Resource Guide: 7 Simple Techniques To Grow Your List Of Subscribers

Which would you rather have – a business that runs your life, or a business that enhances your life?

Thought so.

The biggest factor in determining whether you have one or the other, is your list. Lists are the new gold. Everybody is into list building these days.

Still, you don’t greet others with “Hi, my name is ______, I am a list builder.” Because it does not describe what you DO nor what your business is about.

So What Exactly DO You Do?

What do bloggers do most often?

As a serious blogger you most often meet new people – because it’s the ONLY way to grow your list. All of your new subscribers are people you haven’t met yet.

It explains why you’re always looking to meet new people – so you can introduce yourself and explain to your audience they are morons if they don’t buy your stuff at a big discount but hurry only before midnight tonight.

Wrong! And right. To be seen as a vendor and not as an expert – a blogger’s kiss of death. And right, the BIGGEST difference between a business that weighs you down and a business that enhances your life, is in …

How You Greet People

Every business has a story to tell. But how to tell the story so people listen and get hooked? You’re doing it online 7/24/365, through your blog and landing pages, and offline every time you’re out and about.

Greeting people right, then watch your list of subscribers grow – what could be more enjoyable?

But – will it work?

It is not paint-by-numbers. Success never is. It won’t work for everybody. To believe it could  / would only set you up for disappointment.

“A winner is someone who recognizes his God-given talents, works his tail off to develop them into skills, and uses those skills to accomplish his goals.”
– Larry Bird

“The secret to success is … is no secret. It’s called work your ass off and find a way to add more value to peoples’ lives than anyone else does.”
– Tony Robbins

Work your tail off? Certainly not right away. To find if it works for you, just play with the idea first.

• What if you become incredibly clear about what you do, why you do it, and who it can really serve best?

• What if you have a clear greeting that resonates with the people who experience it and shows the value of what you have to give?

• What if you could use the exact same easy to remember message online and off?

Technique #1 – Know What The Deal Is

Knowing what the deal is, is technique #1 – because “deal-making” is synonymous with “business.” On the downside, no deals = no business. On the upside, business thrives – and the good news, you are a natural at it.

Who says deal-making says rejection – it is part and parcel of deal-making. In the beginning especially, rejection by just one person alone, if s/he’s the right one, is enough to make you wish for a space shuttle to your own planet. And in business rejection can be on a scale that makes it anyone’s guess how you manage to get home with your integrity intact.

So you learn to think your deals through before presenting them to others.

What IS the deal when meeting someone for the first time – what are you hoping to achieve with a first handshake? To sell? To impress with a freebie or bonus? To dazzle with hi-tech pop-ups? To have readers subscribe to your list?

Shooting for lofty goals only results in deal-breaking, not in deal-making, more often than not – not what you want.

What you want instead is to create curiosity and have them exclaim:

“Oh, Really!?”

When meeting people for the first time you’ve got a minute or less. It is too little time to make someone else to agree with your point of view, but enough to tell an engaging story and create curiosity – and have them exclaim, “Oh, really!?” By aiming for less you’ll achieve more.

To make people WANT to do business with you. Going for less doesn’t make sense, and going for more is a deal-breaker.

Besides, you don’t have to do the selling part anymore, because the actual selling is taken care of by buy-buttons, PayPal, Clickbank and credit card/banks these days.

Creating curiosity in what you can do for others, works better than telling them outright. With your greeting create a vacuum, don’t fill it. If you stop a great story in the middle, the audience will insist to hear more.

Technique #2 – Compete With Yourself

Ignore the competition – or risk to feel overwhelmed.

Manufacturing is employing fewer people, because new technologies – nano, robotics, 3D printing – are revolutionizing the manufacturing sector. At the same time writing (content creation) has not only survived change – from stone tablets 5,000 years ago, to paper and pen, to the printing press, the typewriter, the internet and anywhereheld devices – writing thrives on innovation!

The demand for good old writing and fresh new content just keeps growing. It explains why more and more people cross over from manufacturing/unemployment to writing/content creation. Competition is ruthless, and will get even more so in the years ahead. Now is the time to get on board, my friend.

How to not feel overwhelmed?

Just measure yourself to yourself only – forget about reportedly competitive conversion rates out there. Start with your own current rate of converting visitors/readers into subscribers, work to improve it constantly and never-ending – and in the end you will be the competition.

Technique #3 – Begin With Why

Your why – the very reason your business exists. But we tend to forget because no-one greets you with, “Why do you do?”

You ask, “What do you do?” instead – but that’s only because you want to be sure of an answer. But in human relations the why is always there, as the stars are there even in full sunlight.

Simon Sinek is an authority on “Why.” His blog and his daily “Notes to Inspire” really do. Anyway, here from here from Simon Sinek’s blog, a fabulous infographic on “Why”:

Don’t like infographics? Then hop over here for Albert Einstein’s pure version of “Why” – then hop back over here.

Don’t ask, “Why?” even jokingly, because I’ll only tell you when you’re clear on your why, and express it in your greeting, people get to know you, because you hit the center of “The Golden Circle.” The right people instantly feel to know, like and trust you, and the wrong people run for cover, never to be your problem.

Make “Why” a part of your story and of your greeting. Clarity on your why is the best body-guard you’ll ever have for your business because it is letting only the best people get through.

If you feel I wrapped up “Why” too quickly, or if you have questions, email me at beat@leapofaction.com

Technique #4: Always Tell A Story

Like most bloggers, I’ve been dabbling in internet marketing since 2008. The beginning was difficult – drove me up a wall. But then I remembered a few true marketing “secrets” – and it got easier.

• People choose people and products (in this case you are both) based on the STORY the person/product represents – in THEIR mind.

• Bloggers who are experts in the bias and lies people tell themselves, and create a STORY fitting that worldview, can generate sales all day long.

• You can’t create a strong story – a story that’s worth spreading – if you don’t know who you are telling it to.

• If the story is nothing but about a catalog hooked up to a shopping cart, it is a yawner.

• Tell your entire sales story every time!

Technique #5 – Do’s and Dont’s

Don’t Give Up. The Blogosphere is full of dead blogs, each a broken dream. But your dream is unbroken – keep it that way.

Why is giving-up so popular? Even though I’m a recovering giver-upper myself, the colossal number of dead blogs just doesn’t make sense. When you KNOW there is gold, keep digging, and if you don’t, why begin?

Don’t Be Normal. ​​If you started but then let go of great ideas in your distant past, you know how hard it is to break the insane habit – but also that it can be easily done.

If it is hard it is only because you keep hearing, “It’s only normal to make foolish decisions often,” “You’re only human after all – it is normal to make decisions that rob you of your dreams.” Not with these words, but that’s what they are saying. Experts, too. You have cheese smarter than that at home. Every cheese knows …

“Normal is nothing more than a cycle on a washing machine.” (Whoppi Goldberg)

Yeah!

Other Do’s & Dont’s

• If your current “What do you do?” does not get you to “Oh, really!?” – a boring story is worse than no story at all. Stop using it.

• Don’t believe it is okay to be lengthy, boring, esoteric, meek or robotic, just because it is normal. You are here to stand out and “What do you do?” is a golden opportunity.

• Forget elevator speech. No one ever bought anything on an elevator.

• Regardless of what might be going on inside of your head, don’t respond with, “It’s hard to explain” – the ultimate deal breaker.

Doesn’t leave much to say, does it?

It is okay to say, “I’m working on it.” Authentic always works.

When you follow your dream and are authentic about it, you are considered crazy and accused of wasting your time – by some. This is normal – nothing unique about it. Meet Unique.

Technique #6 – Uniqueness

To grow your list of subscribers, uniqueness is a must. But what exactly is, “Unique”? It sounds like a person’s name, a perfume or a car … but it is actually an obstacle course.

To get over your obstacles you must stop LOOKING at them, and SEE them instead. When you do, you see they only exist in your mind and they are not real.

And just when you thought you’re done with obstacles … another shows up. Typical of obstacles.

“How to get the uniqueness out of its hiding?”

That’s not an obstacle – it’s a process, and a pre-view of Technique #7!

Technique #7: The 60-Second Sales Hook

How to stand out and sell more using the power of your story?

It requires creativity and guts. Many different techniques have helped me over the years, but mostly it has been gradual or cosmetic changes. But a couple of months ago I stumbled upon a formula that made a radical change – “The 60-Second Sales Hook.”

So I invite you to hop over to the inventor of “The 60-Second Sales Hook,” Kevin Rodgers. Kevin doesn’t know about my post, so you’ll be asked for your name and email address. Just to allay any fears: access to everything talked about here is FREE.

In the archetypal story, the s/hero starts out as a very ordinary person, living in an ordinary world. It’s how s/he responds to the circumstances of his or her life that adds up to a “hero’s journey” of strange places and incredible events.

Kevin Rodgers’ 60-Second Sales Hook capitalizes on the archetypal story. At his site you find everything needed to stand out and sell more, using the power of your story, in a minute or less – the simple formula to construct the story, fill-in-the-blank templates and word-for-word video scripts.

This concludes my half of the deal – with a big “Thanks!” to Simon and Kevin.

Now, dear reader, it is over to you. For greatest fun and best results …

Be bold – take action. Each of the 7 techniques works by itself, but for best results to grow your list of subscribers – apply them all rolled into one.

If you enjoyed the post, share it with your friends and use the comments section below to share how these techniques work for you.

Okay?

It’s a deal!

About the author of this guest post:

Beat (pronounced B@) Schindler – has discovered a simple three-part formula that can be used to create satisfaction for ourselves and for other people, and then day by day as if by magic … To discover the simple formula for yourself soon: http://maximyou.com/