{"id":4256,"date":"2015-02-06T10:14:20","date_gmt":"2015-02-06T16:14:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.growthtools.com\/blog\/?p=4256"},"modified":"2015-09-18T06:12:43","modified_gmt":"2015-09-18T11:12:43","slug":"first-customer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.growthtools.com\/?p=4256","title":{"rendered":"Get your first customer (an incredibly stupid exercise that generated over $1,000,000)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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It’s Friday morning and time for the mailbag.<\/p>\n

But\u00a0a little news from the Harris household before we get started…<\/p>\n

1.<\/strong>\u00a0We just found out that my wife is pregnant. (Boom!)<\/p>\n

2.<\/strong> The poor kid probably won’t have a name until we are forced at gunpoint by the doctor to name it.<\/p>\n

So, if you have any good kid names, feel free to drop them\u00a0into the comment section below.<\/p>\n

Also, I’ll go on record\u00a0saying that Instagram<\/a> and Twitter<\/a> will most likely be filled with adorable little baby pictures in T minus 6 months.<\/p>\n

So if you’re not into that type of thing…you’ve been warned. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

Onward…<\/p>\n

Question #1<\/h2>\n

HOW DO I GET PEOPLE TO READ MY STUFF?<\/strong><\/p>\n

“I wrote an epic blog post but barely anyone\u00a0read it. How do I get people to read it?”<\/em><\/p>\n

-Billy B.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

There is this misconception that all you have to do to get massive amounts of traffic is to write amazing content.<\/p>\n

It’s not true.<\/p>\n

I recently heard an analogy from Jon Morrow<\/a> that illustrated this perfectly.<\/p>\n

Think of the blogosphere as a city.<\/p>\n

In 1995, it was a small country town of 500 people. Everyone knew each other and was intimately familiar\u00a0what was going on in each other’s lives.<\/p>\n

If you opened a new coffee shop\u00a0in town, everyone instantly knew about it and stopped by to visit.<\/p>\n

But now the blogosphere is more like a massive metropolitan city.<\/p>\n

Open a new coffee shop in New York City and no one will pay attention.<\/p>\n

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Simply writing stellar blog\u00a0posts isn’t enough anymore.<\/p>\n

You need something more.<\/p>\n

Here is a simple 2-part system…<\/p>\n

Part #1: Hardcore manual outreach<\/strong><\/p>\n

Step 1: Do BuzzSumo<\/a> and Google searches for the most popular articles written on the topic that your article covers.<\/p>\n

Step 2: Write them all down in a spreadsheet.<\/p>\n

Step 3:\u00a0 Use Opensiteexplorer.org<\/a>\u00a0to make a list of every site that has backlinked to those articles.<\/p>\n

Step 4:\u00a0Use Topsy.com<\/a> to make a list of every influencer who tweeted the articles you found in step 1.<\/p>\n

Step 5: Email all of the people you found in steps 3 and 4 and tell them about your article.<\/p>\n

Results: I recently did this exact process for LeadPages University<\/a> and it resulted in 2,534 new visitors, 350 new email signups and 23 backlinks.<\/p>\n

Part #2: Take your epic post on a content tour.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Step 1: When writing your epic post, be sure to use content upgrades<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Step 2: Tag each individual<\/a> who subscribes to your email list\u00a0from\u00a0your epic post.<\/p>\n

Step 3:\u00a014 days later, send an email to everyone from step 2 and ask them for success stories.<\/p>\n

Step 4: Use the success stories collected as guest posts on other sites. (Be sure to follow the EGP formula.<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Step 5: Use the same content upgrade from your epic post in the guest posts.<\/p>\n

Every time you write an epic post, follow this exact formula and you will get traffic.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Question #2<\/h2>\n

THEY SAID NO. NOW WHAT?<\/strong><\/p>\n

“What should I do when someone\u00a0ignores or turns down my Santa Claus pitch?”\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

-Richard H.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The fastest way I know of to generate money is to sell\u00a0a very specific high-end\u00a0service.<\/p>\n

I’ve talked about this\u00a0over<\/a> and over<\/a> and over<\/a> again.<\/p>\n

One of the most effective ways I’ve found to get customers for your service is to make an incredibly detailed and customized proposal.<\/p>\n

The problem is that it takes 10 to 20 hours\u00a0to do this. And there is a good chance that the first person you pitch will not hire you.<\/p>\n

So, what do you do then?<\/p>\n

What happens when you spend 20 hours on a proposal and you get rejected?<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

..<\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n

Any ideas?<\/p>\n

Answer = get rejected more.<\/p>\n

The first sales manager I ever had forced\u00a0me make a spreadsheet that contained 100 rows.<\/p>\n

Rows 1 through 99 contained\u00a0the word “No”\u00a0and row 100 had “Yes!”<\/p>\n

He told me my job was not to focus on getting a yes from the prospects I was calling but to work the system and get 99 nos.<\/p>\n

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This turned out to be one the smartest things I’ve ever been taught.<\/p>\n

Rejection is HARD.<\/p>\n

But if you’re prepared for it, you are able to overcome it.<\/p>\n

If you go into sales expecting a “yes” from your first prospect, you will not survive.<\/p>\n

The only way to get to “YES” is to get through all of the “NOs”!<\/p>\n

So if you’ve been rejected, here is what you need to do…<\/p>\n

Step 1:<\/strong> Download this spreadsheet<\/a>, and every time you get a “No,” put a check mark in the box.<\/p>\n

Step 2:<\/strong> Don’t stop creating proposals. Pitch once a week until you get a “Yes.”<\/p>\n

Step 3:<\/strong> Create a follow-up system to ping your past proposals at regular intervals.<\/p>\n

Note<\/strong>: I suggest a 7-day, 21-day, 60-day, 90-day, and 120-day follow-up loop.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Question #3<\/h2>\n

WHAT IS MY BUSINESS IDEA?<\/strong><\/p>\n

“I CANNOT for the life of me figure out what area\/topic to pursue. <\/em><\/p>\n

I am passionate about helping small businesses (brick and mortars and online) maximize profits by increasing price, increasing user base, etc.<\/em><\/p>\n

I read up on growth hacking quite a bit. I have a lot of head knowledge but have yet to implement any of it. <\/em><\/p>\n

I’m thinking I should go in that direction.”<\/em><\/p>\n

-Isimemen Q.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Look.<\/p>\n

I’m not a prophet or a mind reader.<\/p>\n

I have no idea what your passions are or what exact idea is going to be “the one” for you.<\/p>\n

BUT…<\/p>\n

There is a process that will help you identify that.<\/p>\n

Jim Collins, in his book Great By Choice<\/em>, calls this “fire bullets then cannon balls.”<\/p>\n

Great companies do small tests to see what works before dumping all of their time, money and resources on any project.<\/p>\n

Once they find an idea that works, they double down on it and focus on maximizing that opportunity.<\/p>\n

You need to follow that exact same process.<\/p>\n

Let me walk you through it.<\/p>\n

Step 1: Make a list of\u00a0your 3-5 broad areas of interest.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I was on a coaching<\/a> call yesterday and we went through this exact process.<\/p>\n

His areas of interest were mindset coaching, health\/fitness and financial planning.<\/p>\n

Step 2: Spend 4 days to come up with as many incredibly specific service offerings you could sell in each of your broad areas of interest.<\/strong><\/p>\n

For example…<\/p>\n

If your broad area of interest was health and fitness, your service offering could be to pick people up at their house every day at 4 p.m., drive them to the gym, show them the workouts to do and drive them back home.<\/p>\n

Make a list of at least 5 service ideas in each of your broad areas of interest.<\/p>\n

Step 3: Pick one service offering in each of your areas of interest.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Go through each service idea you came up with and ask yourself these questions about that service:<\/p>\n