How to Build Your Authority Online and Grow Your Business Profitably – In Just 7 Minutes with Ash Roy

Resources/Links:

• How To Build An Empathy Map: https://productiveinsights.com/117/
• Check out Ash’s Nine-Step Business Code Mind Map: https://productiveinsights.com/subscribe/

Summary

Do you have a great product but you don’t get the number of sales you want? Do you believe your product deserves more than what the current number of sales are?

Ash Roy hosts the Productive Insights Podcast, and he features some of the world’s absolutely top-shelf leading online entrepreneurs including Seth Godin, Amy Porterfield, Ryan Deiss, just to name a few. Also, he helps business owners to build their authority online and to do so profitably.

In this episode, Ash shares how important it is to empathize and connect with your customers in order to get the lead sales that you want. He also adds the importance of recognizing your mistakes when it comes to marketing your product.

Check out these episode highlights:

• 1:11 – Ash’s ideal client: “An ideal client is a small business owner who is looking to grow his or her business profitably using online strategies that actually work. And I help them do that by my membership program.”
• 1:34 – Problem Ash helps solve: “So, the key problem that people come to me with is that they are not getting enough leads, or they’re not able to grow their business profitably, or some version of that. But when I dig a little bit deeper, I often, not always but almost always, find that there isn’t a deep enough understanding of the customer. And there isn’t enough empathy for the customer, and that’s where I talk about the empathy map.”
• 2:54 – Typical symptoms that clients do before reaching out to Ash: “Right. So, often what they’re finding is they’re not able to resonate with their customers. They’re not able to get responses to their messages on social media, their email. Open rates aren’t great, their click-through rates aren’t great. The ability to resonate with customers they reach out to, say on LinkedIn, isn’t great. And often it comes back to not meeting the customer where the customer is on their journey.”
• 4:47 – Common mistakes that people make before they find Ash’s solution: “Often, they’re trying to implement automated solutions, marketing automation, which is important, but I think that needs to be done after there is a deep empathy for the customer. Because if you automate a broken approach, you’re just going to get a faster-broken approach. And if you’re going to hurt your customers or annoy them with your messaging that’s not targeted, you’re just going to hurt your brand at a faster rate”
• 5:43 – Ash’s Valuable Free Action (VFA): “The first step to me is to develop deep empathy for your audience. And then from there, try and be as generous as you can in terms of a solution. And I have talked at length about it on my episode 117, and there’s a little bit of a cheat sheet there as well on how to create your empathy map. You can find out more at productiveinsights.com/117.”
• 6:13 – Ash’s Valuable Free Resource (VFR): Check out Ash’s Nine-Step Business Code Mind Map: https://productiveinsights.com/subscribe/
• 7:21 – Q: How do you practice generosity better? A: Develop deep empathy for your customer and then become obsessed with the solution.

Tweetable Takeaways from this Episode:

“Develop deep empathy for your customer and then become obsessed with the solution.” -Ash Roy Click To Tweet

Transcript
(Note, this was transcribed using a transcription software and may not reflect the exact words used in the podcast)

Tom Poland 0:09
Hello everyone, and a very warm welcome to another edition of Marketing The Invisible. My name is Tom Poland, joined today by Ash Roy. Ash, a very warm welcome, sir. Good day, where are you hanging out?

Ash Roy 0:20
I’m hanging out in Sydney at the moment.

Tom Poland 0:21
Sydney, Australia, just a few hours south of where we are and Noosa on the beautiful Sunshine Coast. So, all locked down on COVID-19, which is okay for us online marketers in a way.

But for those who don’t know Ash, he hosts the Productive Insights Podcast, and he features some of the world’s absolute top shelf leading online entrepreneurs including Seth Godin, Amy Porterfield, Ryan Deiss, just to name a few. Also, he helps business owners to build their authority online and to do so profitably, very important words.

So, Ash, the subject today is, “How to Build Your Authority Online and Grow Your Business Profitably.” You’re going to show us, or tell us all how to do that in just seven minutes. Our time starts now, sir. Question number one is, who is your ideal client?

Ash Roy 1:11
An ideal client is a small business owner who is looking to grow his or her business profitably using online strategies that actually work. And I help them do that by my membership program.

Tom Poland 1:22
Fantastic. So, question number two, six, and a half minutes left tell us more about the problem you solve for them. A lot of people are going to come to you with a problem, and describe that, please. And then the next question I’ll introduce is about the symptoms of that problem.

Ash Roy 1:34
So, the key problem that people come to me with is that they are not getting enough leads, or they’re not able to grow their business profitably, or some version of that. But when I dig a little bit deeper, I often, not always but almost always, find that there isn’t a deep enough understanding of the customer. And there isn’t enough empathy for the customer, and that’s where I talk about the empathy map. Also, that’s something I talked about with Seth Godin on my episode with him. And just as a note, that hasn’t been published yet, that’s going to be published as Episode 200 which is five episodes away.

Tom Poland 2:15
Okay, so you can check out Seth Godin’s podcast for that?

Ash Roy 2:18>
The Productivity Insights Podcast.

Tom Poland 2:20
Your podcast Episode 200, Seth Godin as a guest. Thank you. So, tell us, question three, so what I’m hearing is that people are online but they’re not really getting cut through because they’re not demonstrating empathy with their prospects. So, they’re not getting responses and they’re doing all the stuff probably online and just wondering why the heck it isn’t working. So, other than not getting responses, question three is, and there are five minutes left, what are they experiencing that gives, you know, your prospects before they find your solution, that gives them the heads up that they need some of what you’ve got?

Ash Roy 2:54
Right. So, often what they’re finding is they’re not able to resonate with their customers. They’re not able to get responses to their messages on social media, their email. Open rates aren’t great, their click-through rates aren’t great. The ability to resonate with customers they reach out to, say on LinkedIn, isn’t great. And often it comes back to not meeting the customer where the customer is on their journey.

So an analogy is, when I spoke to Joe Pulizzi, the founder of Content Marketing Institute, on episode 75, we use the washing machine analogy, which is, if I’m manufacturing washing machines, and I say, General Electric, and I’m creating this content about how our washing machines are the best in the world made of surgical steel, etc, etc. Whereas, Tom Poland who wants to buy a washing machine doesn’t care that my washing machines are made of surgical steel. He just wants to know what’s the difference between a front loader and a top loader.

And because, let’s say I’m Whirlpool, and I empathize with Tom. I understand him deeply, I create content that talks about front loader versus top loader. I have this beautiful article which has got the slider and everything. And ask them all these questions, “How many people in your family? Do you use delicate washes?” Whatever. And it then recommends exactly what kind of washing machine he should buy, which is the question that needs to be solved leading to the purchase decision. Who’s he more likely to buy the washing machine from? Probably Whirlpool. So, this is where empathy comes in. And it’s that slightly nuanced, different angle that makes all the difference.

Tom Poland 4:31
Perfect. Thank you. Question four, and three minutes left. People are going to be noticing that they’re not getting a response, and they’re going to try to do stuff. So, what are some of the common mistakes that people make before they find your empathy-related solution?

Ash Roy 4:47
Often, they’re trying to implement automated solutions, marketing automation, which is important, but I think that needs to be done after there is a deep empathy for the customer. Because if you automate a broken approach, you’re just going to get a faster-broken approach. And if you’re going to hurt your customers or annoy them with your messaging that’s not targeted, you’re just going to hurt your brand at a faster rate.

So that’s how they come into contact with me often. And full disclosure, I am guilty of the same. I’m not perfect. I’ve made the same mistakes and I’m constantly learning. I don’t think you can empathize enough. You can go to keep learning about your customer and doing everything maps at least once a month, in my view. So that’s how they arrive at my membership program. Does that answer the question?

Tom Poland 5:33
More than. Thank you. Question five, two minutes left, one valuable free action that an audience member could take that’s going to not solve the whole problem, but just take them a step in the right direction.

Ash Roy 5:43
The first step to me is to develop deep empathy for your audience. And then from there, try and be as generous as you can in terms of a solution. And I have talked at length about it on my episode 117, and there’s a little bit of a cheat sheet there as well on how to create your empathy map. You can find out more at productiveinsights.com/117.

Tom Poland 6:04
Perfect, thank you. And one and a half minutes left, questions six, one valuable, I guess another valuable resource that we could direct people to that’s going to help them even more.

Ash Roy 6:13
My Nine-Step Business Code Mind Map which is also available on my website, it’s at productiveinsights.com/subscribe. And very briefly, it starts off by getting clear on your mission, then creating an empathy map for your customer. Then understanding the problem that the customer is trying to solve, ideally through a video conversation. Then understanding how your product or service solves the problem. Then making a few sales personally so that you can understand the trigger words and the key levers to make the sale. Then, and only then, building your automation, understanding your key metrics. And then building your authority using YouTube or podcasting or whatever. And then refine and repeat the first eight steps.

Tom Poland 6:54
Sounds terrific. Productiveinsights.com/subscribe, go get the mind map, and all of the contexts you have given, the empathy. It’s got that umbrella view of the vision and the mission, etc.

Ash Roy 7:06
And that kicks off a Nine-Step Email Course that gets clipped in over nine days to their email address.

Tom Poland 7:14
Even better. Thank you. 20 seconds left. What’s the question I didn’t ask you and should have? And the answer please in less than 15 seconds.

Ash Roy 7:21
How do you practice generosity better? And the answer is, develop deep empathy for your customer and then become obsessed with the solution.

Tom Poland 7:32
Brilliant. Ash Roy, thank you so much.

Ash Roy 7:34
You’re welcome.

Tom Poland: 07:36
Thanks for checking out our Marketing The Invisible podcast. If you like what we’re doing here please head over to iTunes to subscribe, rate us, and leave us a review. It’s very much appreciated. And if you want to generate five fresh leads in just five hours then check out www.fivehourchallenge.com.