DYFConf Notes: Kurt Elster – Work Smarter, Not Harder
Specializes in Shopify ecommerce development.
Productized consulting: websiterescues.com
Had just accepted Feast or famine cycle as part of the business. Rollercoaster. Are we going to meet deadlines?
Feast or famine cycle happens because we get busy. You stop doing all the things you’re supposed to do. You stop doing it because it doesn’t feel necessary.
4 weeks spending time trying to get back to where you were at before.
TODAY: 91 new leads in 30 days (August-September is kind of a slow month).
It wasn’t luck.
Marketing Automation – complete lack of you. It’s tireless. Doesn’t need “meatbags”
Increased Relevance (happy clients, twice as likely to close leads, quality of leads improve) and saves you time. == More Money, Less Stress
Scummy sales people. “not the fault of the tools/process, fault of the people”
Marketing can be thought of instead as “Freelancer Life Hacks”
Social Media: the art of procrastination
- Buffer
- IFTTT. Having RSS feed from podcast and has it automatically crosspost it to linkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter
- Edgar. Allows you to upload your tweets, categorize it, then use this library to automatically post to social media for you
Why are we doing all this? Remember. MOAR Leads
How do we get them into our sales funnel once they look at our social content?
Pinned Tweet + Twitter Card = Call to action to your lead magnet
The big benefit for twitter cards is it replaces the typical name/email form signup into the simple click of a button.
https://blog.bufferapp.com/twitter-cards-guide
Lead Magnet is your educational content that teaches your expertise. Educational content.
Uses drip for the lead magnet. With drip everyone starts at the same part of the campaign. A smart approach to the sales funnel rather than blasting content regardless of where your potential leads are in the sale campaign.
After they’ve taken the course. Follow up weekly. FOREVER
You don’t have control where people are in the buying cycle. But you shouldn’t really have to. With the automation you’re asking them to reply when they’re ready rather than blasting your content and demanding they reply.
Ain’t Nobody Got Time for 50 emails
It just takes an afternoon to setup the framework
Create a library of existing content. Stuff you created, stuff people referenced you in
Leads that go through the sales funnel vs Cold leads
Cold lead == lead that did not go through the lead magnet. Just filled out a form to start an engagement ASAP.
Is the cold lead serious or are they a tire ticker?
- the cold leads need to be treated differently.
- the ding dong ditch lead. Those that just disappear. You have no control over that.
Leads that approach this way can be qualified with an automated email confirmation. Can be done with a WuFoo form.
- Can make it seem like a real email with a “Sent from my iPhone” footer
- Can you tell me more about yourself?
- If it seems like a good fit we can schedule a 30 minute call to discuss…
http://ethercycle.com/onboarding/
Applying these lessons to his own Wedding RSVPing
Created a “gift optimization” system for their wedding :)
Taming your gmail
- http://inboxpause.com/
- http://www.boomeranggmail.com/
- Canned responses to save email templates for quick responses
Further Reading/Listening:
- Resources for Double Your Freelance Conf Attendees
- How I Marketed My Agency so Well I Turn Clients Away Daily (and You Can too)
- Ask Kurt Anything
- Kurt Elster on How He 8x’d his Revenue by Niching
- Kai Davis’s DYFConf notes on Kurt’s talk
Site: http://kurtelster.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/kurtinc