How to Build Your Front-End/Back-End Business Funnel

By now, and especially after the PDF I sent out recently, you know that you need a progressive line-up of programs with a low-time/low-LADDERinvestment “front end” that builds to a more-time/higher-investment “back end.” And you’ve heard the rule that “the profit’s in the back-end, ” which is true. You invest in customers at the front-end, but don’t need to continue getting new customers because they flow naturally into the back-end.

So, how do you develop this “ladder” of programs? (I call it the FE-BE ladder.)

Well, as Steven Covey is famous for saying, “You start with the end in mind.”

What is the end result your customer wants? (If you’re this far in strategic planning, I presume you have the foundation set: you know your market,  their greatest pain, what they’d kill to have, and your #1 solution.)

In my case, the experts I serve want a formidable, marketable, one-of-a-kind Inspired Leader business–ready-to-go, ready to change lives, ready to make moneyfast and sans all the pitfalls.

So, what is the final result your customers want?

Next, you want to write down all of the typical mistakes they make on their way to that desired result.  Perhaps their final result is to be in a loving, long-term relationship–but your male customers tend to be too ego-centric,  too career-focused, date too many women at one time, stay distant so as not to be too emotionally intimate–and on and on.

This list now magically reveals the skills they need to learn/actions they need to take.

Man with pen and questionnaire. 3dYou write out that list, from start to completion: what they must learn first, second, third…thirty-fourth…fifty-sixth…until you’ve exhausted everything it will take for them to get to their desired result.

This is a good time to discuss an exception: I didn’t write my list of mistakes my market makes because frankly it’s so numerous, it would take up three paragraphs, but I will use myself as an example now to show you that you may not be teaching skills–as I don’t anymore. I get my clients their “entire business ready-to-make-money” by rolling up my sleeves and doing it with/for them. So, in this case, there are projects they must complete, not so much skills they must learn. If that’s the case for you, then you would write out everything that must be done to arrive at the final destination for your customer.

Now, you have a long list of skills they must learn/projects they must complete. This list becomes your FE-BE ladder! You break those skills/ projects into consumable chunks…i.e. programs. Your first set of skills will be the most-needed, “hot-button skills,” and will comprise your Signature Program.

The next set of needed skills becomes the next-in-the-line-up program. Voila! Easy-peasy. (Well, sort of.)

This is the mistake MOST experts make: Their programs are not progressive. They’re, at worst, a hodge-podge mess of disparate ideas–and at best, good concepts, worthy of a program–but that don’t bridge from the last program.

Why do you want them to bridge? So you don’t have to go out and get new clients! So, the person in Program A moves naturally to Program B, then on to Program C, etc. And you want them to feel compelled to go to the next program because it has the next-in-line skills they know they need to arrive at their desired destination.Picture8

My clients never want to leave my progression, because they know they need every project in my line-up: their one-of-a-kind brand identity and Inspired Thought Leader message…(that’s one consumable chunk, The Powerhouse Method(TM))…then they need to express that in tangible forms: develop their free product, paid product, Portal (free feeder) Program and Signature Program (the next consumable chunk)…then they need a full marketing strategy and the marketing copy, so those tangible items convert (the next consumable chunk), they need all of that tested and evaluated by me (the next consumable chunk) and finally, to deliver it all with dynamic power, they need to learn my system for being one of the most effective speakers/teachers in the world (next consumable chunk.)

In a successful business funnel, each program starts where the last one left off. This is how your Front-End/Back-End ladder should look…and I just gave you a super-fast way to create it. So, don’t waste a minute: go develop yours right now!

BIZLIBSCroppedOn April 16, you’re going to get the chance to evaluate ALL of your funnels: business, marketing and sales on the first-ever “Game-inar:” BizLibs: Funnel Vision. Remember MadLibs? It’s like that: you’re filling in blanks in a fast-paced, timed environment that will squeeze great ideas out of you and show you what you need to improve. You’ll walk out with a KILLER blueprint for exactly what you need to do to integrate your funnels. Just as our endocrine, circulatory, and nervous systems are us, your funnels are your business—and can either be sick or healthy. We’ll get them healthy on this very special webinar. Click here to read more and register!

Your Target Market is the Problem With Your Business

I’ve never met a service entrepreneur who didn’t squirm when confronted by a marketing truism: you must target your market. You cannot serve “everyone.” I cannot tell you the stunts students and clients have pulled, trying desperately to defend their position not to choose a narrow-population market. They fear they’ll be confined, bored, and will lose money. If you relate to that and haven’t chosen a targeted group of people to market to, that is your problem.

You are shooting yourself in the foot and setting yourself up for a business of fits and starts; erratic client income…and invisibility. Furthermore, you won’t be recognized as an expert if you’re talking to “everyone.” Experts are experts because they help a particular group.

So, here are 6 reasons you MUST narrow your market to a slim population and why you’ll FAIL if you don’t:

  1. Your target market IS your business when you’re a service entrepreneur. Every program you offer and information product you develop must be directed and composed specifically for them. If you are targeting “everyone” or straddling a few markets, your program offerings can’t solve the very unique and specific needs and desires of that market and will fly under their radar; they’ll never even “see” what you have to offer because it’s too general.
  1. It’s the fastest (and, most likely only,) way to become an expert. When you have a solution for, say, teen-age girls at risk, you will be noticed and sought out because it is assumed that you have very specialized knowledge and experience with that group. When you stay broad, you will never, ever become an expert.
  1. It clarifies your thinking. Your brain cannot picture “everyone” and so your thinking stays unfocused and broad. When you can see a specific population in your mind’s eye, you are able to form the specific wording that gets noticed by your prospects’ brains—which are always looking for one thing: how does this apply to me, specifically? I always say, “You write only as well as you think.” That goes with anything you’re producing, really. It all starts with a clear image. If you cannot SEE the careers and lifestyles of your market, your thinking is fuzzy and so will be your business identity.
  1. Your promotions get heard and noticed. When you speak to the laser-focused specific needs of your market, you leave them feeling something that is priceless for a business: heard and understood. If you convey your value in vague and general language, it won’t hit your prospect’s heart. EVERYONE wants to feel that they are fully and completely understood. When you have a sliver-population-target-market, you will tailor your message to them; they will feel embraced and understood and valued by you—and compelled to work with you. It is the most powerful, psychological gift you give to people who haven’t worked with you: I know you. I get you. And I can help YOU, specifically.

When a business speaks to everyone, it gets heard by no one.

  1. Your excitement will increase. When your communication about your value is specific to a specific group’s needs, you get excited because suddenly you really know who you’re helping!  You are here to alleviate pain, solve problems—when you are doing that for a narrow population who needs you, the very best of you will spring forth and you will love sharing what you do! Trust me on this. If you are feeling flat about your business–it’s probably because you don’t really know who needs you most. If you’re uninspired, your business will fall away.
  1. Your marketing efforts explode in effectiveness because you know precisely where to put them. You find where your target population congregates, and your articles, website links, advertising, newsletters, etc. go directly to them. The time and effort you put into marketing drops dramatically—something every business owner must appreciate!

I’ve got a 24-page workbook for you that will help you determine your narrow market FAST–AND it also gets really deep into their heads. Part 2 takes you into the “inner psyche” of your market’s minds. You will know exactly what they need so you can build the most marketable programs and write the most compelling copy. And there’s a 2-hour workshop that goes along with it next Thursday, April 19th, when I will coach you to have your perfect buyer AND teach you how to use their psyche to sell. Jump on this asap!!!

8 Sessions with 2 Financial Coaches Who Want Clients

I had an 8-session consultation with two financial coaches
who wanted more clients to walk in the door. There was one
thing they were clear on: once they had clients, these two
coaches would do amazing work with them. The trick was
getting them in the door! Sound familiar?

Over the next 8 days, you’re going to get the chance to
“eavesdrop” in on my sessions with “M&M” and get some
ideas for your own business. This is just a sampling of
the work I do and I decided to make it public—not just
in these blog posts, but in a CD product I’m launching
next week
! You’ll be able to get the actual sessions,
plus 2 great bonuses, starting next Tuesday.

So Session 1 with M&M. Of course, I need to get the lay of
the land: how long have they been coaching, who have
they been coaching, etc. They tell me they were trained
through Dave Ramsey and have been coaching couples
on and off for ten years, mostly giving their coaching
away. Now, they’re ready to make money! I am pleased
to see that they have a somewhat Brain-Sticky differentia-
tion already, promoting themselves as, to paraphrase,
the “seasoned couple working with younger couples.”
This is, of course, very appealing, as what younger couple
wouldn’t want to be guided by an “older and wiser” couple,
who had weathered financial storms in marriage?

I am also pleased to see that they have a target market!
I can’t tell you how many service entrepreneurs don’t.
“Couples” is still too broad, but we can begin to focus this
down by looking at the age of their market’s children. Do
M&M work with very new couples, who have newborns?
Or those who have preschoolers? Or are they in high school,
facing the issue of college? Each “era” has its own difficulties
and it is critical to know which difficulty they want to
address as coaches. They tell me that most of their clients
have children in elementary-school, indicating that (generally),
the parents have been married at least seven years, and up
to 14 years.  These are often pressure-cooker times, when
the honeymoon is over, financial issues are no longer
ignorable and volcanic eruptions occur.

I begin to take M&M through a process I call the “Trigger
Event.”
The fact is, humans walk around thinking they can
handle most of their issues by themselves, or at least with
the help of friends and family. But something happens, one
day—in fact, one moment—that triggers their dawning reali-
zation that they need help. This is a tough exercise for most
people, and M&M and I move right in like “Google Earth” on
their couples, looking in on a typical scene when such an
awakening might occur. They decide the couple is reviewing
a new credit card statement and we move through the entire
scene: what the conversation is like, what eruption occurs,
and what finally “pops the cork;” has one or both of them
blurting out, “We can’t do this alone!”

Why is this important to know? For starters, it is critical
to understand that you won’t make money if your market
isn’t hungry—and they aren’t always hungry. I always tell
my clients and students that your greatest competition is
not someone else, but rather the idea, “I can do this myself.”
But there will be a tipping point when they are in such pain
or frustration they are finally ready to spend money. And
you want to know what that pain is—on a very specific level
—so you can refer to it in marketing copy, creating intimacy
with your market as they “self-identify,” saying, “That’s me!”
—and so you can potentially influence that trigger event in
those who haven’t had it yet. The trials and tribulations are
there in the background, like a humming furnace, but they
haven’t realized they need help yet. You can help them
realize it, by talking about those moments, only if you know
what they are.

So, what is a moment that would wake up your market
from enduring and tolerating whatever is not working for
them? Would love to hear your ideas below! And be sure
to come back tomorrow, when M&M decide on the strategy
they’re going to use to get more clients!

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