SFR 208: List Management 101...

Boom, what's going on everyone?

 

Steve Larsen from Sales Funnel Radio and today I'm excited to teach you guys my list management strategy.

 

I spent the last four years learning from the most brilliant marketers today, and now I've left by nine-to-five to take the plunge and build my million-dollar business.

 

The real question is, how well I do it without VC funding or debt, completely from scratch? This podcast is here to give you the answer.

 

Join me and follow along as I learn, apply, and share marketing strategies to grow my online business, using only today's best Internet sales funnels.

 

My name is Steve Larsen and welcome to Sales Funnel Radio.

 

Hey guys, I'm excited to show you guys this.

 

This is probably a simple lesson, but I find more often than not there is a lot of people out there who don't really have a strategy for what I'm about to show you.

 

Which means for all the lists that are being built, (which are the true asset of the Internet), there’s no strategy - there’s no list management at all.

 

I remember the first funnel I ever built, it was a free plus shipping funnel, and it was selling this little CD.

 

For those of you guys listening on iTunes, just know I'm drawing this but you'll be fine just listening as well.

 

It was free plus shipping CD funnel and as soon as you bought the CD…

 

Let's say the CD was here on the very first page - there’s a list specifically of people who bought that CD. Now, that makes sense. there was a list just for the CD people.

 

Then there was a bump in there…

 

If this is the first time you've ever tuned into Sales Funnel Radio, just know we're talking about sales funnels obviously.

 

This is the way to sell things on the Internet, and this is one of the cool strategies to get a lot of low-end, low-ticket kind of things out the door through a free plus shipping funnel.

 

So anyways, there'd be this bump, like: “Hey, you want to add something else to your order?” So there'd be another list specifically for this bump.

 

...and it started getting messy quick. You're starting to see where I'm going with this, right?

The next upsell = there was another list.

 

There was another list for this one.

 

There was a list of people who just bought the down sell.

 

There was a list of people who made it all the way through the funnel and bought everything.

 

...I mean, it was like a list upon list upon list.

 

Lists had gotten together and had babies. There were camps of lists all over the place. It was ridiculous. I had so many lists. It got convoluted very very quickly.

 

So literally every funnel that I'd build…

 

If it was just a standard kind of low ticket funnel like this; I would easily have one, two, three, four, five, five or more lists per funnel. That's just for this value ladder step two.

 

So if there were all these other value ladder pieces, for example, if there was five on this one, five on that one, five on that one…  

 

That’s easily 15 lists for every single thing I was going and I was building...

 

And then I’d go build for other people!

 

I mean, it got so convoluted so fast. I would have to go in and re-remember where each person specifically. It was terrible guys.

 

And I know you're like “Oh, woe is you.” But like seriously, imagine how intense that gets very very quickly. It gets stressful.

 

Every time you want to send an email, you’re stuck selecting 100 lists: “This one but not that one, this one but not that one.” It takes a long time actually.

 

It took significant chunks of Russell's day every time he would do it.

 

One of the things Russell had me do when I first got there, (probably about five months in), is I had to condense and organize and sort all of the lists at ClickFunnels.

 

It's was a half a million people that were on that list at that time... just ClickFunnels' lists; now it's way more than that.  It was a huge, massive list, but it was spread out across, I think well over 50, 60, 70. Don't quote me on that, but it was a lot of lists.

 

So what I had to go do is come up with some kind of procedure some I could sift through to say,  “Okay, this is how we're going to handle all list management in the backend from here on.”

 

These funnels we built were so powerful, but there’s not really a nomenclature. If there’s not really a system for naming and organizing all the different lists that are inside someone's ClickFunnels account, value ladder, or inside of any business, it gets really convoluted.

 

I know this might sound kinda a trivial trial, but it's not though! I promise, go try this out, and you'll see how frustrating it gets when you want to send an email.

 

It's hard because your brain will be so consumed by the next thing you are building to have to go back and remember what you were doing in each one of these pieces. Man, that's why we have automation.

 

So there are a few more pieces of automation people can add inside of their funnels to just make the whole thing sing and make it really really simple.

 

That's the purpose of today's episode. I want to teach you guys, real quick, this list management strategy that I use still today.

 

I just barely went through and I started deleting a bunch of lists that are old. I realized I wasn't following my own strategy. I think I just deleted 40 email lists. I download all of them, combined them, and re-upload them to my Seinfeld list

 

If you don't know what I'm talking about here, guys, go get the book DotCom Secrets.

 

If you're on this podcast and you've been listening to this and you haven't read that Dot Com Secrets, you should probably follow a different podcast…

 

I say that jokingly, but not really ;-)

 

This is gonna help you tremendously in every single funnel. I'm trying to make this as simple as I possibly can. Let me just move this whiteboard a little more here… (I'm gonna draw a list here in red)

 

I'm never going to build a funnel and NOT collect an email or some kind of contact information. Whether it's some kind of Facebook opt-in or whatever, I'm always gonna be collecting a list. *ALWAYS*

 

There's no point for me to even make the funnel if I'm not going to somehow collect a list. It's NOT always page one, but somewhere I'm going to be collecting some kind of opt-in. There is a core list that I am always adding to.

 

...So if this is again my value ladder, I am always, always going to add people to what I call a Seinfeld list. That's what it is called. It’s called a Seinfeld list.

 

That Seinfeld list represents and is added to by every funnel in my value ladder.

 

So if I have this big old list right here, kind of like a bucket... that's how I kind of imagine a list... like hey here's a big bucket. That's my symbol, when I'm drawing funnels, for a list.

 

I have one Seinfeld list that represents the entirety of the value ladder.

 

If anybody opts in anywhere on any funnel, all rivers, all oceans lead to my Seinfeld list.

 

Every time I'm building a funnel or designing it;  Seinfeld. Seinfeld list, meaning Seinfeld series. If you don't know what that is, you gotta read DotCom Secrets.

 

Just to recap real fast:

 

The Seinfeld list is the general list of all your people. We call it that because when we email them, we are following the Seinfeld (as in the Seinfeld show) format of talking to people.

 

There's gonna be a really small micro-story which doesn't necessarily need to relate with the topic about the email, but it's just to capture attention and edutain.

 

And then I'm gonna go in and have some call to action.

 

The Seinfeld is the list I'm consistently hitting. It's the list where I'm gonna go and be like, “Oh man, I should go promo my next thing.” It's the Seinfeld list that I'm emailing, NOT all of my list.

 

For Sales Funnel Radio, we blast out a general, “Hey, here's the next episode… this is what it's about. We choose specifically my Seinfeld list and my Sales Funnel Radio list inside of my ClickFunnels account - just those two.

 

All rivers lead to Seinfeld anyway.

 

Every single funnel though, I'm running it off of just a few lists. It’s the same for every single funnel, I'm just telling you.

 

I stopped collecting unique lists for people who just opted in for OTO 2, or who wanted a downsell - that sucks quick. It gets terrible real fast.

 

So the first thing that I do, whatever they opt to…

 

Let's say there's an opt-in form with a big old button and someone opts-in and gives their email. The first thing I'm gonna go do is add them to a general opt-in list for the specific funnel.

 

...so each value ladder funnel has its own opt-in list…

 

After about five, six, seven, sometimes 10 days, however long it takes for this specific campaign to end, I automatically add them to my Seinfeld list.  

 

So let's say that there's an email soap opera series that's dropping out over five days. On day six, I would automatically tell ClickFunnels: Add that contact to my Seinfeld list, and on day seven remove them from my opt-in list.

 

I want to know exactly where people are inside of my funnel.

 

There are not many occurrences where I want someone to be on multiple lists at one time.  At the same time, they could be on:

 

An opt-in list. A Seinfeld list A buyers list

 

... that's it.

 

If they are on one list and they suddenly get on the list for the high-ticket thing, that's fine as long as they are actually experiencing the funnel still. I don't want them to be there 10 weeks later just sitting and chilling out in there.

 

That does not give me a good accurate description of where the flow is happening inside of my value ladder. Does that make sense?

Again, we're more techie on this episode, but just follow me on this. This is actually very simple once I just draw it out.

 

So I have the opt-in list, and after, let's say, day six, I'm going to have ClickFunnels automatically add that contact to a Seinfeld and then on day seven remove then from the first list. I don't want them on both.

 

Seinfeld or opt-in, NOT both at the same time.

 

If it's just a general opt-in with nothing to purchase, that's how I would do it.

 

If they opt-in in general, I'm still gonna add them to opt-ins. I'm NEVER not gonna just not collect the data. I'm gonna collect the data.

 

But let's say they purchase something here on the first page, I would add them to another list. Say it's a two-step order form, so they opt in, boom, I'm gonna add them to opt-ins, okay, but if they actually purchase I want to know who my specific buyers are.

 

I want to speak to my buyers in a very specific manner; so I'm gonna add these guys to their own list. I'm NOT going to create a specific buyer list for each individual product in my entire funnel -  like I was saying before, that sucks quick. It's terrible.

 

That's pretty much it, guys! I mean, I wish there was more to this episode. I mean that really is it.

So let's walk through a few scenarios here…

 

Let's say someone opts in and they get added to the opt-in list where they experience an email sequence or some kind of follow-up sequence - something, an Actionetics.

Maybe they're hitting all my Facebook ads for a while, and then once the lead kinda dies down and I realize they're not very warm anymore, they're kinda cooled off and they’re NOT really in a buying state anymore, I want to get them off the list. I don't want them on the opt-in list.

 

I don't want them to be a representation of people who are in the funnel. They're not on the funnel. I don't want them in the list…

 

I've done this in series before that’s been a 21-day series or 30-day series…

 

So on day 31, or whatever, I will automatically have ClickFunnels add that contact to my Seinfeld list, and on the next day, remove them from the list they came from.

 

That way, everyone else who's left in the list, they are still in the list, they are still in the funnel. They are still experiencing the funnel. I'm still trying to sell them. That helps me, it's really cool guys.

 

I can look at my ClickFunnels account and see:

There's a ton of people right here at the bottom on my value ladder = that's great. There's almost no one in the middle and tons of people at the top = Why are they not ascending from this space to the next space easily?

 

Does that make sense? It lets me see things more accurately.

 

I don't want lists all over the place. That's crappy, it’s literally a clog in my funnel. So that's one scenario... and every single value ladder step is that way.

 

All rivers continue to add to the Seinfeld list and remove from the original opt-in list of that value ladder step.

 

This is super easy, super key.

 

The buyer's list is the one list that they will NEVER get removed from. I want to speak specifically to my buyers sometimes.

 

When someone makes a purchase they are added to the buyer's list. If they buy the next OTO, they’re already on the buyer's list, I'm NOT adding them again. They’re already on the buyer's list.

 

For each value ladder step, there’s a specific buyer’s list so I know how many people are buying on each value ladder step. Then there’s one Seinfeld list for all of them Then there’s one opt-in list for each of them.

 

...And that's literally how I run it.

 

They can stay in a buyers list forever and hopefully, they’ll never opt out.

 

So there's an opt-in list on each value ladder step, but eventually, that opt-in list expires for that session, and that person gets added to Seinfeld list

 

It’s literally with those three lists that I manage all of my stuff.

 

As I'm building the funnel, I walk through several scenarios to see where the dead ends are. I don't want leads to get stuck somewhere and stay there forever. They should not hit a dead end.

 

The only place that it should end is in a Seinfeld list or buyers list. That's it. It's flowing somewhere.

 

Now I'm able to sit back and go like, “Holy crap, look at this! They're going from here to here, but then NOT from here to there. What's wrong with this series?”

 

If the email series is first meant to sell whatever's going on in the funnel, and then let's say I have more emails that are meant to ascend somebody to the next piece in the value ladder, and the next value ladder. I want to be able to figure where things get stuck.

 

 

So I'm gonna go one level deeper on this here real quick…

 

There's one other piece to it that makes the whole thing sing and it's something that can really help you guys as you start to move forward on this stuff.

 

Check this out:

 

So if I've got a value ladder...

 

Man that sucks, I need like those big thick markers. I got them for my whiteboard for the OfferMind event, but they’re hard to find. I haven't found anybody with dry-erase versions. You know what I mean?

 

Anyway, so if I've got a value ladder: each value ladder has a list for opt-ins, and a list for buyers.

 

That opt-in list will auto dump people out to the Seinfeld list. I don't want them to stay there long term.

 

Eventually, all rivers lead here to the big old Seinfeld list. Now I can accurately see how people are moving inside of my actual value ladder, but there is one other piece here that is actually super cool.

 

If you go to ClickFunnels.com and you’re NOT logged in, you’ll see a new quiz.

 

Clickfunnels has created 10 unique onboarding sequences based on the industry you’re coming from; which is very very clever.

 

SoI click on Network Marketing, I'm gonna get onboarded to ClickFunnels in that specific industry's language. Massive project. Absolutely huge! Not a small feat to pull off. Amazing that Russell did that.

 

Let's say somebody comes into a specific funnel, then I need to create a sequence inside of each funnel to sell them on what’s in this funnel. That's the purpose of that opt-in, to sell them what's inside the funnel.

 

When somebody opts into my application based funnels (I get two to three applications per day asking people to join some things that I do, which is really cool), well, when they go opt-in, I have a 10-day series continually pitching them to join my thing.

 

So now, I'm making a series for each value ladder step, but I'm also making a series in between each value ladder step.

 

One of the things that I'm gonna be doing in 2019 which I'm really pumped about. On the floor, you guys can’t see it, there’s yellow paper all over the place.

I’ve started to design and put together an onboarding series so that regardless of where you come into my funnel, you’ll find easy ways to consume my entire value ladder, NOT just that one step, Does that make sense?

 

I want one of those big long email series, let's say it's 30 days or whatever, and what it's doing is:

 

The first 3 emails are selling you on why you should come up to this area of my value ladder.

 

The next 3 emails are selling you on why you should come purchase in the middle of the value ladder.

 

Then 3 emails are selling you on why you should come up to the very top level of my value ladder.

 

... So there's a tie-in list between the steps which can be attached to the Seinfeld list.

 

I have the value ladder steps already built out, but the thing I'm stoked for 2019 is this piece:

When you get into my world, and I need you to go build an offer.

 

Q: What's the easiest way for you to do that? A: Go buy my book (which we're working on right now which I'm super stoked about).

 

Q: What should you do next? A: You should probably come to OfferMind in all reality.

 

Q: What should you do after next? A: We got this sweet thing called OfferLab where I actually help build your thing. I'll fly out to you, or you fly out to me, or and you can come to a three-day event with just a small group of people.

 

Q: What should you do next?  A: Oh, you know what, it looks like Steve Larsen's got a mastermind (which I'm gonna have soon).

 

...That's part of the value ladder I've been designing, but what's the sequence?

 

So, if someone was to start at the very beginning of the value ladder, this BIG sequence would actually pull them through and showcase every single area of the value ladder and all the things that are in it.

 

So that's how I manage my lists.

 

Again, a bit of a long episode and more technical, but hopefully it spurts some ideas on how you can organize your lists more.

 

It's NOT just for organization sake. It’s literally to see the effectiveness of how well you're upselling people NOT just in the funnel, but from value ladder step to value ladder step.

 

That's the way we do it, and honestly, I'm super stoked for that.

 

I've watched a lot of people go in and build one of these big sequences and I'll be doing the same soon.

 

I just went back and rehashed all the stuff that I've been doing in my own ClickFunnels account to make sure that it was set up with this process.

 

There was a lot that I had, just for speed's sake, forgot to set up like that.

 

So I exported about 40 lists, combined them all, uploaded that new list to my Seinfeld list, and then deleted the old separate lists.

 

I went through every single funnel and added automation to add to Seinfeld and remove from opt-in. Which I’m psyched about

 

So the next piece, sometime this year I'm gonna be building out an awesome onboarding sequence, which is not aggressive, but it's showcasing: “Boom! Once you get this, did you know I have this? Did you know I have this?”

 

A lot of people have no idea what I even sell, or they have no idea of all the products I do sell or the things I do offer. That's a problem! Don't have it in your business.

 

One of the ways you can solve that is by having one of these cool onboarding sequences as well.

 

So, anyways, guys, that's kind of the list management stuff that I do.

 

You literally can run your entire thing: One funnel with three lists.

 

More often than not when I log into someone's ClickFunnels account, they have no set up for how to run it. I have no idea where people are getting stuck in their business, and it's hard for us to actually maneuver.

 

I don't know who to send emails to and who to not to. I don't want to send an email to the entire list when they're still inside a funnel. I want them to focus on that purchase.

 

I don't wanna come around with, “Hey, I know you're about to scratch the buyer's itch with a $15,000 thing. Why don't you come buy my book for $7.95?” Like, NO!

 

There are specific people you should NOT be talking to who are inside of your sequences right now.

 

That's exactly why I wanted to do this episode. So you guys can see from a top-level, each part of the funnel, each part of the value ladder is super similar.

 

It's the way that I'm able to go and send them from piece to piece and only talk to specific people - that's very very key, super key.

 

Anyways guys, thanks so much for joining me.

 

If you guys like this, please like, subscribe and review it in iTunes - that actually means a lot to me.

 

Guys, we'll see you in the next episode, bye.

 

Woo-hoo!

 

Hey, there's more marketing resources than there are sands of the sea, am I right?

 

Okay, maybe not, but there's a lot...

 

How do you know if you're paying for good ones?

 

Recently, I went to my business bank statement and I counted 51 Internet tools and resources that I used to run my business every day and actually keep my team size small.

 

If you want to see the list, I actually filmed an individual video teaching you why I use each tool and the strategy behind it, and then I dropped a link straight to the source right below it.

 

If you want to see the list, then see what you can use yourself, go to bestmarketingresources.com. That's bestmarketingresources.com.