Rich Schefren: How To Create Demand and Desire from Customers

I'd like you to meet Rich Sheffrin here. More than anybody, you seem to have mastered the art of attention, interest and desire, grabbing attention, building interest and generating that desire. And I know I, like most people, came across you first with the Internet Business Manifesto, right. And just how remarkable that was. I want to talk a little bit about the process of really grabbing that attention, building the interest and desire in the marketplace, because you've not only done it amazingly for yourself, but you've helped some other people do it.

Sure, let's start there. That's an easy. Like that's easy. And it's fresh in my mind. Being able to call out a reader or a viewer or what have you and make them feel like their problem is understood immediately prevents that mental opt out and also speaks to the solution being something that is directly for them, since it's talking to them in the first place. Right. So what I've tried to do always is kind of look at the market as a group of people, right? Every market's a group of people that share a conflict. And that conflict is either a goal unattained or a problem unresolved. It's one of the other, or they wouldn't be in the market. And most people didn't join the market yesterday. So they've been trying to get this outcome or solve this problem for some period of time. And so I'm coming into the market and you know, they have a desire for this outcome and they have a prescribed method that they're following that's not getting them that outcome. And so if I can come in and point to a couple of the problems that they're experiencing so that they feel the reader, the viewer, whatever feels understood and at the same time am taking those problems that I've just laid out and actually converting them more to symptoms of a deeper problem, right. Then these problems now become like just they're not the thing to be attacked, although that's what's been done in the past. They're just a relic of a deeper problem that has not been addressed. And so whether it was the Internet Business Manifesto, making the problems of the marketplace be defined as being an opportunity seeker or the entrepreneurial emergency, which was the problem was that you're not hitting your full potential and there's a constraint in the way it's more about. And then these are all the things that you'll experience when a constraint is in the way. And these are the things that they're experiencing when like it automatically now kind of refines the conversation Into I just need to change one thing, right? And ideally, that is the. Like, I'm coming in with a different belief. But then my prospect has. But the easiest belief to get someone to believe is that they're doing everything right but one thing wrong. And so the Internet Business Manifesto was like, hey, look, marketing's important. Marketing is probably the most important thing in business, but it's still in business. And you still need to understand business, even though marketing is the most important part of business. So you've learned marketing, but you haven't learned business. This one piece left that once you do, you understand how to, like, make the puzzle work. I think a lot of it has to do with that one understanding that what's most personal is most general. So, like, a lot of the stuff that I wrote about, whether it was in the Entrepreneurial emergency or the Internet Business Manifesto or even the doctrines, was oftentimes me writing to my former self, like, who was dealing with those problems? So I was very understanding of it. Another was like, you know, I done enough coaching calls, so I knew what my clients were struggling with too. And then also I'd say that it was using the right language, not just using general things like info overload or frustration or something, but having more depth to it. And I think when someone feels fully understood, that's happened so rarely that it creates a tremendous momentum to purchase. And what I used to hear back all the time was that people would tell me that it felt like I was me. It felt like I was like, standing over their shoulder, right? Like checking, watching them. But what was true of all those things? Those were all common experiences that most people were not aware that. That everyone else had asked or a lot of other people had asked the same question. Like, when I was struggling online, like, I really started wondering what's wrong with me? Because I'd seen a lot of other people succeed and I was not, you know, when I was talking to Todd Brown 10 years ago about that, like, you know, he had that same thought, right? So it's like these kinds of thoughts, you don't necessarily go around sharing it, but those are the ones that. And you don't have to as a marketer, you don't have to share. Like, you know, I don't. I'm pretty confident in the Internet Business Manifesto. Nowhere in there did I say I was writing to my old self, like from two years prior or three years prior. But that's what I was doing. And I was very familiar with the feelings because I just felt them.

And as a Marketer. I understand my job. It's almost like an actor, right? Like, as an actor, you're supposed to go through these. Actually, I was watching a show on Netflix called the Kaminsky Method with Michael Douglas.

Okay.

He's an acting teacher, and somebody's going through a real. Or he's going through a moment of loss, and he goes, I realize it's my job to experience this moment in its fullness so that I can fully understand it and bring it out later. And I think as a marketer, especially if we're selling to stuff, like our own thing, that it's imperative to go, all right, how do I feel right now? How can I use this as a tool to understand that other people are probably feeling like this and not try to. Because I think. I know my gut reaction is to try to get out of that feeling, get out of that funk as quickly as possible. But sometimes I think if you stay in the funk long enough to get the nuances out of it, it can be really powerful.

Yeah. For me, what's worked best has been paying attention to, like, what. When is there, like, when do I come across a product that I'm like, oh, I really want this. I really like. And then I'm trying to unpack, why do I feel that way? And, you know, we lie to ourselves somewhat, but we can at least get access to it, and we can at least get access to when we feel that way. Right. And really pay attention to that. And I think that everyone has their own different process. But for me, the hardest part of the whole equation is not so much that, but it's finding the solution that I fully believe in, because I have to sell myself on the solution before I can ever effectively teach my way to that solution.

I'm really excited to see the stuff you've got coming on. I've been. I've been on your newsletter forever. I still pay attention to the stuff that's coming out. I know this. This live stream is going to be absolutely killer.

It will be amazing.

I mean, you got a bunch.

Like, it'll be the biggest event online, I think, in the last decade. I really believe that. And I believe that people will walk away with so much value because, yeah, there's no, like, it's got to bring.

A lot of Red Bull to the live stream.

Yeah, well, unfortunately, I get motivated by, you know, marketing and business growth, so that'll be easy. But I think that I'm talking about the watch.

The.

Oh, the people watching. Yeah. Yeah, that'll be hard. I think for most people maybe have a watch party. But yeah, definitely very, very important that they check it out because I know that they'll get a lot of benefit from it. Even some of the stuff that we're giving away for free when you opt in is pretty powerful stuff. Right?

And so talking about opting in, so the process to watch the live stream, they'll opt in. So I'm going to set up a link. People can go to baconratbusiness.com rich and there'll be a link in the show notes and wherever you're watching this that you can check it out and then.

There'Ll be a code and you'll want to type in bacon.

Bacon.

Right.

Easy to remember.

Easy to remember. And then you'll be taken to a page where you'll have the choice of whether to register or not for the live stream. It's free. When you register, you'll also get three presentations that I gave last summer to all the international publishers of Agora. The first presentation was how to increase conversion. 13 ways to increase Conversion Rate Without Changing a word of copy 11 Ways. The second presentation was like 11 Ways to Increase Cart Value. And the third one was VSL's webinars and other Stealth Methods of Selling. And then all they have to do is mark their calendar for the 19th and show up at 7pm I can't wait.

But once more, Rich, I can't thank you enough for sharing your insights with us.

My pleasure, man. Always. Good seeing you.

You too.

Thank you.