest rates went up, student loans were called in and the economy has flirted with a recession for months. The price of groceries went up 20 to 30% along with rent and utilities. People are squeezed and they don’t have extra money.
So your best resourced client, the most motivated, and the most financially able are being choosy about what they buy. They’re not buying everything and everyone’s competing for their attention. Which is why it’s getting harder and harder to reach them.
Traditional marketing is designed to get a lead, book the lead and sell the lead.
—> Know (get noticed)
—> Like(marketing)
—> Trust (clients buy.)
The flaw in “know” is actually about how they come to know you. if they don’t know you as an authority or the absolute pinnacle of your market, it’s going to be hard to get their attention in the first place. And if you do get their attention and you don’t have authority, they will disregard you fast because they have a multitude of great choices now.
Back in 2021 you could drop a link, or get someone’s email, send a message and immediately get a sale. Clients are much more savvy now. They won’t just buy to try it out. They’re going to be choosy with how they spend their coins.
Sales coaches won’t tell you this -but the “Like” factor isn’t working either. When they say “just get in front of more people and create relationships, and you’ll make sales.” Seems super simple, right?
Yes 💯% you need to create relationships. For a multitude of reasons. I teach this too. And I have bought small programs to support folks I liked.
Where this goes off the rails is selling high-ticket offers. Just because someone likes you doesn’t mean they’re going to pay you $50,000.
I love going to Disney but the experience has diminished slightly in recent years. Even though we felt like the standards slipped. It didn’t keep us from Disney the last few years. We still paid thousands to go. 🐭
Even though clients might “like” us, if our authority and results aren’t obvious, clients won’t buy. If we aren’t positioned as a personal brand at the top of the industry, it is going to be difficult to get their attention at all.
Our high- ticket offers can’t be commodities. We can’t be a commodity. Commodities are common things like oranges and sugar, sold in almost every market around the world.
There’s only one Disney. I can’t go to the local fair for the same experience. Disney knows it’s not a commodity. They are a market of one.
A client who is going to pay $20,000 or $30,000 or even $100,000 to solve a problem will try to pick the absolute best in the industry.
Or the one who is completely different. The person they see as the best or the only. Just “creating a relationship “ might have worked in the past. It is not working as well now; because proximity without authority isn’t enough anymore.
You’ll need mastery and unrivaled expertise in your arena to charge 30k or 50k or 100k or even one million (yes there are million dollar offers!) but I also believe you’ll need something more. Like DISNEY you must be their ONLY choice.
I’m convinced we need to ditch “know like trust” because it’s SURFACE SELLING higher level offers. And no one is gonna fork over 5 or 6 figures for something shallow.
Set the trends and your audience will see you as the authority.
Differentiation + authority go deep and can’t be faked.
Both stand out as valuable. Especially in intensely saturated markets. And the clients you are seeking -they know value. They know when something is too good to be true. You likely can spot the true from the fake a mile away. This isn’t your first rodeo.
So instead of “know,” I like to use the term “Authority See.”
Your clients need to see you and immediately know you are the authority.
This “authority see” isn’t a slow burn. You need to show up as the only one that can solve their problem.
It’s not arrogance —you just know your stuff. YOU and only you have the answer to your clients specific issue. YOU EXUDE PREEMINENCE. Pricing isn’t an issue anymore because you’re the only one who can help.
Mastery is where it starts. It takes about 4 years or 10,000 hours of practice for mastery, Even so, to stay competitive we must constantly hone our craft. Getting brilliant results so you are on everyone’s list.I know people like that. I’ve bought from people like that. And it didn’t take me 6 months to buy from them. It took a couple of weeks.
Your audience must see you as the authority.
The one who figured it out. The only choice. The AUTHORITY SEE means you are showing up as the only one who does what you do. Everything in your message, visuals, marketing and interaction needs to be top notch. You’ll need cohesion in strategy and conversations plus you’ll need such a clear differentiation in the market that you won’t have to fight for clients.
The other piece of this is the mindset shift where you stop looking at other peoples’ marketing and wondering why they’re booking all the clients! You don’t look around at all. In fact you don’t take your cue from anyone in the industry. You blaze the trail and set the trend. .
This year comparable businesses will fight for not just clients, but also for attention. Attention is going to become a huge commodity. And if you can establish that you are the only one in the industry, you’ll bypass the need to shout into the marketplace and clients will come to you —naturally. They will save up for you, buy all your offers, upsell into your VIP and client clubs, download every podcast episode, and buy all your books to give to friends.
When you are superlative, you no longer compete. And can charge what you wish.
I help you position your brand as high end to charge the prices you want. Your clients will wait for your offers. And your offers will sell out. Without the giant audiences everyone says you need.
