The Brain Audit
How the Brain Goes Through Decision-Making: Do you often wonder what your customer is thinking? Don't leave the thought process to chance and let that customer walk away. Your customers don't want to walk away. They want to buy from you. So how does the brain make decisions? And what causes it to get confused? The Brain Audit shows you how the customer takes decisions. And what you need to put in place, so that the customer feels happy to buy products or services from you. The Brain Audit isn't about persuasion or any mind tricks. Instead it shows you the information that your customers need in order to make a decision. It shows you how to present that information, and thereby enable the customer to intelligently go through a purchase sequence. The Brain Audit is designed to do the following: brain_audit_benefits 1) Enable you to spot every one of the 'seven bags' that are required to make a decision 2) Present those bags to the customer in the right sequence. 3) Enable you to get the customer to buy without needing to use pressure tactics.
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What Hacker News says
- Marketer here. If I were to define the fundamental aspects of marketing, it would be as follows (I also have a note about feedback loops after):
1. Customer empathy: you need to know their pains, dreams, opinions, frustrations, and more. The first step of marketing is to always meet people where they are the most frustrated. Good resources for this are Amy Hoy’s Sales Safari [1], or Netnography [2]. I also like Sean D’Souzas Brain Audit [3]. Sean’s is the most accessible.
2. Copywriting: Once you can empathize with the persona / customer, you’ll need to learn how to relate your product or service to the person’s problems, needs, or dreams. There are many scammy resources out there, but the person who does his marketing in the most ethical way is again Sean D’souza [4]. Robert Bly is also good [5].
3. Distribution: once you solve for customer empathy and the right positioning (through compelling copywriting), the final step is to distribute your copies in various media. Weinberg’s Traction is a good starting point [6].
Some will recommend Russell Brunson, Sam Ovens, Gary Halbert, etc, but these folks are in the extreme end of marketing, and may not suit everyone. Their methods work for “get rich quick” online courses or coaching programs, but not for real products or services where you need to sustain a brand over time. The resources I mentioned are a good foundation for ethical marketing.
RE: Feedback loops - the fastest way to get a feedback loop is to start with content marketing. Your article must solve a tiny problem, then you distribute it. If you get good feedback, then make a longer article, then get feedback again. Then turn it into an ebook or small online tool, then get feedback. Keep increasing the size of your solution until you get to your desired goal (like a SaaS).
Another way to get a feedback loop is through ads: run multiple ads, compare their conversion rates, drop the worst ones, scale the best ones, then add more ad tests.
[1] https://stackingthebricks.com/video-sales-safari-in-action/
[2] https://www.amazon.com/Netnography-Essential-Qualitative-Soc...
[3] https://www.psychotactics.com/products/the-brain-audit-32-ma...
[4] https://www.psychotactics.com/home-study/copywriting-home-st...
[5] https://www.amazon.com/Copywriters-Handbook-Step-Step-Writin...
[6] https://www.amazon.com/Traction-Startup-Achieve-Explosive-Cu...
- I've done a similar setup, working part time remote doing freelance web development for the last several years. My one paragraph answer:
The book The E-Myth makes the point that people fall into this trap: I've been doing a technical skill as an employee (coding). I could just quit my job and do that skill myself! Problem is once you go out on your own, you have to become the CEO, manager, and coder of your little enterprise.
In short, you have to learn business skills. Specifically, marketing, positioning, negotiation, people skills, etc. The more you know about these the easier freelancing is. Coding chops are absolutely necessary, but not sufficient.
The reason sites like Upwork are saturated and pay low rates is because everyone on there is basically acting like an employee and Upwork is serving as a stand in for the boss. People on Upwork are "PHP developers" and "Wordpress developers" and "Javascript developers". These get commodity prices because in many ways they _are_ commodities. Valuable commodities yes. In demand commodities yes. But commodities nonetheless.
Don't compete on Upwork, build your own pipeline. This will require selecting a target market, going out and actually speaking to them, and finding out what their business problems are. Nobody needs a "Wordpress site". But lots of people need a site to sell their product, market their service, etc.
I'm relatively convinced that any person who can combine competence in programming with competence in sales can do anything they want.
One of my favorite really accessible introductions to this idea of selling something that isn't a commodity is Sean D'Souza's The Brain Audit. Read it in one sitting and then change all the copy on your website to be targeted to solving the client's problems instead of what technologies you know.
Happy to chat with more about this - my email's in my profile. Cheers!
- I didn't listen to this, but I have read The Brain Audit and it was actually a decent book. Some of it was pretty obvious, but some was quite enlightening. Of course, I say that as someone who read it while not having anything to sell and therefore didn't try it out, but it lines up with other stfd I've read elsewhere.
- If you want to ask companies about problems they're facing you'll need to learn sales. I've been a freelancer for 12 years and these books changed my life...
* How to Become a Rainmaker: The Rules for Getting and Keeping Customers and Clients by Jeffrey J. Fox
* The Dollarization Discipline: How Smart Companies Create Customer Value...and Profit from It by Jeffrey J. Fox
* The Brain Audit: Why Customers Buy (And Why They Don't) by Sean D'Souza
* The Ultimate Sales Letter: Attract New Customers. Boost your Sales by Dan S. Kennedy
* The Challenger Sale: Taking Control of the Customer Conversation by Mathew Dixon and Brent Adamson
Also watch a few Gary Vaynerchuck Keynotes and you'll get ideas on how to add value first, specifically read this blog post https://www.garyvaynerchuk.com/working-for-free-the-debate/
- The Brain Audit by Sean D'Souza
- 1. Brain Audit - Sean D'Souza
2. Advertising Secrets of the Written Word - Joe Sugarman
