DotCom Secrets

by Russel Branson

  A few years later, my wife and I were trying to start a family. Like so many couples these days, we had some trouble getting pregnant. We went through a long process, but after a few months with a fertility doctor, we ended up getting pregnant with twins. I remember speaking at a seminar, and for some reason, I felt like I should tell that story. I was kind of nervous because I didn’t usually share intimate, personal stories. But for whatever reason, I did share that story with the audience and tied it back to my presentation. Then I went through my sales close as usual.

  When I looked to the back of the room, something weird happened. The athletes were still there, but now there were wives, mothers, and families buying my products, too. I thought, How interesting! I shared something about my family, and suddenly there’s a new segment of the audience attracted to that part of my persona. This new audience segment suddenly felt they could relate to me, so they had enough trust to purchase from me. That had never happened before.

  I remember another time when my company was launching a product called MicroContinuity. Before we released the product, we had done a few workshops teaching the system to people. One student, Joy Anderson, launched a very successful MicroContinuity program, which is still successful today. When it came time to launch the product, I decided I was tired of telling my story, so I decided to tell Joy’s story instead. So, we launched the product and sold over eight thousand units, grossing over a million dollars in sales in just two weeks. A few months later, we had a workshop for people who had bought the program. I remember being amazed as I looked out over the audience and saw a fifty/fifty split of men and women. Typically, my workshops are about 90% men, but this one was totally different. At the end, we surveyed the attendees to find out why they had come to the workshop. Almost without exception, all the women said, “I want to be Joy Anderson.”

  I kept seeing examples of this trend; the people who related to my stories were the ones who bought my products. So, a few years ago, I started teaching this concept of the Attractive Character. The students who implemented what I’m about to teach you here totally transformed their businesses. All of the major success stories from any of our coaching programs got results by building huge brands and platforms around an Attractive Character.

  This concept can mean the difference between making one thousand dollars a month and making one hundred thousand a month. How attractive are you? How interesting are you? Why would someone tune in to watch a TV special about your story? You might be thinking, But I’m not that interesting. I promise that I didn’t feel very interesting when I first started out either. But if you find ways to share your backstory, you can make it compelling, and people will follow you because of a personal connection.

  There are three components to creating an Attractive Character:

  • Elements

  • Identity

  • Storylines

  You need each of these components to round out a character people will like and follow. In the upcoming chapters, we will discuss how to introduce the facets of your Attractive Character to your audience, but for now, you need to focus on building out your own Attractive Character profile. We’re going to go through that process in detail right now.

  THE FOUR ELEMENTS OF THE ATTRACTIVE CHARACTER

  1. Backstory. Every good Attractive Character has to have a backstory. It’s essential if you want results. If you turned on the TV and saw Jared sitting there eating a sub, what would your reaction be? You’d probably think something like, Who’s that annoying skinny guy just sitting there eating subs all day? Without knowing his backstory of amazing weight loss, you would be unable to relate to him. He’d just be a dude eating subs.

  But if you see Jared’s backstory—pictures of him at 425 pounds and 190 pounds—and then see him eating subs, it’s a whole different story. You might think, I’m just like he was. If he can lose all that weight just by eating subs, maybe I can too. I want to be where he is. Do you see the difference in a potential customer’s reaction?

  You share your backstory because you want people to see where you came from. If they can relate to where you came from, then they will want to follow you to where you are now. If they don’t see the backstory, potential customers won’t follow you or listen to you. You’ll seem untouchable; you won’t seem real to them. However, if they see that you were once in a similar situation, then they instantly identify with you and will follow you. Your story has provided a hook. You can then lay out the path, and they will want to follow that path.

  The key is that the story has to relate to the product you’re selling somehow. If you’re selling a weight-loss product, you want to talk about a weight-loss backstory. If you’re selling investing advice, you want a financial backstory. Does that make sense?

  Now, if you don’t have a backstory that relates to your product, that’s okay. You can find someone else’s backstory and use that instead. This is what I did when I shared Joy Anderson’s story and suddenly became attractive to female buyers. Your students, your case studies, your successful clients—those are all resources for relatable backstories and Attractive Characters. The owner of Subway wasn’t the guy on TV eating subs all the time, right? It was Jared. He was the chain’s success story, so he became its Attractive Character. Your Attractive Character does not have to be you, but a backstory is essential.

  2. Attractive Characters Speak in Parables. Parables are little stories, easy to remember, that illustrate a relevant point. If you’ve been following me for a while, you know I tell lots of stories, or parables.

  For example, when I taught my Expert Secrets course, I needed a way to show people that they can make money with any of their talents or skills. So I shared the story, or parable, about the first product I created: a DVD about how to make potato guns. Now, there is a lot to that story that I won’t cover here in this book, but it illustrates the fact that you can create and make money selling your experience or expertise in almost anything.

  I have other parables that I use to teach the core principles that I want and need my customers to understand. Think about other teachers you’ve had in the past, those who had a great impact on your life. My guess is that if they had a lasting impact on you, it’s because they taught you by using amusing and memorable stories.

  A parable is a story about something that happened in your Attractive Character’s life. Most people let life pass them by, and they don’t stop to take note of the interesting things that happen to them. But you’re different. You have the ability to use the things that happen throughout your life to teach and inspire others—as well as sell products.

  Here is another example of a parable I use almost every time I sell something. My college wrestling coach’s name was Mark Schultz. I had just moved into the dorms and gone to my first practice where I had an awesome time meeting my teammates and the coaches. That night, there was a knock on my door. When I opened it, there stood Coach Schultz. He had brought me a videotape of his own wrestling footage. I thought that was pretty cool, but before he left, he asked me for my wallet. When I gave it to him, he opened it, took all of my money out, and handed me back an empty wallet. I was kind of confused, but too nervous to say anything. He then told me, “Russell, if I gave you that tape for free, you’d never watch it. But because you’ve paid for it now, you made an investment. Now I know you’re going to watch it and learn from it.” And he was right. Because I had made that investment, I did watch the tape over and over again, and I became a better wrestler because of it. That’s the day I learned the power of investment.

  Now, I share that parable almost anytime I’m going to ask somebody to make an investment with me. Because I know the potential customer wants success, but I know they can’t have it unless they make that investment. Do you see how sharing a parable, like the one about Coach Shultz, is MORE powerful than just telling someone he needs to make a personal investment?

  Look through your life, and I promise that you’ll start finding these little parables
that can help illustrate important points. You can also draw parables from the lives of others. Just know that when you stop teaching facts and start teaching through parables, your messages will stay with an audience longer.

  3. Attractive Characters Share Their Character Flaws. This next element is one that most people really struggle with sharing, but it’s one of the most important ones to share because it makes you relatable and real. You need to understand that every believable, three-dimensional Attractive Character has flaws. Think about your favorite characters in movies, books, or TV shows. Every character that you bond with emotionally has flaws, right? One of my favorite examples is Superman. He’s the Man of Steel. He’s invincible. Nobody can kill him. As a storyline, it’s not very exciting. But when you introduce Kryptonite and his concern for the welfare of his family, suddenly he has vulnerabilities and flaws—he becomes an interesting character that people care about.

  No one wants to hear about the perfect person—because you can’t relate. Yet most of us try to put on a perfect facade for our audiences, thereby alienating the real men and women we are trying to reach. Conversely, as soon as the audience knows you’re not perfect, that you have character flaws, then they will start to empathize with you. They’ll like you more because you are like them: not perfect.

  4. Attractive Characters Harness the Power of Polarity. Another challenge people face when communicating with an audience is trying not to offend anyone. So, instead of being a relatable person, speakers become bland and stay neutral on many topics, only sharing safe things everyone will love.

  Here’s the problem. While that sounds like the logical thing to do— appeasing everyone—the problem is that being neutral is boring. When an Attractive Character tries to win the votes of everyone, they end up reaching no one.

  Instead, Attractive Characters are typically very polarizing. They share their opinions on hard matters, and they stick to their guns—no matter how many people disagree with them. They draw a line in the sand. And when they take a stand for what they believe in, they split the audience into three camps: those who agree with them, those who are neutral, and those who will disagree with them. As you start to create that polarization, it will change your “fair weather fans” into diehard fans who will follow what you say, share your message, and buy from you over and over again.

  One of the best examples of this concept is Howard Stern. He’s very polarizing. People either love him or they hate him. Yet, as you can see from his following on Sirius radio and his role on America’s Got Talent, people are listening. Think about the podcasts you listen to. Think about the blogs and books you read. Do the Attractive Characters you have bonded with and follow have a polarizing effect on you? Are there people you still follow and listen to—even though you can’t stand them or their messages? It’s very interesting that we will spend as much time listening to, talking about, and sharing things from people that we despise as we do treasuring the wisdom from our favorite people. Yet, if any of those characters weren’t so polarizing, chances are you wouldn’t even know who they were.

  Being polarizing is kind of scary sometimes. It is scary knowing that once you start sharing your opinions, there will probably be a group of people who disagree with you and will voice their opinions online. If you search for me online, you’re going to find out there are people who love me and people who hate me. That’s just the way it is. If you’re neutral, no one will hate you, but no one will know who you are either. As soon as you start taking sides on important issues, you’ll develop haters, but you’ll also develop a group of raving fans. Those raving fans are the people who will buy your products and services.

  If nobody’s talking about you, then nobody knows who you are. It’s time to step out of that neutral space and start sharing your opinions. Bring the things you care about into the open.

  IDENTITY OF AN ATTRACTIVE CHARACTER

  Your Attractive Character will typically take on one of the following types of identities. You get to pick which one you want to be, and once we go over the choices, the right one will probably jump out at you. When you get your identity together, it’s going to shape how you communicate and interact with your audience.

  The Leader: The identity of the leader is usually assumed by people whose goal is to lead their audiences from one place to another. Most leaders have a similar backstory to that of their audiences and, therefore, know the hurdles and pitfalls the audience members will likely face on the journey to get ultimate results. Usually the desired result has already been achieved by the leader, and his audience has come looking for help along that same path. I am sure that there are leaders you follow in different aspects of your life, and this may be the role that will be the most comfortable for you when communicating with your audience.

  The Adventurer or Crusader: The adventurer is usually someone who is very curious, but he doesn’t always have all of the answers. So he sets out on a journey to discover the ultimate truth. He brings back treasures from his journey and shares them with his audience. This identity is very similar to the leader, but instead of leading his audience on a journey to find the result, he is more likely to bring back the answers to give them.

  The Reporter or Evangelist: This identity is often one that people use when they have not yet blazed a trail to share with an audience, but have a desire to. So they put on the hat of the reporter or evangelist and go out to discover the truth. Typically, people who use this identity interview dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of people and share those interviews, and all they’ve learned along the way, with their audience.

  This is the identity I used when I got started. I didn’t know a lot about marketing online myself, so I started interviewing people. I became a reporter, just like Larry King or Oprah. Because I started interviewing all these cool people and sharing their stories and lessons, I started building an audience of my own. People kept seeing me with these other high-profile people, and over time, I became associated with them. My status went up because I was constantly in the company of high-status people. The knowledge and credibility I gained from being a reporter naturally evolved into my coaching career. Becoming a reporter is a great way to start a business in a niche you don’t know much about.

  The Reluctant Hero: This is my personal identity now, and typically the one that I try to share with my audiences. This is the humble hero who doesn’t really want the spotlight or any fuss made over his discoveries. But he knows the information or the secrets he has are so important that he must overcome his shyness and share them with the world. There’s a moral duty that compels him to share all he knows. Many of you may feel this way naturally. The spotlight is uncomfortable, but you know you need to be there. If that’s you, the reluctant hero is the perfect identity for you. Play the part.

  Leader, adventurer, reporter, or reluctant hero: You probably identify strongly with one of these four archetypes. Determine which type is a good fit and build out your Attractive Character using the traits for that identity. If you’re an adventurer, tell stories of adventure. If you’re a leader, tell stories about where you’ve been and where you are going. If you’ve chosen the right identity for you, it should be fairly easy to take on that role. If you’re struggling to create your AC, perhaps you should take another look at your identity.

  ATTRACTIVE CHARACTER STORYLINES

  Stories are a great way to communicate with your audience. And there are six basic storylines that businesses use over and over again in emails, sales letters, landing pages, and other communications. We use them because they work. Each one is crafted for a specific purpose. Once you learn how to utilize these storylines, you will see for yourself how powerful they are and want to use them over and over in different ways. Let’s go over the basic plot structure of each one.

  Loss and Redemption: “I had everything. I was on top of the world. Life was great. Then ___________ happened. I had to figure my way out of ________________. But it turned out to be a blessing in disguise beca
use I went through __________, and I learned/received ___________. Now I ___________.”

  Loss and redemption stories are very powerful because they show the upside of going through hardship or meeting challenges. If you have your own loss and redemption story, great! If not, you can always borrow one from one of your followers or even from the mainstream media or a movie you like.

  Us vs. Them: You want to use us vs. them stories to polarize your audience. Remember the power of polarity? Using these types of stories will draw your raving fans even closer and give them a rallying cry against the outsiders. I often call out the “talkers vs. the do-ers” on my list. I want people to make a choice about who they are, because if they’re with me, then they will be do-ers, continuing to ascend with me.

  Before and After: “First I was ______________. Now I’m ___________.”

  These are stories of transformation, and they work great in any market. For example, in the weight-loss market, you might say, “First I was fat. Then I tried Program X. Now I’m skinny.” Or, try this with the dating market: “First I was lonely and unattractive. Then I got Program Y. Now, I’ve got chicks all over me.” Here is a transformation for the making-money market: “First I was dirt poor, living in a box under a bridge. Then I tried Product Z. Now, I have a mansion in Beverly Hills.”