AMY PORTERFIELD: Hey there! Amy Porterfield here and welcome to another edition of the Online Marketing Made Easy Podcast. Now, the last time I recorded, I was in my old condo and I was covered with boxes. Meaning, boxes were all around me because we were just getting ready to move into what I’d like to call our dream home.
We are now officially in the new house and I couldn’t be more excited. If you’ve ever waited and waited and waited and saved and saved and saved to do something in your life and you finally get to do it, you know firsthand how it feels to finally accomplish a big goal like that. And buying this house was a huge goal for me and my husband, Hobie. So it’s just an exciting time.
Now, I’m kind of in a makeshift office right now. We quickly got my podcasting equipment up and running because I had an interview to do today. And so, everything is a little bit of a mess at the new place still but still, I couldn’t be happier. So I just want to let you know, we have officially moved the headquarters. Porterfield headquarters is in a new area literally ten minutes away from the old place but it feels like a world away. So that’s kind of an exciting thing.
So here’s the deal. Today, we are going to be diving in to a strategy, a specific strategy that will help you determine what your core customer wants and needs. Now, here’s the deal. If you’re anything like me, this is one area that you might have struggled with along the way.
It’s not always easy and it’s a bit overwhelming. It actually frustrates me at times, at least it did in my early years. So that’s why I’ve invited my good friend, and I mean it, she’s a truly good friend and I’ll tell you why, Pam Hendrickson on the show today.
Pam is going to break down a strategy to help you find out what your audience wants and needs. Now before we get to that, I got to tell you, Pam and I go way, way back. She actually was the very first one to interview me and she hired me for my first position at Robbins Research International, which is just a fancy name for the Tony Robbins Company. So she was my first big boss.
I have spent hours and hours and hours that equates to years and years and years with Pam on the road travelling the world, creating content that Tony uses on stage and in his programs and products.
Now, Pam was with Tony almost 20 years. I always say she’s like his right-hand woman but she did a lot of amazing, amazing things to help him build the business he has today. Now, she wouldn’t give herself all that credit but I sure would because I have seen her work. So she definitely is a very unique individual in terms of what she knows and what she can do with content. So that’s why I’ve always been impressed with her work.
Now, Pam has always been a mentor and a teacher to me from day one but I also consider her a great friend now that we’ve both left corporate. We still stay in touch, we’re great friends, and we talk shop all the time meaning, business, business, business which is kind of my favorite topic. So let me get official here because I really want you to understand Pam before we bring her on.
So Pam has been producing, launching and marketing highly profitable products for many of the top names in the personal and professional development industry for over 20 years. In addition to consulting with entrepreneurs, celebrities, and CEOs, Pam spent almost 20 years at Robbins Research International where she worked directly with Tony Robbins as the Executive Vice-President of Content and Product Development. Pretty cool, right?
Pam is also a bestselling author along with her colleague, Mike Koenigs of Make, Market, Launch It, the ultimate product creation system for turning your ideas into income. Now, what’s neat about Pam is she is also magna cum laude graduate of Brown University and she has grown her consulting and product development business to seven figures in just under two years.
This past year, she received a 2103 Bronze Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year and also for Woman of the Year. Pretty impressive if you ask me. So
here’s the deal. She has a very fancy background, a great education, now here’s what I truly love about Pam. She is real, she is honest, and she is the first person that will tell you about all of the mistakes she made along the way.
So she may have a fancy degree and a really amazing resume but she still extremely genuine and she is there just to help you. You’ll see this in the interview. She just wants people to really be able to make an impact with whatever business that they’re in. And I love that about Pam. So I would not waste any more time. Let’s go ahead and jump in.
Pam, thank you so much for being here. This is truly a treat.
Pam: Thank you so much, Amy. It’s a treat for me back. And we’ve been friends for a long time and it has just been wonderful to watch all the great things that you’re doing and I appreciate the opportunity to connect with you and your community.
Amy: What’s so cool, I haven’t really said the story here inside my intro, at least I mentioned it a little bit but as everyone listening here knows, Pam and I used to work together with Tony Robbins. And Pam hired me. You were my first boss there at Tony Robbins for a long time. But this is what’s crazy, Pam. You’re in your home office right now. I’m in my home office. And years ago, and it doesn’t seem that long ago, we were working our tails off together at corporate.
Pam: I know. And I think about that so much because I’m so grateful for that experience and I think it’s something hopefully that people can relate to is just working at a job and thinking, “Oh my gosh! How am I going to transition into having my own business?” And it is, it’s often a bumpy transition, right?
Amy: Yes.
Pam: But it’s the benefit of just being able to schedule your time, how you want it and do what you want to do and call the shots in your own business is just amazing.
Amy: I love that you said that you don’t take it for granted and you’re so thankful for the time we had in our environment when we were working with Tony because so much of what I do in my business and how I run a business is because of what I learned working there. And also, I have to give you credit here, how I created my content, how I do my training courses, how I put my outlines together, all from you. If you guys don’t know,
Pam is a master at putting content together. So I got to give you kudos for that, Pam because I wouldn’t have this success I have in terms of the content I create without your just teaching me everything you know.
Pam: Well, I appreciate that. Thank you for that. And I often like to call my career 4,827 mistakes I made and help other people not make them. And I think – and also, we definitely learned a lot by making mistakes and it’s one thing I appreciated about you is just – and I think that’s a success principle for business is not being afraid to make mistakes and you’ve just always been somebody to go for it and you know what, we’ll figure it out and we’ll learn it.
But to kind of segue into what we’re here to talk about today is you talked about OK, being able to create content or products or services but why I’m so excited for our conversation today is that what took me a while to figure out in my business is that if you can’t put that into a system in marketing and you can’t communicate that to customers in a way that they’re really going to respond then you can have the best content in the world but it just doesn’t matter.
Amy: It’s so true. Obviously, it’s the foundation of our business. But here’s a big question. What do you think it cost our business when we don’t get it right in terms of what our customers need and what our customers want?
Pam: Right. I love that question because it is. Marketing is the foundation of everything we do. And I think a lot of us know that the foundation of our marketing comes from really understanding who our target audience is, understanding a lot about them and basing all of our messaging and our marketing and our communications and our products and services off that.
But when you don’t have it right, what happens is it’s like there’s just this little disconnect. And it breaks my heart because the intent is there and you want to really help people but it doesn’t hit because the message isn’t a direct hit.
And I’ll give you an example. When I first went out on my own, I know you took the leap before I did. I was kind of watching, “OK, how is it going with Amy?” I’m kidding. But when I did take the leap, honestly, I was probably over confident.
I thought like 18 years of experience with Tony Robbins, I have this education, we know a lot of people in the industry. It’s a going to be great. And it was the opposite of great. I completely fell flat on my face and not only in my first product launch but my first couple of product launches didn’t do well and it was like, it was great content but it was crickets when it came to responses.
I just – I couldn’t figure out why that really was. And I was like, “Gosh! I have so much great content. These products and services are great. Why aren’t they selling?”
And once I figured out the why which is that I just wasn’t messaging them properly, I wasn’t communicating them properly and what they really were to my audience because I didn’t know my audience. So the consequence is I think if you feel like you’re banging your head against the wall or you have promotions that maybe aren’t going the way you want them to go, the first place to really look is the market and A) is it the right market and B) do you really, really understand who that market is?
Amy: That’s so perfect because that kind of leads me to my next question I had for you which is in terms of there are tons of exercises and tools that you can use to really learn about your audience, but here’s one thing I know. I think that they’re flawed. What mistakes are we making when we’re trying to define who our target market is? Because it’s kind of a painful exercise for most of us.
Pam: It is. And I agree. I love that word flawed because I think you’re right about that. And the reason I think they’re flawed is I don’t know – and I think you’ve probably went through similar thing that I did which is I was taught two things. Narrow your market. Really focus in on specifically as you can on a specific type of person you want to help and then we’re all taught to do this ideal customer exercises where you kind of write down who you like to work with, who gets the best results from your business.
It’s a great exercise but it’s really only the first step. And I think also what happens is we do this exercise and then we set it aside and then we kind of feel like we’re done and we move forward but we don’t make it an on-going process in our business.
And so what happens is it’s either not specific enough or it creates this illusion that we think we know who our market is. But again, we’re just a little bit off or we haven’t taken it that step further to really understand the pain they’re in and the problems they’re experiencing which is really the crux of what makes your marketing work.
When you can target it so specifically that you understand the exact precise problems that your market has then your marketing is a slam dunk.
And then copywriting and all those other things that I think it’s easy to struggle with that I used to struggle with are so easy because you know exactly who you’re talking to and you know you’re right about it but you can speak in terms solutions to their problems.
Amy: Oh, so true. I think with the copywriting, that was something I struggled with from day one. And now that I’ve been doing this for a while, I notice that it’s getting easier but it’s not getting easier because I’m better at copywriting. It’s getting easier because I know my audience better. So I totally agree with you on that.
But here’s the deal. If we’re not doing an ideal customer avatar type exercise, what should we be doing instead?
Pam: Right. So I do think that’s a great place to start. And I will say you hit the button on what the magic is for good copy which is just authenticity. I love your email marketing and all your messaging and all your social messaging because it’s very real and I know you personally. It’s a very direct match. Who you are is really the same in all this different context and I think that’s really, really important.
So I do think starting doing some type of ideal customer exercise is a good place to start. I don’t want to say, “Don’t do that or if you’ve done that, that is a good thing to do.” But then I think I’ve got three steps I kind of outlined for you that I think help take it further and make it more specific and make it more effective.
And so, we can go through all of them if that’s cool. Amy: Yes, let’s do it.
Pam: OK, cool. So I’ll give you an overview of them and then we can break them down. So the first one is just a very tactical, OK, what are some specific things you can do and strategies. I know you’re a strategy person so we can talk tactics a bit. Then there is a relationship component to it, creating a relationship with another human being that’s meaningful. And then the last part is an emotional connection to that audience. So tactical, relationships, emotional, TRE I guess.
Amy: TRE, OK. Good. So I like how – this is the way Pam’s mind works. She breaks it up and makes it really easy for us which is perfect. So Pam, break down the tactical for me.
Pam: OK, great. So, the tactical is just a couple of things. I think the first thing is just thinking about this as an on-going process in your business. And so, whatever you know about your customers today, maybe it’s a lot, maybe it’s a little, maybe you have some data to back it up, maybe you don’t but just start by writing that down so you have a place to start. And then it’s just – if you take ten minutes a day for a week or two, that’s enough to really start to hone in and make it more specific and really connect it to those customer problems.
And so, the tactical side of it is I love surveys so I think if you have a list, surveying your list and asking them what they want and asking them what are the biggest problems they experience, I think is a really, really powerful thing to do.
Then I think if you can back that up with some research and some market data, then that gives you a little bit more in the tactical side. And I think a big key to this is looking at your competition or your colleagues or your complimentitors. Right?
Amy: Right.
Pam: Competitors and complimentitors. But I think just looking at what they’re doing, and chances are, if they’re doing something and they’re doing it over and over again or if you see ads that they’re doing over and over again, they’re doing it because it’s working and it gives you a very, very specific way to kind of confirm who they are. So if you can do a survey, I think surveys are great.
And social media is a great thing to do too. If you don’t have a list, you can do a survey and just put the link to it on your Facebook account and you will get responses. The market research, I love doing keyword research.
Amy: Nice.
Pam: And there are a couple of resources or tools I’ll give. I know you love tools. So one of those is KeywordSpy, K-E-Y-W-O-R-D S-P-Y so KeywordSpy.com. And there’s one called iSpionage, which is just like, I-S-P-I-O-N-A-G-E.com. And if you go in there, you can look at what keywords people are using, what advertising they are doing over and over again and you’ll see, not only where the searches are but where the money is. Those are terms and that’s the language that your audience is using.
So depending on – you don’t have to be like a PPC expert to do it. It just gives you a sense of what your competition is doing, which is really powerful.
And then the last one I’ll give you is just – if you Google market research on whatever your industry is, you’ll find some reports and there are some inexpensive or free reports out there that I think are really, really helpful just to kind of understand your market. I’ll give you one on those too which is PewResearch.org. It’s P-E-WResearch.org.
So I’m getting very tactical here but again, it’s just like ten minutes a day and just get in there and just take a look around and see what you think and start to confirm the details about who your audience is. So that’s the very tactical side but just – the takeaway is ten minutes a day, look at your competition, if you can survey them, that’s great, and just start to break down the details, how old are they, are they male or female, what’s their educational level, what’s their income range, do they have kids, are they married, that kind of stuff.
Amy: Perfect. So really – I love the fact that you know people don’t have a lot of time and again, this tends to be a little bit painful for some but when you break it down and tell me ten minutes a day and I could use some of these tools, that’s very doable.
Pam: Yeah. I think so. And I think like I said, it’s just you get smarter and smarter as you go and you learn more and more. And then the other stuffs are really super easy. So the tactical one, if you can type in a web address into your computer, you can do it.
Amy: Yes, exactly. OK. So one thing that when you and I were talking about this, you had mentioned to me that there are five core problems that we all need to really I guess investigate more. So tell me a little bit about that.
Pam: Great. So I think once you start to understand the detail of what we call demographics about your audience which are just like I said, the age range and male or female, educational level, income, that kind of stuff. Then I think the key is being able to take it one step deeper.
If you can then start to translate that into five main problems or what we call, five core problems that your audience has, these are the things that keep them awake at night. These are the things that the person struggles with that are big, big frustrations for them, that are deeply, deeply on their mind, that’s the connection point and that’s what kind of connects the tactical information or the demographic information with your ability to connect with that audience.
And so – and it doesn’t have to be five. It can be three problems. It can be four problems. I like to pick five because then I think it gives you a bigger sense of who your audience is and it just gives you more content to be able to put out because then you can put content out that deals with all these five problems.
But it’s really understanding and being able to take that information. It’s one thing to say, “OK, well, my audience is moms. They’re in their 30s. They’re college degrees. Their children are under five. They’re married.” That’s all intellectual data. But then to be able to break that down and say, “OK, these moms are struggling with they don’t feel like they have any time to get everything done.
They are incredibly stressed about time. They don’t feel like they’re taking care of themselves. Their health is a big issue. Really supporting their relationships with their spouses is a big issue because the kids are always kind of getting in the way of that relationship.”
Amy: Yeah.
Pam: So being able to take that and translate it into problems is what allows you to really have that connection with your customers. And a lot of times, it’s just asking them. So if you’re surveying your list, just asking them, what are the big problems they face?
You could give them a list of problems and they can rank them or you can ask them to answer the question, whatever, however you want to do it. But being able to break it down into those problems is so key because that’s the foundation of the solutions you offer.
And then I don’t know about you, but when I first started, obviously, you’re always giving me wonderful Facebook tips and social media tips and content marketing tips. But the thing I struggled with, Amy, was I didn’t know what content to put out.
Amy: Yes, that’s a big one.
Pam: Oh my gosh! And I would put something out and it would get engagement and I would get responses and I think, “Well, that’s weird. I don’t really know about that engagement.” And I would put something out that I thought was great and no one responded. So it was like – I just felt like it was hit or miss approach and what I like to call random acts of content where you’re just testing and putting things out there.
And so, once I was able to really hone in on, “OK, these are top problems of my audience.” Now, all of a sudden, I know what to put out in all my content marketing. I know what to focus on. I can write an article that addresses one of the problems. I can put out little tips or snippets that really relate to these core problems. And it just changes everything.
Amy: It really does. And quite honestly, just makes everything easier which is a huge bonus of course in itself. So this is good. So we talk about tactical. So does tactical include the five core problems?
Pam: Yes, I would because any tactical is just anything informational about your market. It includes starting to understand the problems. And then the other two steps are really going to help you hone in on those five core problems.
Amy: OK, perfect. So tell me about number two then.
Pam: OK. Number two – so we talked about tactical. Number two is R for relationships, and this is where you are amazing at this.
Amy: Oh, thanks.
Pam: But what relationships – I’ll tell you why so you know where I’m going with this. But it’s creating and cultivating relationships with your audience is what allows you to really confirm or take it one step deeper.
So it’s kind of like the whole – let’s say I’m at the gym. OK, I haven’t been to the gym in a while. But let’s pretend that I’m at the gym and somebody just ask me to take a little survey where I fill out a little information about myself, they’re going to understand something about me.
There’s a difference between that and a mom getting on a step climber next to me where we start talking about what we’re experiencing and what is like to have children and the challenges that we’re struggling with.
So it’s by cultivating the relationships, and it’s one of the things I love about social media is that people will share. They’ll tell you what’s going on. But it’s deeper than that. It’s going to events and it’s taking any opportunity you have to get in front of your customers, get in front of your audience or your market and even other people, other colleagues and other competitors or complimentitors in your field and talking to them all about what’s going on and what they’re experiencing and just asking them and then listening to what they have to say.
And it’s one of the things I really watch how you built your business early on. You still do this. You’ve always been wonderful about connecting with your audience but you go to events.
Amy: Yes.
Pam: You’ll go and you’ll participate and you’ll network and you’ll meet people and you’ll follow up and you really cultivate those relationships. And I think – so often, we know it’s important but we don’t do it because we get busy or whatever else happens.
It’s such a key thing to moving your business forward. And I really think it was one of the really good strategic things that you did early on which was just cultivate relationships and really listen to what people were struggling with and what they wanted.
Amy: That’s so true. And two things you said here that I really want to highlight and one being that having those conversations with people, I love that example, you could take a survey at the gym and tell them what you think or you can get on a stair climber and talk to the person next to you and you could really learn a lot about just them in general. And so, social media allows you to do that.
Now, there’s a lot of talk that Facebook organic reach is down and no one is seeing your posts and all that stuff. And there is some truth to it. But here’s the deal. What about the people that are seeing your post? Are you reaching out to them? Are you asking them questions? Are you listening to them? We don’t need the masses. We don’t need a million people to tell us what they think in order for us to really understand our audience. Would you agree?
Pam: That’s such a great point, Amy. And I’d actually like to ask you a question if I can.
Amy: Yeah.
Pam: Because you’re so good about this, is so I know one of the things that is hard is sometimes it can feel difficult to make the time to do this not just online but going to events and meeting people. So, I would love to just hear your mindset about how you approach that especially when you were building your business and how you approach – just how you approach in your business.
Amy: You are the first person that made me aware of – Pam and I, we always eat sushi. So we are doing sushi one night and you would said that about, “When you first started, Amy, you went to a lot of events and I think that helps you.” And you’re so right.
In my first let’s say, two years, I went to so many different types of events. So either events that had my ideal audience at the event or events that had my peers so I could learn about what they’re doing and find out what’s working for them and what’s not working and all that
good stuff.
So I was really strategic. And I will say it was exhausting. It was a lot of travel. Here, we left Tony Robbins where we travelled our tails off and then I get out into my own business and now I’m still on a plane most of that first year. However, you’re
definitely right. That made a huge impact. I was able to get out there and see people. Look them in their eyes and understand what it is that they’re frustrated about, what’s keeping them up at night, and really listening. Plus, it kind of puts you on the map. When people see you online, that’s one thing. When they meet people in person, it’s almost like you have a fan for life if you’re genuine and you actually connect with them.
So that definitely made a huge difference. Now, I will say, now that I’ve been at it for a while, I am trying to get on the road less. However, I would never stop going to some strategic events because I think it makes a huge difference in making sure I continually understand what my audience needs. And there’s no better place to do that than in event where they’re learning let’s say social media or they’re learning list building or whatever. You hear a lot of good conversations as you’re sitting waiting for the next speaker kind of thing.
Pam: That’s great. I love it Amy. And I think it’s – nothing replaces – I think it’s almost like the paradox of the more technology takes over our lives, the more important it is that we continue that face to face, belly to belly really personal contact interaction. And it may not be possible to go to all the events that you went to but I think picking a couple of strategically or even just locally.
I mean you can start just going to Chamber of Commerce events and there’s usually Rotary Clubs in every town and just get out there. You can get a little bit of experience speaking that way. But I do, I think those relationships are key. So I love that.
Amy: Yes. And I will add to that and then we’ll jump to the third. But I’ll add that it was never easy and I’m not very comfortable in a crowd and although some people would think I’m an extrovert, I am definitely not. So it was difficult to start those conversations and it was difficult to get up on stage for the first time and all that good stuff.
But I am a firm believer that you’ve got to be uncomfortable some of the time in order to stretch yourself. And I know Pam you would agree with that, right?
Pam: No question about it. And I think sometimes too, it’s that we’re uncomfortable that makes it relatable and it’s something I think you and I have a big point of connection about is that it wasn’t all flowers and roses and unicorns and rainbows when I started my business. And I know you went with your …
Amy: No.
Pam: … business too. But I think it’s when we’re not afraid to talk about that. And that’s really taking the relationship stuff one step further is getting to know and really talking to your audience to understand what their problems are but then being willing to share yours too. It’s just – it’s real. It’s what creates a real relationship.
Amy: It’s so true. Now, here’s the deal. Once people start to do the tactical and they start interacting with their customers more, most of us are thinking, “OK, we’re ready to jump in. Let’s do this.” But we’re actually missing that third point which is really crucial to this whole strategy here. So talk to me about that third point.
Pam: Great. And that’s the E, the emotional side of it. So there’s tactical, there’re relationship, and then you’ve got to take it one step further which is the E, the emotional. And the emotional is really kind of the opposite of the tactical. The tactical, you’re not thinking about it, you’re not feeling anything, you’re just gathering information.
The emotional is the opposite. It’s all feeling. And I really have to credit. I had a friend of mine coached me on this. Well actually, I did a lot of work with Frank Kern, who is a well- known internet marketer, I know you know Frank as well, early on in my career. And Frank really taught me to do some exercises to really create empathy and really associate with my target audience.
But I had a friend one day and we were talking and we came about this idea of, you know what, just sit down and take 20 to 30 minutes, get quiet. It can be a walk outside. It can be sitting in front of a fireplace, whatever is meaningful to you and just think and associate and feel what your target audience is feeling. And I know that might sound a little out there, a little esoteric or a little weird. But it’s really feeling what they’re feeling at a level where you start to experience it.
And I tell you, it was working on a product launch. And of course, the first thing I do when I create any offer, any launch is you sit down and you figure out who the audience is and then you start to figure out the core message of that audience.
So what I did before even really got to the messaging part was I just sat down and I just started thinking about my target audience and this problem that I knew they had. And oh my goodness, Amy, as I did this, I got to the point where I started to cry. I mean I could literally picture and feel this person sitting on their sofa at night thinking about their problem, them getting emotional about it and the pain that they’re in. And it was just this profound, profound experience but it’s like you know and you’re there and it’s the fastest way out of stress is to really think about another person, right?
It’s like I know with kids, right? For me, I can be stressed about something in my business but I have two little boys. One of them comes running in and they’re hurt or they have a problem, everything else melts away and you’re just focused on them.
Well, it’s the same thing with your audience. And so taking that time to really feel what they’re feeling and letting yourself go there is so powerful because then when you sit down to write whether it’s a blog post or a Facebook post or an offer, whatever it is, the sales letter or sales page, you know exactly what to say because you’re in there. You’re literally in their shoes.
And so, getting in that habit, you don’t have to do it at that level every time you sit down to write but if you do it even one time at that level then it’s in your body, so to speak. Like you know what they’re feeling and then when you sit down and get to work, it’s a completely different experience. And then you just kind of make it part of your ritual. You just associate to what they’re feeling when you sit down to write.
Am I getting weird or is this making sense?
Amy: No, this is actually – I just kind of had a little bit of an aha moment with this where I’ve never done this deliberately meaning, this emotional side. And this is kind of big. This is the kind of a little bit out there, something that you don’t usually hear but so important.
And I’ve got to tell you a quick little example. I’ve had the Profit Lab Program for years now and it has always been good and it has always gotten people results. But it always has frustrated people as well. And I started to really pay attention as you’re teaching here, I started to pay attention to what they’re saying, where
they’re struggling, where they’re getting stuck, why they’re not getting the big results I wanted, and I started to feel it because I was getting stressed for them like, “What is going on? I have this great program and I just feel their angst and their confusion.”
So I went back to the drawing table with all those emotions and feelings that they were feeling and I rearranged the program. I made it better and made it easier to follow. And the feedback has been amazing. I’m not saying this to toot my own horn. I’m saying that I get it. Like I finally felt it and it made me do better work, so perfect example, Pam. I love that.
Pam: Yeah. And I think sometimes for me, it’s like – you know this because you and I have stayed up very late into the night working on …
Amy: Oh my God!
Pam: … still in corporate, we spent many nights together. I probably went through greater times spending more late nights with you than my husband. So you and I spent so many of these late nights together and kind of like went through these frustrations and stuff.
But I think what happens sometimes is that you know me pretty well and you know that I can be pretty good at beating myself up and knowing my flaws and being way too familiar with my flaws.
Amy: Right.
Pam: So, what happens I think is because I’m already beating myself up, then to kind of start to feel about what might not be right with my customers is like it’s almost more than you can handle. You know what I mean?
Amy: Yes, I do.
Pam: So it’s just kind of realizing, “You know what? It’s just not about you. It’s about them and it’s about who you’re here to help and who you’re here to serve.” And it’s so ironic because we get into business because we want to help. We want to save people from having to learn what we had to learn or making the mistakes we had to make or going through whatever it is we had to go
through. And so I think it’s kind of when we can get out of our own way, and be willing to really emotional feel that and associate to that, that’s when I think the real power happens.
Amy: Yes. And this is hard for me sometimes but step away from the ego side of it because when I get emails that say, “Amy, this part doesn’t make sense in your program or I’m really frustrated.” At first, I want to be like, “Well, you’re not trying hard enough.”
Again, this little devil in the back of my head saying that. And then I think, “Wait a second, Amy. Like put your ego aside. Maybe you need to teach it in a different way.” And when you start letting your customers really give their opinion and feedback in and fears and you open a space for them to do that, I feel like we start creating better products, programs and services. So, totally on the same page with you on that.
OK. So I’m going to switch gears just a bit. But a lot of the times, my audience will say, “OK, great. These three steps are great. But where the heck do I start?” So can you give me just one quick way to hit each one of these three you’ve mentioned?
Pam: I will. And again, keep it simple. And just – I think the big, big takeaway at the 30,000 foot-level is just think about this as an on-going process in your business. And ten minutes a day for a week or two to really get in the habit of it but then just periodically, just make it a part of your process, really understanding what your customers are going through. And it becomes natural. I mean really, I find within a week of doing this or two weeks of doing this, it’s so powerful, we just continue to do it.
So tactically, the first thing is the tactics, right? It’s just ten minutes a day for let’s even just say, a week. Ten minutes a day per week, you’re going to go and do a little bit of research. You’re going to go look at some of the social media accounts that your audience is on or some of the blogs that they follow. You’re going to Google market research. You might look at PewResearch.org, which is a resource we gave you.
You might look at some of the keyword tools like KeywordSpy or iSpionage and you’re just going to go and you’re going to look at what your competition is doing. You’re going to look at what your customers are saying and just get some
data about what’s happening with them online. Or you could do a survey. Surveys are a quicker way to cut to the chase to get it done. So, one of those two things, you’re just going to take ten minutes a day and you’re going to get that done.
So that’s the tactics. The second part which is the relationship part, just pick one thing. One event or conference you’re going to go to whether it’s local or whether it’s regional, whatever makes the most sense for you, just one thing that you’re going to do so you can get in front of your customers belly to belly and create a deeper relationship with them.
And then thirdly, for the emotional side of it, just take 30 minutes, 20 minutes and sit down and get quiet and just start feeling the pain and the problems that your market is experiencing. Just don’t filter, don’t start writing anything down. Just feel what they’re feeling and get yourself in that place. And literally, I mean all of this is under an hour to get done.
But it makes such a profound difference in your business because then all of a sudden, you’re not struggling with what content do I put out and what products do I create and how do I market them and what’s my marketing message. It creates the foundation for marketing in your business.
Amy: OK. So I’m going to put you on the spot because I can’t remember the exact quote but what did Tony used to always say about not leaving the scene of a training or – what was that?
Pam: It’s one of my favorite quotes. It’s about scheduling things and making them real. So what he says is, “What’s talked about is a dream, what’s envisioned is exciting, what’s planned becomes possible but only what’s scheduled is real.”
Amy: OK. That is good.
Pam: Yeah. And just put ten minutes a day in your calendar. We can all find ten minutes for a week. Ten minutes maybe is 9:00 to 9:10 in the morning every day for the next week and then maybe 20 minutes on Friday afternoon to really associate to your customers.
Amy: OK. So with that, scheduling it, what I want you all to do is pay close attention here. So we’re going to wrap it up. But Pam did something extra special, something that’s totally free but specifically for those listening to my podcast right now. And so Pam, I want you to talk about what you’ve put together because I think you’re the first guest on the show that went out of their way to record a video specifically for this audience and put together something really cool.
Pam: Well, I’m happy to do it, Amy because I just think it’s so powerful. So if you go to PamHendrickson.com/Amy and I’ll spell my name, it’s P-A-M H-E-N-D-R-I-C-K- S-O-N. So, it’s PamHendrickson.com/Amy, A-M-Y. And what I have there is a special report that walks you through not only the details of really what we’ve been talking about which is how to hone in on who your ideal customer is and their five core problems, but then it helps you take it one step further and put it into a special simple of marketing your business to figure out what content to put out, what products to make or how to tweak your products so they sell better and then how to put it in a simple scheduled marketing system that gets results.
And so, I’ve recorded a video just for you that walks you through what’s in the special report and then you have the special report so you can go back and look at it and be able to take action on what you’ve learned here.
Amy: Perfect. So it’s PamHendrickson.com/Amy but I’ll put it in the show notes and link to that at AmyPorterfield.com/36 which is the number of this podcast, so just the number 36. So that’s an easy way to get to it as well.
So here’s the deal, Pam. This was awesome. I feel like this was just a mini training that people can actually take action with right away. So, thank you so much for being prepared and really, really putting some effort into making this a fantastic session.
Pam: Well, thank you, Amy. It’s always a privilege to be able to connect with you and I love everything that you’re doing and it’s a gift to me to be able to be a small, small part of it. So –and my hope is that we’ve given people tools here that they can use that prevents them from having some of the challenges that I know I experience when I started out and some of the promotions that I did early on, it just didn’t connect.
Amy: Amen to that. I totally agree. So thank you again so very much. And again, go check out the show notes at AmyPorterfield.com/36 for that special link to the
free gift that Pam just talked about. So thank you everybody. Have a wonderful day and talk soon.
So there you have it. I really hope that you found this mini training session valuable. I know it’s not the easiest thing to learn more about your audience and do the surveys and do the research. I know it takes time but I can promise you, I know firsthand that my business has gotten stronger and better and more profitable as I have taken the time to really understand my audience. And that’s why I wanted Pam on the show today because she really does understand how to kind of get in there and dive a little deeper.
So if you want to be that person that really gets it in terms of what your audience needs then this is the perfect place to start. So I encourage you to go check out Pam’s free gift. She went the extra mile and made it specifically for this audience which I always appreciate. And also just know, be patient with yourself. You would not get it all overnight. It takes time but if you put the effort in, it makes a huge difference in your business.
So good luck in all you do. I cannot wait to talk to you again soon. And all you need to do is go to AmyPorterfield.com/36 and you’ll see all the show notes and links to everything we talked about here. So just go there to get everything you need.
So thank you so much and I will talk to you again soon. Take care.
