The transformation (part 1 of 2)

Hola, amigos.

This love letter is landing in your inbox a little later than usual this week, but have no fear, it's still a good one.

Last week I wrote about the status quo—aka the start of your customer's journey. The status quo is where your customer is before they know they have a problem. Or if they know they have a problem, they don't know what the solution is.

Now it's time to talk about how someone finds the solution to their problem. I call this part of the customer journey The transformation.

Changes.

This may sound a little "woo", but stick with me here—when someone uses your product or service, they go through some form of transformation. After working with your business, they are a different person.

That transformation can be as big or as small as you like. If you sell sunglasses, the transformation is the ability to look good and feel better. To feel cool. To hang out in the sun without a care in the world. To feel ready to explore.

This is pretty horrendous copy that's clearly written for search engines, not any sort of brand identity or human reader, but you get the idea. It's a shame, really, because this company makes great sunglasses and I'd highly recommend them if you're in the US.

If you're selling enterprise software, the transformation can be enormous. You can literally change someone's career—which is pretty cool. I previously worked on a software that saved entire teams of people 2-3 hours per day of updating spreadsheets. That's a BIG difference.

A few parts to the transformation.

There are a few parts to any transformation. This week I'm going to talk about the first two stages where you get the prospect to "buy in" to your business' philosophy. Next week I'll focus on what to do once they're ready to move forward.

The DIY phase

After someone's identified a problem and decided now's the time to change it, they'll try to solve the problem on their own. And it will be a painful process.

Example: I just started a new business. I'm using Google Sheets to create invoices. It's a pain and they're fugly, but they work, right?

Depending on your product/service and your audience, the DIY phase may look different. In some markets, there's a high level of market sophistication, meaning your buyers already know products like yours exist and may or may not feel jaded. If this is the case, you're going to have to hit them with different messaging about your product.

Example: I've tried Quickbooks, Wave, HelloBonsai, Dubsado...and none of these systems really work for me when it comes to invoicing. They all promise ease of use and professional looking invoices, but the tool itself is clunky and I don't know how to get the most out of it. I'm starting to think that none of these software solutions will work for me.

Then they meet your brand.

After trying to go it alone (or after trying several solutions but feeling frustrated by all of them), they'll meet your brand.

A prospect will discover your business in many different ways. Maybe it's through Google. Maybe it's through word of mouth. Maybe it's through your BDRs cold calling them. Maybe it's an email sequence you're running...likely, all of the above combine into multiple touch points where they start to understand who you are and what you do.

No matter. The point is, when they encounter your brand, you should have something to say that matches their pain points. Because if you can match their pain in the first sentence of an email or Facebook ad, you've captured their attention.

Your goal in this stage is to make the prospect trust you by demonstrating empathy and authority. In other words, you have to show the customer:

• Why you care about their problem.

• External proof (case studies, awards, etc.) that shows you've solved similar problems for others people.

You also have to help the prospect understand why your solution/philosophy is different from the alternatives.

Ry Schwartz, a launch copywriter who's generated over $25 million in revenue for his clients, calls this "coaching the conversion." You have to help the prospect understand that the "sacred cows" (the pre-formed thoughts, ideas, and beliefs about the problem) actually have sour milk. Which is why no solution in the past has worked.

• They believe that you know what you're talking about

• They understand why their previous attempts to solve the problem (in the DIY stage) didn't work

• They've forgiven themselves for those previous attempts and are ready to move forward

• They've replaced their old, negative ideas with new hope

Example: I keep seeing ads for this new invoicing software called Invoice.ly The ads really caught my eye—they're calling themselves the "Typeform of Invoicing." It looks well-designed and simple to use, plus it lets me do my accounting in multiple currencies, something other tools won't let me do.

When I go to Invoice.ly website, their headline says "We only do invoicing. And that's a good thing." The company claims the problem they experienced with other "all-in-one" tools is that they're too overcomplicated. Instead, Invoice.ly focuses exclusively on providing the best invoicing experience for my customers—which is exactly what I want.

(By the way, I completely made up Invoice.ly. If there's another company out there that does this or which has a similar name...that's pure coincidence.)

And your brand guides them towards an “a-ha” moment.

The goal of the first two phases of the "transformation" is to hook your prospect, get them to trust you, and introduce them to your business philosophy. And we do this to get the prospect to "buy in" on the way your business helps solve their problem.

This isn't easy to do. In fact, it's really, really hard. The only way you can find the right messages that resonate with your audience is by interviewing them, then sitting down and organizing your thoughts around their journey.

The first two stages of the transformation phase are about getting your customer to know, like, and trust you.

The next two stages of the transformation phase are about getting them some quick wins so they start feeling confident about solving the problem (and move closer to making a sale).

I'll talk more about those next week. But until then, I hope you have a marvelous weekend.

PS—last week I put together a document to help you do this thought organization, which you can find here. I'm giving this away as the freebie for people who sign up to my email list right now. So it's only fair that you get it, too.

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