Alex Mandossian: Post-Launch Conversions and Revenue Generation (Interview)

Thinkific CEO Greg Smith interviews Alex Mandossian on post-launch conversions and revenue generation.

About Alex Mandossian:

Since 1993, Alex has generated almost $400 million in sales and profits for his marketing students, clients, and strategic alliance partners on five continents. His colleagues acknowledge him the “Warren Buffet of the Internet” because of his unique ability to make money for his partners, clients and students.

To get in touch with Alex visit: www.alexmandossian.com

To watch the interview, click on the video below:

Post-Launch Conversions and Revenue Generation @AlexMandossian Click To Tweet

Read the full transcript below:

[Greg] Hi everyone, welcome back to Teach Online TV. Today, I’m really excited about our guest. He has an amazing history in online business, online marketing and sales. And we’re going to be talking about post-launch conversions and post-launch revenue generation which is something I think interesting coz you hear so many people talking about just the launch but what do you after that coz there’s so much more that can happen after the launch. So really excited to be talking about the true expert in this stuff, Alex Mandossian. Now, if you do want to find out a little bit more about Alex, we’ll talk about some ways during the show today but accessInfluence.com is— Is that the best way they get a hold of you Alex? To start with? [Alex] Or marketingonline.com [Greg] marketingonline.com Excellent. Great place to start. And then a few other things about Alex, –I’m sure you can fill us in a little bit of your story from your point of view. But I’m just blown away that I get to interview you today. He’s been recognized as the kind of Warren Buffet of the internet because of his ability to make money for his students and joint venture partners. And he’s even shared the stage with the likes of Richard Branson and even the Dalai Lama and a variety of others of that sort of high-level of speaking abilities. So pretty amazed that I get to chat with you here today. I’m excited about it. And you have an amazing goal of helping and influencing million other trainers by your 77th birthday. So love to hear more about that. I think that’s such an awesome goal. Because it’s very cool to be able to train that trainer and go from there. So if you want to tell us a little more about yourself. I’d love to hear more about your story. [Alex] Well, I’m the son of George and Carol Mandossian. I was born on Hollywood, California. And at this time in 2016, I am 52 years old. And I’ve been online since 1995. Sent my first email in the year 2000. And if someone asks me, ‘what do you do?’ I would respond by saying, ‘I’m a marketing therapist.’ My avatar is Coach Carl and Coach Carla. They’re frugal in their lifestyle but they spend rich with continuing education and mentoring. They’ve worked in the business and they’re really good at coaching and creating information products. They’re not really good at working on the business and getting more exposure marketing reach and visibility. And so that is what we assist them to do. Which is that is the business. Production is content creation. Operations—which is something else a business does. That’s having your bookkeeper and your online business manager/ personal assistant. Blah blah blah. Those are expenses. Operations and production. That’s not where the money is. The money is in the marketing. And the best marketers are typically the ones who get the most exposure. Warren Buffet’s first investment was GEICO. And GEICO is a marketing company masquerading as an insurance company. And so all of his investments– Coca-Cola and the whole litany. You can see what he’s invested in with Berkshire Hathaway. They’re all marketing companies masquerading as a— within an industry leader because they’re just really good at getting exposure and conversions. So my mother doesn’t know what I do, still. She still thinks I’m doing something illegal. My dad is very proud of me but he also doesn’t specifically know what I do. They think I speak. And I do speak all over the world. But I’ve never lost sight that I’m their son and there’s always someone who is better than me,. And my goal is to teach my students and clients to get more exposure than me. To get more influence. To be more persuasive. To be— To have more thought leadership. And I say that on stage, Greg. And what happens is, it’s so annoying when it actually happens. And I can drop some names that are very, very famous people. They’ve just— They’ve just gone right past me. I got them on stage for the first time or I help with their launch for the first time. Or I consulted them. And then wham. They acknowledge me and that’s cool. But I think that’s the true purpose of a teacher. They call it mentor in Greece. They call it coach in America. Lama in Tibet. They call it guru in India. Sensei in Japan. Guide in England. Tutor in France. I call it mentor coz I like the whole Greek tradition and Socrates and the “ask” method [4:36] So whatever you call it, it’s just guiding someone to convert more suspects to prospects to buyers and then multi buyers. So that you can do more work with folks and have a bigger impact. And my lifetime goal with Jack Canfield, whom you know, is to train or influence training a million other trainers. Doesn’t mean that we’re going to train them directly, it’s training them to train. So I really do 3 things. If you’d ask me, I’d say, I know how to create curriculum. I know how to deliver curriculum, hopefully. And then I teach others to do the same thing, right? And in the process, we consult coaches who need the work on their business and do it with, not just technology like you have, which is by the way awesome. [Greg] Thanks. [Alex] So simple. So affordable. I’m not stroking your egos, It’s true. I stumbled upon it with my general manager and partner, Sandra. She uses it. And what ended up happening is this interview came about. Or about as you would say. As result of just two minds meeting without even being on your platform. So really, this is our first physical meeting together. And in my experience in interview, you can generate more rapport with a new friend than let’s say a 15-minute meeting at an event. And meeting them again and again. Event after event. Just coz there’s not enough time to build a meaningful relationship and learn about them. So that’s really my background and how I’m wired. [Greg] Excellent. Great. And then so why the focus specifically on conversion and what is it that you’re really focused? So conversion, we talk about a lot about conversion. Conversion rate optimization, calls to action and specific things on the website. But I think you have a kind of different slant on how you look at it which is great. [Alex] Yea. There’s an origin story or a genesis story of how this came about. I have a friend who’s no longer living. He called it a core story and partnered with Tony Robbins for many years. But my story starts at 1989. I am dead broke. I’m not in a 400sqft apartment washing my dishes in a bathtub but I am on a park bench. And I just lost $242,000 and the majority of it wasn’t mine. It was given to me by my grandparents. It was lent to me by both parents. And it was for a frozen yoghurt and bakery franchise—a store in Long Beach, California. And within 18 months I was watching all my equipment being auctioned off by the SBA auctioneers. Small Business Administration. For about 17 cents on the dollar. And that’s not a pity party story. Ask me this, I was irresponsible. So I’m on a park bench in McArthur park [7:39] in Los Angles and is en route to my mom’s house coz I’m moving home. My girlfriend kicked me out of the apartment. I wasn’t fun to live with. And on the park bench, I learned everything I needed to learn about conversion. I had no idea that this would be my story. But about 20 years later, I thought, ‘wow, that’s when the original seed was planted.’ And it was all about seeds. So on the park bench, I have my red Volkswagen Jetta parked on the curb– can’t even afford gas. Just totally guilty—shamed. I didn’t want to go on thanksgiving dinner coz all of the relatives are going, ‘how could you do this to your grandparents?’ Armenian descent, So guilt is part of the lineage. [Greg] The Italian. [Alex] The Italian—Jews— Guilt is part of the whole concept—shame too, right. I’ve watched on the park bench. I was watching—totally depressed. Watching this heavy-set woman at the park. It was summer so very comfortable. I’d love to say snowing and I was freezing. But it was comfortable. It was Los Angeles. And she put a nickel in this little vending machine that had bird seed in it. And she wanted to feed the pigeons. There’s a bunch of pigeons, you know, just walking around. And you know the pigeons are supposed to be not so smart. But there’s smart enough to get the bait. And in this case, let’s call it a lead magnet, right? [Greg] Yea. [Alex] So it was walking towards the pigeons with the seeds on her hand. And what do the pigeons do? They’re afraid. I mean she’s a lot bigger than they are. And they go. They’re doing with their heads. They’re just walking away. But then she didn’t give up. But she did– she turned around and she still showed the bait—the seeds. To the pigeons—coz they wanted it. They’re hungry. It’s ideal food for them. Lead magnet, right. She wants them to opt in. And they walk towards her. She turns around, they turn around. She turns around again, they turn around. And slowly but surely, the distance gets less, less and less. Until she got down on one knee. Again she was heavy-set like my mom and so it looked like it was uncomfortable. Again she wanted that beak-to-hand relationship and sure enough the pigeon came and just kind of pecked at her palm. And then the whole flock came and started to feed from her hand. And pretty soon after 10 minutes, they were landing on her head. And they’re pooping on her shoulder. She was like the pigeon lady because she got conversion, right? Now, that is a great story coz it’s a great analogy that I can use again and again. But that’s not where it ends because I observed this little kid who was maybe 5 or 6 years old. He was there with his mom. It’s summer vacation. He wants the result that the pigeon lady has. He’s watching it. But he doesn’t have a relationship like the woman has with the pigeons. He hasn’t gone through the dance. So he gets the nickel. He gets the seeds. He runs at the pigeons not knowing how to do it. [Greg] I’ve seen this. I’ve seen this happen. [Alex] Yea. And then, he gets pissed– as any kid would. And he throws the bird seed at the pigeons and didn’t even notice that they came back landed and started eating from the ground. And he could’ve had the beak-to-hand relationship but they never opted in. Now, do you want to be the little kid? Or do you want to be the woman with a little bit of patience and build the rapport rather than going after a transaction like the kid wanted. We’re after the relationship and that is conversion. From someone looking at a page. To someone clicking a link. To someone opting in. To someone buying. To someone buying again and again and again. And with the membership site marketing, they buy on continuity. So if you wanted to pull $200 from them, you could pull it over the course of the year or 2 years and it’s very affordable. Especially it’s a down sell. If you have a high-end offer and it’s my favourite down sell because there’s something cost every single month is miniscule. So conversion deals with the primary offer, right? The– probably a one-time offer just to sweeten the pot. A down sell which I love– membership site marketing. And that’s where I learned that it’s really important to go after the relationship. My friend, Ryan Deiss, he was a client in 2002 and he’s one of the annoying ones. He’s just a meteoric rise hit him and Perry Belcher who I went to a speaker school together. We were in the same class. And then bam, they just went way past me. They won digital marketer, of course, Ryan, especially And he reminded me of something that I’ll never forget. ‘it’s not about B to C which is business to consumer It’s not about B to B which is business to business. It’s not B to P which is business to patient– if you’re on the wellness industry. Or B to G– heaven forbid if you sell the government, right? It’s all about H to H. And H to H is human to human. And even—it can be H to P as in H to pigeons. Or H to A. H to animals coz they understand relationship. So the little kid didn’t. And the elderly lady did. And that marked my big life lesson of being patient from taking them to a seeker. A seeker to me is just looking at a page. To a suspect which is clicking a link then looking at theopt in—lead magnet whatever it may be. Opting in which is called the prospect. Buying which is called the buyer. And buying again and again which is called multi buyer which is already built-in with a membership model. So I look at the conversion is going movement from seeker to suspect to prospect to buyer to multi buyer. I call them buyers coz you can call them customers, patients, students, clients, buyers like to catch all term. And so marketing’s about movement. And movement is life. And Albert Einstein said, ‘nothing happens until something moves.’ So that is kind of a description of my experience with conversion. And if you know how to interact with people or even own a dog or a cat, you already are a conversion expert. [Greg] That’s awesome. That’s a great way of looking at it. I love that. I love the human to human thing. Coz you’re right. We all talk B to B. B to B to C B to C—all that. All the little acronyms there. But you’re right. It’s so much about those relationships and I do think the great thing you highlighted there, too, is it doesn’t stop at one version or one point down that opportunity or funnel that relationship even. There’s so many opportunities along the way. So in the interesting— So if— That’s sort of step by step process going through conversion for you, so if our course creators here, if they’re applying that, how does that— How can they take that and put that into action in terms of courses? And what does that look like for them in terms of the next— Is that something that takes 30 days, months, years to put it into places and where can that impact help for them? [Alex] Well, that’s a very good question. I get it a lot in different forms. And I’m going to say something very controversial with my answer. And it’s only controversial because it may fly in the face of traditional advice or even a coach that you may have or a mentor. And that’s not my intention—to violate anything that you’ve learned. Because universal truths— The opposite of universal truth is another universal truth. General relativity or quantum physics? I mean, they’re both true but they oppose each other. So just take this with a grain of truth or salt. And discard it if it doesn’t make sense. Keep it if it does. And here it is. When you’re creating a course, you are creating a do-it-yourself offer. So of course, by definition, is a course on whatever topic you have. Whether it’s how to buy Facebook ads? How to do a conversion? How to do a seminar, webinars, hang outs? Whatever it’s about. Usually whether is $500 or $2,000. It’s always about do-it-yourself or DIY. So far so good, Greg? [Greg] Yea. [Alex] The problem with that is that is low end– even if it’s $2,000. So I don’t teach my students even though I’m starting from scratch to creating a course, coz that can take 3 months/ 6months– even a year. You know what’s worse than that is a book. It takes 3 years. [Greg] I got that one. [Alex] You got 2,000 of them in the garage, in the basement. You can’t sell them, right? [Greg] Yea. [Alex] I am about setting a goal on my birthday which is March 9th. I’m a good receiver. I take gifts– anyone watching or listening. If on March 9th I say, I want to make ‘x’ number of dollars in the next 12 months. That’s my first question– that’s an intention. Then set a minimum, a target, and an outrageous one. So I have 3 goals. And if you’re a coach, you know the MTO process. If you don’t, Minimum- Target- Outrageous is a great way to set goals. Coz you have 3 chances, not one. And then what I do is I ask a question that I don’t know anyone else to ask other than the mentor you taught me. Here’s I say, ‘okay, what’s the least amount of work I got to do to get there?’ And the least amount of work is going after high-end clients first. Then lower-end, which is middle range, and then low-end which to me is a how-to course from $500 to $2,000. So if I sell high-end and I tell you what my high-end is. And it may be shocking, it may be not. $100,000 prepaid. $60,000 prepaid. Right. That’s high-end to me. Right. And for that, they’re getting not do-it-yourself. They’re getting the course for free. In fact, they’re getting every course I’ve ever done for free. But I’m doing it for them. I’m having my team do all the stuff for them. Whatever it is they’re coming on board with. Whether it’s getting exposure or it’s learning the conversion game. It just depends where they are in their business heroes’ journey. And they come in and they know that there’s no guarantee either. When they say, ‘hey what’s the guarantee on the 100k?’ I’m glad you asked, ‘you will never see the 100k again.’ [Greg] Not that hundred. Hopefully other hundreds. [Alex] Yea. But if you sell on return on investment, when it doesn’t happen, they get pissed at you. [Greg] Right. Yea. [Alex] So I sell based on COI not ROI. COI is cost of inaction. So what are you losing? You probably spent 300k on doing the wrong thing over the past 10 years. So spend your 100k and you got me and we’ll make sure we do it for you. So that’s the highest end. And then the mid-range for me is from $12,000-$40,000. And that’s called DWY or Done With You. And this is the element of an irresistible offer. You have 3 things that you’re offering. Like good-better-best, right? [Greg] Yea. [Alex] And you always start with the best. Right? Then the better, then the good. If you go the other way, it doesn’t work as easily. My friend Robert Cialdini taught me that. He wrote the book influence about 30 years ago. It’s called The Law of Contrast. It works. And so the middle range is called done with you. And since you have so many coaches, that’s what done with you is. You’re coaching. You’re not really consulting. You’re not giving answers, although some coaches do. You are asking questions Socratically so that your clients or students get the answers and through self-discovery. That’s the essence and that’s how I know coaching. And at the lowest-end of course is do-it-yourself. So do-it-yourself is information product– $500-2k. How-to course. It can be a membership site like I do or it can may be just stand-alone. And then for me, done with you is coaching 12-$30,000. The 12 I don’t do the coaching. One of my certified coaches do. 30k I do. And then the done for you is 60 and 100. They get the coaching for free which is 30k. And they get all the how-to courses which— I had 2,000 hours of training so it’s just like vomiting all over them on all my courses. Now here’s what’s controversial, If you’re just starting out, sell the intention. Enrol the intention of what your high-end is and expect the no. Now if they yes, then you will be highly motivated to come up with something at $60,000. They even hire me as a consultant and I tell you what to offer them. Anyone can give value for 60k. Anyone watching or listening to this. So sell the high-end, expect the no. Sell the mid-range, expect the no. So high, down sell, right? And then the third down sell is— Well here’s a how-to course. And if you get a no from them for that, then offer them a membership site to they have a sunken cost of a hundred bucks a month in most cases. And they’re growing a relationship of going to the dance like those pigeons. The reason it’s controversial is because people usually start low-end and may want to start their funnel with all that sh*t— Sorry– and all that stuff. Sorry, my bad. [Greg] It’s okay. [Alex] I had my mind on pigeons. I don’t drop the F bomb ever. Like Tony Robbins or other people. I just say ‘focus.’ My kids go, ‘dad, what the focus are you talking about?’ We know what we’re talking about, right? [Greg] I might borrow that one. [Alex] Yea it’s a good one. It’s a good one. Like, ‘dad, you’re so focused, I hate that about you.’ It’s super cool. If you start with your how-to product, then you’re bending over backwards. You don’t know how to expose it. But if you sell high-end and so what happens, they say yes like they did with me. You take that money and now you can buy media. And you can buy customers. For me, the best marketing doesn’t win. The marketer who can spend the most money to buy customers wins like Jeff Bezos of Amazon and like Apple. Right? So that’s the way I look at the world. Yes, it’s controversial but I’d rather have $10,000 clients. 2 of them a month. And have 2 out of a hundred people say yes. 98% rejection but make 20k versus going after hundred dollar clients and even at a 50% conversion, which if anyone guess that I want you to teach me. I can’t get that. That’s $5,000. 50 out of 100. So $20,000 for $10,000 times 2. Versus $5,000 for 50% conversion. Man, I’ll take that 20k with 98% rejection. What do you offer for 10k? It’s super easy once you’ve gotten the commitment. What gets in the way, Greg, is self-image of 6 inches. Some people 8 inches. Some people 4. You know, between the ears. [Greg] Yea. [Alex] It’s how big your head is, right? And the bottom line is if your self-image or self-discovery told you you’re only worth 25k like I thought. Then I’ll hire someone else—a friend of mine to sell 100k and when he got the first one, he go, ‘holy cow, what did you say?’ He said, what you wrote down? I said, ok, I’m going to come up with it. And so I just kind of took them to the bar in the restaurant that’s full. I just kind of have them review stuff and take assessments and stuff like that. Now we’re secretly building this thing. Now, you know I have 900k clients. 6 60k clients. Over a dozen 30k clients. It’s all I can handle and I’m giving the high-end clients to other people I’ve train and certify. So great problem to have. [Greg] Yea. [Alex] I don’t want to come across like bragging about the high-end but you’ve got to dip your toe in the water. I don’t like to do how-to course first, that’s do-it-yourself. Give all that stuff for free with the coaching with this, if they say yes to a high-end. And even if they say no, no and no. They can say to a membership site. So that’s my crusade down your first show. [Greg] Great. Wow. That’s excellent. Yea. And If you— I’m sure a lot of people would be very happy at those yeses at the high-end. And you’re totally right, if you don’t shoot further or ask for it, it never happens. And I know, even personally, I haven’t got that high with any of my offerings. But every time I move the price points up and gone for higher price points, I’ve been surprised at the adoption. I’ve even found that my conversion— You’re talking about 50% on the low-end. 1-2 which is your like hard to hit or impossible. And then 2% on that high-end. I’ve actually found as I move my price point up, I get a higher conversion rate. Just because there’s the perception of value that I actually get more people buying at a higher price point. [Alex] Well, you want me to give you on my opinion of what the single best mistake that online marketers make? [Greg] Is counting? [Alex] You ready? [Greg] Yea. [Alex] Okay. I won marketingonline.com. I couldn’t get onlinemarketing.com which is better for Google but I got marketingonline which is pretty good. [Greg] Yea. [Alex] And so, I’ve seen a lot. I’ve made more mistakes probably than people who are listening. I know what is by getting rid of what isn’t. And because I’ve made so many mistakes, I know what not to do. Now, coming from a direct mail– MAIL business and background and the infomercial business back in the early 90s. I was very accountable. Like direct mail is the most accountable business on earth. Because you have to track what’s coming in. My expertise was in postcards. My first course online is marketing postcards in 2001. That was the first course. And everyone was selling $20 eBooks. I sold the course for $250. People were laughing at me but I was making 5 figures starting and that was a lot of money for me in 2001. So what I believe that is a huge mistake for online marketers is because of the— The seduction and the pull that email is free, they just blast their list and they don’t segment it. But if you’re super smart and Ryan Deiss does this all the time— the digital marketer. Segment your online list. So that they go into specific buckets which I can speak to and most people don’t know what they are. And by doing so, you have super high-end. Somewhat high-end, right? And then middle, low, low, low, and then bottom feeders who are the problem children. You can’t treat them equally. They’re created equal but I don’t believe they should be treated equally. So what I want online marketers don’t do is because of the E in email, it’s free. If someone ask me, ‘how big is your list.’ I ask them, ‘which one?’ [Greg] Right. [Alex] You want my list of my people who watch my hang out each week? Or you want my list of high-end buyers? You want my list of people who have just bought my trip wires? You want my membership site list? They’re all separate. And emailing all of them is a huge mistake. Coz when they opt out, depending on what CRM you use. They may never come in with that same email. And you go say, ‘hey where’s all my stuff?’ So if you can segment your list, that’s key. And we can talk about it but it’s not just the 80/20 principle. It’s the wealth income pyramid which a lot of marketers talk about and I can speak to it now. Unless you have any questions. [Greg] Yea. I know. That would be great. I’m curious how you actually go about segments— I mean, I’ve talked to a lot of—even guys that some of the CRM companies— Convertkit– about how they segment stuff like that. It’s a super interesting thing to get into and I agree. I often sign up for people’s lists and companies’ lists and just to see how they segment me based on different actions and things. And you’re right. It’s kind of ridiculous to speak to 10,000 or 100,000 people all exactly the same way when they’re clearly so different in terms of how they speak to you with their actions. [Alex] And you’re vomiting all over them digitally. They’re just expecting it and you’re in the inbox as an unwelcome guest. Coz honestly, you’re spamming them. They’re not expecting it. Hey, I got this JV. It’s spam. C’mon. Yea they know you, they like you, they trust you but it’s unexpected. So what we do is we set it up. And I can’t get to granular detail coz we don’t have time. [Greg] Yea. [Alex] but what we do— By the way, I’m not selling anything so that wasn’t an open loop to buy something. [Greg] Yea. Yea. I got it. [Alex] Just to be transparent. But if you look at the wealth income pyramid would you can go online Google. Just check it out. Then you’ll see that Pareto’s 80/20 principle is taken to a whole new level. It’s turbo-charged. Now Vilfredo Pareto found—I think it was this. 18th or 17th century that 20% of all the people of England owned 80% of the wealth. Now these days in the world, 5% of the people own the 80% of the wealth. Right? It’s really skewed. But he realized that, okay that means of all the roads you take, you take 20% of the roads 80% of the time. Or 20% of your sales team is producing 80% of the results. Or 20% of your clothes, you wear 80% of the time. 20% of your relatives, you see 80% of the time. So there’s 80/20. It’s not always 80/20. 70/30. 5/95. Whatever. But not all people should be treated universally the same. So that’s the mistake. So how do you segment them? Here’s how I do it. So I take the wealth income pyramid which separates the 20% and the 80% even further. Now I want you to picture this in your minds. Just picture this. It’s a pyramid. It’s 2-dimensional. It’s like a triangle, right? And the base is the base, right? Just like in the inverted funnel kind of. So you have the base and then you have the tip at the top. Just like any triangle on the base. And it’s like a pyramid. So at the top, right? Imagine about 20% down. There’s a line there. So above the line, that’s 20%. Those are the people who you want to go after. And below the line that’s 80%. Those are the people that are only bringing 20% of all the income that you’re looking for and engagement and everything else. And by the way, the people below that line are also your biggest problem children. And they’re not funding their problem. I don’t mind high end clients being problem children. They already paid for it, right? [Greg] Yea. [Alex] Now at the top, I want you to imagine it being segmented in the following way: At the very top—that little triangle at the very top, that’s 1%. And a little further down is 4%. And then the balance is 15%. So within that 20%, you have 1, 4 and 15. Now let’s analyse what this is. It’s super simple. You don’t have to be a mathematician. That 1% is the 20% of the 20% of the 20%. And that for me is like a $250,000 client. And mathematically, they are on your list. If you have a thousand people, there’s 10 of them who will be willing to do it if you just knew what to say to them. So again, then the 4%, those guys are high-end clients. Those are my 100k clients—60k clients. And they are the 20% of the 20%. Coz that’s what the 4% is. And then underneath that is the bottom of the 20 which is called the 15%. And I have found that those folks through coaching. They want more access to you. They’re willing to spend 10 grand or 15 grand. But they’re not really at the very, very top, right? Now underneath that, the 80% that’s left, you separate that into 60. And then the bottom, bottom, bottom is 20. And people make fun of it, they call them the bottom-feeders, right? I offer people, here’s the deal. When you started, your father released you, your mother received you. 40 weeks later, you came out hopefully head first, otherwise your mother would remember you. And you won the ovarian lottery. You did that over a quarter billion other competitors. You got in, right. Unless you have a twin, you’re the only one. People are born strong and they learn to get weak. So I believe everyone is created equal—my personal belief. But everyone should never be treated equally. You can treat the bottom 20% the same way you treat the top 1%. You can’t give them the same time and the same help desk, support and all that kind of stuff. No way. Just warning, if you do. You’ll be broke. So the best business people deliberately treat different people differently. And usually it’s based on income. And but most marketers do who fail, I believe, is they don’t spend the most money on that top 20. What they do if they have an event or something. They go, ‘those guys are hip-pocket clients.’ Right? So I’ll go after them last. Let me spend all my money on the bottom 80%. I go dude, that’s how they say it in the U.S., right? Dude, man or woman, it doesn’t matter. I’m going to FedEx those top 1-4% people to get them in the event first. Make sure everyone knows they’re coming. I’m going to spend $20 each just to get them in because they funded it. And I’ll spend less money on the other folks because they haven’t earned it yet. And I learned that from my mom. She used to serve— We lived in a 1200sqft home in Pasadena, California—right by Caltech. And we didn’t have a lot of money. But she would serve is fillet mignon when we had steak. Meat eater. So if you’re vegetarian, sorry. And she would serve hamburger when our neighbors came home, right. When I’m in the neighbor’s house, they would serve fillet mignon just to impress us, right? And then family got hamburger, right? So feed your family fillet—all the best vegetables or tofu you can think of, right? And let the strangers—the suspects, prospects, first-time buyers—don’t give them all your attention, effort, energy and money coz that’s how you go broke. So the theme is, ‘everyone’s created equal but you must never treat everyone equally.’ Does that make sense? [Greg] Totally. And it’s funny though, because it’s harder than you think to apply because the bottom 20, as you put it, usually the ones come asking the most and they come and they’re the ones— It’s the squeaky wheel that screams the loudest and that’s the often that we end up addressing. And I think unintentionally, we end up going after or responding to spending time with the one that scream the loudest. And usually that’s also the one that isn’t as interested in actually in contributing to your business or paying or working with you as much. [Alex] There’s a reason why they ask the most and it’s not their fault. It’s because they’re broke. So they can’t buy the stuff you’re selling. So the only way they can engage with you is ask questions or complain, right So that’s why they end up being like the haters and the complainers. It’s not their fault. They’re in dire straits. And you have to understand when they’re coming at you. It’s not your fault unless you’re stuff isn’t any good. They’re there complaining coz it’s the only way to access you to make a big splash with the rest of your list on Facebook or wherever else that they do. So expect it. Not if it happens—when it happens. How do you deal with it? And we deal with it with auto responders and frequently asked questions, that’s it. [Greg] Yea. We probably have done a lot. I mean, here– we definitely spend a lot of time with everyone at all levels with our customer—potential customer based. I have found on the lower-end of people who aren’t likely to pay or upgrade or do anything. There’s still can be some benefits in social media. Like, ‘wow. You help me so much.’ And I also have been occasionally surprised at people who came in with high-level questions. And didn’t look like they were that higher-end. And then all of a sudden, you spend a lot of time and they end up converting up to that higher level. So there’s always those ones that surprise you throughout. [Alex] Well, the best thing you can do with the bottom 80% is make them ambassadors for your Facebook group. Or get them involved as volunteers, right? Don’t pay them but they’re like interns. And they will love you for it because there’s a self-image problem. We all have it, I believe. I have not enough issues. I’m sure. Mommy-daddy issues that I haven’t resolved yet. But that way, they feel engaged. [Greg] Yea. [Alex] And engaging to others, they feel that they can serve you. They can’t afford your stuff but what I do is if they’re an ambassador and they work for them for free long enough, I’d give my stuff to them, for free. And if you find the right people, they’re totally appreciative. So it’s an honor. [Greg] Yea. [Alex] For someone like that. As long as they play by the rules and don’t complain for the sake of complaining. [Greg] Yea. So prior to revenue as – Once someone is spending, it’s pretty easy to jump them up into 1%, 4%, 15%. But prior to that, is there a signal to you that you use to segment that list so that you start to move them to a different category of what you send them? [Alex] Yea. Absolutely. And it’s all done through an intake. An intake is like an assessment—a questionnaire. And if you go into a doctor’s office, chiropractic’s office, acupuncture—any wellness professional. Before they can diagnose you, they give you an intake so that they’re actually going in a direction with the diagnosis. What surgeries have you had? Have you had certain types of pain or what medications are you on, etc. So the intake is just like in the medical profession—in wellness. That’s how you find out a few things. Okay. And the things that we look for are the following? How much do they value speed of success? So if they’re going to work with us directly, then what we’re intending to do is get them there faster, right? [Greg] Right. [Alex] Coz time is valuable. [Greg] Yea. That’s the dime for you. It’s going to happen as fast as possible. [Alex] 100% So we look for speed. And we’re not looking at the ability to pay yet. We look for speed and intention. Right? Coz they can borrow the money if they wanted to. Do they have a rich relative or a sponsor they can teach. And they pay for it. Yea we teach them how to do that. But we don’t want them have them max out their credit card. That’s no fun. Too much pressure. [Greg] Yea. [Alex] But we look for do they want speed? If it’s yes. Do they want access to us because they know we can get them there? If the answer is yes. And then the final thing is status. Do they want greater status and borrow the authority we’re handing to them? I mean I’m borrowing your authority right now with your tribe because you’re kind of handed it to me. I don’t know, maybe most of them, I’m assuming. But the fact that you’ve vetted me and we’re doing this, hopefully I’m making you look good. But the point is, I’m kind of borrowing your authority and you’d be borrowing mine when your own my show. So speed, access and status—that’s what we’re ultimately enrolling them into. And then we look at their ability to pay. [Greg] Right. Excellent. And that happens very very— Like you segment them right away as soon as they’re joining a list or– [Alex] What we do is— If they’re coming cold, right? Then we have our typical lead magnet. Entrep wire and getting them engaged. Are they willing to buy? Are they not? And then we give them an intake. Now if they take it, they’re now, they’re raising their hand. They’re saying, ‘okay, I want more.’ We don’t know if they can pay for more, but they’re saying I want more. If they show an intention and ability to pay, then they talk to a live human being. And we have a discovery session. Usually 30-45min session. And the script to our discovery session is a domain that you gave. AccessInfluence.com It’s right there. Where the 13 questions we ask, sometimes we deviate from it but low-pressure and the whole point is to focus on change. Are they willing to make a change? And the pivot question is, Alright. Since you’re willing to make a change, are you open to having us show you to what change looks like with us? [Greg] Right. [Alex] Basically, can we pitch you, right? And it works. It works. And I’m really, really proud of making so many mistakes until it got down to 1-page instead of 6. And it works if you work it. [Greg] Awesome. Excellent. So that’s definitely something to check out for anyone who’s interested in this. That’s in AccesInfluence.com And I know if they want to find more about you, accessinfluence.com great place to check that list or that question template. And then marketingonline—ways to find out more about you. [Alex] Yea. And marketing online. And if you really want to see what I’ve done over the years, just click on the media tab and you will see high-energy speeches and backgrounds and what people say about me. I have a friend Harvey Mackay. He’s a best-selling author. He’s best known for Swim with the Sharks. He didn’t think that it wasn’t possible to do a mastermind for $75,000. Honestly. I said, ‘dude, you’re Harvey Mackay.’ Let’s do it for 100k. It was called the Mackay round table. So I helped him put it together. We got some really, really cool people to sign up. I got to meet the late Muhammad Ali in his home. Larry King in his home. Mayor Rudy Giuliani in New York and a bunch of famous people. Thanks to Harvey. And so I asked— Harvey said, ‘what can I do for you?’ Can you publicly declare that I’m the Warren Buffet of Internet marketing? He said, ‘sure.’ [Greg]That’s where it started. [Alex] That’s where it started. [Greg] Awesome. [Alex] You got to ask even for stuff like that. Now, I think I earned the right for him to say it. But I didn’t say it. Harvey Mackay said it. If you’re old enough to know who he is, that’s a big, big deal in many, many circles. So the same is true with marketing. You got to ask them where they go and if I can leave you with one thing, It’s don’t ask what can I sell this person or how can I get them to opt in. Ask yourself, where in the wealth income pyramid do they fit? Do I think they’re a one-percenter, 4-percenter, 15-percenter, 16 or 20. And if you just set that and you whole teams thinks that way, you will not be spinning your wheels, spending all your time, energy and money on the bottom 20%. And you’ll actually shape their behaviour. So that they don’t become problem children. Coz the more energy you give them, the more they’re going to come back. But one of my friends who’s a therapist, he said the best way to shape bad behaviour is ignore it. I did that with my kids. [Greg] I was going to say that sounds like a parenting tactic. [Alex] it is. It is. It doesn’t work with the spouse. I got divorced, right? It does work with kids and the best way to shape positive behaviour is to acknowledge it. So wait for the problem child in your database to do something good and say ‘that’s awesome, man.’ Do you want to be an ambassador for a week in our Facebook group? And they know all your stuff. Coz they’ve been doing all the free stuff, right? They will fell so good And you serve them. You really give them some love in an inexpensive way. That’s my counsel and it works for us. [Greg] That’s awesome. That’s great. Well, you know what. It’s funny. We do these things and I want to share it— We’re going to share it with our whole audience but it’s also just listening to you and some of those ideas and specifically in here. I’m already thinking of specific people that I am going to send this to and say, ‘hey remember that conversation we had a month ago about your conversions and how you’re trying to change and improve things. You do need to watch this. So I definitely will be sending it out to specific people. Obviously, the whole group here as well. Everyone using Thinkific and in our– following us. It’s definitely something that they can make use of and learn from. [Alex] I’ll tell you what Greg, the first question you should be asking is Alex, where are you in the triangle? 1%, 4%. And I think I’m on the 1% or the 4% if you made an irresistible offer that made sense. Whether that’s a JV or it’s actually me being a client of yours. You can go that far with it. [Greg] Yea. Alright. [Alex] That’s something for you to think about. [Greg] Okay. Alex, where are you— Know, that’s great. We’ll figure that out. That’s great. [Alex] Yea. I think I’m 4%, for sure. 1% over time, maybe. We’ll see. [Greg] Awesome. We got to build the relationship. I don’t want to charge you like the kid—little kid and throw [Alex] Right. [Greg] throw seeds at you. [Alex] Have the pigeons fly away. [Greg] Yea. Yea. Excellent. Awesome. Anything else that you want to share? [Alex] Well, the most important thing is focus more energy on working on your business than working in it. And if you can build some primetime into your day with a countdown timer and just focus on working on the business. And get good at that. Then you’ll serve a lot more people and not just the people that are coming in through JV or referrals. There’s so many other media sources. So focus on working on the business. And put less time in the business coz that comes naturally, anyway. And I think your future will be bigger and brighter coz you’ll find ways and you’ll be guided to working on the business strategies like we’ve talked about in this interview. [Greg] Great. I appreciate that. That’s awesome. Great. Yea. So again if you want to grab that question template which I’m checking out myself, it’s in AccessInfluence.com and more on Alex at marketingonline.com. Thank you Alex. I really appreciate it. That’s was amazing. [Alex] Thank you for having me. [Greg] Thanks.

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Post-Launch Conversions and Revenue Generation (Alex Mandossian Interview)

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