SFR 165: How To Sell Other People's Products...

Boom, what's up, it's Steve Larsen. This is Sales Funnel Radio, and today we're gonna talk about how to sell other people's products that you do not control. (Stephen is wearing a chicken suit)

 

I've spent the last four years learning from the most brilliant marketers today, and now I've left my nine to five to take the plunge and build my million dollar business.

 

The real question is, how will I do it without VC funding or debt, completely from scratch? This podcast is here to give you the answer.

 

Join me and follow along as I learn, apply, and share marketing strategies to grow my online business using only today's best internet sales funnels.

 

My name is Steve Larsen, and welcome to Sales Funnel Radio.

 

All right, that was a little weird, and it was crazy hot. So anyways, I was gonna wear it for the entire episode, but I'm gonna take it off.

 

Hey, so what's with the chicken suit?

 

A little while ago Dana Derricks, if you do not know who he is, he is a copywriting master, he's a complete rockstar! Dana was brought in by Russell to help figure out other ways to sell Clickfunnels based on the different audiences that they had.

 

Think about how cool that is! Okay, let me just go full circle...

 

When he showed up, he gave me that chicken suit I ended up riding it home on my motorcycle. If you want to watch, it's on Funnel Hacker TV -  it's pretty funny. That thing is hot though!

 

Anyway, think about what Dana Derricks had to do? I digress, we're back to this "serious marketing" - you guys know me ;-)

 

Okay, let’s think about what Dana Derricks had to do. He had to come in, and he had to figure out how to sell a product that was not his, okay?

 

Now, why does this matter?  It matters if you're in affiliate marketing, it matters in general...

 

I really believe that you gotta be amazing at doing this as a whole - because if you can figure out how your competitors are selling their products, and figure out how you would sell their product better, you're already gonna get more customers than they have.

 

So follow me here for a second, okay?

 

I have had the incredible honor of being asked by Clickfunnels, by Russell, by Dave Woodward, to come in and do the Funnel Builder Secrets webinar.

 

If you guys know the 90 minute $3 million session that Russell did, it was with the Funnel Builder Secrets webinar, and they've asked me to come in and be the pitch guy for it now - which is really, really exciting.

 

I think I'm safe to announce that? They were puttin' it out on the affiliate group for Clickfunnels a bit ago, so I think I can say it? If not let me know and I'll take it down... I'm really, really excited about it.

 

The reason I bring this up is, if you think through what Dana Derricks had to go through to write a script for a product that was not his own, right? How powerful that really is. Now follow me with this...

 

The pattern that he has to go through is pretty fascinating, he has to put himself in the shoes of Russell. “How would I sell this if it was mine to sell? How would I sell this if it was something that I bled for to create and bring to life?”

 

We all love our products, we love our businesses, and we'll stay with them for a long time...

 

I got my whiteboard here 'cause I wanna share with you guys a few things 'cause it's the same thing I've had to go through this past little bit here.

 

Funnel Builder Secrets is not my product, but I have to write a script. They're letting me rewrite the script with my stories and my things in it to help sell an offer that is not mine... and so I have to think it through.

 

It's easy to do this when you are selling your own product because your stories tie into certain elements inside of the product; this story relates into why this product's in there, and this story ties into why that product's in there, all right? ...

 

For example; "It was this full amount, price drop, get it today for this amount." - It makes more sense.

 

I don't know if you guys have been watching, but Kaelin Poulin just went, and she rewrote some of the Funnel Hacks webinar doing this exact same thing with her audience. I'm going through this as well, right now.

 

This is a fascinating thing to think through. If you guys have a product, by the way, I wouldn't begin in this manner.

 

So two things here:

 

Let's think about the timeline that Russell Brunson has gone through, along with other massive sellers on the internet, to get to this kind of space now, okay?

 

#1: They figure out the one audience,

 

I got a whiteboard here, they figure out the one audience, the Red Ocean, that would love to see their product.  And they're like, "Sweet check it out! Here's Clickfunnels or whatever, here's this product or that product,” right?

 

They have to write the script for that one singular Red Ocean.

 

Most the time when people write a sales message, or they write anything that has to do with trying' to sell any product, one of the easiest ways to screw it up is to write it for multiple audiences.

 

"Well, you know who could buy it? This person could buy it, and these people could buy it these people could buy it, these people could, could, could, could, could."

 

That's not what you guys have to answer first. The first thing to answer when you're writing a sales script is "Who should buy it? Who is willing and able to spend cash on this? Who is my dream, dream customer?"

 

Not, "this person could" and "these people could" and "that audience over there, they could?"

 

That's the fastest way to, number one, not sell, and number two, to make somewhat of a hellish scenario where you service people that you don't want to - Speaking from experience here, all right? Four or five years ago I totally did that.

 

There's like flakes of chicken all over the place around me, little chicken hairs all over the place.

Anyway, so number one, you gotta think through who the best purchaser for your product is? So think through right now. Clickfunnels has done that. I've done that with my products. I know the best purchaser for my products. Russell knows the best purchaser for his products.

 

For Funnel Builder Secrets, Russell knows the best people for that thing.

 

Let's say we're selling Funnel Builder Secrets - which is what I'm gonna be selling - what I'm doing' for the next few days is just workin' that script, workin' that script, workin' that script, rewriting it.

 

But think about the pathway that Russell went through, the timeline as far as the script goes, the maturity of the script...

 

And I know I'm getting deep here. It's a little deeper than I normally get on this, but think through this with me and follow me for a moment, okay?

 

If I'm gonna sell Funnel Builder Secrets to people to people in the Red Ocean...

 

The first time the script was created, Russell went through, and he figured out the best audience the best fit of buyers for the Funnel Builder Secrets webinar.

 

One of the easiest things we can do now is figure out other "Sub Red Oceans" - that's what I call them. They're Sub Red Oceans - SROs.

 

Sub Red Oceans are people who could accept the script as well.

 

Take the ClickFunnels example; when Russell's selling ClickFunnels on a webinar, (if you guys haven't seen it, it's called Funnel Hacks, you guys can go get free funnels from ClickFunnels at salesfunnelbroker.com and  click on Free Funnels up on the top right - it's an affiliate link of mine, but it gives you a two-week trial and a preview of funnels for your stuff.)

 

Okay, so think about this; if you go to Funnel Hacks and watch the script -  what it's doing is targeting people who are using websites.

 

Remember he threw those rocks at websites: "Websites are dying, websites are crap, you spend ad money on websites, and it's the fastest way not to get any return," right?

 

He is throwing rocks; websites are the Red Ocean.

 

As the script progresses, he knows that's the correct pitch for these people, then he'll start bringing' in other audiences.

 

People are like, "oh you know what, it makes sense, but I don't have a website, but oh man, I'm, I don't know, I'm a coach, I don't know if this works for me in coaching?"And Russell's like, "it works for you, it works for you."

 

Just follow me for a second, I know this is kind of all over the place, just, and we'll go full circle here, you're gonna be like, whoa! I'm hopin' you have like the big whoa moment, okay? Follow me for a second, okay...

 

He's like, "Check it out, it is for coaches." And people are like, "oh, ClickFunnels is really cool, but I don't know if it works for me, I don't know if it works for me, I don't have a website, and I'm not a coach - so I don't know if I can use it? I'm actually in retail." And Russell's like, "oh crap, wait!  It works for retail." And then he goes and he adds that in the script, right?

 

Then he'll add B2B in the script, then, the next thing, and the next thing, next thing, next thing, next thing... Info, MLM, ecom, supplements, bam bam bam. “It works for here, it works here.”

 

Here's the fascinating thing about this; now who told Russell which audiences should be in that script?  The market did - the market told him.

 

It's not like Clickfunnels is over here on the side doin' things like, "hey check it out! This person could, they could, they could, they could, they could."

 

Now the market's going, "oh I'm not gonna buy it because I'm not, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not." And we're like, "but it works for you, wait a second, it works, it works, it works."

 

You let the market tell you what Red Oceans, what markets, what little pockets and Sub Red Oceans of people are great to include inside of the script.

 

Think about what I'm doin' with Funnel Builder Secrets...

This is a little bit of a different-style episode, I just think it'd be kind of cool and valuable to do with you guys, okay?

 

Now that he's got this script completely nailed down for the audiences that keep coming to him and we're like, no it does work for you, that does work, I would use it like this for that, no, you know, and he's got that down now, right? Now that that's down, okay, that has helped create two things here:

 

We know "WHO" we're selling to and we know "WHAT."

 

We know "WHAT" the offer should be. It has been proven, it has been vetted, the market has spoken and said, "Yes, we will give cash for that."

 

So my role is to I come in and be the pitch guy for Funnel Builder Secrets. I don't really change the "What." I actually don't even really change the "Who."

 

I don't change the "What" - I don't change the offer.

 

What I'm doing is I'm changing the stories. I'm not gonna go in and tell potato gun stories. I'm not gonna go in and tell the stories that Russell would normally tell.

 

The audience doesn't know who I am, right? As far as sales psychology goes, there's really two intros in any script.

 

Guys, again, follow me here, I know this is not a normal Sales Funnel Radio episode but stick with me for a moment, okay?

 

There are two intros inside of any sales script. And people screw this up all the time...

 

In the first intro, you gotta answer the question, "What is this? What is Funnel Builder Secrets?"  It's this knee-jerk reaction that people are gonna have to keep them safe. It's a reaction from the part of the brain that keeps people safe, okay? You know, the "croc brain."

 

If you guys ever read the book Pitch Anything, it's a fantastic book to go read - one of my favorites...

 

But first thing we're gonna do is we're going to intro, I gotta intro Funnel Builder Secrets itself, okay?

 

The second thing, (and this is the reason I can't go tell Russell Brunson's stories even though it's Russell Brunson's product), I gotta tell my stories.

 

The second intro is an intro to me. "Okay, okay, you've made me feel safe, you've made me feel okay, I know what Funnel Builder Secrets is now, okay, I have the expectations for what the rest of the script is gonna be." They're not gonna say that, but they're feeling those good, warm fuzzies.... "But who are you?"

 

That's like the second thing they're gonna start feeling  - so I have to intro that.

 

So we're still targeting the same "Whos,"  the market has spoken, the market has said, you know what, I'm a good fit for this. And we're like, "oh cool, we didn't think about that. We'll add that to the script." And so we have a big list of what all these WHOs. "Oh, I'm in retail, B2B, info, supplement, ecom, MLM, Coaching, info product, physical products." Tons of lead gen.

 

Anyway, we know what all the "Whos" are, and the market keeps telling us who the best fit is. Very key.

 

We also know what the best "Whats" are. "First you're gonna get this, and then you're gonna get this, and you're gonna get this, and you're gonna get this."

 

There's a portion of that offer that comes from the market telling us, "You know what? I would buy this main thing up here, I would buy the main product that you're talkin' about, but I just don't how I can X, Y, and Z?"  And we're like, "Oh, cool, okay, let's go add another product they'll get for free that will answer that when they buy the main product." Crazy cool, right?

 

So we have the right "Whats." We got the right "Whos."The thing that I am switching is the stories, okay?

 

I'm still introing the webinar the same kind of way that Russell does it, but  I have to introduce me - so they know who the heck they're listening to -'cause the sales psychology's gonna stop if I don't do that.

 

But I gotta go come up with my new stories. I gotta come up with a story for secret number one, a story for secret number two, a story for secret number three.

 

(If this is completely Greek, if you have no idea what I'm talkin' about, then you have got to go read the book Expert Secrets

 

Those are free sources guys, they're worth more than my entire marketing degree. That's not a joke...

 

I've learned more from those books and more from those resources than my entire degree - which took five years - and I don't use any of it.  I use everything that has to do with those books though, okay? )

 

Anyways, I have to come up with the stories for me - even though it's not my product.

 

One more major point here, and hopefully I haven't spoken too much and gone too crazy here?

 

I remember I was riding my bike home one day from college classes - we didn't have enough money for another car - and frankly, my pride was on the line a little bit.  

 

I had tried at least 10 businesses on my own, and they'd all failed or barely broke even.

 

It was a nice summer day - usually, it was freezing, and I was beating myself up with phrases like "Man, you've been studying this for years, Stephen, what's wrong with you?  It's gotta be you, Stephen, 'cause all these other guys are doin' it - what's wrong with you?"

 

Don't do that beat yourself up - it doesn’t help.

 

… But that day, I was beating' myself up. I was like, "Man, I've been studying like crazy, I know what I'd do in this scenario, I see that guy's business in that scenario, I know what I'd do over there, I know what I'd do over there." And I was like, "but why am I still poor?"

 

It was a big question for me, and I remember that there was this idea that came flying' into my head...

 

First of all, I was like, "Well shoot, I'm not even asking for anybody's cash anywhere, you can't even give me cash anywhere online, so that's dumb, why am I complaining?  There's not even an ability for somebody to be able to pay me."

 

Number two, (and some of you might laugh at this, and some of you guys are gonna be like, "what?") I had never considered that there was a huge, stark difference between marketing and sales.

 

Sales is not marketing. Marketing is not sales. They have very specific different roles - they have very different functions.

 

I had been doing door-to-door sales and telemarketing for the explicit reason of learning sales. That's actually why I did it. I wanted to learn like consciously, that's the reason I chose the door-to-door.

 

I was like, "you know what, I know this is gonna be terrible, it's gonna be hell sometimes, I'm gonna get the door slammed in my face like crazy, I'm gonna go make door-to-door sales," and that's one of the reasons I did it.

 

But riding home that day, I realized, "Crap, marketing isn't sales. I've been studying sales, what the heck is marketing? Like dang, it!”

 

So to just sum it up real fast here, and not make this like a course:

 

Sales are what happens face-to-face. That's what I was doin' door-to-door, that's what I was doin' over the phone, I wasn't face-to-face but you know what I mean, I was with the customer, right?

 

Sales are what happens face-to-face, but marketing is how you get them to your face.

 

This is an area that a lot of people don't study ever.

 

And so, if you think about what I'm doing with the Funnel Builder Secrets webinar right now, you think about how this whole thing works…

 

What I am doing is I am affecting the marketing of Russell Brunson's Funnel Builder Secrets script, but I'm not affecting the sales of Russell Brunson's Funnel Builder Secrets script, okay?

 

Again, one more time, follow me here, let me draw this on the whiteboard.

 

A script, any sales script-  not just a webinar - at the beginning of any script, it’s very marketing driven.  

 

Another way to define marketing is "the act of changing somebody's beliefs for the intent of a purchase to happen." You're just changing somebody's beliefs. You're changing the way they see the world, all right?

 

You're educating with the intent to change beliefs in hopes that it leads to a purchase. That's really what marketing is.

 

Sales, sales is just reasons to act now, okay? "Here's what you're gonna get - 50% off - Price goes up at midnight."Countdown clocks here!” Those are all sales tactics, but they're not necessarily marketing tactics.

 

A marketing tactic has everything to do with the actual stories that you tell, it's the way that you break and you build someone's belief patterns.

 

So my task for this webinar, which I've been incredibly honored to do...

 

I'm excited guys, I get to do it with these massive people in their audiences and close them, right, and do the webinar for that person in Russell's name, right?

 

I'm hopin' in the future it turns into some traveling and doin' it on stages, that would be really fun, anyway, that'd be really cool - 'cause Russell is the CEO of a major company so he can't really do all the stuff anymore, right?

 

So think about this, any sales script is really broken into two major pieces... there are more pieces, but there are two major pieces... The biggest thing that's happening at the beginning is marketing.

 

I'm tellin' stories with the intent to change your beliefs,  and the way you see the world, to help you understand that you're not seeing the world the way it really is.

 

For example:

 

"Oh man, don't use a website. Last time I used a website blah blah blah blah blah blah..., and it was a terrible result, and this guy said the same blah blah blah blah blah blah, blah."

 

I start changing' the way you see the world:

 

"Oh, I always thought websites were the bee's knees, and the cat's meow - baby, like websites are everything."

 

And suddenly, they're like, "Oh crap, this guy says they're not, what's the answer?" Then Sales swoops in... Does that make sense?

 

So I'm gonna tell marketing stories, and that's what's gonna happen at the beginning of the script for the first half or maybe more - when you think about the timeline of a script going' on the first half is marketing.

 

Then somewhere down the road, we flip into sales mode. Then I start talkin' about the offer.

 

I start talking about logical reasons to purchase now. I start talkin' about what you're gonna get when you act now.  I start talkin' about what will happen if you don't buy now.

 

I begin answering objections. "I don't have money." Well I'm gonna answer that objection. "I don't have this." Well I'm gonna answer this objection. At the end, I'm using some closes, "Go buy - Go to this URL - Open up in the tab - Go here!"

 

I feel like I keep saying this over and over in all these other subgroups I'm in, but I've never mentioned it on my podcast - that's why we're diving' into this.

 

I know it's a little bit deeper, and a little bit more tactical than I usually go on this show, but I just hope it helps.

 

When I look at a script, there are two major phases, so what my role in this webinar is,  I'm not actually adapting or changing Russell's offer at all, right?

 

Dana Derricks didn't change Russell's offer at all - it's still Clickfunnels, right?

However, the lever that you can change, the lever that you can adapt when you are not in control of the actual product is marketing. You can control the stories. Those are levers you can pull.

 

The actual offer is over on this side, all right? I'm not touching it, I'm not gonna change it.

 

I'm not gonna pull out the different products or put them back in. Why would I change that? It's an amazing offer. I can't even compete with the things that are in that offer - it's incredible, absolutely incredible! Why would I ever touch it? That's not what I'm touching.

 

The thing that a lot of affiliates do, and even JVs, is they'll be like, "But what uh, uh???" and they stress out, they're like, "How do I sell this offer?"

 

Don't worry about the offer! The offer's already sexy. It's up to its creator to make the offer amazing, absolutely attractive and absolutely incredible.

 

The place that you go and you spend all of your time in is this marketing. What are the stories that you can tell that will break and rebuild beliefs?

 

What's the stance you can take? What attractive character attributes can you take on?

 

The stance I'm taking is very much that of a reporter. It's Funnel Builder Secrets and I was the lead funnel builder at ClickFunnels for a little while, right? I was Russell's funnel builder, and that means I should probably be able to sell Funnel Builder Secrets quite well.

 

I'm gonna go through and adapt the stories. It's gonna be fascinating.

 

There's not gonna be a potato gun story in one of his scripts - so that’s gonna be really weird ;-)

 

Anyways I'm really, really excited!

 

So just know when you don't control the offer, it's more about the stories you're gonna tell in the beginning.

 

It's more about the pre-frames, before they see the offer.

 

You're not gonna touch the offer, don't try and, don't even worry about the offer.

 

If someone's like, will you promote my thing, and their offer is not drop dead sexy, don't spend the time comin' up with the stories.

 

Your job is to break and rebuild the beliefs that they have about what's possible so that when they see the offer, they're like, "Oh my gosh, that's a new vehicle. That's a new opportunity for the desire I have. That's a new way for me to get what I've been goin' for all along."

 

What bridges that gap is the stories that you tell.

 

So I'm going in and creating all the stories that could break beliefs. I'm pre-thinking the beliefs that I'm gonna be breaking - so I can match my stories to them, and tell them in a way that causes the epiphany in their head - "Wow, I gotta get this offer!"

 

So anyways, I just thought that'd be kind of a neat episode.

 

I know this is a little bit different style, and it made me think of Dana Derricks with the chicken suit. I was like, "Oh yeah, it's like the time Dana came in, and he was selling' Clickfunnels."

 

Clickfunnels isn't his, but he was still adapting and helping to write the scripts. Fascinating!

 

So, anyways, we got a chicken suit on auction... if you guys want it, bids start at a million buck.  

 

All right guys, we'll talk to you later.

 

If you guys have enjoyed this please, please, please share this, please, please, please go tell iTunes Zeros & Ones with the review, how awesome this has been.

 

Please go review it, it really means a lot to me, and I've spent a lot of time putting these things together for you and I just hope that it helps break and rebuild your beliefs on how you can build a successful sales funnel.

 

Guys thanks so much, talk to you later, bye. Oh, thanks for listening. Hey please remember to rate and subscribe.

 

Hey you want me to speak at your next event or mastermind? Let me know what I can share, that would be most valuable, by going to stevejlarsen.com and book my time now.

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands