In the first part of this short series of articles, I talked about why you need to know what your competitors are saying in the market, so you can begin to understand your market’s level of awareness.
In the second part of this series, I shared the pyramid for prospect levels of awareness, and why you need to identify at what level you want to create your own message.
Today, I will conclude this series – a transcript taken from a live coaching call with our highest-level coaching clients – and tell you about the key differences between the top level of prospect awareness and the bottom level.
… When I present this idea of prospect awareness to our coaching students I present it as a pyramid.
On the bottom of the pyramid is the unaware prospect. That’s the biggest part of the market. When you go up a level, the area shrinks. And then you go up another level, and as you move up and up, the size of the marketplace – the number of people at that level – decreases, but it becomes easier to convert them.
As we go down levels – from 3 to 4 to 5, to the unaware – that is our biggest opportunity because it’s the biggest universe. There are more people.
But the reason it’s harder to convert at the bottom is because there is a lot more belief that we have to create in the minds of our prospects. And this is the thing that I want to share today.
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Who needs to be educated and who doesn’t?
The individual who is at the top or close to the top already has existing beliefs. On the other hand, when an individual is completely unaware, we have to lead them through the entire string of beliefs. There are things we have to say to them that we don’t have to say to the person who is at the problem level of awareness.
For example, the individual who is at the problem level of awareness, we don’t have to educate them to the fact that they have a problem. They know they have a problem. They’re already aware of the fact that they have a problem. The person who goes on Google and searches for flood repair, or something like that, already knows they have a problem.
Whereas, the person who is unaware that there is flooding going on behind the sheet-rock, we have to educate them. That’s one additional belief – in this simplistic example – that we have to establish with that individual. And still the higher up on the level of awareness, the fewer beliefs that we have to establish because they’ve already been established on the lower awareness level.
How direct do you need to be in your message?
The last thing that I really want you to start to see is that as you go higher on the levels of awareness, the more direct you can be in your ideas and talk for the funnel.
So, for instance, let’s say we have a prospect who is aware that they have had a flood and they’ve got damage and they need it repaired, and now they’re searching on Google for flood repair with a certain type of method.
For that person, we don’t have to start with an indirect big idea that is slanted toward being intellectually interesting and invoking curiosity. Instead, jump into their thought process at a place that’s appropriate for them. Let’s begin the dialogue there.
Whereas, for the unaware individual, we can’t start like that. We can’t jump in and have an ad that says, “What you need to know about flood repair”, or “The six reasons why we can get your home back to its original condition in 3 hours or less, guaranteed.”
You can’t start there with the completely unaware because they are unaware. We have to take the “scenic route”.
And that’s what brings me back to why the lower you are on the awareness scale the more difficult it is to convert: because we need to establish more beliefs in that type of prospect.
And we need to have an idea of a hook that takes the scenic route. We need to find something that is intellectually interesting, to create a level of engagement, so that eventually, we can lead them into the direct hook. Something such as, “Here are the five reasons why you want us.” But we can’t start there with the unaware.
Understanding prospect levels of awareness is the key to being able to create the right message at the right time. Get this right and you’ll have them lining up at your door!
It’s your turn! At which level of prospect awareness are you either already sending your message, or will you send your next message? Please share in the comments below!
