This old man climbed Mt. Washington on Wednesday in only 3 1/2 hours (thank you very much!)… and when I got to the top I experienced what was probably THE best example of leveraging the Golden Glove for conversion I’ve ever come across. In fact the use
of it was SOOOO strong, I forgave this particular business a host of egregiously insulting
errors and purchased anyway!
For those of you who haven’t been following for the past few years, the Golden Glove consists of calling out the Desperate Problem, making a truly Unique Promise, providing Overwhelming Proof of your ability to deliver that promise, presenting an Irresistible Offer, and finally a Reason to Act Now…
And in EVERY transaction where money has changed hands (and even those where it doesn’t), if you look closely enough, there is some way at least one, if not all five of these elements are at play. The more competitive the market, the better the use of them has to be, and the more they need to integrate with one another.
OK, so let’s get to it.
MY DESPERATE PROBLEM: I just busted my ass to hike up the tallest mountain in the North East in 3 1/2 hours, was standing literally drenched in sweat at the awe-inspiring “top of the world” without an ounce of energy left to hike down. This is a fricking BIG mountain, and the gorgeous waterfalls, outstanding 80 mile vistas, and amazingly fresh air in the Arctic tundra environment pulls a LOT of hikers gleefully along to the top without giving much thought to the idea that they’re going to have to go back the other way!
THE UNIQUE PROMISE: There is a train that goes down to the trail head where my car was parked…
The Mt. Washington Cog Railway is the ONLY way to get down without walking
(The picture doesn’t do the steep grade any justice… it’s as much as 37% in places)
It’ll take you right to the parking lot with a tour guide to entertain along the way.
The alternative? Ugh!
OVERWHELMING PROOF: Trains packed with 150 people or so can be SEEN going up and down the mountain as you’re hiking, and obviously the people arrive alive, intact, and smiling. (It’s worth remembering that a REAL DEMONSTRATION of EFFECTIVENESS is almost always the best kind of proof you can present to the market) There were also sweaty, coal-faced engineers and brake-men running the trains once you got to the top and you felt like you were in an old 1800s movie where everyone respected the guy who shouted “all aboard”… but these didn’t matter that much until you needed a reason for scarcity (see below)…
IRRESISTIBLE OFFER: For just $45 you can buy a ride down. Heck, I’d bet some of the other sweaty old men up there would have forked over $100 without blinking an eye. (This is a vacation spot where out of shape old bald guys with money often try to prove themselves young for one week a year… hopefully I’m NOT one of them yet!)
REASON TO ACT NOW: Here’s the kicker: Every last train was completely full AND they always had to leave the station exactly on time. (I’m not sure I understand exactly why the latter was the case, but it seems very believable when a coal-covered engineer tells it to you with a straight face… almost as if the trains would start crashing into each other if they got even one minute off schedule)
So if you wanted a ticket down you had to (literally!) run from train loading dock to train loading dock and get on the END of the line hoping against hope that there might be room for you. You see, as a hiker you were a second-class-citizen and the people who were willing to buy a ROUND TRIP ticket from the bottom and back were better customers. (This is actually a very powerful marketing tactic which I do NOT endorse or use, but worth knowing so you can recognize when it’s being used ON you) As a second class citizen you couldn’t buy a ticket unless and until the engineer gave you his blessing.
To make things even worse, you often couldn’t find the engineer. Sometimes he was in the post office building on top. Other times he was coordinating things on one train or another.
Oh… and they didn’t take credit cards either. You had to pay in cash. Of course they had a handy-dandy ATM in the building if you found yourself with enough time to get to it while you were running from platform to platform.
Long story short, I finally was “blessed” with the ability to give the engineer $45 cash and get a ride down in a soot filled train…
I think I would have given him $100…
Or my sister.
When I got down and got my wits about me, although I was happy to have not had to have found the energy to hike down and rattled my knees (this trail takes about 6 hours to hike one way at a more reasonable pace)…
I realized this was the MOST desperate I’ve felt to spend money in years, so I had to analyze it using the Golden Glove, hence this post!
There are TWO things I’d like you to do at this juncture having read this…
- First and foremost, I’d like you to go through each step above and consider whether YOU could adapt or strengthen that particular Golden Glove element in your marketing by emulating or borrowing from the story. More importantly…
- Consider joining us in the MakeThemBuy.com conversion club for just $9.95/mo. so you can go through a detailed only conversion example with me on a regular basis.. There are all sorts of reasons why it’s best for everyone (including me) that it’s so cheap. You can read them on the site… but whatever you do, get on in please before the opportunity goes away forever
That’s it…
Onwards,
Dr. G 🙂