The Secret in attracting costumers online
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they might be. What I’m talking about here is a persona that attracts clients or customers
and helps you build your following to eventually make sales. An Attractive Character
allows you to build a platform anywhere you want, whether on email, Facebook, or
YouTube. It doesn’t matter where you show up; your AC will draw people to you.
The first time I learned about personas and characters, I was at a marketing seminar
and heard John Alanis speak. If you look up his name, you’ll find he teaches men how to
get women to approach them. In other words, he teaches guys how to pick up chicks. I
remember he explained how the concept of attracting women was very similar to
attracting customers and making sales. If a guy wants a woman to be attracted to him,
there are certain things he needs to do. And they are the same things you need to do if you
want clients and customers to be attracted to you in your business. He said entrepreneurs
need to create an Attractive Character. This was the first time I had ever heard anyone talk
about this idea. I listened to him talk for an hour, and it made a huge impact on me and my
company.
Think about any business—online or offline. Most successful ones have an Attractive
Character front and center. Take Subway, for example. Subway used to be just another fast
food restaurant like McDonald’s, Burger King, and all the rest. Then somewhere along the
line, the company found this guy named Jared. He was a big guy who weighed over four
hundred pounds. However, he started eating nothing but Subway twice a day, and over the
course of a couple of years, he lost a ton of weight. Subway shared Jared’s story with the
world. They put him in commercials, on billboards, everywhere. By making Jared their
Attractive Character, Subway transformed its business from an average fast food
restaurant to a weight-loss plan. This new tactic completely set the company apart from
the competition. One of the reasons that Subway does so well is because it focuses
marketing tactics around an Attractive Character. People trying to lose weight can relate to
Jared. They understand his backstory, and they want to be like him. If this guy could lose
all that weight just by eating Subway twice a day, then they can too. This same guy has
been bringing in business for Subway for over fifteen years!
Now think about your favorite movies. What was the last movie you saw? Did you
see it because you thought the storyline was intriguing? Or did you go because one of your
favorite actors or actresses was in it? Movies use Attractive Characters because those ACs
bring in the customers. A great example of that concept is the movie Ocean’s Eleven.
When I saw the lineup for that movie, I had no doubt it would be successful. Producers
brought in eleven Attractive Characters, actors who viewers already loved, put them
together in a movie, and Boom! Instant hit. Maybe you’re not a big Brad Pitt fan, but you
love everything Julia Roberts does. So, you go see the movie because she is the Attractive
Character you relate to.
This is why sequels and franchises work so well, generation after generation. If you
loved Harrison Ford as Han Solo in 1977, you probably paid to see all the Star Wars
sequels and Raiders of the Lost Ark, too. And guess what? Nearly forty years later, guess
who’s showing up again to bring you a little more Han Solo? It’s amazing to think that one
mediocre movie created over a generation ago can still pack the theaters and sell tickets by
the millions. That’s the power of Attractive Characters. We love them. We want to be like
them. We relate to their stories. And we buy what they’re selling!
This is one of the big secrets behind the most successful online businesses in the most
competitive markets, like weight-loss, dating, financial investing, supplements, and
ecommerce. All these types of businesses can use an Attractive Character.
I started noticing how this works in my own business when I started speaking at
seminars and selling products from the stage. The first few times I spoke, I was still in
school at Boise State University. I was a student athlete in the wrestling program, and that
information would come out when I told my story from the stage. I talked about wrestling
and coaches and lessons I’d learned from the sport. When it was time to sell at the end of
the presentation, I noticed that the people who came to the back to buy my product were
mostly male athletes. They would say, “Hey, man, I played football in college.” Or, “Hey,
I’m a lacrosse player.” I didn’t realize it at the time, but my story was promoting an
Attractive Character that other male athletes could relate to. Interesting.
A few years later, my wife and I were trying to start a family. Like so many couples
these days, we had some trouble getting pregnant. We went through a long process, but
after a few months with a fertility doctor, we ended up getting pregnant with twins. I
remember speaking at a seminar, and for some reason, I felt like I should tell that story. I
was kind of nervous because I didn’t usually share intimate, personal stories. But for
whatever reason, I did share that story with the audience and tied it back to my
presentation. Then I went through my sales close as usual.
When I looked to the back of the room, something weird happened. The athletes were
still there, but now there were wives, mothers, and families buying my products, too. I
thought, How interesting! I shared something about my family, and suddenly there’s a new
segment of the audience attracted to that part of my persona. This new audience segment
suddenly felt they could relate to me, so they had enough trust to purchase from me. That
had never happened before.
I remember another time when my company was launching a product called
MicroContinuity. Before we released the product, we had done a few workshops teaching
the system to people. One student, Joy Anderson, launched a very successful
MicroContinuity program, which is still successful today. When it came time to launch the
product, I decided I was tired of telling my story, so I decided to tell Joy’s story instead.
So, we launched the product and sold over eight thousand units, grossing over a million
dollars in sales in just two weeks. A few months later, we had a workshop for people who
had bought the program. I remember being amazed as I looked out over the audience and
saw a fifty/fifty split of men and women. Typically, my workshops are about 90% men,
but this one was totally different. At the end, we surveyed the attendees to find out why
they had come to the workshop. Almost without exception, all the women said, “I want to
be Joy Anderson.”
I kept seeing examples of this trend; the people who related to my stories were the
ones who bought my products. So, a few years ago, I started teaching this concept of the
Attractive Character. The students who implemented what I’m about to teach you here
totally transformed their businesses. All of the major success stories from any of our
coaching programs got results by building huge brands and platforms around an Attractive
Character.
This concept can mean the difference between making one thousand dollars a month
and making one hundred thousand a month. How attractive are you? How interesting are
you? Why would someone tune in to watch a TV special about your story? You might be
thinking, But I’m not that interesting. I promise that I didn’t feel very interesting when I
first started out either. But if you find ways to share your backstory, you can make it
compelling, and people will follow you because of a personal connection.
There are three components to creating an Attractive Character:
- Elements
- Identity
- Storylines
follow. In the upcoming chapters, we will discuss how to introduce the facets of your
Attractive Character to your audience, but for now, you need to focus on building out your
own Attractive Character profile. We’re going to go through that process in detail right
now.
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