Unscripted: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Entrepreneurship pdfdrive com

parties, colleges, and even some of the most powerful corporations on Earth,
such as Apple.
If your product or service can inspirit meaning or purpose with your
customer, you will do well. In truth, I’m hoping this book does something

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similar: tapping into your heartfelt desire for an 
UNSCRIPTED
meaning-and-
purpose.

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PRIORITIZE SOCIAL PROOF
Try remembering the last three things you bought. For me, all of my
purchases occurred not because of a slick sales pitch or an advertisement, but
because of 
social proof
.
The best sales secret isn’t about sales at all. It’s peer testimonials and reviews.
It’s the good word from your friends, family, and neighbors who have purchased
in the past. In a digital “sharing” economy, 
social proof is the primary method in
the buyer’s decision process, not advertising
. Behind every exponential growth
company is social proof’s expansion loop towing the productocracy.
Unfortunately, social proof’s ROI cannot be measured, whereas traditional
marketing initiatives can. This measurability is why there are thousands of
discussions and books about marketing but very few on social proof. The only
measurability social proof offers is a correlative benefit relating to acquisition
cost. If it costs one hundred dollars in advertising to acquire a new customer, a
social-proof customer saves this expense and, instead, expands the margin and
the expansion loop. These expansions expand the profit.
For the productocracy, social proof is everything. Every day, I hear positive
comments about my first book in every format. When I first received these years
ago, I always replied with appreciation. However, I’d also PS a favor in my reply:
I’d ask the reader if they could take a moment and review my book at their
favorite website, which typically is Amazon. I never asked for a “good” review,
just a review. Since the reader contacted me to say something positive, a good
review is likely.
Similarly, whenever a new user visits my forum (usually from a web search
on entrepreneur forums), they see my book being discussed, quoted, or cited in
virtually every thread. Most find the forum valuable, so they infer that the book
will be valuable as well. On my forum, there’s a thread titled “I’ve read 
The
Millionaire Fastlane.
” Here, readers share their thoughts on the book. I do not
solicit favorable comments. If a visitor dives into that thread, they’d disappear for
three weeks: It is 125 pages long and 3,000 posts deep—and 99 percent of the
posts are favorable. If the potential reader views this thread, they likely become a
buyer. How convincing are 3,000 unsolicited raves from readers? Or would some
intrusive banner ad be more effective?
If review shenanigans are suspected, a reader can do his own investigation
elsewhere. Still, the result is nearly the same. For every armchair gasbag that

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hates 
TMF
, ten others say it kicks ass. I’ve sold thousands because social proof is
the driver, NOT advertising, shock blogging, or podcast interviews.
So whenever you receive your first positive echoes, jump for joy. And then
save them. Use them in advertising, on your website, and in your promotional
materials. If the raves come by private emails, ask permission to use them. If
they’re on public websites, link to them, cite them, get them front and center so
potential buyers read them and become actual buyers. If someone tweets
positives about your wares, favorite it. Even more powerful, Twitter allows tweet
embedding, where you can immortalize positive comments on your website.
Dozens of such tweets are embedded at my website, and they sell for me 24/7.
#9) SHELVE YOUR BIASES
Mark Twain once said, “What gets us into trouble is not what we don’t know.
It’s what we know for sure that just ain’t so.”
Seems like every website you hit nowadays has one of those intrusive pop-ups
asking for your email address. Get your free report! Free coupon! Free secrets of
the universe! After nearly twenty-years of web surfing and probably 20,000
interrupting pop-ups, I can’t recall EVER giving my email address. They don’t
work on me and I hate them. And yet, guess what? I use them. Despite my pop-
up hatred, I use them at my websites 
because they work.
You see, when it comes to execution, your personal biases do more damage
than good.
Years ago, when I did the research on list building, the evidence was clear:
interruptive pop-up lightboxes are more effective than any list-building strategy.
Evidence ran contrary to both my experience and my bias. And yet despite this, I
implemented the technique because financial security was more important than
my righteousness.
Remember my million-dollar discovery that people were willing to pay for an
ad-free forum? Here were my personal biases before acting, assessing, and
adjusting the echo: