More On Building Your Business Through Social Proof

Not long ago we talked about how powerful the concept of "social proof" can be to turn lookers into buyers.

As a review, social proof is the concept that we tend to be guided by what we perceive that everyone else is doing. So marketers who can demonstrate that others are also buying their products can tap into this innate behavior to spike their sales.

In that last post, I also gave you a link to obtain a recording of a conference call that my friend and mentor Jeff Walker did on the subject of social proof and how to utilize it to build your sales and profits. Since then, Jeff has also added a transcript of that 2.5 hour teleseminar that makes it easier for those of us who prefer to learn through reading to tap into his information. You can get your copy here.

As I told you last issue, Jeff's a master at using innate human behaviors to effectively market products. This week he's done something else that I think is brilliant...

He's created a contest giving away 3 copies of his product as the reward. Here's what he says:

"Now this isn't a random contest - to qualify for the contest, you need to post a comment to my blog and tell me WHY you need the course and WHAT you are going to use it for. If you look at the bottom right of this blog entry, there is a link that says "comments". Click on that link and type in your entry."

Now what do you think happened - did he get any entries?

At the moment, there are almost 300 entries on the blog.

You'll need to click on the comments link at the bottom of the "Contest" post to see the comments. BTW - you may want to enter yourself - but do it soon as the award's being made tonight.

Now, let's look at how this contest has influenced the behavior of his audience:

1. These entries provide another layer of social proof - people see that there are 266 other people who are interested (in some cases rabidly so) in picking up his product.

2. He's utilizing another behavioral tool called consistency and commitment- which states that people tend to behave in a way that is consistent with their past actions. So, by forcing them to think about why they really want his product, then asking them to couch that request in the most compelling way possible, Jeff has sowed the seed of a purchase in their minds. Now their minds will compel them into a higher interest level in the product, perhaps strongly enough to actually pull a card out of their wallet and pick up their own copy.

But wait, there's more. You haven't even seen the way he will be using scarcity tomorrow at noon to generate initial sales.

Jeff is providing us a free insight into some of the techniques that he and other masters use to build sales for products. I strongly encourage each of you, even if you're not interested in buying his actual product, to visit Jeff's site and sign up to get a copy of the transcript and audio files. This way you'll have a chance to watch how Jeff works his magic, creating a model that you can use to build your own business!

You can sign up here.

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Tags: social proof consistency commitment