“Are You Allergic To Black People?”

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Hi, my name is Igor Kheifets and this is the List Building Lifestyle, the only podcast
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Igor: Welcome back to another edition of List Building Lifestyle with your host,
Igor Kheifets. Some time back my wife and I were strolling down Time Square, it
was the first time we had been to New York and it’s the first time we had ever
been to Time Square and the energy was amazing. There were so many people around
us, it was really hard to focus. So whenever we were going any place, in this case
we were going to get some breakfast in what’s called a Stardust diner where the
waitresses are actually Broadway singers or inspiring Broadway actresses and they
sing as you eat live. We were really in a hurry because we were really, really
hungry and so if you’ve ever been to Time Square you know that there is a bunch of
people trying to hand you flyers to get you to come into different restaurants and
comedy shows. There was this one gentleman which he started yelling at us if you
will, “Hey you, hey you! Here go to the comedy show. Go to a comedy show.” He was
just like basically making claims. He was trying to get us in through giving us
his product and he was offering some bonus for free or whatever and you know
that’s how most of them do it. That’s how most of these guys and girls actually
trying to get you in and after literally 20 minutes of walking down the street,
you end up getting sort of like used to it and you stop paying attention. You
literally do not pay any attention to what they are saying. Now this one time when
we were going to the Stardust diner, it was different. It was really different
because when we were going there, as I was strolling down the street, I paid
attention to where all these guys were located and there was this one guy who was
standing right next to the crosswalk and we were passing him. When he saw us he
did something really different, he said, “Hey you, white guy. Are you allergic to
black people?” Now I almost stopped to say no but then I realized what just
happened. What happened is he engaged my brain with a different question, he
engaged my brain with a question so absurd like how can you be allergic to a race,
it’s just silly but what it did – it was so different and it engaged my brain to
point where I almost stopped. Now I will be honest if I did not know marketing and
I didn’t understand human psychology as a result of literally almost a decade in
the marketing space, I would probably stop and have an argument with him about
“how dare say something like that to me or no, I’m not allergic to black people,
what the hell are you talking about?” But I didn’t and I moved on. Later on I
discussed it with my wife and she said that she answered the question in her mind.

Now what does this tell us? This is really just a great marketing lesson for all
of us because first off the brain cannot ignore a question that is the concept I
first learned by observing Frank Kern and studying his Mass Control Program back
in the day. He was giving a presentation, The Mass Control Event, and he was
constantly using questions to reengage the audience. So that was when I first
learned that rather than trying to make more claims or rather than try to brand
myself and seem like the most professional person in the marketplace or whatever,
I could easily get my prospects attention even in the busiest environment using
questions and as a result I shifted my email strategy and I started incorporating
questions not just into my subject lines but also the emails themselves. So I
would often use a question in the subject line especially a question that I know
my prospect is wondering right now. A question that my prospect is thinking about
that is not being answered anybody else. For instance, last night I emailed my
list with the subject line, “How can I prevent failure in my first Solo Ad?”
because I know a lot of people are afraid to buy their first Solo Ad because they
are afraid to fail. So I just asked the question. Now this particular subject line
has performed at 25% higher open rate than other subject lines that preceded it
which tells you that questions are really powerful. Now that’s one way that I used
questions.

The other way that I use questions is by using questions within the body of the
email. So I would sell an idea and it’s concept that we discussed in one of the
previous episodes and why it’s important to do and then I would ask a question
that would get me to continue the email and take the email into the direction that
I wanted to take. For instance I could start an email by saying, “Did you know
that you could use questions in order engage your audience in a way that they
cannot resist you?” Then I could ask the question, I could say, “Why do questions
work so well?” Well because blah blah blah. I could literally build an email
around that simply because I engaged their brain with a question and people cannot
ignore questions. They are just wired in a way that if a question is being asked,
it has to be answered. Call it curiosity, call it anything you want but it does
work and therefore you have to use questions in your marketing especially if right
now you’re at a stage in your business where you really have nothing else to say.
If you’re really just starting out, you should definitely be using lots and lots
of questions because that is one of the best ways to get your prospects attention
in a really busy inbox. Because let’s face it, the inbox is pretty darn busy. In
the last couple of years, the general average open rates went way down and the
click rates went way down simply because the competition is so great everywhere.
Now we are not just fighting for their attention in their email but we are also
fighting for their attention on their Facebook feed or fighting for their
attention on Instagram and on all these other services, text messages, you name it
there are so many communication channels that you have to be good at marketing,
not at media. You have to be good at marketing and one of the best ways to get
people’s attention is to ask questions. Now it’s really important though to ask
really good questions instead of the kind of questions that I see on my Facebook
feed all of the time. Just the other day, I was browsing my feed and I saw this
classic, “Would you like to know how to make a $1000 before lunch?, Comment yes
and I will send you the details.” That kind of silly stuff will not work. That is
just ridiculous. That will never work unless of course you never do it and you
have a huge following on Facebook of highly engaged people then you can do it
once. Then you can do it one time and that’s pretty much the last time it’s going
to work. But if you are to truly master the art and science of asking questions,
you now have to learn to think like your prospect and you almost want to mirror
the same exact questions that your prospects might be thinking about as we speak.
In other words, rather than trying to come up with weird questions like “Are you
allergic to black people?” and kind of throw people kind of off their game which
again it’s a pattern interrupt and it’s awesome. But it only worked for that guy
particularly because he is black and I’m white. So I mean, he can’t use it with
another black guy. But when you’re marketing business opportunities what you want
to do is you want to ask question that mirror the prospects’ present or future
problems and state of affairs. In other words, if you know that your prospect
works a good job but he really kind of hates it and he doesn’t like his boss then
you could ask a question, “For how much longer do you think you can stand this
asshole?” You could ask something like. I mean you don’t have to use the word
‘asshole’ but the point is you ask a question that the prospect literally asks
themselves every single day, something that really bothers them, something that
they really can’t figure out for themselves, and by doing so by mirroring this
inner conflict or inner desire if you will and inner curiosity, you will then end
up getting their attention no matter how busy the inbox is as long as you hit the
right question. That’s why I said the quality of the prospects with this strategy
will depend directly on the quality of the questions you ask which is why it’s
always so critical for you to know exactly who your ideal target market is. I will
give you another example. I was speaking to a VIP client yesterday because it was
VIP call day. This gentleman, he is a younger gentleman, he’s 23 or 22. He went to
school, he got a degree, and then he went into the oil and gas business. He lives
on the island of Brunei which is a wealthy country. So he said that virtually
everybody in his state or his island, they work in this industry and they make
pretty good money about $50,000 a year which let’s face it not bad for most people
but at the same time, he decided to get into the business opportunities space and
become an entrepreneur. Then I went ahead and I assumed which I shouldn’t have
done of course. So I assumed you probably hate your boss then and he said, “Well,
no. I think my boss is a stand up guy. I really like my boss. It’s just want to
prove to my society, to my surroundings that you could have a great job and you
have a side business as well and you’re part-time and you can still do well for
yourself and not stress out, etc. and travel more and blah blah blah.” So what
happened is I failed to identify why this gentleman went into business. That’s a
lesson because now I know I could actually use this as a question in order to
target specifically guys like him that work a good job, like their boss but they
want to travel more and they want something different in life. They want something
bigger, something more meaningful, something more exciting. So I could now ask a
question, “Do you like your job but it’s not exciting enough for you?” This
question would lead into an email that could perhaps invite them to perhaps join a
business opportunity simply because that is probably a segment of the market on my
list because if there is one person like that there is other people like that for
sure.

So that’s sums up another edition of the List Building Lifestyle and remember ask
better question to get better prospects in a really busy marketplace. This is Igor
Kheifets, thank you so much for tuning in and until the next time we chat, have a
good one.

Thanks for listening to The List Building Lifestyle Show, make sure to subscribe on iTunes
or Google. Play to never miss an episode because who knows just one conversion tactic
we share on the show might double your list and double your business. Download the
transcript of today’s episode and all future episodes at listbuilderslifestyleshow.com and
don’t forget to claim your complimentary copy of “The Wealthy List Builder’s Survival
Guide” at listbuildinglifestyleshow.com/survival . This is Igor Kheifets until next time we talk, have a good one.

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