ConversionCast: How to Turn Customers into Evangelists | Episode 1.12 with Jeff Wenberg

Tim: Previously on the all new ConversionCast…

Interviewee: We should put something together that addresses both of these issues and gives people like a place to come in to just get that basic advising you need to move the business forward because if they get that, the more likely to A-achieve success and B-attribute that success to the help they got from our company and then C-they’re gonna stay on as a customer longer.

Tim: This is the conversion journey in 13 parts as told by the LeadPages team. In this all new series, you’ll hear what we do each day at LeadPages to find, convert and keep our customers.

I’m Tim Paige and this is the all new ConversionCast.

This is the all new ConversionCast episode 12 and I’m here with LeadPages group coaching manager Jeff Wenberg and we’re really here because in this conversion journey, you know we’ve been talking about all the various aspects of the conversion journey.

But there’s one thing that I find that so many companies tend to forget about and that’s pretty much the entire focus of what you do here at LeadPages Jeff and that is you know, what to do with a customer once they’ve already you know once they’ve already paid up, isn’t that right?

Jeff: Yeah, absolutely.

Tim: Okay. So when we were talking about what you are gonna share, I think there were 3 things that really stood out. One is creating a community with your existing customers. Another one was doing things that don’t scale which is largely a lot of what you’re doing and then providing kind of platform, a live platform for people to figure out how to use our product which I think that’s the thing I’m most excited for you to talk about.

Because this is something that many folks whether they’re in the info space or software space, could be implementing and we could see kind of the benefits of it. But can you just start off by sharing a little bit about your role at LeadPages? What you do now?

Jeff: Yeah. So right now I’m the group coaching manager like you said and ultimately what that means is like I’m basically helping people get results with their businesses by not only like using LeadPages but also just kind of like best business practices.

And this all kinda came about through awhile of just like constantly seeing people you know really like needing somewhere to go to just get like just basic advice right? So they’d always like in our Facebook community, that’s like got like 3,000 people and/or something like that.

It was always like, hey, I’m having problems like figuring this out. And there was no spot for you know like live interaction but it always seem like these people were needing help with like the same thing over and over again.

And it was either like, hey, you need to simplify or you just need somebody to say, yes that is correct or like maybe, no that’s not exactly right, here’s what you should try instead. But just kind of like a little bit of light feedback.

So after a while, I started feeling like, man, we should put something together that addresses both of these issues and gives people like a place to come in to just get that basic advise they need to move their business forward. Because if they get that, they’re more likely to A-achieve success and B-attribute that success to the help they got from our company and then C-they’re gonna stay on as a customer longer.

Tim: What I love about this, what I think is so interesting and we’ll probably talk a little bit more about it in the minute is that you don’t just focus on here’s how to do things using LeadPages.

You know I’ve seen your sessions, I’ve seen the stuff that goes on in Facebook group and it’s – you said this, it’s about you know helping them accomplish results in their business and I’d be – I know for a fact that many folks in the business world would say, well, that’s – it’s something that could be caused intensive like you know it’s – whether they’re doing it themselves and it’s their own time or they bring on a team member.

It’s gonna feel like I’m doing something that is helping my customers along that doesn’t directly connect in some ways with getting more revenue for the business.

So is the philosophy that in helping these folks achieve results with their business in the case of LeadPages that that means not only they’ll stick for longer but also they’ll have more positive you know connections with LeadPages which means of course they become evangelist in that kind of thing.

Is that kind of the idea behind why you would invest in this?

Jeff: Yeah, exactly. Because there’s you know just kind of analyzing our customer data on the back end. Some super smart people that crunch all the numbers have found that if people, I think it’s like if they have – can’t remember the exact number but if they get like a certain number of opt-ins through LeadPages or Leadboxes, they’re more likely to stay on for like 3 or 4 extra months then if they don’t get those.

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So it’s like obviously it would make sense for us to try and help them get those like initial opt-in so they can see that you know, hey, this works. And then they’re more likely to just stay on because it’s like, oh yeah, it works, duh.

Tim: Right. And of course, part of the mission, not only – and I wasn’t gonna bring it up because it sounds a little pluggy but it’s the reality is that you know when I was brought on the team that the thing that I was most sold on was the mission and how much we really wanted to help folks get results for their business.

So this just furthers that mission but if somebody’s listening to this and they’re saying you know, it’s great to have that mission but I want to get business results. Your showing that it does get results.

Jeff: Yeah, absolutely. And I think you’d kinda hit on it a little bit when you were saying you know like it’s – we don’t always just like talk about how to get results with LeadPages.

Something that we found it’s you know you have to look at like what happens right before they get LeadPages and right after and not just like what happens when they get LeadPages. Because a lot of times you know, people that are in my group that I made for this sessions and everything, they had been on a webinar with you or been on you know some – or like listen to a podcast or something where somebody was talking about the awesome results they got with LeadPages, so they end up buying.

But they don’t get like the before and the after in place so they don’t have like the basics in place. So this is all about basically just trying to get those like fun – can’t even talk, those fundamental like elements that you need to have in place, have LeadPages work for your digital marketing.

Tim: Got it. Okay, so – and I think that’s speaks enough to doing things that don’t scale because in just a second, we’re gonna talk about the specifics of what you’re doing.

But I thought it was important to talk about the philosophy behind why you’re doing this. Because again, it would be easy to hear these things and think, geez, you know I’m in digital marketing because I’m trying to be able to scale and reach the masses and not have to put so much of myself into this business.

But there’s so much to be said for ensuring the success of your customers with whatever it is your doing. With LeadPages of course, it’s helping businesses get results but regardless of what your business is, people are buying your product to get a result. And if you can further help them get to that result, it leads to so many positive things.

I wanna talk about really quickly the community that you’ve been creating. Can you talk about what you’ve been doing and the results that’s been getting?

Jeff: Yeah sure. So we do have like a main, it’s like LeadPages center in Drip’s Facebook group and one thing I really wanted to do was create a community within our community. So I ended up creating a community for people that attend my marketing mastery sessions.

So if you register for those, you get the opportunity to join that group. Because I wanted it to be somewhat exclusive to the people that attend my group and then have it be sort of like a mastermind they could use where it’s like, hey, we’re not talking about you know hey, my integration with LeadPages aren’t working.

We’re not talking about, hey, how do I make the Leadbox? We’re talking about, hey, how do I tenets my conversions with these Lead Magnet that I just made? And in more like strategic and tactical things.

So it’s like really kind of taking on a life of its own. And why I wanted to do that was A-for the exclusivity and then B-I wanted to like really capitalize on the community because we do have a lot of like really smart marketers that are customers.

But there may be aren’t like well known you know like the typical like internet marketing personality that you think of. But the one thing that’s really been cool with the group you know it’s still really small because like were – I’m not trying to like add 3,000 people in the right way. I want it to you know grow in like organically kinda evolve.

But the thing that’s cool that’s happening is the original people that I added in are starting to answer questions and starting to like almost become personalities in the group that people look to for answers.

So it’s not just like the Jeff show in there, it’s like everybody that’s in there has to contribute. So they do and then you know like everybody’s helping everybody, like I’m getting you know valuable knowledge out of it and it’s like, oh hey, I’m having this problem.

And some customer will be like, oh yeah, this is what I did and then I get value out of it. And then you know, I provide value elsewhere and all that kind of stuff.

Tim: Awesome. Now before we go any further, I have to mention that all throughout this episode and in the all new season of ConversionCast, you’re hearing what we do at LeadPages to automatically grow our email list and boost our sales every single day.

Well, in my next webinar, I’ll show you exactly how to do this for your business. In this free training, I’ll give you a live step by step walkthrough of the top 3 tactics we use at LeadPages to automatically grow our own list week after week.

[0:10:06]

This is gonna be everything you need to know to implement this in your business. So make sure you check it out. To reserve your spot on the webinar, text LeadPageslive to 334444, that’s all one word LeadPageslive to 334444 or head to LeadPages webinar.com

All right, let’s get back to it.

Yeah you had one example, one gentleman who had shared kind of how he was using Facebook ads and I saw that the group light up with kind of what he was sharing about how he was getting customers by getting them results first which was really fascinating.

Jeff: Yeah. And the cool thing is it’s like it’s creating almost like brand advocates within that community. And almost like you know the whole like rising tide lifts all ships, it’s like lifting those people of highlighting their expertise.

So A, they feel really good about you know like, oh man, this is awesome! I have people that are asking me for help and you know who doesn’t like to be asked for help and provide answers and all that kind of stuff.

And then B, it helps other people see like, oh wow, LeadPages really cares about their customers, look at they’re highlighting this guy, I could be the next person they highlight.

So you know, it’s – it really just like helps bring everybody together and keeps everybody engaged in like you said we highlighted, his name is Vince, and he’s just like crashing it with his Facebook marketing in everything he’s doing there.

And we actually like had a session where I just got on Skype with him and recorded it and put it in the group and everybody was just like blown away by it. And you know all we were doing is just having a conversation about what he’s doing.

But it was cool because it was tactical enough that people could actually you know take from it and be like, okay, this is what I could do in my business.

Tim: I love it.

Jeff: Yeah.

Tim: And so when you were – because you know this group is relatively new.

Jeff: Yup.

Tim: So when you – as you were starting this group, how did you invite the first people to join the group? How did you start the conversations?

Jeff: Yes, so I was on a session and I created the group right before the session and then while it was live on the session I was like, I just created this group for us to communicate between sessions and I want it to be kind of like a mastermind for everybody.

So on the live session, I was like, go join the group right now, here’s the link. And then through that I think you know, maybe like 30 people joined and then I added a couple people from the LeadPages team as well. And over the course of like the next 2 weeks, we’re already over like a hundred people.

But the thing about it is is everybody’s like engaged. And I actually – I’m kind of like hard core about it where it’s like I call people out like, hey, you haven’t said anything yet, you just joined the group, tell everybody what you’re up to you know.

So – and I’m like starting to train people that like we’re not gonna have lurkers in this group and you know considering even like if people aren’t contributing or like at least talking like kicking them out because I really want it to be exclusive and valuable.

Tim: Right. So everybody gets and provides value at the same time.

Jeff: Totally. And I mean, you know I see signs that it’s working because like people are like adding stuff and they’re like, yeah, I just wanted to make sure I was communicating so you didn’t call me out and knew obviously, it’s like all the fun and everything.

But I just thought it was funny that it was like, all right, that’s working! [Laughs]

Tim: Yeah, I love it. That’s awesome. And I think for the end of this episode, I just want to talk about marketing mastery. So you mentioned what it is but the – you know in execution, can you talk a little bit about specifically what you do and how you are able to get people on to this sessions?

Jeff: The process is just kinda like, okay, who on the team has some area that they’re really good at? And then I just kinda look at like, okay, there’s all these people, let’s get them scheduled out and then just ask them if they’d be interested in coming on and talking for like 15 to 20 minutes to a group of people that would be interested in what they have to say.

Tim: Got it. And the thing about that is to if you’re listening to this and you don’t have a big team, you know it would be fine I think one for you to do this by yourself but also if you have any kind of connections with other influences in your space or even…

What I think is even more interesting and the thing that I love the most about marketing mastery is for the most part, it’s a lot of behind the scenes people. You know, it’s a lot of folks that are doing marketing at LeadPages but that maybe people wouldn’t necessarily hear their names other than maybe within the LeadPages website.

You know it’s not internet celebrity, it’s just people in the trenches doing marketing. So I think that if you are a solopreneur or something like that or maybe you only have a person or two on your team, this would be a good opportunity to reach out to some other folks, either in your industry or outside of your industry that have expertise – that has expertise that could be valuable for your space.

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And ask them to come on and share that expertise and the difficult part is for folks like that sometimes may be there aren’t a lot of benefits but the benefit would be if you think about it, for some folks because they’re not “internet celebrities” or whatever, they’re not being asked to be interviewed.

This might be their first time. And so they get that little chance to get some celebrity exposure feel important that kind of thing, so something to consider if you don’t have a team like LeadPages where you can just kind of call folks from the team to come on and do it.

Jeff: And I would like to also add what we’re gonna start doing in the group as well is we’re gonna start having those calls with people from the group that are getting results.

So you could do that with your customers as well like eventually you’ll find people that you know are actually doing good things with your product and have feature, you know feature those people on the calls because it’ll A-help identify with the group like, oh man, that person is just like me.

You know like I wanna be on one of those calls. And then you’ll start getting like – they’ll start posting more results and like communicating the results they’re getting in order for you to be like, oh yeah, let’s like you know have one of these calls together.

So that’s just another area to look forward, guess for you know kind of having a live Q&A.

Tim: Yeah this is great. This is great and again, this goes to speak to how you can engage your customer base once they’ve already become customers and I think – I guess one last thing that I think maybe forgotten about is that sometimes as a customer, it’s easy enough to feel like once you’ve bought something that the person that sold it to you is gonna drop off the face of the planet.

Because this – how many times has this happened? You know think about when you buy a car, you know this is a great example. I just recently bought a car and literally, I got emails from the car salesman for 2 weeks before I actually went in to buy the car like every other day, the second that I drove off the lot, never heard from him again.

And it’s not necessarily that I needed anything from him, so I understand but the point still stands that sometimes it can feel like people are there just to get you to buy, just to get you to spend the money.

And when they get that extra engagement afterwards, you know they get – you’re getting on on a live session where they can ask you and somebody else questions or just your questions.

They’re giving your engagement in the Facebook community of other people that bought your product or service or whatever it is and they feel like you give a crap beyond whatever it was that you sold them.

Now you have opportunities to again sell them again to upsell them or if nothing else to create evangelists so that they can go out, they can stick with your product for longer, they can tell other people about what you have going on.

And I think that in this era of business, post sale marketing is probably as important as presell marketing.

Jeff: And just to further elaborate on the point of creating evangelist, it doesn’t take that much to make an evangelist because people aren’t use to any kind – like you said that you’ve bought the car, you didn’t hear from the guy.

There are people aren’t use to like follow up after you buy. They’re used to people just dropping off like that. If you as an example you know like, in the group, there was a gal who was having a tough time figuring something out, we got on a Skype call and I’ve never heard just somebody be like, this is the best thing that’s ever happened to me.

And it was like – I mean, it took like 20 minutes of my time and it was like, wow! I mean, I didn’t think it was gonna be that big of a deal but I’m so glad that you got so much value out of it. And it was simply just because I took a little bit of time to just reach out to her specifically and I would say that she is definitely an evangelist for the marketing mastery group if nothing else.

Tim: I love it Jeff. Thanks so much for sharing this stuff with us. I know that this was an episode that I was personally looking forward to a lot so thanks for coming on.

Jeff: Yeah, no problem. Thanks for having me.