It all started last Thursday. I was sitting at my computer texting a friend and suddenly I get an email pop into my inbox.
“You’ve Just Deposited $4500 To Freelancer.com”
Now, freelancer.com is a site I used to outsource jobs on occasion. But I only hire people to do small $30-50 jobs…not $4500 jobs.
It became apparent that someone had control of my freelancer.com account and was siphoning money out of my Paypal account. I frantically logged into Freelancer.com and saw the money was indeed deposited without my knowledge…
…then, all of a sudden, a fake job was posted in my freelancer.com account. The email popped through and, at this point, I was wondering what the heck was going on.
Then I realized what was happening: this crook was going to have somebody big on this fake job, award the job to the fake bidder, and siphon the money out of freelancer.com…
…where I’ll probably never see the money again!
To make a long story short, it was determined that someone from Nigeria and Atlanta, GA were simultaneously hacking into my network and taking control of my computers.
I have 6 devices connected to my network and they probably had all my passwords, everything.
However, all is good now. I paid a company recommended by Google to disconnect these rogue hackers and secure my network. I then bought an industrial-powered firewall to protect my network so it won’t happen again.
Then it got me thinking: I wasn’t planning on spending 4 figures that day when I woke up that morning. But since I was undergoing immense PAIN at the point of sale, my price objections were minimal.
So here are three tips I learned you can implement for your business.
1) Position Yourself As A Problem Solver
When the network guys sold me on removing the hackers, cleaning up my network, and securing all my devices, I couldn’t make ANY serious transactions on any of my devices including editing my websites or buy anything for fear these hackers could get access to my accounts and passwords.
Now that’s pain.
The quote they gave me for cleaning and securing my network and devices was high. But the pain of NOT taking action (not being able to do any serious business on any of my devices without wondering who else is peering into my network) was waaaaay higher.
So think of how you can position yourself as a problem solver in your business. And amplify the pain your prospect will go through if they don’t take action on your offer.
2) Always Have A Deadline
The network guys sold me an industrial firewall that would protect me from further intrusions. They told me I could easily get my own firewall, but they said my computer would remain open to hackers if I didn’t take action right away.
So there was urgency and a deadline in this offer. I couldn’t just wait and “think about it”…I had to take action now if I wanted to be protected.
After going through the hectic process of calling PayPal to reverse all payments and frantically changing all my passwords, I didn’t want to go through this again. So I didn’t have time to mull things over or “think about it”….I needed to decide right here.
Who knows how this intrusion took place. I’m supposed to get a report in a couple weeks with details how it happened and who did it. But it was a good lesson regarding the promise of removal of pain in marketing.
So how are you going to tell your prospect how your product or service is going to solve the pain that’s going to keep them up at night. If I wouldn’t have taken action, I would not have felt secure on my own home network.