This is a term I came up with one morning while my buddy, Alzay Calhoun and I were jammin’ on the phone. You see, Alzay kept givin’ me crap for not having an opt-in form on my website. He is quoted as saying, “Nobody is too cool to build a list…” I have to say that not only is he right but he really got me thinkin’ as to why I’ve yet to put one up.
It didn’t take long for me to answer. It told good ole Alzay, “Man, I’m tired of the opt in crap. I’ve been fighting putting one up since I created my blog 3 months ago. I build my list another way…”
That’s when Alzay’s ears perked up and he said, “Hmm. Can you tell me more?”
So here it is…
The opt in FREE Report just ain’t my style. I told Alzay that I’m not interested in putting together a list of a Bazillion names of people that I will probably never get to know. I mean, that is what Twitter quickly degenerates into. Here’s a recent snapshot of my account:
Do you really think I even know 10% of the 1083 followers I have? How many of them have I talked to on the phone or exchanged a message longer than a 140 characters with? Not many is the answer.
I don’t adhere to or like the way that internet marketers build lists of 80,000, 100,000 or 1.8 billion people. I don’t care if everyone says “It’s a numbers game Jeff” and “If you want to sell stuff, you need a big list to convert them” either.
I strategically pinpoint the people that I want to reach. I don’t bribe them by giving away yet another FREE report. I keep it small and I keep it calculated. I’m into building my business 1 person at a time regardless of all the stats. Let me show you my version of a “backwards” FREE report:
Building a List the
1: I start with the person that I want to talk to first. Because of the amount of time I spend “getting to know” this person via their work and social media profiles, it typically is someone that I greatly respect or admire.
2: Once I feel comfortable about the background of the person that inspires me, I begin contacting them with “Chapter
3: Pending their reaction, I will either follow up yet again with another insightful email or simply cold call them.
4: At this point, it is quite common for me to totally impress the person that I’m trying to reach because of the depth of knowledge I have about them. More often than not they’ll say, “Wow. How did you know that about me?” or “What was your name again?”
5: From here, I rinse and repeat the above steps with the same person.
I never sent them a free report. I went one step further and researched my ass off about them. I made contact with them. I gave them a reason why to call or write me back. I complimented them. I kept doing it until they got in touch with me.
I did all this because I respect and admire their work and truly want to speak with them.
I do this for everyone I want to talk to and build my list and business this way. Why? Because I’m forming a relationship with this person. I’m getting to know them better. I’m sharing with them. I’m growing with them.
I can’t do this with an electronic FREE report. Can you?
The results I’ve had with this “Invisible Opt-in Method” have been life changing. I’ve met some wonderfully talented and admirable colleagues this way. I’ve developed mastermind partners this way. I’ve given people a reason to want to talk to me other than some free report.
Most importantly, I’ve made friends this way.
What about you? How can you try this method in your business? How can you escalate a relationship with a complete stranger to that of a friend?
It’s a lot easier than you think.
