In the world of marketing, the word “overdeliver” has been used so often it’s starting to become a cliche.
And I admit, I’m guilty of using it just about every single day.
You can no longer only provide average service or average products and expect to survive. Nope. Ain’t happening.
The customers are more educated. There’s too much competition.
You gotta truly deliver kick-ass products and services. They must be no-brainers (and no, I’m not talking about just stacking 18 private-label rights products on top of your offer).
So the question remains.. how do you “overdeliver”?
MY OVERDELIVER FORMULA
As you may know, I’m obsessed with simplifying complex issues down to the most basic level so you can take immediate action.
So after going through my products and coaching notes – I’ve solved the “overdeliver” formula down to this ONE QUESTION you ask yourself..
Here are 9 simple words to ask yourself before you do anything…
What would I want if I was the customer?
Think about that for a moment.
I can’t tell you how many coaching clients are stuck on exactly what they should offer in the main product. Or what the pricing should be. Or if they should include a trial or multiple tiers or payment plans.
But when you are honest and ask yourself “What would I want if I was the customer?”.. you will quickly have your answer.
Ask this question…
- BEFORE you consider adding an upsell
- BEFORE you consider adding a downsell
- BEFORE you consider the pricing for your product
- BEFORE you consider what your membership site will include
- BEFORE you consider if you should keep that in your product or make it a “premium” version
Do this – and the answer is obvious.
Treat your customers just like YOU want to be treated. It’s the stuff I learned when I was 5 years old, it’s the stuff I teach my young children today, and yet – once we become “marketers” we forget the simple lesson.
We get wrapped up in “extracting” money from our customer. We become obsessed with squeezing out another $.05 cents in our EPC (earnings per click). And we forget to simply treat people like we treat our own friends and family.
When you overdeliver, your customers will know you truly care. And that is how you build a big, profitable and awesome business!
AGREE? DISAGREE?
WANT TO ADD SOMETHING TO THE EQUATION?
Great post Ryan – thanks for all the awesome content!
It’s always exciting to see how giving to others (online or off) pays huge dividends.
Thank Adam!
Giving ALWAYS pays off…
Ryan
Great post Ryan,
Sounds like a great philosophy for not only business, but life in general. Ultimately, we’re all here to serve the needs of others, in business or in our daily lives. It has always seemed to me that it’s far better to under promise and over deliver, than vice versa.
We all appreciate your genuine desire to help us be better.
Cheers,
Marcus.
Great thoughts, delivering on the promise that is what it is all about, I think though that even more than that you have to be prepared to support your product and I believe a lot of marketers just do not understand how important it is to provide stellar support.
My idea is that when I create a product I want to be like the Maytag Repair man in that my product should be so well designed and tested that little support would be needed but if someone did need help I would want to be johnny on the spot.
I agree 100% Tim.
And I’ve made some massive mistakes by not being prepared to handle large influxes of new customers during a launch.
Keep on rockin’
Ryan
Compassion for your customer.
Neatly summarised in this art work
http://www.20×200.com/artworks/3105-craig-damrauer-the-new-math-of-relationships
Thanks for the share Mike!
Ryan
I agree, except on pricing, because what most (but not all) customers want is for everything to be free (speaking from experience having gone from a free, ad-supported model to a paid version of my website).
Hey Jim,
Pricing is a major issue.
And people will pay for the certain types of content. I don’t know if movie reviews are something people want to pay for on a subscription basis.
Ryan
Hey Ryan,
I totally agree with your idea of constantly overdelivering. Nevertheless, I am a bit confused that you seem to have a somewhat negative view of upsells, downsells etc. these days or maybe i misunderstand your latest posts.
Should I just make the premium stuff available to everyone now that might not even be interested in that much information ? What about giving people what they want at different price points…some people are happy with a $10 a month membership that covers the basics and others want it all and are willing to pay $50 a month for the premium.
Please clarify a bit more what you mean exactly
Thanks and keep up the great work!
Florian
Hi Florian,
No – I stil love upsells/downsells.
You just have to be strategic about it. You can’t hold back the “good stuff” for an upsell just to monetize (which is what many people do)
Ryan
Great post again Ryan!
Thank you Nick!
Ryan
“What would I want if I was the customer?”
Brilliant in its simplicity! Yet, so often overlooked as we focus on other marketing “numbers”.
“Overdelivering” is meaningless if marketers just stack a ton of “stuff” that is of no use to the customer.
But, just give them that little extra of what is really useful to them…..what they really want…. then that is true overdelivery. That’s the stuff that build trust and relationships…and lifelong businesses.
A Cable company could argue that they are “overdelivering” with a gazillion channels bundled into your service. But, how many of them do you really watch? Isn’t everything else just “fluff”?
Just a thought there.
Jay.
Good stuff Jay.
We have to stop, take a breath, and truly think about it from the customers perspective.
Ryan
The golden rule in action: One should treat others as one would like others to treat oneself. Thanks for the post, Ryan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Rule
Hi Hernan,
Always live by the golden rule :)
Ryan
If we’re going to follow this rule, we first have to spend some time understanding our customers – learning what they want and need…it doesn’t do a bit of good to think “what would I want if I was the customer” if you can’t actually get yourself into the customer’s mindset and feel that need. You have to feel the need before you can fill it in a way that’s meaningful to the customer. If you try, it’s very obvious that a) you’re not in touch with the consumer and b) you are still focused on the extra 0.05 EPC.
Absolutely Pamela – that goes without saying.
You MUST know and understand your customers. That’s why it’s best if you create a company where YOU would be the customer.
Ryan
YES……I always think about service and how i want to be treated and how i can return the favor.
It has always worked in my other business where i make the clients needs my priority…..This new business has been a challenge since their is so much miss trust in this field….
KISS works almost every time….Thanks Ryan……
Hey Larry,
Yes, there is A LOT of mistrust – that’s why it’s vital to get this stuff right!
Keep on rockin’
Ryan
This post definitely keeps the value and pricing of our products and services in proper perspective. Thanks Ryan, for great content and applicable knowledge.
My pleasure Dino!
Ryan
Yes Ryan. After swallowing Albert Einstein’s words “Try not to become a man of success but a man of value” I feel like working hard is more of a natural thing. I work hard to increase the value of my message.
Our brain operates on questions, and that question you mentioned forces you to step into the mind of the customer, which is alfa omega.
Fred
Hey Fred
Remember – it’s not just about working hard – but doing it smart and in the right direction!
Rock ‘on
Ryan
Ryan: I really like the direction you are going in and by extension pulling all of us in.. Serve the customer, serve the customer, because the customer is you. It takes constant reminding and daily practice to stay on that target. It’s so easy to just start thinking about how much money one can make. There are still plenty of people online following the old crap model of shove it down the customers throats and make it almost impossible for them to say no or opt put. I suppose there always will be, but that doesn’t make it right. Thanks for reminding us that it is possible and indeed very possible to do it right and succeed.
Tom.
Thanks for the words of support Tom.
I am on a mission and it looks like we are building momentum!
Ryan
“What would I want if I was the customer?” – This is an excellent way to go about creating your product – I think too many times we create products because we like them and they are cool; however when we do this we lose our objective : Quality results driven products for excellent customer satifaction. Solve their problem!
Again Ryan thanks for the kick in the butt!
Warmest Regards
Mike
I love the concept, but i haven’t been very successful with that approach. i always thought that people would be more prone to buying massagers from a massage therapist than walmart or amazon.
But at the end of the day, when we ask people why they buy from us, it’s the price that sells. And now, 14 years after starting my online biz, half my sales come from my Amazon listings, where the margins are so tight i can hardly afford to be in business.
So i have no budget left to give the kind of customer service i would like to give.
And most people are not like me! Most people want an easy fix. They don’t want to take the time i do to work on my body every day.
That’s why i’m trying to move more in to the information business. But not even sure people will pay to learn how to take care of themselves, because most people seem to prefer a drug or an operation over prevention.
I think i need help in making my offer because i know there are people out there who believe in alternative care. i just haven’t found the magic formula of how to sell to them.
I’m waiting for you to come up with your new offer. i’m ready to dive in and develop a membership. i just wrote a book “No More Heart Attacks”, which is a new audience for me, not massagers, but still health related.
i would love a response to the whole selling products online dilemma.
Great post Ryan and oh sooooo true! I’ll be sharing this!! Hope you and your family had a fab 4th!!!
Keeping an open mind in the mind of our customers. Love it! Awesome post Ryan!
Ryan that is a great post – one of your best :-)
If we keep in mind “What would I want if I was the customer?” or “WWIWIIWTC” then there would be a lot less spammy products floating around the IM space.
I now have “WWIWIIWTC” printed in large, BOLD letters next to my computer! lol
I made the mistake of thinking that people wanted a fair deal. But now I believe we all want to be a little on the winning side of things.
This is why sales are so popular. We don’t want a fair deal, we want a bargain!
OK Ryan, you’ve just about got me convinced to trek across the country for Dot Com Expo, even though just sending you a birthday card would be more convenient…
…just gotta convince my homie Kerry Sullivan to come too…
Ryan, so simple but yet profound! I continue to follow you for this reason. I have a ton of recurring email that I’ve signed up for and I eventually unsubcribe, I doubt that I ever will from yours, because there is always value. Thanks!
Hi Ryan,
That’s indeed powerful 9 words. Put yourself into people’s shoes and you will know what they want. I especially agree that majority of the marketers tend to squeeze out every single cent to push the EPC higher without caring much to the customers.
Thanks for this reminder.
Cheers,
Ming
hi ryan,
great post, i think that question will help simplify things over many different levels. however i think you have to have an element of creating something that the customer “didn’t know that they needed” too. henry ford said that if he asked his customers what they wanted they would have said a faster horse. steve jobs took this to a new level too, with many quotes out there on the customer not knowing what they wanted until he showed them.
i think there has to be a balance, sort of like the new IC you are creating where everyone is a VIP and the extra access isn’t being shoved in everyones faces all the time to squeeze the extra bucks out.
love reading your posts,
PT
Hi Ryan, This is certainly a magic formula:) But sometime I think it depends on the personalities of the individuals. I do enjoy reading your posts and revisit your website, little gems here and there:) many thanks. I’m also sharing it on my facebook https://www.facebook.com/smartsiteblog
Great advice Ryan. When you sell a product you basically sell a solution to a problem your customer has. If you think about what other problems might be related to the initial one you created a product for, you can easily brainstorm for ‘features’ or other stuff that you could include into your offer as a way of over delivering. Or you could use the old-school method and simply ask your customers what they want :)
Ari
Totally agree! Because of the 1000′s of marketers out there that are just trying to get money from customers, most don’t trust any “guru’s” anymore. It sucks because now you really have to go over the top to show your customers that you are the real deal.
You should just start exposing crappy products because you have such a big name Ryan. Then those marketers will realize that they have to stop ripping people off.