Are you a B2B business? Is the average annual valuation for a customer five figures, six figures, or seven figures annually? If so, you're in the right place at the right time. I'm going to explain the VIP Funnel that I've engineered for you to use to go after your top dream 100 customers in a way they've likely never seen before.

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Active Campaign - CRM & Marketing Automation

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Creative Market - Graphic Design & Creative Template Resources

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TRANSCRIPT

Brian Webb:

This is the Learn More Earn More Business Growth Podcast.

Hey everyone. Welcome to the show. I'm your host, Brian Webb. This podcast is designed to be your number one premier place to learn the framework secrets and grow hacks, to grow and scale your business smarter and faster. While you're working on pursuing your dreams and growing your business, I'll be here to help you make better decisions and avoid costly pitfalls and expensive mistakes along the way. So, let's go ahead and jump into today's episode.

Welcome back to the show everyone. As I mentioned, if you're a B2B business, if a customer annual valuation represents five figures, six figures, seven figures, or even eight figures or more, you are going to want to hear about the sales funnel that I'm calling the VIP Sales Funnel, which leverages the power of shock and awe. While I believe it was Dan Kennedy, who is arguably the godfather of direct response marketing, I believe I heard Darren Hardy, former publisher of Success Magazine or editor in chief rather say the same thing, which is, "When you are going after high-value customers or clients, you can't just send them a brochure. You can't just rely on your website. You have to shock them. You have to awe them. You have to completely rise above the white noise of mediocrity that is your marketplace to get their attention."

It takes time. It takes some creativity and it takes commitment. So while I can in no way give you the comprehensive, full layout of what this funnel looks like in a podcast, since it is an audio format, I do want to explain it to you and cover some of the highlights of why it's so powerful. So let's talk about step one. The very first thing that you'd ever want to do if you're going to leverage this kind of a funnel is come up with a list of your dream 100 customers. Think of dream 100, by the way, as the minimum number of high-value prospects that you want to target. It might have 200 or 300 people, but probably focusing on 100 people at a time is more than enough to keep you busy for a while. Once you've attacked that list and you've targeted them, maybe then go onto another dream list of 100 people.

So now that we have a list of your top dream 100 customers, we are going to come up with something, I have an idea for that I'm going to share with you, but it's certainly not the only idea. But we are going to come up with something that we are going to send to them that is almost guaranteed to not be ignorable, that's almost guaranteed to not get thrown away as soon as you send it. And even if they don't engage with you right away, there are some hooks in this funnel that are going to allow you to continue to target them and tell your story to them over time. So let's continue to dig in.

You've already created your list of your dream 100 absolute top best customers that you would absolutely love to work with. Number two, we are going to come up with all of the addresses and the names of those people so that we can send them something in the mail. Yes, I'm a digital marketer. We are going to send them something physical to their address. T.

Three, we are going to leverage the power of shock and awe. We're going to do that multiple ways. They are going to know pretty quickly that we have thoughtfully decided to get in touch with them. That we have put some time and effort into getting in touch with them. Does this guarantee they're going to work with you? Absolutely not, but you have a much, much better chance than if you just run an ad or if you just send them your brochure or that you hope to just bump into them at the next industry trade show. In this particular case, I'm going to suggest that you put together a book and when I say a book, I mean a hardcover, dust jacket, well designed, beautiful pearl high gloss paper inside. It's going to be targeted just to your dream 100 and I'll break that down in just a moment.

Here's one of the big takeaways. The book is mostly going to be about them. One of the principles, one of the guiding principles that I teach my clients is what I call the [Wiffen 00:04:45] principle, "What's in it for me?" In other words, if you make a big, beautiful, gorgeous book, and all you do is turn it into a brochure about you, then you will have failed. The content that goes into the book has to be mostly 70, 80% or more completely about them. Remember, the purpose of this effort is not to sell them on doing business with you. The only purpose of this book is to sell them on spending time with you on that initial VIP encounter. And you might say, "Brian, how do you do that?"

And I've got the answer. Consider inviting them to some type of a VIP event. Now I realize that some industries have regulations and you have to work inside of those as to what you are or are not allowed to do to basically court your prospects. But assuming that that's not going to be a limiter in this case, we're going to keep talking about it. So consider inviting them to a white linen steak dinner. Consider inviting them to a big first class sporting event in your area. Dan Kennedy once also said, "He who is willing to pay the most to acquire a customer wins. They win every time." So this VIP Funnel, that's leveraging the power of shock and awe is basically trying to rise above sales speak and you're going straight for the throat. You are targeting the person that you want to bring into your fold, and you're showing them how committed you are to creating that relationship with them.

So if you do decide that making this book, which by the way, you might be thinking, "Brian, I can't go get 10,000 copies of a book done," well, one good news. You don't have to. And second, if you did, it would defeat the purpose. One pro tip that's very important about this funnel is that each book you create, one-off, one at a time should be on a per-person basis. Meaning if you were going to send this book, this invitation to Tony Robbins, it better have Tony Robbins' name all over the book, the cover, the inside, the cover letter, everywhere. It needs to be quickly conspicuous to Tony Robbins, assuming he's your target, he's our place holder target for today, it needs to be quickly conspicuous to him that that book is just for him. You did not mass produce this, and it was just for him.

And if you're looking for a resource to get that book made, go check out, blurb B-L-U-R-B.com. You can literally order books one at a time, and I'm talking for 30, 40, 50, 60 bucks a book. It is not cost-prohibitive. And even if it was more expensive, if you're going after a target that represents 5, 6, 7, or eight figures or more in annual value to your company, this is just pennies in the fountain.

The next pro tip. You must do one of two things. Either have it courier delivered if your dream 100 happens to work in the same region where you are. If they're not, either use UPS Priority or use Federal Express. Believe it or not, how you have that book delivered is almost as important as the gift or the gesture itself. Here's why. The bigger your target is, the more likely it is that they have a gatekeeper.

It could be their assistant. It could be the receptionist that is literally deciding what mail makes it onto your target and what doesn't, what gets thrown right into the trash. So if you're going to go through all of this effort to create this shock and awe package to send off, don't pinch pennies on how you deliver it. The worst thing you could do after going through all of this time and effort is to have it merely thrown in the trash because it arrived with all of the other junk mail that hits their inbox or rather their mailbox every single day. I mentioned it earlier, but again, this book should look like something that would look beautiful and blend in with all of the other books in their library, on their bookshelves. So, getting this book designed beautifully is important.

I'll restate again, the recipient's name should be on the cover of the book. It should be in the cover letter of the book. It should be used intermittently throughout the various pages of this book so that they know unequivocally that this book was made just for them. We'll get back to the show in just a moment, but first, a quick word from our sponsor, Whatbox Digital.

Do you want to grow and scale your business better and faster with fewer mistakes? Of course, you do. Then you're in the right place right now. Like so many others, you're tired of relying on a failed hope marketing system, where you're spending valuable time and money on marketing, and then hoping it works. You've thrown away tons of money towards marketing mistakes and failures, and you wish you could get all of that money back. When you don't have a reliable system for generating leads and acquiring new customers, then you're doomed to suffer from industry downturns, lumpy cash flow, and ultimately higher stress and sleepless nights. I'm Brian Webb, the CEO and senior guide at Whatbox Digital. I know where you are and I've been there before. It pains me to watch business owners and entrepreneurs suffer from relying on hope and bad advice that simply doesn't work.

I've had the privilege of owning and leading a successful marketing agency in the greater Houston metroplex for almost 20 years. Having worked in over 60 industry verticals, I've led my team and clients to achieve business growth time and time again. And that's exactly what I want to do for you. Our marketing strategy playbook consulting engagement allows us to do just that. In just four weeks or less, we'll take you through our three-step process that will open your eyes to the readily available growth opportunities you need, want, and deserve. To learn more or just get started, simply go to whatboxdigital.com/strategy and click the "Get started now" button, or just text the word "Playbook" to (832) 324-2432. Don't waste another day or another dollar on failing hope marketing strategies that do not work. If you want to grow and scale your business better and faster and with fewer mistakes, you are in the right place. You need to get unstuck. You need a plan and we're here to help. Let's get started today, right now.

Now on the cover letter of the book, leave a place for your signature and a postscript, a handwritten postscript. This is one more indication that this book was not mass-produced. It's letting them know that you actually took the time to sign it. And in your postscript, if you know anything about that person, which NFL football team they love, which college they went to, which sporting activity they love, reference that in the postscripts. Basically, this is your opportunity in a handwritten note to let them know that you cared enough to know something about them. Let 80% of the book or more be about the call to action that you want them to take. If you're inviting them out to a steak dinner, steak and lobster, then make the book look like it was created by a five-star steakhouse.

If you are an avid golfer and so is your prospect, your target, your dream 100, the book should probably have the look and feel of a country club, Pebble Beach. In multiple forms at least twice, if not three times, lay out what you're inviting them to do, give them an easy way to do it. Give them an easy way or multiple ways to reply to you in a way that's convenient for them and then let everything in that book be the biggest, juiciest carrot that it can possibly be. So just as a quick example, if you're inviting them on a weekend golf getaway, talk about the meals that they'll have, show them images of the gorgeous vista views, use images and text to depict what that's going to look like, a five-star resort experience. I could go long on this.

Obviously, there's a bunch of ways that we could do this. For the sake of time, I'm just trying to give you a quick idea to spur your creativity. This next part is really important. Leverage the power of QR codes, and there are multiple reasons you want to do this. QR codes stand for quick response. Coming through the COVID pandemic, almost everyone knows what that is now because of restaurants no longer have they had menus, physical menus. Everyone holds their phone up to the QR code. It just takes you to a web browser, which then takes you to the menu. But you can use this to grow your business.

This next part is an extra step, but it's going to be worth it for you because we've already determined, this customer could represent $50,000, $100,000, $500,000, $1,000,000, $10,000,000 a year to your company. It's worth it. Because remember we're not mass producing this. We're hand-picking 10 people at a time, 50 or 100 that we feel like are our dream customers.

For everyone that you send this book to, you are going to create a companion landing page. On that landing page, the look and feel should look like your brand and their brand had a baby and that baby is the landing page. It should look like you are already under the presumption that you're going to work together. Use your brand colors, use their brand colors. If you want to take them golfing, have images and background videos of golf courses and people enjoying the sport. But at the top of that landing page is going to be a video from you speaking right into the camera, talking just to them. You are going to mention the recipient by name. You're going to give two or three reasons why you would love to do business with them. And you are going to use your tone of voice, your body language, and everything that you can to warmly invite them to the event that the book has done so in writing and in images, visually.

Now let me tell you why you want to do this. One, nobody else is doing it. I guarantee you that. None of your competitors are doing this. You've probably heard it said that there is never a traffic jam when going the extra mile. Second, you want to know if they read the book. If they scan that QR code, the one that takes them to that landing page with your video, you're going to track that QR code and you're going to, at the very least, know that the recipient that you sent it to took the time to scan that QR code, which means there's a good chance they watched the video that you made for them. Now, what if they stop there and they don't take any action? You should have additional steps in the funnel where there is follow-up, LinkedIn follow-up, email follow-up, even using direct response print mail follow-up.

You're not going to go through all of this effort and then just hope they do something. You are going to follow up until they basically tell you, "Yes," or "Leave me alone." But one principle I also teach, this is a guiding principle, is that it takes people a long time, sometimes dozens, 21 to 24 times minimum before people go through the three phases of a relationship, meaning they had no idea that you existed, but now they have awareness. Then you develop trust through enlightenment over time before they finally get to a commitment. So this is a numbers game. Not everyone, in fact, most of the people that you send this book to are not going to ever take you up on your offer, but you don't care because if one out of 100 does, it was still worthy of the time and money invested to get that new customer.

And obviously, we're shooting for more than one. A conversion rate can be much better than that. But let's assume that they sit still and freeze right there and they do nothing. Since you're doing this right, you have attracted them to a landing page that has all of the tracking pixels on it. Why do you care about that? The reason that you care is because now you can continue to target them with retargeting ads on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, Google. And by the way, I could do an entire podcast just about the clever ways to tactically retarget them. But at the very least, if they had no idea that you existed the day before they got the book or the day before they scanned and arrived at your landing page, you now have the opportunity using retargeting video advertising online to continue to tell your story, to continue to enlighten them, to continue to build trust over time and authority and demonstrate empathy.

So, as I mentioned in the beginning, it's pretty much impossible to fully flesh this out over a podcast since it is just an audio platform, but I wanted to give you the broad vision of what this is. You are targeting VIP customers who represent a lot of growth opportunities for your business. You are leveraging the power of shock and awe, you are doing something that none of your competitors are doing. And you are showing up in a way that is thoughtful, that is innovative, that is hyper-targeted, that is intentional. You are doing everything you can to show up in a way that you can't be ignored. Not everyone is going to work with you right away, but I guarantee you, you will have made an impression, a very, very good impression. And even if you have a 2%, 3%, 5% close rate, since we've already established that each one of these targets could represent 5, 6, 7, or 8 figures a year in annual valuation for your business, the results are going to be phenomenal.

If this is something that you'd like to unpack a little more, or you just flat out need the help of getting this executed, reach out to us at Whatbox Digital. Go to whatboxdigital.com. We're here to help. Or if you just want to start the conversation, text me (832) 324-2432. Drop the words VIP and your name into the text and we can start a conversation. That's it for this week. More great stuff coming soon to help you grow your business smarter and faster. Let's keep going and growing together. I will see you on the next episode.

Thanks for joining me today and listening to this episode of the Learn More Earn More Business Growth Podcast. We can be found on all the major platforms like Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, Pandora, Stitcher, and even Amazon Music. I genuinely hope you enjoyed today's episode and if you did, I'd be honored if you'd subscribe to the show and leave us a rating and an honest review. I'd love to connect with you on Instagram. You can find me at, @BrianWebb and the show sponsor, Whatbox Digital can be found at, as you might guess @WhatBoxDigital. You can also find me in Whatbox Digital on Facebook and LinkedIn with the links and the show notes. This will allow you to stay up to date and never miss out on exciting new announcements, events, special offers, and opportunities and you'll be in the know when we drop a new episode of the Learn More Earn More Business Growth Podcast.

And if you'd like to send me a DM on Instagram to say hello, or share your thoughts on how we can make this podcast even better for you, I'd love to hear from you. Again, thanks for listening. Let's go and grow together. I'll see you on the next episode.

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DESCRIPTION

The Learn More Earn More Business Growth Podcast is sponsored by Whatbox Digital, a marketing and consulting agency in the Greater Houston Metroplex. This podcast is your premier place to learn the frameworks, secrets, and growth hacks to grow and scale your business and revenue smarter and faster.

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