How To Get Customers To Call You For Help

How to Get Customers to Call You for Help

Car Salesman: The Legend of Steve Mustang
Kevin Dewalt Founder, SoHelpful

V 1.0 Copyright 2014, All Rights Reserved
(With apologies to Ron Burgundy)
Why I wrote this ebook for you Today's successful entrepreneurs sell by being helpful Summary: How to get customers to call you for help Know your target persona - or you're wasting time Think like a customer - and make your prole Start ofine - and reach out to people you know Helpful content + helpful calls will supercharge your brand Make being helpful part of your lifestyle Appendix Could I ask a small favor?
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Why I wrote this ebook for you

Since launching SoHelpful Ive interviewed entrepreneurs - service providers, product entrepreneurs, and coaches about their experience using it. Some are converting a high percentage of calls to paying customers while others are having little success. The biggest reason for this disparity is clear: those who are getting value from SoHelpful have gured out how to get customers to call them for help. Thats the purpose of this ebook: to teach you how I and others are getting customers to call us for help.
Not a marketing person? No problem

You do not need a sales background - in fact, some of the most successful people on SoHelpful are introverts with a technical background. Your customers really dont care much about you, your background, or personality they care about solving problems. Help them and they will love you for life. Like all marketing - and like anything worthwhile in life - getting customers to call you takes work, but its worth it.
50% of the people who call me through SoHelpful become paying clients. Jake Peterson, Dirty Analytics, sohelpful.me/jake
Win the trust and admiration of your customers all of your dreams are possible - I promise you. Now lets get going and help you achieve them
How todays successful entrepreneurs are selling and growing

Seek opportunities to be helpful
While doing Customer Development for SoHelpful I spoke to hundreds of entrepreneurs: freelance web designers, small law ofces, startups with traction, struggling startups, service providers. Some were in mature industries and trying to maintain market share. Some were Y-Combinator startups growing very fast. Some were freelancers with more business than they could handle. And some were well struggling. I began to notice a difference between businesses who were succeeding and those who were not: their attitude towards helping potential customers. You may expect a Silicon-valley startup with traction and money focuses on nothing but making their product - but this is a myth. These high-tech, venture backed businesses are desperately ghting for customer attention and mindshare just like any other business. In fact, because it is so hard to sell with products alone the high-tech startups are among the most eager to help customers by hosting hackathons, webinars, speaking, or writing content - really, anything to win customer trust. Again and again I heard the same word: help. (I never heard Growth Hacking - or whatever the buzzword of the month happened to be - mentioned even once). Some quotes from businesses that were succeeding:
Our customers are developers - we hold ofce hours, hackathons, and give free training just to help them and meet more of them. Our customers are librarians. If we get one on the phone well help them with ANYTHING. If a librarian cant nd the on button for her computer well help her.
We help anyone in our industry - even our competitors
Want to know what your competition is prepared to do?

Check out the help docs for Customer.io - a company with a great product and money from some of the best investors on the planet including David Cohen (Founder/CEO, Techstars):
Thats right. The CEO of Customer.io wants every customer to personally email him for help - not help making millions of dollarsnot help raising money from famous investorsnot even help using his productBUT WRITING EMAIL COPY!!! Colin knows that few of his clients will take him up on this offer - but simply by offering to be helpful he wins. Dont you already like Colin? Trust Colin? I know I do. Welcome to the new relationship economy - and get ready to compete with people like Colin for customers. Todays successful businesses are NOT sitting back waiting to be asked for help. Instead they are AGGRESSIVELY pursing opportunities to convince customers that they can be helpful.
How being helpful changed my career

The pattern was clear enough for me to change my behavior. My situation was particularly tough - I was living in Beijing, China and had spent the previous 12 months moving and studying Chinese full time. My blog and social
media presence were mostly dormant. I wanted to start building products for entrepreneurs but I just wasnt meeting many of them. In an attempt to meet more entrepreneurs worldwide I started creating my own system - a system that ultimately became SoHelpful, the product - and began looking for ways to help any entrepreneur in the world via Skype or Google Hangout for 30 minutes. I quickly discovered that getting entrepreneurs to call me wasnt easy - and for the rst few months hardly anyone called. It turns out that people are busy, skeptical and generally uncomfortable asking as stranger for help. I had to convince them I was worth their time, so gradually I started changing how I made my offer, wrote blog posts, and how I interacted with entrepreneurs. As time went on I started getting more and more calls. My reputation started growing worldwide, my blog audience grew, and I started selling. In late 2012 I was toiling in obscurity in my home ofce in Beijing, China wondering how I was going to meet potential customers. Within a year I was being invited by top startup accelerators, conferences, and get emails every day from entrepreneurs worldwide. People Ive helped - or friends theyve told have become my paying customers. At this rate Ill be one of the worlds most respected startup advisers within 10 years. I am not the most experienced, not the best connected, and not the smartest. But Im determined to be the most helpful. Being helpful is now the cornerstone for how I market myself, products, and services - I call this strategy Helpful Marketing and Im going to spend the next 20 years teaching entrepreneurs how to do it.
Summary: How to get customers to call you

I would love to tell you that by simply signing up for SoHelpful youll magically become popular and dozens of people will want to call you for help but youre too smart to believe this. Fortunately it doesnt take a lot of work and your offer to help others will become just part of your marketing. The rewards are unbelievable - when a steady stream of people ask for your help it will change your life. You will sell more, enjoy work more, build better products, and have plenty of couches to sleep on worldwide.
Identify your target persona

SoHelpful - and any marketing - is a waste of time unless you have a guess of: 1. 2. 3. Who you want to help What problems they have Why you want to help them
Dont worry if you just have a guess - but start somewhere.
Make a professional prole

Add a nice picture, succinct description, and a couple of recommendations. During testing these few changes increase the number of calls between 50%-500%.
Start ofine
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If you have a popular blog or newsletter you may be able to start online and begin getting calls from your audience. This wasnt possible for me - instead, I reached out to people ofine. Take 30 minutes and make a list of everyone you know who might want your help and contact all of them via email. Identify places where your target personas congregate and the inuential people there - ask for their advice (phone or face-to-face best) on ways you can meet more people to help. Youll be surprised at how much people appreciate you when you do this genuinely and selessly.
Create helpful content - and make your offer to be helpful

Most entrepreneurs really struggle with blogging or content - but there is an easier way. Just identify a problem your target persona has and explain how to solve it. Write about basic issues - it doesnt need to be original, it doesnt need to be clever. What should you write about? The problems people bring you on their calls. Lots of others will have the same problem. Tell stories about people who have the problem and how you helped them. Then let your readers know that you are available to help them. People care only about themselves - not whether you got a D- in Mrs. Grumbleworts 10th grade English class. Write about solutions to problems and youll become popular among your target persona quickly. (I have good and bad examples in the Appendix)
Build relationships and make referrals

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Anytime you help someone, try to gure out what other help they need - and refer them to someone who can help them. This is easiest on SoHelpful because you dont have to bother with email intros. Everybody wins when you make introductions.
Take every opportunity to offer help

Offer to help every chance you get. Mean it. People wont forget you. Some examples: 1. Include your offer in your email signature and on your blog. Be focused Free Startup Help from Me, not Ofce Hours. 2. Include your SoHelpful prole link on your last slide whenever you present - tell the audience to take a picture of it. 3. At business-social events or conferences tell everyone you meet that you want to help them. Follow-up with an email later. 4. Connect with people you help on social media - publicly thank them for giving you the opportunity to help them. (Trust me, your competitors are not doing this.)
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Meet Steve Mustang, Car Salesman

Id like you to meet Steve Mustang. Steve lives in Akron, Ohio and sells cars.
(You like Steve already, dont you? Me neither) Were going to learn how to get customers to call you for help through Steves journey. I made a ctitious example to make it easier to read - but every tactic comes from real experiences by real entrepreneurs getting real customers to call them for help and give them real money. But rst lets talk more about Steve
Steve has a tough job

If Steve sells 15 cars/month he doesnt make enough money to live - but if he sells more than 30 cars/month his bonus is big enough for a house
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downpayment. As you can probably imagine, Steve doesnt think about much other than selling cars. Selling cars is a tough, tough business today - long gone are the days when Steve could charm you with smiles and Xmas cards. Cars are a commodity, and with lots of competitors and pricing data readily available online every customer walks onto Steves car lot ready to drive to the next dealership looking for a better deal. Steves ability to make a sale boils down to whether he can win a customers trust - and that means convincing customers he is more helpful than any other salesperson at helping them nd the right car.
Anything but a minivan!

Steve lives in a suburban neighborhood with his wife and 2 kids. He knows a lot of other families and specializes in helping them buy the right family vehicle that balances practicality, safety, and style. To put a ner point on it Steve tries to sell cars to other guys whose wives want a minivan to shuttle the kids around - guys who would rather been seen getting a manicure than driving a minivan. Steve knows exactly how to sell minivan-alternatives to these type of families - the SUV options, sedans, etc. that best t any family situation and budget and leave everyone happy.
Help more people -> sell more cars

Visit any bar-b-q, soccer game, or birthday party in Steves neighborhood and youre sure to nd Steve chatting it up with friends and neighbors about how
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many grocery bags t into a BMW X3 or the practicality of a Subaru. Got a car question? Steve will be more than happy to help you out. Steves strategy is pretty simple: meet more families who need a bigger vehicle so he can help them gure out what vehicle is best for them so he can earn their trust by being helpful so he can be the 1st person they - or someone they know - call when theyre ready to buy a new car.
Steve needs an edge - so he joins SoHelpful

Unfortunately there are only so many neighborhood events and even Steves best friends get sick of hearing him talk about cars. Steve needs a way to meet and help more families who need advice about which car to buy - and he cant really drive around Ohio inviting himself to more bar-b-qs. Steve joins SoHelpful so he can try to help more families via Skype or Google Hangout - at a time convenient for him.
Takeaway: knowing your target persona is key

Imagine being at a party with Steve - suddenly neighbors Rick & Judy drive up in a 4-door sedan with an toddler in the back and another about to be born any day. Obviously theyre going to need a bigger family vehicle soon.
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(You can practically see Steve drooling, cant you?) This family is prospective customer for Steve. We can use them as an example of Steves target persona for SoHelpful.
The Rick & Judy target persona for Steve Mustang

Rick & Judy are 29-year-old couple with a small child and another on the way. They both struggle tting everything into their cars - car seats, diaper bags, groceries, DVD players, & Starbucks coffee cups- and need a bigger car to grow with their family. Judy just wants more room but otherwise doesnt really care much about the car - so she suggests a minivan because she sees other moms driving them. Rick doesnt know a lot about cars either - but doesnt want to drive a minivan. Are SUVs an option? Are they safe? What about a bigger sedan? What is more economical in the long run? Which car is the most environmentally friendly? So many questions they dont have time to research. Rick & Judy have a problem - a problem Steve wants to help them solve. Just about everyone in America buys cars, but Steve specializes in helping a specic car buyer. Can Steve help a 55-year-old man buy a sports car to stave off mid-life crises? Absolutely. But selling 30 cars/month takes marketing & specialization, so Steve stays focused on families like Rick & Judy.
Step 1 is knowing YOUR target persona

We all have lots of experience we can share. I can help people learn how to program, build a team, raise money, and hit a golf ball. There are lots of people I
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could help - and do help - but when it comes to SoHelpful Im deliberately trying to help a certain type of person to grow my business. (that is, an entrepreneur like you) To get the most out of SoHelpful you need to be able to answer 3 questions: 1. 2. 3. Who am I trying to help? What problems am I helping them solve? Why am I helping them?
You probably just have a guess - thats ok

Steve Mustang is a ctitious character of someone selling products in a mature market - if youre a startup, freelancer, service provider, or even a small business you probably dont have such clarity. The real world is crazy and changes too fast. But youve got to start somewhere - so take a guess. Over time your target persona will become more clear.
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Steves SoHelpful prole - his only chance to make a 1st impression

Prole version 1
After Steve joined SoHelpful he needed to ll out his prole. He didnt put a lot of thought into it and just lled in the elds as follows:
Steves wife, Cindy, happened to walk by as he was completing his prole. Cindy: Whats that? Steve: Its my SoHelpful prole. You know how Im always helping our
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neighbors with questions about how to get a bigger family car. Cindy: (eyes roll) Yesweve talked about how you need to back off a bit on the helping at birthday parties - you know, the ones where we go to see the kids? Steve: Right, right! Well now Im going to help more than just our neighbors. Im going to help ANYONE over Skype or Google Hangout in the evenings after the kids to go sleep. Cindy: Umok. So what is this web site? Steve: This is where they come to schedule calls with me. Cindy: Who is they? Steve: You know - people who need help deciding whether to get an SUV, Outback, Sedan. In fact did I tell you about the 2014 Hybrid Cindy: Yes, yes! Ok, I get it. But why did you use that picture from the party last week and not the one you use for your company web site? Steve: Umm. Well it was on this computer. I guess I should probably pick something a bit more professional. Cindy: And why do you have all this stuff written about college and where you worked? And, yeah, youre amazing a building a sales team - but I dont think anyone is going to take the time to read this stuff or care. Steve: Uhyeah, I guess you have a point. I didnt really think much about who I wanted to help and how I could help them. What do you think I should do? Cindy: Well who do you try and help at our social outings. Steve: Growing families who need a bigger car - especially guys who dont
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want to drive a minivan. Cindy: And how do you help them? Steve: Easy! I ask a few questions and suggest minivan alternatives. (Picture light bulb above Steves head) Cindy: When youre done can I nally use the computer?
Takeaway: Write your prole for your target persona

Your customers only care about themselves - they dont care about you. Dont make the common mistake of thinking about yourself rst - of course you can help many people in many different ways. Instead focus! I went to Stanford. My guess is that you dont care - right now you only care that I tell you something useful so you can get customers to call you. Tell the world who want to help and how you can help them.
Prole version 2
Steve took Cindys advice and updated his prole. He knew the phrase growing family was key to attracting the right person.
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Prole version 3
Steves experience selling taught him a few valuable lessons. He knew that having a few testimonials would mean more calls, so he downloaded his recommendations from LinkedIn and added a few that customers had given him earlier.
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Almost there
Prole version 4
Steve found some nice pictures for these people after a quick search on Google and LinkedIn.
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Takeaway: Recommendations sell

Prospective customers who visit your prole will decide in seconds whether youre worth their time. Recommendations on SoHelpful are just like ones you would put on your own web site - you can edit them, x typos, re-order and add a new picture. When in doubt you can ask the person who wrote it - but 99.9% of the time they wont really care what you do with it. Our testing has shown that having pictures, recommendations, and a clear offering will boost you call rate by as much as 500%. 21
(This is easy to believe when you compare Steves rst prole with his last) Take the time to add a few nice recommendations to you prole. While LinkedIn recommendations tend to be dated, boring, or irrelevant, those from people you personally help are much more compelling. Youll nd yourself using them in other marketing materials.
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Steve starts ofine - with people he already knows

Although Steves dealership has a Facebook page, he decided to reach out to people he already knows - guring they would be more likely to respond.
Reaching out to existing contacts

First, he sent emails to 50 of his old clients. He used TextExpander to add some boilerplate to each one - to save time - and then also added a personal note. For example
Hey Doug, Getting ready for The Game in a few weeks? The last time you bought a car we trounced those Wolverines! Maybe you should stop by the lot just to bring us some good luck ;-) I know a lot of people have a tough time understanding their options when they need to upgrade to a bigger family vehicle. (Heck I can barely keep up with all of the changes in design, nancing, and tech myself.) They also dont have the time to stop by my ofce, so Im trying to make myself available to help people in the evenings on Skype, Google Hangout, or a phone call. If you know anyone who needs some free advice on buying a car please let them know that Im available and more than happy to help them out. Ive posted my availability at sohelpful.me/stevemustang. I can save them hours of time searching online or wandering around lots looking at cars. p.s. And, no, they dont need to get a minivan - there are lots of other alternatives for growing families! Steve Need a bigger family vehicle? Im available for free calls to help you understand your options.
Within a week, 3 people booked time with him for help.
Connecting to other professionals
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Over the years Steve built an informal relationship with others in the car business - salespeople who worked in different segments, insurance adjusters, and auto repair shops. On lunch breaks he called or stopped by their ofces to say hi. Steve knows that getting anyone to do anything requires answer a simple question: Whats in it for me? So he started asking each of them about the type of potential customers they were trying to meet, how the market was changing, etc. Once he realized what THEY wanted he asked for their help in referring people to him for calls. For instance, heres how his conversation with Al Goodhands, Insurance agent went:
Steve: Hey traitor, getting ready for The Game in 2 weeks? Al: You better believe it, buddy! This is our year. Steve: So hows business? Where are the new clients coming from these days? Al: chats with Steve for a few minutes Steve: Im trying something new myself. Its just getting hard as hell to sell to people who walk into the car lots. Most of the time theyve already decided what they want and are shopping around for the lowest deal - I hardly get a chance to say hi to them. So Ive started giving people free advice over Skype and Hangout in the evenings after the kids go down. I just started, but so far it is going well and Im building up a list of potential clients. You know now that I think of it I bet some of them havent updated their insurance policy in awhile. I bet I could ask them about it and send them your way if they want some advice. Al: Man, that would be great - going to be tight this year, Ill take any referrals I can get. So if I know someone who needs advice buying a car, should I tell them to email you? Or call your ofce? How do they schedule time with you for help?
Steve then shows Al his SoHelpful prole and gives him the URL. He later follows up with an email to Al.
Takeaway: Start ofine, youll get going much faster

If you have an online audience through a blog or newsletter then you may not
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need to market yourself ofine - but the rest of us have to hustle a bit. When I rst started using SoHelpful I tried to get calls from my blog, a link in my email signature, and through Tweets - it didnt work. Instead I contacted people I already knew, some of whom Id helped in the past. I went through my contacts, made a list, and started emailing people. Youll be shocked at how gracious and responsive people will be when you genuinely offer to help them and their friends. I also attended local meetups, conferences and made the offer to people I spoke to. I asked them what they were working and about the problems they were having - I then made the offer to help them and suggested they grab a slot. Since my target persona is entrepreneurs, I also contacted a number of accelerators, incubators, and education programs and offered to help their teams as well. These relationships resulted in dozens of calls.
Some tips for starting ofine

Your target persona is unique and your situation is unique. Obviously Im not going to meet a lot of entrepreneurs in Auto repair shops like Steve Mustang. (Well, maybe in Silicon Valley) Here are some steps that have worked for me and others: 1. 2. Email people you already know just like Steve did. A no-brainer. Identify people who are well-connected with your target persona. Take them out for lunch and ask for their advice on how you can be most
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3. 4. 5. 6.
helpful to the people they know. Contact educational programs for your target persona. Offer to help their students. Attend Meetup groups for your target personas. Better yet, start one. If you teach workshops, send your offer to help them when the workshop concludes. Justin Wilcox has been doing this very effectively. Whenever you speak, include your SoHelpful prole url on the last slide and make the offer. Leave it on the screen and tell the audience they can take a picture.
This exercise will predict your business potential

If youve read anything about Customer Development or Lean Startup - and if not please email me and Ill send you some free references - youve probably noticed this is almost the same process used in Customer Development problem/ solution interviews. Your ability to get people to call you for help is a good proxy for (1) whether youve identied a real problem, (2) whether youve identied the people who have the problem, (3) whether or not you know how to sell the solution, whether that is services or products, and (4) whether or not the market will buy from you. If youve identied a target persona and cant get anyone to call you, there is a very, very good chance that youre going to have a tough time making a business. This is perfectly normal - every successful entrepreneur tries different offerings before nding the right one for her. If this happens just revisit your target persona and problem assumptions.
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Steve goes online to broaden his reach

Over the next 6 months Steves strategy starts working. 1-2 times per week someone will schedule time with Steve on SoHelpful to get help deciding which car to buy. Some show up at his lot the next day to buy a car, some disappear, and some refer other customers to him. But after 6 months Steve realized there were diminishing returns to his strategy - he only has so many hours in the day and the good folks of Akron will only buy so many cars per month. Steve was hungry to do more.
Steve Mustang - blogger?

Steve decides to give blogging a shot to see if he can grow his business through content. He wanted to earn extra money driving sales leads to afliate networks and gured people would read his articles and schedule calls with him. He registered the domain name mustang-steve.com and started writing his rst article one Saturday morning - guring he would wrap up before the afternoon soccer game. A month later Steve had this - and a pile of articles and magazines that formed his research - to show for his efforts:
2014 SUV Review, by Steve Mustang
2014 is back to the future for anyone shopping for an SUV. With most of last years generous dealer incentives expiring, bargain hunters are more likely to nd 2012 prices and 2007 styles. Hybrid sales have been disappointing and the smaller, 5-passenger market ooded with competing products, manufacturers and pushing the larger SUVs to compete with mini-vans for the primary family vehicle. In this article well review the BMW X19, Ford Escalade, and Hundai IIIII. Pricey but lives up to the promise - the BMW X19
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Steve was staring a the screen with what he could best describe as writers block, wondering how in the world he would ever make blogging a habit. Fortunately Cindy noticed his despair Cindy: What are you doing? Are you almost done using the computer? Steve: Blogging Cindy: You!!?? Didnt you barely pass college English? You HATE writing. Why in the world are you putting yourself through this? Steve: Im trying to see if I can get more calls through SoHelpful by writing blog posts. Plus I signed up for a few afliate networks - if people read my articles and click on the links I can make some extra money. I dont see how people have the time to do this - I spent weeks doing research and barely have 1 paragraph written. Cindy: Who do you want to read it? Steve: Well, ideally the kind of people who ask me for help - you know, folks that have young kids and need more room. Cindy: So how do you help them? Steve: I really just ask why they need a bigger car and then a few questions about what is most important to them - style, image, economy, environmental impact, etc. Its all really basic stuff. Cindy: Ok. Lets suppose I want a bigger car but environmental impact is important to me. What would you tell me? Steve: Easy. Depending on your budget, number of kids, you can go with an Outback, Hybrid SUV (5 minutes later)
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Cindy: Why dont you write that. Steve: Write what? What I just said? But thats just me rambling, it isnt anything I researched - just a bunch of opinions. Cindy: Sweetheart, I hate to break the news to you but youre not going to be winning a Pulitzer. Just be yourself. Write like you talk, write for your friends, write about what you know. You like helping people - just write about the questions they ask you and how you help them
Steve nds his muse

Reluctantly - but with no better idea - Steve decides to give Cindys idea a shot. 4 hours later his rst post was done.
More room, less pollution - environmentally-friendly vehicles for growing families, by Steve Mustang Sedans are practical cars for families of 2 or 3, but once that 2nd child arrives it gets really tough to t everything inside. Unfortunately a lot of folks are hesitant about upgrading because they dont want to drive a vehicle with higher carbon emissions. This is actually a pretty common problem - and a lot of folks call me for advice about it. Heres what I tell them: You just cant beat the tried-and true Subaru Outback for the money. Usually I recommend them If youre willing to trade a few more bucks for style I suggest And nally if more room is most important I just touched on the basics in this article. Every family is different, so if you setup a time to have a call with me Ill be happy to help you think through the best option for you - its totally free, no obligations whatsoever.
Steve added his afliate links and links to his SoHelpful prole where he mentioned his offer to help people. Each Saturday morning for 4 months Steve wrote an article like this. Slowly he got faster at it, his audience started growing, he started making money from
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the afliate networks and he was even contacted by a few local papers about doing a syndicated column. Steve Mustang - the car salesman who barely passed English class. He never ran out of topics to write about - he just wrote about the questions people asked him on his SoHelpful calls. It turns out that lots of other people had the same questions - really, really basic questions from Steves perspective. Nobody really seemed to care that it wasnt professional writing, original, or edited. They just cared about nding the right car.
Takeaway: Content + SoHelpful ! supercharge your brand and sales

When you combine helpful content with your 1-1 calls through SoHelpful both get better - and your brand, reputation, and sales will grow as a result. You know a lot more about your business than your customers. They dont spend all day thinking about the industry, solutions and talking to people about it. Unfortunately this deep knowledge about an industry will probably make you a worse writer. There is even a term for this predicament - expert blindness. As you learn more about a topic you become worse at communicating about it. (The classic example is the lawyer with deep legal knowledge who cant answer a simple question in laymens terms.)
Want a popular blog? Write content that helps people solve
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problems.
What problems? The problems people ask when they call you for help. When I rst started writing about Lean Startup I wrote esoteric articles about skepticism and logic theory - all 5 people who read them really appreciated my ideas. My writing never took off until I started writing about what people asked me during my Startup Help calls. It turns out people had basic questions and problems - problems I had solved years ago and forgotten that I ever had them. 99% of your customers have the same, basic problems - write about them, how you help people, and how you are willing to help your readers as well. If youre just starting on SoHelpful and havent had any calls then write about problems your clients have had, problems youre solving with your product, etc.
Your readers dont care about you - only getting help with problems
Help your customers solve problems in your writing - it is all they care about. They care far, far less about How well you write You blog theme Whether your content is original The web is awash with generic, 3rd person, factual content. Dont add to the noise - writing this way takes too much time and nobody cares anyway.
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To get more calls on SoHelpful, make your offer in the content

So now you see how you calls through SoHelpful will give you an unending stream of topics to write about. But how do you write content that gets you more calls? The most effective approach for me has been to make my offer in the content itself. I have generic links on my blog to my SoHelpful prole. Ive tested a few options and Get FREE Startup Help from Me (or similar language) works best. This works ok, but my slots didnt start lling up until I started making the offer in the content itself. Most of my writing follows a pattern similar to what Steve used above: Lots of entrepreneurs ask me for advice about problem X For example, a few weeks ago I spoke to a team who had this situation Normally I tell them to solve it with solution Y And do YOU have problem X? If so please schedule some time with me - I really WANT to help you solve problem X and in just 30 minutes together I can help you come up with the solution for you. Trust me, this approach makes writing a whole lot easier, more fun - and it results in sales. (See the Appendix for examples)
How I boosted my newsletter subscription rate by 40%
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Ever visit a web site and see a phone number with an offer answer questions about the product? It turns out very, very few people call the number, but making the offer generates a lot of trust on behalf of the consumer. I use a similar tactic with my newsletter - but instead I incentivize them to sign up by adding my offer to help them for free. Most will never call me - but Im quite sure they like knowing it is available. When I added this language the conversion rate on my newsletter when up by 40%. I included the language in Appendix, feel free to steal it verbatim if you want.
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Steve Mustangs Helpful Lifestyle

As the years went on, being helpful became a part of Steves lifestyle. His SoHelpful prole has dozens of testimonials from people he helped and everyone who saw it was impressed with how many lives he impacted. He got a job working for a bigger dealership (for more money) and has a team of people working for him. He found himself constantly offering - it really just became a part of how he worked. Steves competitors respond to opportunities to help people - Steve seeks them.
Offering whenever he meets somebody

Before joining SoHelpful Steve would end most business-social conversations with nice meeting you or some similar general comment. Today if you watched Steve at a conference, meetup, or social event you would hear him nish every conversation with an offer to be helpful. Whenever possible he would try to be specic - and let the person know that he is serious about it. For instance, he met Joe Shambach at a local Meetup for people who brew their own beer at home: Really nice meeting you - and please, please dont hesitate to ask if I can ever help you with with anything. Let me know if you want more help thinking through car nancing - it will save you a ton of time and money if you know your options before going to the dealership to negotiate. Ill drop you an email. Steve would then follow-up with an email. Instead of a generic nice meeting you note he would again make his offer in email:
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Hey Joe, This is Steve Mustang, we met at the Beer brewers Meetup last week. I really enjoyed chatting with you, and as I mentioned feel free grab an open slot on my calendar at sohelpful.me/stevemustang (youll see some of the people I helped recently and may know some of them) - Ill be happy to help you out with anything (such the nancing questions we spoke about). I just checked my calendar and I have several open spots for next week. Steve Mustang
Steve knows Joe probably wont schedule a call but he always follows-up for a few reasons: 1. Steve wins simply by making a serious, genuine offer - everyone he meets knows someone who is a potential customer. His competitors - the guys who barely sell 15 cars a month - just tell people to come by the lot or give them a business card. Steve wants Joe to know that hes serious about being helpful and to make it as easy as possible for Joe to make time with him. 2. With dozens of glowing testimonials, Steves SoHelpful prole sells him better than anything he could say. Steve knows that Joe wont forget him if Joe clicks on sohelpful.me/stevemustang.
Getting people to come to him

Whenever Steve needs to reach a group of people he doesnt default to advertising like everyone else. Instead, he tries to get the people he wants to meet to come to him by being helpful. For instance, Steve needed to ll a mid-level sales position. Good salespeople are hard to nd and dealerships compete for up-and-coming talent. Steve had always advertised for sales people and found the process terribly slow and frustrating - sales skills are almost impossible to evaluate until you meet someone.
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So Steve decided to try something new - he offered a free webinar on Google Hangout: 30 cars in 30 days: How the Best Car Salespeople Crush it Month-afterMonth. A free webinar from Steven Mustang Steve spread the word on social media, his blog, and email. Soon he had more than 50 people sign up for it. His boss was initially concerned about this tactic - worried that Steve was just handing the competition the secrets. Steve assured him there are no secrets and explained his strategy for recruiting talent with the webinar. At the end of the webinar Steve offered to help anyone with questions and shared his SoHelpful prole URL. 4 people scheduled time with him and he ultimately hired one of them. It turns out only people who are really serious about getting better at selling will make the effort to schedule a call - a much better lter for talent than job advertisements (which attract dozens of unqualied candidates).
Giving and getting referrals

Remember Al Goodhands? Steves friend who works as an Insurance agent? Al also joined SoHelpful. Now whenever Steve nishes a call with someone he asks them if theyre getting the best deal possible on insurance. Almost everyone says no, so he refers them to Al:
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Takeaway -> Make being helpful part of your lifestyle
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Being in business means helping customers solve problems - never pass up an opportunity to tell them you want to help them. 1. Include your offer in your email signature and on your blog. Be focused Free Startup Help from Me, not Ofce Hours. 2. Include your SoHelpful prole link on your last slide whenever you present - tell the audience to take a picture of it. 3. At business-social events or conferences tell everyone you meet that you want to help them. Follow-up with an email later. 4. Connect with people you help on social media - publicly thank them for giving you the opportunity to help them. (Trust me, your competitors are not doing this.)
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Appendix
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How I increased my newsletter subscription rate by 40%

I added my offer to be helpful to my newsletter signup form and tested the results. Even with spelling mistakes (now xed) and a long, rambling narrative the response rate went up by 40%. Feel free to copy it verbatim, although youll probably have better luck of you borrow my concept, improve upon it, and make it yours.
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Scroll down to the bottom of any post on kevindewalt.com if you want to cutand-paste the text or take the css.
Example of a BAD blog post by me

News ash - people only care about themselves. Entrepreneurs only care about me inasmuch as Im solving their problems. This blog post took a long time to research and write - and is a really, bad example of what NOT to do. I
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hope all 5 people who read it enjoyed it. Why is it so bad? My motivation for writing it was to sound smart, to create original content - not to help an entrepreneur solve a problem. You can see the original here (just dont waste your time reading it): http:// kevindewalt.com/2011/09/13/why-lean-startups-are-hard-part-2/
This is the second of a two-part essay on why Lean Startups are so hard. In my last essay I explained Why Lean Startups are Hard:!because were biologically wired to believe crazy stuff without evidence. First we believe, then we rationalize. This is pretty bad news for a lean startup. It means our inspirationsthe startup ideas that hit us at 4 AM, the new ventures were ready to pour our heart and soul intoare most likely wrong.
Fighting Back Against Our Genes

Fortunately, we homo sapiens have spent a few hundred years creating a tool to help us combat our inclinations: The Scientific Method. And while far from perfect, it is the best tool we have for helping us overcome our biases.[1. Some studies suggest that!more than 50% of all published medical research is wrong. !Think about that for a second. The scientific community has a couple hundred years' head-start on us entrepreneurs, and yet the most talented among themwho follow this rigorous discovery processusually get it wrong. What, then, are the odds that our first startup idea is right?] Being a lean startup entrepreneur requires us to embrace the principles of the Scientific Method. [2. Check out the National Science Foundations I-Corps program. No institution in the world is better suited to advance these principles than NSF and use them to help build our products and our companies.]
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And while we DON'T need our college science textbooks to be an entrepreneur, we!DO need to apply reason and critical thinking to determine validity of our business model assumptions. We need to find support for our conclusions instead of constantly justifying preconceived ones. [3. This why the funding community needs to co-evolve with us. Expecting us to pitch an idea puts us in the intellectually dishonest position of attempting to justify our ideas on little evidence.] Fortunately, we can learn from another community that attempts to apply this type of critical thinking to various aspects of their lives: Skeptics. [5. A common misconception is to associate skepticism with cynicism," debunking," or negativism." It is simply the application of critical reasoning to reach conclusions.]
Rambleramblezzzzzz.
Example of a GOOD blog post by me

A good blog post? One that solves real problems, of course. During many of my Startup help calls it is clear to me that the entrepreneurs are frustrated because they dont really know what to focus on. Or they call me when their startup has failed and theyre in despair. So I wrote about my struggles with this problem and how I solved it. I enjoyed writing it - no research, I just told my own story! What resulted was one of the most popular items Ive written - it is clear I touched on a very deep, tough problem for people. You can read the original here: http://kevindewalt.com/2013/08/26/looking-
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for-a-startup-idea-rst-pick-your-market/ Youll notice it follows a pattern I recommend: 1. I mention that I learned about the problem while helping people (with links to my prole):
Many of my startup help calls are from people who are trying to trying to gure out what to do next after confronting a tough reality their startup idea isnt going to work. If you nd yourself in this position, congratulations as painful and frustrating as it is, every successful entrepreneur Ive ever met has been through exactly what youre experiencing.
2. I tell them the solution:

What Worked for Me: Getting Startup Ideas by First Picking The Market I Want to Serve Most recently Im trying a new tactic that is working much better for me. 1. First, pick the market I want to serve 2. Second, nd a problem to solve for these people
3. I offer to help them:

Need someone to talk to about whether youre in the right startup market for you? Just pick a slot on my startup help time and Ill be happy to chat.
The concept for this post was unoriginal and simple

Do something youre passionate about. Duh - thats about the most basic startup advice you can get. But thats all Im writing about, with the minor exception that Im directing it to market instead of tech. It doesnt matter whether it is original - only that it is helpful.
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Could I ask a small favor?

Please send me feedback & examples
Please also let me know if you have good strategies for promoting your prole - I can list you as an example in this book and Ill be sure to give you credit when I write my book, Helpful Marketing, in late 2014.
Thank-you to those who have already given me feedback

Till Carlos, http://tillcarlos.com/ Dave Haeffner, http://davehaeffner.com Justin Wilcox, http://customerdevlabs.com/ Paul Mederos, http://paulmederos.com/ Gale Stafford, http://galestafford.com/
Feel free to forward this ebook

Feel free to forward this ebook to any entrepreneur, freelancer, or small business owner - even if she doesnt use SoHelpful she may nd the strategy useful. If youve received this book from a friend you can try SoHelpful at http://try.sohelpful.me.
Image from Wikicommons: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:Pete_Snyder_Headshot.png
Creative Commons photos from http://www.ickr.com/photos/skewgee/ 4665171383/sizes/s/in/photolist-87fdVn/, http://www.ickr.com/photos/

2
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writergal/, http://www.ickr.com/photos/joebeone/, and http://www.ickr.com/ photos/67835627@N05/
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How To Get Customers To Call You For Help

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