Stop Focusing On Selling And Do This Instead

Humor me for just a sec, and take a minute to picture the following scenario.

Let’s say enrollment for Elite Blog Academy has opened, and you are a potential EBA student looking at two different sales pages for our course.

The first sales page has listed in painstaking detail all the basic features of what’s included in EBA:

“EBA has 12 units, 12 Q+A sessions, 36 assignments in your workbook, 20+ hours of content, 500 pages of workbook notes and templates, and weekly emails to keep you motivated. This course was shot on an HD camera and is hosted on a secure server….” And so on.

The other sales page mentions most of those details too, but in the course of focusing on where you will be after completing EBA:

“EBA provides a comprehensive framework that shows you exactly what to do step by step to create a successful, profitable blog. As you work your way through the assignments, it doesn’t only tell you what to do for your blog but it tells you what to do in what order – because it’s not just having the information. It’s having the information in the right order in order to get amazing results! We have tons of success stories and hundreds of examples of people who have followed the framework and created six and seven-figure businesses as a result.

At the end of EBA, you will have a plan for how to take your blog from where you are to where you want to be. You’ll have everything you need to build a successful, profitable business – not just a blog. And the best part? As a part of our community, you’ll also have the support and encouragement you need to get your questions answered, eliminate your frustrations, and push through when things get tough.”

So, now let me ask you: Which page would you rather buy from?

(Don’t worry – this isn’t a trick question!)

Clearly, the second sales page is going to be much more effective. And that’s because focusing on the transformation – and not on the features – is a key component to being effective at sales.

Even so, there are so many of us who struggle with this concept! We go on and on about the features of our products without painting the picture of the transformation – and our sales fall flat as a result.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, and I think the reason behind it is two-fold. The first part is a confidence issue. We’re afraid to promise a transformation because we’re not 100% confident that we can deliver a transformation.

The second part is the work. We put a lot of work into creating our products! We put our blood, sweat, and tears into building those 500 pages of workbooks or recording those 20+ hours of videos. And because it was such a huge focus for us, we assume that’s what interests other people, too.

But the truth? No one really cares about how many workbook pages we’re giving them or how many videos they’ll find in our course.

They don’t actually care about the product. They care about what they stand to gain from the product. Click to Tweet So at the end of the day, the only thing that matters is the transformation – the promise of what they’re going to get if they buy our products.

What It Means To Focus On The Transformation

Making the shift from focusing on the features of your product to focusing on the transformation your product delivers is a total game changer. But what does that look like in action?

Here are a few examples to give you an idea of what I’m talking about:

From Exhaustion to Financial Freedom

From Side Hustle to Full Time Professional

In these examples, we’re not saying “Rosemarie went through 500 of 500 pages!” or “Gina watched all 20 videos that were shot on our HD camera.” We’re saying “Rosemarie went from being exhausted 24/7 to working 20 hours a week and having the financial freedom she wants for herself and her family” and “Gina took her blogging business from a side hustle to a full-time gig (with the income to match).”

See the difference?

When we focus on the transformation, it takes readers along on the journey. Click to Tweet They can see how the people who have tried EBA have gone from where they were to where they wanted to be – and seeing that transformation in others helps them believe they can experience it themselves.

And, in case you’re wondering, this doesn’t just work when we’re selling a product designed to make people money (like Elite Blog Academy).

This is the same strategy we use for the Living Well Planner®. We talk about how the planner can help people take back control of their schedules and spend time doing the things they love instead of feeling overwhelmed and busy all the time. And that transformation – from busy and overwhelmed to in control of their schedules – is what people really care about (and what will inspire them to make the purchase).

Painting The Picture Of The Transformation with Real Life Stories

So, clearly, focusing on the transformation is the way to go if we want to take our products from ignored to irresistible. But it’s not enough to tell people about the transformation. We’ve got to show them.

Gathering real life stories from people who have used our product and experienced the transformation our product promises is one of the best selling tools we have in our arsenal. But how do we get those real life stories if we’ve got a brand new product?

The best way to gather testimonials on a new product is to do a beta launch. Click to Tweet There are a few benefits to doing a beta launch before rolling our product out to the masses. First, it gives us the opportunity to collect testimonials which will help boost our sales when we do a wider launch. Second, a beta launch also helps us gather helpful information about our product – like what’s working and what’s not – so we can perfect it and deliver the best transformation possible.

The first time we launched EBA we went straight to the wide launch, but, as it turns out, our first class really did end up being our beta launch. We got so much helpful feedback and learned so much from that first class that’s helped to shape and change EBA over the years, and it has been so fun to watch the transformation stories continue to roll in year after year!

The same thing happened with the Living Well Planner®. When we first launched in 2015, we quickly found out that people wanted more information about how to use it. They loved the content, but they felt they didn’t have everything they needed to put it into practice and truly experience the transformation.

That was not ok with us. So what did we do? We launched “Crushing It Central™,” a full membership site that came with every purchase of the planner with 27 videos on how to use the planner to get results and better manage your time.

We also launched “Crushing It Bootcamp™,” a 10-email series that broke down how to set up your planner to make sure each customer had everything they needed to get started on the right foot.

Were those extra steps more work on our part? Yes. But we promised a transformation, and we had to make sure our customers had everything they needed to make that transformation a reality.

And you know what? It was totally worth it. Our customers took that content and rolled with it, and we got SO many amazing transformation stories of how the planner completely changed their lives. Which not only helped us sell future planners, but also felt great knowing we came through for our audience.

So, the key to painting the picture of your product’s transformation is real life stories. And if we want to get those real life stories, the way to do it is to do a beta launch, help a few people get the transformation, and figure out what we need to add or take away from your product to make it deliver those transformations most effectively.

Because if we’re going to promise a transformation – and ask our customers for those real life transformation stories to support our launch – it’s crucial that we actually deliver it.

Wrapping Things Up

If we want to take our products from ignored to irresistible and crush our sales goals, the key is focusing on the transformation. Once we shift the focus from the features to the transformation – and how our product can help take people from where they are to where they want to be – it’s crazy the difference we’ll see in our sales.

So, what’s the transformation you need to sell in your business? Let us know in the comments below!