Transcript • The Download, with Ant Hodges • August 2022

DIGGING UP THE GOLDMINE IN YOUR BUSINESS

Welcome to my August download… as introduced last month, this private podcast is a download of my thoughts, reflections and even suggestions to help you grow in your business. I’m excited to be creating these and sharing my thoughts of working in the online and digital marketing space over the last 20 years or so. So much changes in this industry, and so quickly, we all need to stay on top of our game.

If you missed my introduction to these download sessions, click the link above to hear my introduction to The Download.

If you are not subscribed but found your way here some other way than from an email from me, click the button on the top of this page to subscribe and I’ll send you and email with a link to each edition of The Download as it goes live.

The best part, it’s free and as said, I will bring my decades of experience in looking at the online business world into these private podcast episodes – use the thoughts, strategies and tactics to grow your business and achieve the success you’re looking for.

So, on today’s edition of The Download.

Let’s face it…

The world is full of negative talk about the cost-of-living crisis that we are all facing, inflation rates through the roof and so many political challenges going, we don’t know where to turn. Virtually everyone is focusing on scarcity. “We don’t have enough money!” “We don’t have enough customers!” “We don’t have enough credit!” “We are going to go into another recession!” “We need to cut costs!” – I could go on.

As a business owner, entrepreneur, or whatever you want to call yourself, while I agree that it’s good to be aware of what is going on and the need to act differently in this economic climate, but we should also remember that we tend to get what we focus on.

As an example, have you ever noticed that when you are looking for a new car and you have made a decision about what to get, you see even more of them on the road when you are out and about. There is a scientific reason for this not a spiritual one.

Here’s the science part…

…it’s all to do with something called the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon.

Now that your brain has taken note of your new car, and no doubt you have spent a long time wanting it, dreaming about it and even imagining driving it when driving your old car, your subconscious mind will make you think that you are seeing more of them. The mind goes out of it’s way to identify patterns in the thousands of messages that life throws at our brain, and it uses what’s called a confirmation bias to affirm that our new car is everywhere suddenly, when the numbers of them have not changed and they were all around and on the road, even before we thought about getting one.

In the same way, if we focus consistently on lack and scarcity - that will become our reality.

The truth is, we live in an abundant world. Money is EVERYWHERE and it flows from one person to the next when they transact value. People are spending despite economic uncertainty, because they are buying what they need, want or desire… all in order to bring about one thing in their life…

TRANSFORMATION.

So how do you go about serving people in tough times, to bring about real transformation in their lives and still make money?

You step out, step up and serve them.

And I have something to share with you at the end of this download to serve you if you’re interested in working together to finish the year strong.

Almost every business owner I have ever had conversation with over the past 6 months or so, is truly sitting on multiple goldmines of opportunity in their business – simply put, untapped profits.

Here are a three examples of those untapped profits that I know coaches, trainers, course creators, experts, authors and thought leaders are sitting on:

Goldmine #1 – Your Email List

How often do you email your list? Are they well engaged? Do they get value from your emails or do they just ignore them as they come in. Daily emails from some of those that I have bought from annoy the heck out of me. Every day there is a “call to action” to buy something, register for some training or do something else, but when life is busy and I am looking for transformation, emails that give and provide value make deposits into the “Bank of Goodwill” in our email list.

If you are emailing your list regularly, consider adding value and giving calls to action. Maybe two emails of pure value to every call to action. And frequency wise, remember your list has not got the time to read daily emails. Switch up – the best frequency I’ve found is email every 3 or 5 days – once a week can get very robotic and look very automated when the email lands on the same day of the week.

The goldmine to tap into here is the VALUE you give to your list – make deposits into the “Bank of Goodwill” regularly so you can occasionally make a withdrawal. 

Bonus tip here: This will work with your social media too. Keep adding value and seed calls to action in on an occasional basis too. People don’t go into social media to follow people just to get sold to, they follow people that can add value to their lives.

Goldmine #2 – Your Existing Customers

Other than start up’s with zero customers, I have yet to work with a business that does not have the ability to tap into significantly high levels of untapped profits from their existing customers. Once someone has chosen to buy from you, and they have got what you promised in the sale, they trust you.

From a study conducted in 2020 by InvestPro, the likelihood of an existing customer buying from you again is between 60% and 70%. They also found that the chances of getting new customers to buy from you in sales conversations or from advertising is between 5% and 20%.

With the relationship you have with your existing customers, the only question to ask is, “What else could you be offering them in order to transform their lives?” Those that make more sales, present more offers. A focus on getting new customers should not be the only thing to centre all your marketing and advertising efforts on if you have an existing customer base.

Don't be trapped by any thinking that you can only make offers based on their first (or last) purchase. Look at ways to help them go deeper into the transformation they want with another product or service, or indeed a complimentary area of transformation with a completely different offer.

The goldmine to tap into here is the RELATIONSHIP with your customers – keep it fresh, alive and transformational, they will keep buying if you make the offers in the right way in that relationship – don’t be a constant pusher!

Goldmine # 3 – Pricing Increases Over Time

This is so simple, but it’s one that so many never think of. Even if your conversion rate for successful sales, stays the same, and you increase the price of your product or service for new customers, you make more money – simples! Many business owners undersell their services because they don’t look at the real value they are bringing to the lives of their customers. Trust me, I remember the days of selling my agency services at a fraction of what we charge today, as it was all based on time. Now it’s based on value we can see a real change in who we work with and the transformation we bring.

Often there is a fear that sales will slump or slow down as you increase the price, but in reality, testing new prices makes a huge difference. One client that I have worked with for the last eight years has been increasing pricing of his training and masterminds, every year for the last four years. In that time his business as increased by over 300%.

If a price increase feels like a step in a direction that you don't feel comfortable with, there is one way to be able to get over this - start seeing the value that you bring to customers lives through the selling of your products and services. And remember, if someone is meeting you for the first time, they don’t know that you just increased your price. It’s often just in your head.

When you see the value you bring, and you can see real transformation in the lives of your customers, then you can demolish the limiting beliefs you have about the price you are charging. The blockage is often in your own mindset not in the perceived cost to customers that can stop you from increasing prices. Through the power of testimonials and gathering reviews, or just looking at how far you've been able to bring customers from where they were when they started with you, to where they are today, you should be able to see the value you bring and test a price increase. Remember everything in marketing is a test. Increasing your prices is just another test.

The goldmine to tap into here is PROFIT. If there is no increased cost in your delivery of a product, by increasing the price that you charge, the more profit you make. Think about it this way, for every dollar you increase your price by, that increase is 100% profit if your costs remain unchanged.

Those three goldmines again…

The VALUE you can add to those on your email list.

The RELATIONSHIP you can build with your customers.

The PROFIT you can add to your bottom line with price increases

And this is where I would love to serve you. Could we work together over 6 weeks and then spend 2-days together planning your roadmap for success into 2023?

Over the course 6 weeks, on Wednesdays at 5pm UK time starting on 7^th September, I'm looking to work with a small group of business owners who want to tap into the goldmines that they have in their own business. As I am recording this, I already have a couple of people in and they need some company from awesome and ambitious people like you.

My aim is to serve them, and you, in ways to get everything set up for success as we transition this year out and step into the new year, generating more profits by finding the seams of gold to tap into.

I'll be running these weekly private group coaching sessions through Zoom and then once we finish, we will then meet up in person for a two-day deep-dive mastermind summit event. This will be held in London (Heathrow) on 4^th and 5^th November 2022.

If you want to get back into some good habits and really set yourself some clear goals to smash before the end of the year, enabling you to catapult yourself into an environment of real success and have a faster start to 2023 that you would alone, then join me on this 6-week laser focus coaching programme.

How much it this?

£1,500+VAT or three payments of £600+VAT.

In US… that’s $1,800 or three payments of $750.

Got Questions... click the button below and let's chat now....

You can select the payment option that works best for you below if you want to reserve your seat at the table. There are limited spaces available, so be quick and sign up today.

If you have any questions, click the FB Messenger button and let’s chat there tight now.

Please note, for clarity, this is not 1 on 1 coaching, this is about working through a 6-week focussed coaching syllabus to set you up for success and mine those areas of your business for the gold. The mastermind session in November will be your agenda and is included in the cost of this coaching programme. Should you need it, accommodation and travel will be at your own expense. I will feed and water you well during the day sessions we have together.

It's time to commit to some serious action and finish 2022 stronger than expected – and gear up for an awesome 2023.

Let’s do this. Sign up below and if we don't speak, I will see you on the next edition of The Download.

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