How A Rookie Marketing Consultant “Cracked the Code” on Cold Traffic And is On Pace for a 7-Figure Business

 

“I wanted to move faster…”

Phil is a successful marketing consultant on pace to have a 7-figure business. His retreats in Costa Rica sell out months in advance. And the more success he has, the more time he has to travel with his wife, Janice. But a year ago, Phil had no business at all. At that time, he was brand new to online marketing. He only started because he wanted to help his wife, who is a hearing doctor, get more patients through online advertising. (You can visit their site hearingexpertsalliance.com) He had no following, no retreats, and hardly any clients. As he says:

“I started in 2017. I had a few clients, but I was just dabbling. Most people I worked with were friends in the industry.”

Phil describes his situation before finding Ron

“My ego was put in check…”

He began to have success helping his wife get customers online. And he decided to offer a live retreat for doctors who wanted to grow their practice. He set the retreat date for February 2018. Then poured thousands of dollars into it and started to promote it. But nobody bought. Even worse, he discovered the client-attraction methods he used with his clients were failing. He brought them leads. But those leads weren’t buying.

“I felt like a hotshot at first. Then my ego was put in check when my wife said: ‘Yeah, but only some of these are good.’

So she would waste an afternoon talking with leads who didn’t need her services.”

Phil shares how his marketing system was failing.

“I didn’t want the shame of canceling my retreat…”

With his retreat only 6 months away, Phil needed two things:

1. Fix his client-attraction system. So he could build a thriving practice using this same formula over and over.
2. Fill his retreat. So he wouldn’t have to feel the shame of canceling. Or lose all the money he already spent on it.

Sales page for Phil’s retreat.

Phil knew if he found someone who already accomplished what he wanted to do, it would shortcut his success. He didn’t want another online course. But personal support to help with his specific challenges.

“You can find tons of training online. But I wanted personalized, customized support. And someone who understands the nuances of what I want to do.”

He heard about Ron Reich from his wife’s business partner. So he sent Ron a message asking for help. After a quick call, they decided to have bi-weekly meetings for 3 months.

“I had no hesitation about working with Ron. I saw lots of proof he gets results. And he’s not ‘markety.’ Talking with him feels like you’re talking to a normal dude who’s sharing great stuff.”

Phil shares why he decided to work with Ron

“Month over month, we get leads raising their hands…”

The first thing they worked on was optimizing Phil’s system for getting clients. Ron taught Phil pieces of his “Buyer Attraction System.” This helped Phil to not only hone in on who his best customers were, but also the best way to communicate with them. One of the techniques Phil learned was to “slow the sale.” Instead of offering people a chance to sign up for an appointment right away, he had them fill out a questionnaire. The answers the leads gave determined what Phil would send them next.

“We had them go through a pre-registration process. How they replied determined what we would offer. Now we’re pulling leads in instead of pushing them to buy.”

Phil describes how “slowing the sale” attracted quality leads

“Once I nailed the formula, my business exploded…”

Phil implemented the pre-registration process into his wife’s business. The results blew them both away. The vast majority of the leads he brought in became customers. Over the course of a year, Janice’s already-successful practice grew by 40%! And that was just the start. Now that they had “cracked the code,” Ron helped Phil systemize his offer. So he could get repeatable, predictable results for his clients.

“My consulting business grew by 4x in a year. Ron helped me get the models and process right. Now I have a systemized offer that’s a 90-day turnkey program. And I know how to speak effectively about it to clients.”

“I was most nervous when I sold the first tickets…”

Once Phi’s process began to work, he turned his attention to the retreat. This was the scariest part of the journey. He only had a few weeks until it started. And he only sold a handful of tickets. But the advice he got from Ron showed him the light at the end of the tunnel. Together, they worked on positioning, pricing, timing the offer, email frequency and more.

“I’d write emails and landing pages, and Ron offered feedback and helped me dial my message in. It was very helpful having someone skilled giving you feedback.”

The result? 18 people signed up for Phil’s retreat. This brought in $50,000 in revenue. And the event was a massive success. It became a springboard that launched Phi’s career even further. When he announced his next retreat, he sold out all 30 seats 4 months in advance.

“I was nervous the whole way up. But we managed to sell 18 people off a list of 200. And we already sold out the next one.”

Phil shares how this retreat was the “catalyst” for his business

Phil’s retreat in Costa Rica

“I’m on pace for a million-dollar business…”

In a little over a year, Phil went from just starting out to earning as much as a doctor. And he’s on pace to earn 7-figures next year.

“A year ago having a million-dollar business didn’t seem feasible. But in 2019 I’ll be able to accomplish that. I already have the plan written out.”

Phil nailed down the processes for his business. So he’s able to deliver a quality service to clients while spending most of his time in his “zone of genius”. Now, he’s deciding where to go next with his business. And looking forward to the lifestyle that’s available to him now — including a lot more travel.

“I want to do extended trips and stay somewhere for a few months. If I get the right team in place, I won’t need to work as much.”

Phil and his wife Janice in Costa Rica

“I’ve got Ron and these other Superhumans…”

Along with one-on-one coaching, Phil has also gone to Ron’s 7-figure Launch intensive. And more recently, joined Ron’s A-Players Inner Circle. So now, he doesn’t just get Ron’s advice and feedback, he gets insight from a whole group of successful entrepreneurs.

“Not only do you get Ron, you get another group of superhumans doing cool things. It amplifies the experience.”

Phil, and 17 other A-Players at Ron’s Mastermind in Medellin

Apply for the A-Players Inner Circle Today

If you want the same kind of personalized guidance Phil had, the A-Players Inner Circle is for you. It’s the only place you can tap into Ron’s decades of experience growing multiple 6, 7, and 8 figure-businesses. (As well as leading multi-million dollar product launches.) This is a small, intimate group where you get plenty of personal attention. And you can easily double or triple your profits this year. Space is limited. Click below to apply.

Launches Are Dead?  Not quite. Here’s How One Coach Just Had a $790,124 Launch…

Behind-the-Scenes of a $790,124 Launch

     

“People kept saying “launches are dead”

Luisa Zhou teaches people how to become entrepreneurs. She launched her first $3,000 course in 2017 and made multiple six-figures. The next year, she wanted a million-dollar launch. But those around her insisted she try something else. As Luisa says:

“People kept saying ‘launches are dead.’ I heard that over and over”.

Luisa began to doubt that she could replicate her success.

“I was afraid my list was tired of the program. They’ve seen it too many times and don’t care about it.” Since most of her revenue came from launches, she knew she had to make this work. Otherwise, it would be a disaster for her business.

“Am I going to get value out of this?

Luisa knew she needed help. She kept hearing about all the different coaches and methods she could use. But the one name that came up over and over again was Ron Reich.

“I heard about Ron from people I respected. I kept hearing about him from all these angles. Then Selena Soo shared a Facebook post about how she was working with Ron. She said he was great and helped her get to that next level.”

Luisa doubted he could help that much. But she realized one idea could create a massive breakthrough in her business. So after seeing Selena’s post, she signed up for Ron’s 7-Figure Launch Intensive. This is his 3-day workshop where he teaches a handful of entrepreneurs his “Excalibur Method” for a massively successful launch.

“It’s the little ideas that make a big difference”

Early on, Ron relieved her fear that “launches were dead.” He explained how they’ve been going on for decades. And how they’re no different than the marketing campaigns you see from companies like Apple or Starbucks.

“Ron talked about how having a great launch is about holding yourself to a higher standard. The cream will rise to the top.”

Luisa found it extremely helpful to get a 3rd perspective on her launch plan. Especially from someone with so much hands-on experience.

By the end, she knew there was still more to learn. So she signed up for one-on-one coaching with Ron. They met on the phone every other week for three months before her launch. On these calls, she got even more guidance on how to blend the Excalibur Methodwith her existing launch strategy. Right away, she found the answer to her biggest problem: how to make her offer feel “new”.

“I got off every call with exciting things to implement”

Ron helped Luisa revamp her messaging. He showed her what made her business successful. And how the relationships she built was what separated her from everyone else teaching the same thing. So he suggested she make her pre-launch videos about relationships. This would help her play to her strengths and stand out from the competition.

“Everyone talks about building lists. Ron said, “let’s focus on what separates you.” So I taught my methods for creating relationships instead of list-building.”

Luisa was excited by this new angle. It gave her audience a fresh perspective on what she was selling. And helped her avoid talking about the same thing over and over. But they weren’t done there. One of the next things they worked on was fixing Luisa’s high-ticket offer. In the past, Luisa sold a one-on-one coaching upsell for $10,000. But she hardly promoted it. It was just tacked on to her main sales page as an afterthought. So Ron showed her how to use his special “High-Ticket Upsell Sequence”. A week after buying, her customers would get an email showing them the value of one-on-one coaching. Simply setting this up was a big confidence boost for Luisa.

“I had a coaching upsell, but it was just something I threw out. Ron helped me make it more systemized. It felt so much better to do that than to just have people find me.”

A third change was the open-cart bonuses Luisa sent her list during sales week. Luisa had used bonuses in the past, but they never seemed to work. Ron helped her make them more enticing. Then showed her a way to deliver them so she’d get more sales early.

“In the past, I had bonuses that expired at the end of the week. I had never done a one-day or 48-hour bonus mid-week. The first bonus was a group call with me. That was only available on the first day. Then we had another 48 hour bonus mid-week.”

Everything was in place for Luisa to have a 7-figure launch But then, she hit a major roadblock…

“I sat down and cried…”

Luisa had done the math. She knew she needed 10,000 new leads to have a one-million-dollar launch. But there was a problem. The cost per lead on Facebook had skyrocketed. That, plus a few other lead-generation issues meant she only got half as many new subscribers as she planned. This could have been a disaster. But her new messaging created a ton of buzz during her pre-launch phase. And her new “fast action” bonus pushed people over the fence right away. So when she opened the cart, sales came pouring in.

“We were at $150,000 in sales when I went to sleep Monday. Then I woke up Tuesday and saw all these sales came through. We hit $300,000 by the second day of cart-open. When I saw that, I sat down and cried. All the fear I had that people didn’t like launches, didn’t like my program, and that my audience was tired of me went away.”

“Half our sales came from cold traffic”

Luisa didn’t have the same desperate, frantic energy she had in previous launches. Because she made over $300,000 by day two of sales week. So she was able to relax and enjoy the rest of her cart-open phase. By the end, nearly 200 people paid $3,000 for her course. And half of them came from cold traffic. On top of that, 17 people purchased her $10,000 upsell. This was huge, since she had never sold more than 10 spots before. In total, she made over $790,124 from her launch. Considering she only got half as many leads as planned, Luisa considers it her best launch to-date.

“Launches are a bad business plan”

Luisa was thrilled with her results. But she knew relying on launches to grow a business wasn’t a good strategy. So she asked Ron to help her create a plan to grow her business. Together, they outlined a strategy that fit Luisa’s goals. For example, they decided to break her $3,000 flagship course down into smaller offers. These less expensive programs would be a “feeder” system to her main course. After they bought all that, she would offer her high-ticket coaching program. They’re going to evergreen the entire process. So Luisa won’t have to depend on launches. And will instead have a steady flow of sales coming in daily.

“Before I was struggling to see how everything I was doing fit together. But Ron helped with my big picture strategy. Now I have a clear plan for my business. I’m not just scrambling to make money.”

“I’m moving faster than ever”

This clarity has reinvigorated her love for her business. She’s excited about what she’s doing. And sees a path to grow and help more people. So she just signed up for another 6-months of coaching with Ron.

“I love being able to bounce ideas off Ron. Each call I say: ‘Here’s what I’m thinking for the next offer or campaign, I’d love your feedback.’ He adds new ideas that get me excited. Then I come up with more ideas and it’s this awesome spiral. I feel I’m having more fun, being more creative, and moving faster than ever.”

Limited time: Join the A-Players Inner Circle

Want to take your launches and business to the next level? For a limited time, Ron is accepting applications into his A-Players Inner Circle. In this 6-month program, he coaches you through his “Excalibur Method” that can double or triple your launch revenue. You’ll also map out and execute a plan to grow your business beyond launches. So you can have strong, steady cash flow through high-ticket and continuity offers. This isn’t some “one-size-fits-all” program. Everything is tailored to you and your business. Click below to apply.

Isa Herrera Case Study

How A Struggling Online Entrepreneur Broke Through
With Her First 6-Figure Launch

 

 

“Why can’t I break the $50,000 mark?”

Isa built an offline business helping women eliminate pelvic pain.

She moved it online so she could help more people. But she hit a major roadblock.

The only way to make money online Isa knew about was launches. So she did do one after another. These brought in $25,000-$50,000 at a time.

This was fine at first. But she had loads of expenses and staff to pay. She soon realized if she didn’t earn 6-figures from her launch, her business could be in trouble.

“I kept doing the same thing, but it wasn’t working. My family couldn’t live off what I was making. And I had a responsibility to support my staff who has been with me all these years.”

“I already spent $100,000 on coaching…”

Having built a successful offline business, Isa knew the fastest way to grow was to hire a mentor. She spent two years jumping from one business coach or program to another. She invested over $100,000, but nothing helped. Then a friend recommended she work with Ron. At first, she was skeptical. But after one phone call, she changed her mind.

“Ron told me what I was doing wrong and what I needed to do. He painted a picture of the process, and it resonated with me.” I had worked with so many coaches who let me down. But I felt like Ron had my back. Working with a mentor who has your back is going to inspire you to be better. And Ron is that person.”

“The Excalibur Method is pure gold…”

Ron told Isa she was suffering from “launch exhaustion.” She needed to keep launching to bring in revenue and pay the bills. But she didn’t know what she was doing or how to launch properly. So she kept making the same mistakes. So he showed her how to take her launches to the next level using the Excalibur Method.

“Ron gave me a strategic plan for how to move forward. I got so many ideas from him that I just wanted to work all the time.”

First, he helped Isa nail her messaging. Then, he laid out the launch strategies that would help her the most. One of the key steps for Isa was to build a network of affiliates. So she could get quality leads and ramp up her sales. Isa didn’t have much experience with this. So Ron introduced her to potential partners. Then he showed her how to get them to promote her course.

“Ron made serious connections that helped me get affiliates who believed in my mission. He’d say “let me hook you up with this person. Then he showed me how to talk to affiliates, keep them engaged, and get them to mail for me. He has a whole process for that.”

“The videos worked like crazy…”

With new leads coming in, Isa needed a way to connect with them fast. For that, Ron helped her implement another part of the Excalibur Method: The Brainwashing Sequence. These are a series of videos that go live before any pre-launch content or “PLC” training videos. They’re designed to get your audience to rally behind your mission. Isa was shocked by the results.

“I did the pre-pre-launch videos Ron taught me. They weren’t perfect, but they worked like crazy.   Before, my videos would only get about 500 views. But one of them got over 100,000!   They helped me make myself a real person in the eyes of my audience.”

“I cried when I hit six figures…”

Two months after she began working with Ron, Isa launched her flagship product. She had an army of affiliates promoting her. And an entirely new launch sequence and strategy. The results? Her list grew from ~10,000 to 20,000+. And she made well over 6-figures in revenue.

“When I realized I hit 6-figures. I threw myself on the floor and cried. Because I knew the possibility of more was in my reach.   It validated that I made the right decision in taking my business online. I knew my family wouldn’t starve and I’d be able to support the team that’s been with me for so long.”

Even more exciting, Isa knows this wasn’t a one-time event. Because now she knows how to have a massively successful launch. So she can repeat the process and get even better results next time.

“My next launch is going to supercharge everything. I have so many ideas on how to make it even better. I predict within one year I’ll be at the 7-figure mark. It won’t be a problem because I know what works now.”

“What do I do now?”

The results were exciting. But Ron reminded Isa that a launch isn’t a business model — it’s an event. So instead of diving into yet-another launch, he showed her how to capitalize on the success she just had. And use that momentum to grow her business in other ways. He helped her apply his Genius Profit System to her business. This is a process to grow your business with high-ticket and continuity programs (as well as launches.) For a high-ticket program, Ron had Isa create a coaching offer. She had never done anything like that before. But it was an instant success and sold-out immediately.

“Ron taught me how to do one-on-one coaching, which sold like hotcakes when we offered it.”

With that in place, they’re now putting together an evergreen program for stable, recurring revenue.

“I went to Ron and asked, “What’s next?”   He told me to create a program to help professionals who want to start a cash-based business. I had done that for a decade but never thought about teaching it. He’s helping me create that.”

“I will never stop working with Ron…”

Isa’s goal is to heal 1 million women so they no longer suffer from pelvic pain. Now that she has a mentor, she feels it will be possible.

“When you work with Ron, you have an advantage your competitors can’t touch. I’ll never stop working with him.”

Take your next launch to new levels

Want to get the same help Isa had? If so, the A-Players Inner Circle is for you. This is a 6-month coaching program where Ron walks you through the Excalibur Method and Genius Profit System. And he helps you apply them to your business. So you can double or triple your profits this year. It’s is a small, intimate group where you get plenty of personal attention. Space is limited. Click below to to apply.

It is the dawn of a new era.

There is no doubt about it:  every year it’s getting more and more difficult to sell online.

Many launches are failing…

Facebook advertising is getting more and more expensive every single day…

New competitors are entering the marketplace every minute…

Amazon and Google’s quests to make information freely (or very cheaply) available to everyone are making people think twice about investing their hard-earned money in coaches and programs.

While email deliverability is at an all-time low, social platforms like Twitter and Facebook (and Snapchat and Instagram…) are winning the war for your would-be prospects’ precious attention.

And as time goes by, these problems are going to get worse.

Much worse.  

Our current rapid-change climate is going to cause these problems to increase at an exponential rate over the coming years.

So what are we to do?

Is it soon going to be time to pack it in and go back to working at a J-O-B?

(Maybe one of the Big Four will even hire you, you never know).

Fortunately, not everything is doom and gloom.

There is one action you can take that will virtually guarantee you will be successful for years to come.

This thing is so powerful that it will make it possible for you guard against the rapid changes described above.

What’s this thing I’m talking about?

You can start a cult.

 

Why “Cult-Building” Is The Surest Path To Success In The 21st Century

Okay, I don’t mean you should start an actual cult

Actual cults are designed to serve one authoritarian leader, who expects unquestioned obedience and wants to cut off the freedom of his or her followers.

This is not cool.

However, designing your business in a way that create a fanatical, “cult-like” connection with your audience and followers is something that will serve you well in the near future.

This is something that many of the most successful businesses already do.

Apple’s following has often been described as “cult-like.”

(If you’re reading this, there’s a very good chance you’re already a member of that cult lol.)

Harley-Davidson is another great example of a cult brand.

One of the fastest growing fitness companies of the past 10 years, CrossFit also has a cult-like following.  

So much so that it’s often described as an actual cult (just type “CrossFit cult” into Google and you’ll see what I mean).

But when it comes to having a cult-like following, none of these can hold a candle to Scientology.

 

Scientology:  The Gold Standard Of A “Cult” Brand

Scientology is arguably the largest and most successful cult in the history of the world.

It’s even recognized as an official religion in many countries.

Therefore, if we want to learn how to build our own cult-like followings for our businesses, we might as well learn from the best 🙂

I’ve been fascinated by Scientology for many years.

For a while, I thought it was just so interesting and wondered why famous celebrities like Tom Cruise and John Travolta were members of it.  

But as I looked more into it, I became amazed at how good at marketing they were.

As I studied their marketing, I was even more fascinated by how much of what they did mirrored things I had learned from my decade-plus involvement in the direct-response and online marketing worlds.

It turns out, that many of these direct-response marketing practices are actually somewhat rooted in Scientology, rather than the other way around.

(For more information on this, do some research on the connection between est (now Landmark) and Scientology.)

I bow to the masters.

What follows are the top 7 marketing lessons I’ve learned from watching Scientology documentaries:

 

Lesson #1:  Always Promise Ultimate Transformation

At the core, anyone who joins a cult is joining it because of the promise of a better future.

The leader will come along and talk about how the past and present were and are horrible but things will be better, much better if the disciples just follow a certain “way.”

People initially get interested in Scientology because it promises to fix their flaws and help them with things like self-confidence, communicating with others and better controlling their emotions.

In fact, a few weeks ago while I was on my way to meet a friend at a bar in Hollywood, I just so happened to walk by the Church of Scientology Celebrity Centre.

You might be aware that there is a huge connection between Scientology and Hollywood, and they recruit many actors to join the religion.

There were various flyers pasted on the center’s walls about workshops on topics like “How To Nail Your Next Audition” and “What Does It REALLY Take To Be An Actor In LA?”

Pretty harmless.

Not much different than the types of lead magnets and free workshops we promote in the online space.

Eventually, as you get more into the religion, you’ll find that it can help you with A LOT more than self-confidence and making it in Hollywood.

It can provide you with ultimate freedom and power.

In fact, they even have a structured curriculum for attaining this called, “The Bridge To Total Freedom,” which consists of a series of classes were you can advance up the levels to achieve total mastery of your life.

In other words, they are providing a path for ultimate transformation.

The more you can get people to believe that your product or service will truly transform their lives at the core level, the more influential you will be.

Here, we want to tap into the deep desires people have.

For example, one of my favorite companies that has a very “cult-like” following is Dave Asprey’s company:  Bulletproof.

Drinking Bulletproof Coffee everyday and following the Bulletproof Diet will not just help you lose weight (a surface desire), it will make you a “bulletproof” person who has supreme confidence and power who can conquer any challenges that life presents to you.

You might have noticed that the promises of Scientology, Bulletproof, and Harley-Davidson (whose core value is freedom) are not that much different.

This is not an accident.

 

Lesson #2:  Have A Source Doctrine Or “Bible”

Nearly all the biggest cults and mass movements in history have source text that espouses their beliefs and philosophies.

Classic examples of these include the Holy Bible itself and Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto, which inspired the Communist revolution in Russia.

The source doctrine for Scientology is L. Ron Hubbard’s book, Dianetics.

This book, published in 1950, outlines the core tenets of Scientology, and Scientologists consider its publication one of the groundbreaking moments in human history.

In fact, the Church’s calendar is even based on its publication.

For example, this year (2018) would be known as year 68 AD, (68 years after the publication of Dianetics) in Scientology circles.

Ideally, you’ll want to have one core doctrine that outlines your core philosophies.

Nothing beats a published book when it comes to this.

My favorite example of a modern-day doctrine is Tim Ferriss’s Four Hour Work Week.

This book outlined Tim’s core philosophies on topics like “hacking” life, outsourcing, creating automated income, and traveling the world.

This book inspired an entire generation and an entire industry.  I’ve met many people who literally refer to it as their “bible.”   

A couple other great examples of modern-day “bibles” include The Game by Neil Strauss and The Secret by Rhonda Byrne.

Strive to create something that your target audience refers to as their own “bible” and you will maximize your influence.

 

Lesson #3:  Develop Shared Values And Beliefs

There are certain core values and beliefs that all Scientologists have bought into.

These are the core philosophies of the religion.

Among their most powerful is the belief that humans possess infinite capabilities.  This belief positions the religion as the ultimate vehicle for transformation in the minds of those who follow it.

Other core values of Scientology include the rejection of psychology and psychiatry as well as the rejection of drugs.

Notice how these beliefs even further position the teachings of Scientology as the “only” option if you want to reach your infinite potential.

When trying to influence an audience, you’ll be well-off if you have a few well-thought out values and beliefs that you stand for.

In addition, having certain things that you stand against is also very powerful.

Once you have these in place, you’ll want to constantly espouse them in all of your communication.

An excellent example of someone to model here is Robert Kiyosaki, author of the now-classic book, Rich Dad, Poor Dad.

The core premise of the book is the idea that “rich people know things that poor people don’t know.”  As he sells this idea throughout the book, he also outlines his main philosophies on building wealth.

Some of these include the idea that it’s great to build assets versus just building income and that’s it’s better to be a business owner rather than an employee.

He talks about how real estate is a great way to build assets as well, which well-positions his other courses and seminars on how to make money in real estate.

The important thing to note here is that, if our goal is to profit, we want to make sure that the values we’re espousing prime people for our paid solutions.

 

Lesson #4:  Have A “Secret Language”

Creating a “secret language” that is used by your audience is one of the most powerful ways to create a cult-like following.

No one did this better than Scientology.

It’s not even close.

The main goal of Scientologists is to become “clear.”  This means you will have total freedom in your life and there is a structured curriculum that will help anyone get to this desirable stage.  

Those who dive deeply into the curriculum learn to speak a secret language including terms like “thetans” and “audits” as they gain greater understanding of the “technology” that is Scientology.

Members of Scientology are very enthused to “keep Scientology working,” which is often abbreviated as simply, KSW.  Enemies of Scientology are known as “suppressive people” or just “SPs.”

If you’re an online entrepreneur, then you know we also have our own secret language that those outside of the industry don’t really understand.

We talk about things like “conversion rates” and “pixels” and “strategy sessions,” which those outside the online “cult” would have no way of knowing about.  

The aforementioned CrossFit is another example of a group that has done a great job of creating its own secret language.

They’ll use terms like “AMRAP” “MetCon” “Fran” and “Mary,” which would sound like Greek to non CrossFitters.

Creating your own secret language is actually not that difficult.

Essentially, you just need to take whatever concept you’d like to talk about and give it it’s own proprietary name.

For example, in CrossFit MetCon stands for “metabolic conditioning,” which is basically interval training.  

Dave Asprey sells the “Bulletproof Diet”, which is more or less a standard ketogenic diet.

You can do similar things to become more influential in the eyes of your audience.

 

Lesson #5:  Have A Common Enemy

Few things are more powerful in galvanizing a group than having a common enemy.

In the book, True Believer:  Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements, the author Eric Hoffer writes about how “hatred is among the most powerful unifying forces.”  If you spend time studying the biggest mass movements in history, you’ll find this to be the case.

The leaders of Scientology do a great job of using common enemies as a way to unify their members.

Essentially, anyone or anything who threatens Scientology becomes public enemy #1.

As mentioned above, they even have a name for these kind of people:  suppressive persons (“SPs”).  In addition to that, they have an actual written philosophy for dealing with enemies known as “fair game.”

To see examples of the fair game philosophy in action, check out the documentaries Going Clear and My Scientology Documentary.

Now while I believe Scientology can go a bit too far in how they respond to enemies, there’s no doubt that galvanizing against some kind of an “enemy” is a powerful form of influence.

A very effective way to this is repel against a competing idea.

Getting back to our earlier examples, both Tim Ferriss and Robert Kiyosaki did a great job of positioning the “rat race” and the “9 to 5” as enemies.

Dave Asprey’s favorite enemies include carbohydrates and mold toxins (but fear not, if you purchase his lab-tested Bulletproof coffee, your coffee is guaranteed to be completely free of mold toxins).

In many ways, CrossFit has done an excellent job of making an enemy out of any types of exercise practices that are not CrossFit.

These would include body building type routines and “long, boring” cardio sessions.

Finding competing ideas you can make enemies out of in your business is not very difficult.

Most likely, there are already some competing ideas that you cannot stand that go against the philosophy of your company.

Creating an enemy out of those ideas is as simple as making sure you talk about these enemies more often in your messaging.

 

Lesson #6:  Harness The Power of Micro-Commitments

You want to create the least resistance possible to joining your “cult.”

A great way to do this is through the power of micro-commitments.

A micro-commitment is a very small step that get people on the path to where you want them to go.  This term was popularized by one of my most important mentors, Ryan Levesque.  

A micro-commitment is essentially a “gateway drug” into your world.

The Church of Scientology uses one of the most effective gateway drugs possible to get people interested in their teachings:  a personality test.

Personality tests, quizzes and other types of assessments are excellent engagement tools because people love learning about themselves.

There is an entire art and science to creating effective quizzes, which I don’t have time to go into right now.

However, the important thing to note here is that the most effective types of quizzes for cult-building purposes are ones that are non-threatening to take, but do a great job of pointing out the problems people are facing and leading them to on a path where they can improve said problems.

An excellent example of an assessment that fits this bill is Brendon Burchard’s Success Indicator Assessment.

This assessment is free to those who purchase his book, High Performance Habits (his doctrine that outlines his pillars of high performance).

After people take the assessment, they can see how high they are performing in relation to others.  They’ll see where they are strong and more importantly, where they are lacking.  

Now if you want to improve your performance, you’re in luck:  Brendon has many resources (technology?) available for this exact purpose.

These resources include various personal development and business courses, live events, masterminds, and even the opportunity to become a Certified High Performance Coach.

Brendon is also doing a great job of practicing our final lesson in this article.  Let’s talk about that now.

 

Lesson #7:  Ascend Your Followers To Infinity (And Beyond)

You might already be familiar with the idea of the “ascension ladder” used in many coaching, consulting and info-marketing business.

The idea of the ascension ladder is that people start at the bottom by buying one your front end products (let’s say for $100 or less).

Next, you might offer them a more advanced program for $1,000 to $2,000.  After that, you might offer a group program in the $5,000 to $8,000.  Then you might invite them to join your exclusive mastermind for $25,000+.

Overall, this model works quite well and there are many eight (and even nine) figure business that follow it.

The Church of Scientology embodies the gold standard when it comes to ascension.

No one does it better.

Their ascension model is the “Bridge to Total Freedom” mentioned previously.  

Any practitioner of Scientology can take a look at this chart and see exactly where they are in relationship to the ultimate goal of Scientology (total freedom).

If you’d like to move up the bridge and increase your level, Scientology offers all sorts of courses that will allow you do this.

And these courses are not free.

Apparently, it costs around $128,000 to move all the way to the top of the pyramid.

One thing that Scientology does that really helps them maximize their revenue is they create an environment where most people feel like they’re never really “there.”

There’s always another course to take that will make the practitioner even more awesome.

There are few better methods for maximizing revenue and retention than this.

Of course, there is a right way and and a wrong way to implement these kinds of ascension models in your business.

More often than not, there is a direct correlation between those who get the best results and those who invest the most money in coaching and other high end programs.

So selling people who’ve gotten tangible results something else that will get them more and better results (or even selling them your highest level program first) is completely okay.

On the other hand, it’s not cool to keep selling people more stuff with the constant promise that “this” will be the thing that finally gets them to the next level.  

 

Say Hello To Your Glorious Future…

We just went over seven powerful lessons from one of the most powerful (and profitable) cult-like brands the world has ever seen: Scientology.

Over the next three to five years my belief that the the gap between the winners and the losers of the business game is going to get wider and wider.

The winners will be those who take the time to build “cult-like” brands and forge a strong connection with their audience.  

My hope is that you take these lessons and apply them to your business in a way that makes the world a better place for all involved.  

If you do, you’ll find yourself on the winning side of the business game both in the immediate future and for years to come.

While others are struggling to keep up with all the latest tactics and techniques, you’ll be in a secure position because you’ll have a rapid following of evangelists who have already been transformed by your products and services.

As Spiderman says:  “With great power comes great responsibility.”  So please use these newfound powers of yours only for good 🙂

Now I have to ask you…

One is the ONE strategy from this article that you can apply immediately to grow your business?

Please let me know by COMMENTING below.

Happy cult-building!

Ron