So you’ve just created a whiz-bang product. And you’ve got whiz-bang tutorials online.

Well guess what? I’m kinda stuck as a user. Because about the worst time for a customer to use your product, is when they’re at their desk, and connected to the Internet. On any given day, a customer will bounce between pages, and websites, and phone calls, and whatever comes their way. But notice the person at the cafe.

They’re not bouncing.
They’ve got one magazine.
Or one newspaper.
Even the computer-folk seem to be working on one thing instead of twenty.

This is the factor of downtime.
When you’re not connected to anything that can distract you. When your mind is ready for learning.
This is not just downtime, it’s ‘working-downtime.’ And creating your products to work in this environment is critical.

So what can you do?
1) If you’re in the software world, how about making your tutorials downloadable? (And yes, not for PC only–because I  may use the program on a PC, but learn on the Mac–due to longer battery power of most Macs). Possibly even iPod-friendly.
2) If you’re in the information business, how about sending a print-version of your information–instead of yet another PDF.
3) If you’re in the training business, how about creating an interactive Powerpoint/Keynote presentation?

What other applications can you think of?

Here are just some of the experiences at the Attversumption Workshop. Note: There’s no talk of get-rich quick here. There are no instant results. So what are they raving about? Find out for yourself, and yes, there are some more pictures too.

Perry Droast and Matthew Joyce

I’ll vouch for that. I spent quite a lot of money over the last few years on learning how to write sales copy. I don’t regret a penny.

That said, the Attversumption class was far beyond my expectations. I saw many of the other participants come up with copy as good as any I’ve seen written by highly paid and touted copywriters.

I personally tied together some concepts that I thought I understood, but found out I really didn’t, into a much more usable and doable system for writing copy that speaks straight to the heart of the prospect. Not only that it will be much less gut-wrenching to do so.

It’s all based on Sean’s concept of “Target Profile”. I’ve seen it and heard it before in a roundabout way, but never in the way Sean taught it. And I’ve never seen it’s power so easily wielded like I did the last few days.

My only problem now will be to find the right target. I’ve been shooting blanks out of a shotgun until now. I’ll be using shooting bulls-eyes from a thousand yards with a varmint rifle now.

Thanks Sean. I really enjoyed meeting you and Renuka. Although we’d met on the phone, I’d never met you in person before and it was a real pleasure. You both are so laid back and easy to talk to, I’m proud to call you both friend.

It was also a pleasure to meet and work with entire group. It was a truly diverse group and I thoroughly enjoyed meeting all of them.

P.S. If you guys don’t bug Sean to hold another one next year, you’re missing the boat if you need to learn how to write more effective copy.

P.P.S. If he doesn’t, how far ahead of time do I need to start pre-selling my own copywriting seminar?

P.P.P.S. I’ll assume Sean will be making this into a home study version as well. It’ll be worth it although live is always better.

Perry Droast, California, USA

I too am just back from the Attversumption Masterclass and I’ve got say it was among the best workshops/seminars I’ve attended–and I’m a speaker at several national business/marketing conferences a year.

As Erin, Steph, and Perry have mentioned we spent quite a bit of time talking about the real people behind the target profile and how that drives your entire business.

Sean comes up with great brand names like “Attversumption” that help you to remember the three components of a business transaction (attraction - conversion - consumption). But the course could also have been called the “Real Customer” Business Strategy Course because it drives home how customer-centric design is essential to all elements of your business from creating your products and services, to marketing and sales, to designing systems to ensure your customer uses the purchase and comes back for more. That would have been enough, but it doesn’t stop there. It also shows you exactly what you can do integrate the concepts into your own business.

We talked frequently about who the ideal guests are that you want to come to your party. Sean and Renuka modeled the teaching extremely well by inviting a fabulous collection of their friends/customers/students to the workshop. We learned much from Sean–our master teacher–but just as much from our many talented classmates who provided new perspectives, great ideas, and the occasional reality check when it was needed. Whistling

That Sean and Renuka attract such quality people and provide such a welcoming and power-packed course is a testament to their skills as business people, teachers, and hosts. But mostly it’s the mark of people who I’m pleased to now consider my friends.

I’d type more but I’ve got to get busy implementing all the great ideas I learned this week…

For those of you looking for your next step in business, I highly recommend the Attversumption Workshop.

Matthew Joyce, Boulder, Colorado, USA

Leah Oman and Eric Klein at the Rock Bottom Brewery

The class was profound. Sean presented a model that is simple - but not simplistic.

The sign of a master teacher is one who can present a concept with such clarity and simplicity - that people at all levels of experience can both understand it and learn new stuff at the same time.

The Attversumption material was simple and clear in that way.
It was also a lot of fun. Working in groups on our own yoga business brought the concepts to life. And Sean generously provided plenty of frustration and “red herrings” to force us to actually think - not just follow orders.

The simplicity of the model allowed us to move deeper and deeper into a few core concepts rather than gorge ourselves on a massive array of unconnected “tips” and “secrets” (for some reason food is a theme of these posts).

Actually, this program was short on tips. It was more about a method or methodology. Something that I can keep practicing and integrating over time.

Thanks to Sean and Renuka for a great learning experience.

Eric Klein, USA

All the way from little Campbell, California
Photos of the Attversumption Workshop. Are we having fun yet? As you can tell from the photos, we have a lot of fun at any Psychotactics workshop. For one, you almost never sit in the room listening to blah, blah. You’re always working (working by the pool or in shadier surroundings (see below). And what’s unique about the workshop?

In three days, you learn only one thing!
One thing? Yes, one thing drilled down. So why do participants travel all the way from the UK, Italy, New Zealand, Australia and Venezuela to learn one thing? And why are they smiling so much? If you’ve been to a Psychotactics workshop before, you’ll know for sure!

For those who prefer shade: Jessica Bowman and Matthew Joyce

Breakout sessions in the heat wave: Stew Walton, Molly Gordon, Tim Harrelson, Leah Oman

Elmo the star. And Billy gets Elmo-ed, while Molly looks on

The traditional Elmo Dance: Move your booty!

More photos to follow shortly. And hey, if you’ve been to the workshop (either this one or a previous one, feel free to post your comments)

To find out more details about Attversumption, click here.

Your audience may be fast asleep. But then you announce a prize. Or an award.

Blurb.com wakes up its audience from their inactivity!

Nothing quite gets an audience to participate quite as easily as a ‘Easter Egg hunt’
Or a ‘treasure hunt’, or something that offers an incentive of sorts. And Blurb.com (they produce one-of-a-kind-self-published books) has got it right not in the respect of ‘hosting the award’, but they’ve also weeded out the rest of us who ‘don’t matter.’

Yup, it seems to me that Blurb has noticed a trend
They’ve decided that the people who are most valuable to them are photographers.
That if you’re a cartoonist, or a writer, or a whatever, it’s going to take you a lot longer to put a book together, but if you’re a photographer, you’re going to be able to click this morning, and publish this afternoon.
So if they’re going to have an award, it’s going to be for photographers.
Because this specific audience is going to be more prolific, and hey, might as well encourage the most prolific of the lot.

Which of course, bring us back to the original theme of this post.
That awards wake up your audience?

So here are three questions:
1) What kind of award are you planning?
2) What kind of award have you had in the past?
3) Have you had an award that backfired?

Let us know

Barriers detract. But only at first. Because humans don’t like barriers. Not one itty-bit. And so when faced with a barrier, your customer is going to do her best to either get the hell out of there, or to cross that barrier.

But why would you want to make it difficult for the customer to buy?
Good question. And the answer lies in two parts.
1) Where would you make it easy for the customer to buy?
2) Where would you put up a barrier? And why?

You’d make it easy for your customer to buy, at the first stage. So when you get to our main website at http://www.psychotactics.com, you’ll notice that there’s not much of a barrier. You can read about 27 articles free. Then up comes the barrier. If you want to read more, you’ve got to then subscribe. That barrier extends into other products as well.

So if you buy the Brain Audit, there’s no barrier. But if you want to do the Website Strategy Course, or the Article Writing Course, then you’ve got a barrier. Actually more than one barrier. You’ve got to be an owner of the Brain Audit. You’ve got to fill in a form to be eligible to even see the sales page. You’ve got to then pay for the course, and then you run into another barrier–which is to answer a questionnaire.

That’s four barriers, back to back for one course.
What does that do for us? It qualifies the customers. And it makes sure that all the customers are on the same page (that they’ve all read the Brain Audit) and so we don’t waste the time of others on the course.

But what does it do for the customer?
It prepares the customer for what’s ahead both mentally, as well as in terms of content. And that’s very useful for the customer. Plus when you qualify for something, you’re more likely to consume.

And consumption is the most important factor of all.
It’s only when a customer consumes one meal that they get the benefit. And it’s only when they get the benefit of that meal, do they come back for the next, and the next. This factor of consumption, is what works both for the seller as well as the customer. Both win.

And barriers help make that process more powerful.

If someone were to come to your business today, would you let them enter? Or would you put up a barrier?

You’re about to do a presentation.
You could have twenty thousand slides.
Or one manila envelope.

So how could you take that one manila envelope and make a presentation so powerful, that it instantly gets the attention of your customer?
Here’s how: http://brainaudit.com/blog/?p=10

See, free has no value…and yes, it’s going to be a rant…so you can bookmark it.

As I was saying: Free has no value. No urgency. Nothing. Free is frrrrrrrrrrrrree. (Say Furrrrrry)
And you can’t create urgency just by saying ‘Hey it’s FREE.’ And we know that all of us are the same. We go on value, not on price. Yet, heck the price of free is free. So where did that value go, eh?

It just slid down zee gutter.

So when you charge someone $1000 for a workshop, you can be darned sure that every seat paid for is taken. And yet, when the very same workshop, with the very same bells and whistles is offered free, what happens? Who knows what happens? But we can’t depend on ‘who knows’. We have to create our own sense of urgency. And demand. But mostly, control.

Free needs to have opt-in.
Free needs to have rules.
Free needs to have barriers.
Free needs to have urgency.
Free needs to have value.

So how do we create all of the above. Let’s assume you were having a $1000 workshop instead. How would you create opt-in? How would you create rules? How would you institute barriers? How would you create urgency. And finally, and predictably: How do you create value?

But let’s just bounce back to free….
You create opt-in by getting people to commit. If you just send out something, it stays ’something’ and often degenerates to ‘nothing.’ So you have to get the customer to opt-in. When people say they’ll do something, they’re more likely to do it. So get them to say: Yes, I will attend. Because you never know. Rain falls, La neige falleth. Dinner becomes important. Who knows what happens. And freeeeee stays at the value of nothing. But hey, if you’ve committed; if you know you’re taking someone else’s seat; if you know that seat has your name on it; then hey only wild horses will drag you away. This commitment factor alone, ensures more people turn up for your free event.

So how do you create opt-in?
Get ‘em to call you. Or fill in a form. Or fill in a form online. Or write YES at the back of business card. Or tick the boxes at the back of a postcard. Or send you a box of chocolates. Whatever. Just get the customer to respond. To commit. Oui, Ja, Yes I will be there.

But rules? What rules?
Rules are about structure. Structure means the customers know you’re not playing around. That you’re not desperate to get people to sign up. That if them rules aren’t obeyed, them people are going to experience what happens when they break the rules. So yeah, the rules of engagement create value instantly because they create value. And discipline. And everything else that goes with rules.

So when you say:
Rule 1: Print out the email and bring your invitation along–they bring their invitation along.
Rule 2: The class will start at 7:30 pm. You need to be in your seat by 7:02. At 7:05pm the doors will be closed.

Let’s just analyse those two rules. What are those rules saying?
It’s saying: Hey, you committed; now turn up. And if someone who hasn’t committed turns up, and they don’t have their invitation, they’ll be booted out. You’re special. You’re one of us with the ‘printed email.’ You can pass Go. And collect your $200.
The second rule is saying: Hey, we’re committed too. And we’re going to be on time. And that we understand la neige. And we understand le traffico, and all that stuff. And that wild horses won’t keep us away, and shouldn’t keep you away. It’s also saying: If you’re going to be late, don’t bother.

The rules of engagement enable you to stop going insane.
It enables people to follow a system.
It enables customers to be rewarded for coming on time (I detest presenters who wait for ‘late-comers’)
Rules just enable you to do what you do best–instead of worrying about who’s turned up; why are they late etc.
With rules you have boundaries. They have boundaries. So yeah, rules rule.

Ah, barriers: Now why barriers?
In one word: Value. We want what is behind the green door.
Can’t eat that cookie. Can’t drink that Coke. Can’t speak to that bad girl.
Now you want to eat the cookie, drink that Coke and preferably do both with the bad girl.

Free has no barriers. It has nothing. So you create barriers. What kind of barriers?
Fill in a form. Do an interview. Who knows? Make up the barriers as you go.
Walk into a bank today, and ask for a loan. Then stagger home with the mounds of paperwork.
Walk into a company and ask for a job. And see how many barriers you run into.
Go to a rock concert…and yes, I’m babbling. But you know what I’m saying, right?

We want what we can’t have.
And if there’s a barrier, we want to cross that barrier.
So yes, a closed door at 7:05 is a barrier. We stop focusing on what you’re going to offer us, and focus on the darned door. We have to beat the door closing.
And the fact that the client has to put in their phone number and other details on an online form is a barrier. And yes, there will be those who don’t want to fight the barrier. Well, good on them.
Most people will fill in the form. Most people will beat the 7:05pm deadline by minutes. And then watch their face. It will glow with satisfaction of having beat the barrier.

The psychology of us humans is simple. We want what we can’t have. So why deprive us ‘evolved-chimps’ our barrier?

Which brings us to urgency
Urgency means that someone will be shut out.
That the room only has 15 seats.
That the product runs out in 15 minutes.
That this building kabooms in 15 seconds.
Without urgency, nothing moves quite as quickly. And so you’ve got to create urgency.
And urgency is created simply by scarcity.

So in the above examples, you market to 50 people. But don’t (for heaven’s sake) keep 50 seats.
Urgency means scarcity. Scarcity creates momentum. Lack of scarcity creates, “Yeah, yeah, I’ll get down to it.”
So if you’re having an event and have no recording of the event–hey, scarcity.
If you’re giving a presentation that’s the key to getting to the top of Google (and no one knows about this secret)–urgency again.

But you say: I don’t know any secrets. Yeah right! You do know secrets. It’s not the secret that matters. It’s the packaging of the secret that really driveth home that urgency.
So if you run a yoga class and announce:

1) Let’s talk about ‘yoga’ . Now that is kinda boring.
2) We’ll do ‘yoga asanas’ is kinda boring too.
3) But ‘Find out three breathing yoga steps that will help you sleep well tonight (and every night)..shucks, that’s what I want to know.
Packaging creates urgency.
Scarcity creates urgency.
And curiosity creates urgency.

But let’s kill curiosity and go straight to value
You’re still curious about curiosity, aren’t you? See what I mean? We’re gone over the hill and into the meadow of ‘value’, but no. Your station wagon is stuck at curiosity. And curiosity does create urgency, because if you’re going to reveal a ’secret’, people want to know the secret. The ’secret to a sound sleep’ makes me curious, you see.

Ok enough curiosity…let’s really move to value
If you don’t value your event, your product, your whatever…then how will the client value it? Can’t happen; won’t happen. If you simply give away stuff then the customer will either not show up to take the stuff; or show up and have zero-value. So you must, must, must put a price on the material; on the event; on your offering. What’s it worth? How much do they stand to lose if they don’t get it now.

Then mix up all of the urgency, the barriers, the rules, the opt-in, the curiosity.
Stir well.
And watch how something that was free–and pretty valueless–now becomes the object of your customer’s desire.
What’s more, they don’t just want your offering. They want it now. Like yesterday.

And that, my friend, is how you present FREE Smiley

Imagine you sat on a damp chair.
And the water seeped through your jeans.
Right through your underwear.
Enough so you could feel the dampness on your bum.

What would you want to do next?
You know the answer. You’d want to change those jeans. And the underwear as soon as possible.

Obama knows this damp feeling. And he’s hitting one note: Change.

Because yeah, yeah, everyone on the planet wants health insurance, and a great economy and yada, yada. All that stuff is nice. But when your jeans and underwear is wet, all you want to do is change. You don’t care what you change into, as long as you change.

Obama seems to know the real attractor.
He seems to know below all the yada, yada, is the desperate need for change.
And he’s in the unique position to be a complete newcomer. Someone that stands for change.

As a marketer, if you understand what your public wants (despite the yada), then you can give them that word. And you’ll increase your results based on that one word alone. Of course, once they buy into you, you’ve got to deliver. But we’re not talking consumption. Just attraction.

And Obama has attraction down pat.

I wish I said it this eloquently, but Fast Company said it instead. So as you can quite clearly see, attraction and conversion are not enough.

Gorgeous as Apple’s products are, people aren’t buying them for their inherent technological superiority. For half the price of a Mac, you can pick up a PC that does pretty much the same thing. There are MP3 players that produce superior audio to the iPod. The iPhone has Wi-Fi and a beautiful touch screen, but the phone itself is middling, as is its cellular network. Even the security of Apple’s operating system, a theme the company returns to frequently, is overstated: As most hackers will tell you, it’s security-by-obscurity, a function of tiny market share, not inherent uncrackability. The CIO at one major Silicon Valley company told us that Apple’s vulnerability on this front made it unlikely that he would ever switch. (See “iPhone Insecurity” for one security expert’s sobering experience with the iPhone.)

No, it’s the interface–the user’s interaction with the devices–and the exquisite wrapping that have separated Apple products from the great unwashed. And give Jobs his due: He brought the personal computer to market, after all. He has an unerring eye for design and functionality. There’s an intuitive humanity to his machines, and that has helped Apple forge an enviable bond with its legions of fans.

But when you get down to it, the Apple phenomenon is as much about fashion as it is about technology. You might say that Steve Jobs is the Marc Jacobs of computers (minus the heroin), betting the house his products will be, season after season, cooler than anyone else’s. Yet fashion is, by definition, fickle. Lose the buzz, and you’ve got trouble. And for the first time in years, there are signs that Apple is not infallible and that Jobs’s reservoir of goodwill with his followers is not bottomless.

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Radiohead let its fans decide how much to pay for a digital copy of the band’s latest release, “In Rainbows,” and more than half of those who downloaded the album chose to pay nothing, according to a study by a consumer research firm.Some 62 percent of the people who downloaded “In Rainbows” in a four- week period last month opted not to pay the British alt-rockers a cent. But the remaining 38 percent voluntarily paid an average of $6, according to the study by comScore Inc.

Now it’s easy to gloat. But that’s not the point here. The point isn’t about gloating, though you can be sure the recording industry will be stupid enough to do so.

But let’s do an analysis

1) What did Radiohead do right?
2) What did Radiohead do wrong?
3) Why did people pay $0 for it?
4) What are the chances of consumption?
5) Etc questions?

What did Radiohead do right? Radiohead did a lot right. If they wanted the world to know about them, this is the exact way to go about things. There would be thousands, even millions of music lovers (if you want to call it music) that didn’t know about Radiohead. Now they do. And that alone sets it up, for the next level. Because if their music is indeed as good as their fans/and to-be fans expect, then the tour circuit is extremely lucrative.

They could make diddly squat on their songs, and make a fortune on their tours. Is this phenomenon uncommon? Yes, in the recording industry it is. But not in the publishing industry.

Every author knows one thing. Or should know one thing. You make diddly squat for your books, but you make a whack in services and speaking. Radiohead, if they play it right, are now officially in the speaking business. If they sit around and do nothing but curse, that’s their first mistake.

What did Radiohead do wrong?

As I predicted (and believe me, you can do this test a million times, and you’ll almost always get the same result), the payoff was little or nothing. People have no value, unless there’s value specified to them.

And the reason why people paid $0, is because they don’t have an understanding of value. But you may protest. You may say: Well, a CD costs $15 or $20 and people know that. Yes, they do. But so what?

You know that a computer costs $500 or $1000. If someone said: Pay what you like, what would you pay?

Your brain is always looking for value. But more than that, it’s looking for a deal.
So you pay what you think it’s worth? No you don’t. You pay whatever you think is a nice deal for you. And a 50% off or a 100% off on an album is a very nice indeed. So hey, people did what came natural to them. They cut a good deal for themselves.

But waitasec. The deal’s not over. At least 2% of those who got the nice deal and didn’t pay, will pay in future, given a chance. So they’ll pay for different packaging e.g. a live concert.

Why? Two reasons: 1) The Reciprocation Principle: 2) The Comfort Factor.
The reciprocation principle is simply wanting to pay back. And just as we have the greed factor in built into us, we tend to reciprocate as well. So if the 2% found the Radiohead album good, they are going to come streaming back to buy concert tickets, and future albums (even at full price). Now is 2% a bit low? Yes it is, but it’s enough to generate profits. And 2% is probably at its lowest.

It could be 5% or 20%. That doesn’t depend on us. It depends on how closely Radiohead has understood its audience and given the audience what they want.

And then there’s the comfort factor. If their songs are way cool, then the audience will sing along. They’ll want to go to their concerts and be comfortable knowing the lyrics and knowing the tunes. Audiences go to concerts to listen to the same song they could hear at home. There’s a reason why. It’s a different experience. And it’s a fun experience. It’s very unusual (even weird) to go to a concert where you don’t know the band, the lyrics and the tunes. So by releasing their album in full, they’re increasing that comfort factor. Plus, it will lead to back sales of their previous records. So it’s not just future sales, but back sales that will kick in as well.
So why did people pay $0 for it?

Well, we already know that they want a good deal. But think about it again. There’s still a risk, right? If I go into the store to buy a Radiohead, I’m going to do some checking around. I’m going to check out some reviews, play some songs, make sure I hear some songs on the Radio etc. And only then would I tend to buy. So I like The Police, and I like Garth Brooks, and I like Jack Johnson. But hey, you’re not going to get me to go like a robot to the store, and simply pick up the new album.

No way Jose.

I’m going to make sure that I’ve got the risk covered, by doing at least some homework. And when it’s free, what’s the risk? Zero. So I’ll take that zero risk, thanks. And I’ll pay zero. I’ll be really grateful, but that doesn’t mean I’ll pay. Besides it makes me look really, really stupid when I’ve paid say: $10 and the dude down the road has paid $0. So I’m going to play smart-ass, and pay $0. Risk. Peer pressure. Hmmmm..

So what’s consumption going to look like? Free is a hard sell. Consumption is higher when something’s paid for, and when that consumption is driven home. In our private studies, we’ve found that consumption is dependent on several factors. Media and free are two of those factors. The medium in play here is mp3 audio.

And therefore is pretty darned good, because it will be instantly playable in the eardrums of most of Radiohead’s audience. The very same medium used for say, Barbara Streisand fans, would probably drop consumption like a rock. Free. Ah, free.

Now that’s a problem isn’t it? Because paid goods tend to be consumed faster, and more often than unpaid goods. So if someone actually did some research between those who paid their $6 and those who paid $0, you’ll find that consumption is much higher with the $6 fans. You may also find that they’re more likely to buy future concerts, audio, video.

The freeloaders aren’t all freeloaders, but a good chunk of them will not pay, and it’s also likely to reduce both present and future consumption. This isn’t an issue about whether or not they will consume.

There will be consumption, because this system of pay as you like is a novelty. But imagine if every band did the same. Then the consumption will drop like a rock, because now we have too much choice.

So when the Internet was just embracing e-commerce, you could have a teleconference and hundreds of people would show up for your free teleconference. When Hotmail launched their free mail service, the masses came thundering through. But launch a free teleconference now, and see who comes.

And launch a free email service and see who comes. That’s consumption for you. And while the consumption may be slightly higher at this point in time, it will–without a doubt–be higher in those who paid vs. those who didn’t pay.

Etc. Questions: So was Radiohead smart? Or dumb? Hey, nice question, but unless they had a strategy, they were just doing stuff because it seemed cool. The future will tell. If you see a rollout of events, and other Radiohead stuff immediately, then they were really smart.

And then again it depends on how the audience likes/dislikes the product. If they put out a top class product, then they’ve got it spot on.

For more um, free psycho-stuff like this above: Go to http://www.psychotactics.com