94: How to make $150k from an ugly Google Doc
Are you holding back on making an offer because you don't have it up on your website or on a designed landing page?
Have you not been putting yourself out there because you don't have something to share with someone?
If so, this episode is for you.
We are in the middle of a little series all about simplicity in your business, and in this episode of ill communication, I’m sharing a super simple sales strategy with you.
This is how you can make $150k from an ugly Google Doc.
Topics We Cover in This Episode:
The cheap and cheerful way to test and validate your offer without designing a fancy landing page
A real-life example of how you can use this simple strategy to get your genius offer out there
Important things to remember if you are ready to use this super simple sales strategy
I hope you enjoyed this episode of our Simple is Better mini-series! Remember, if you're stumped about what to do next in your business, ask yourself what simple next step you can take and go from there.
Work with me to write your ugly Google Doc! Join the Joy of Copy Club, or inquire about a VIP Copy Intensive or 60-minute Strategy Session by emailing me at kim@kimkiel.com.
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[00:00:03] Welcome to ill communication, copywriting tips and sales strategies for small business. I'm your host, Kim Keel. I'm a copy coach, sales strategist, and direct response copywriter. It's my mission to help women leaders and change makers amplify their voices through copy. It's why I'm dishing out all the juicy tips, writing prompts, and sales formulas to help you generate more leads, book more calls, and get more high value clients on repeat. Sounds pretty good. It's time to ditch the overwhelm you might be feeling and find confidence in your copywriting so you can get your message out there and attract more soulmate clients. Let's get started. Hey. Hey there. Welcome to episode 94 of the Ill Communication Podcast, and we're in the midst of a little mini series on building more simplicity into your business, and especially into your copywriting. A few of the projects I've been working on lately have seen an increase in sales when we choose a simpler message, so I'm going to be talking about that a little bit over the next couple of episodes. And last week I shared with you a super simple copy formula. So go back and grab that after you're finished listening to this episode if you haven't heard it yet. But today I want to share a super simple, underrated sales strategy with you. It involves my client, Becky. You see, she recently shared the results of a sales page I wrote for her, and when she shared them with me, I was shocked. Now, don't get me wrong, I thought the copy was pretty darn good.
[00:01:46] I just didn't know it was that good. She worked with me a week or two earlier in a private co-writing session. I think she booked a half day or maybe a full day VIP copywriting intensive. She was relaunching her high ticket coaching mastermind and hated the current sales page. Not only was she changing some of the elements of her offer, she wanted to attract a more advanced client. She wanted someone who was a little further along on their business and not a complete newbie. And as she was talking about all the time, energy and money she would need to rewrite and design a sales page, she was obviously getting a little overwhelmed. And that's when I stopped her and I said, well, what about a cheap and cheerful Google doc? Now, if you're unfamiliar with this, it's kind of like a cross between a simple sales letter and a more sophisticated sales page. It's delivered in Google Docs, it's not overly designed, and it's mostly about the copy and the information. Selling via Google Docs is a great way to test or launch a new offer before you invest all the time, effort, and money into designing a fancy or gorgeous sales page. You can use a cheap and cheerful Google Doc to test and validate your offer. Now, Becky's used cheap and cheerful Google Docs in the past to sell some of her offers. I've used them myself, and I've seen other coaches successfully use Google Docs to sell a high ticket service, so I knew it was a valid option.
[00:03:15] Plus, when I considered the level of client she wanted to attract, I kind of figured it would be a great fit for her. Mastermind prospects are more sophisticated and have likely worked with her already. They don't need all the bells and whistles and copy on a fancy sales page. They just need to know what the offer is, along with some elegant persuasion. I think Becky and I worked together for about an hour max together co-creating copy, and then I finished it off on my own throughout the rest of our time. I delivered the copy to her in the Google doc. She made a few minor edits, threw in a couple of taylorswift gifs, and then started sharing it within the first 48 hours. She had a few yeses, meaning she made $50,000 in a couple of weeks. She sold all the seats and generated $150,000 from this ugly Google doc. Now here's why this selling approach worked. It was a proven offer, and she had an audience ready to buy. And I can't underscore enough that this is the biggest reason why her offer sold so well. People were waiting for her to put the offer out. They were red hot and ready to buy, and the sales document helped add more info, authority and persuasion for those who were more curious or sitting on the fence, or just needed that extra bit of information to say yes. We positioned the offer as an exclusive invitation where she was handpicking the women she wanted to join.
[00:04:54] And essentially she was. She sent the Google Doc sales page individually to people she thought would be a great fit. She did promote the offer, like the mastermind on social media, and those who were interested and qualified receive the letter. Now, in the letter, I wrote a section that reads I'm handpicking and vetting every woman who joins this mastermind to make sure they're the right fit. They can contribute a high level of expertise and value. They're coachable and growth minded, and they are genuinely good humans you want to hang out with. And if you're reading this letter, it's because I think you are one of those women. This section leverages the human emotion and desire of belonging. We want to be part of the group and part of an elite hand-picked group. It also creates a bit of scarcity because the group is handpicked and vetted. There are limited seats, so the scarcity is legit. A third thing I did was I filled in some gaps in her messaging. Now, for some reason, she wasn't highlighting her substantial business acumen and expertise, which would be important for the level of business owner she wanted to attract. Now, Becky used to have a very successful oil and gas consulting business. She would regularly get contracts for multiple five figures. It was $1 million business that she exited. She was also part of $1 million app in that field. She won business awards and she's grown a very successful and profitable coaching business in a very short amount of time.
[00:06:26] Now, this kind of street cred is needed, especially for this more advanced business owner she wanted to attract. And she was completely ignoring all of these levers. We also tapped into where her ideal client is now, what she's experiencing and struggling with. We highlighted what her dreams and goals are and we laid out the offer very clearly, so there was no guessing about what it was. I wrote this sales page using the Desire Obstacle Solution framework, where the intro paints a picture of what the reader really wants. Then the obstacle section highlighted how the business owner is stuck, and what's the risk of not getting out of that stuckness. And then we got into the solution. Now here's the shocker. The sales document ended up being 14 pages, which I know sounds long, but it was very clearly broken into distinct different sections. There were a few gifts, there were quotes and testimonials and a couple of charts. The point is, it had all the information someone would need to make a sound decision, and especially a sound decision at a five figure price point. It was clear and compelling. It was so compelling that Becky told me. One woman cried when she read it, just before whipping out her credit card to join. And in case you missed it at the top, I want to remind you this ugly Google Doc sales page, which you don't have to pay for conversions or anything like that, generated $150,000 in just a couple weeks.
[00:08:00] It's sold out. Her mastermind using a very simple, easy approach. On the surface it appears unsophisticated, but there was a lot of strategy in the copywriting and in choosing the Google Doc as the sales mechanism itself. Now, I've seen and I've written Google Doc sales pages that are more around the four page mark. Not all of them reach 14 pages. You'd want to pay attention to the level of investment, both time and money, and you would want to pay attention to the level of sophistication of your reader in deciding how long your Google Doc sales page should be. But the overall point and invitation of this episode to you is, are you holding back on making an offer because you don't have it up on your website or on a designed landing page? Have you not been putting yourself out there because you don't have something to share with someone? How could you use a cheap and cheerful Google Doc to test your offer, or to share your offer with your ideal buyers before you even have to worry about getting it up onto the internet? Could you use a cheap and cheerful Google Doc? I've personally used these Google Docs for some very unsexy non-automated proposals for selling smaller offers like my no BS copy audits, and for selling the Joy of Copy Club in its very early days. And speaking of the joy of Copy Club, if you want to see a copy of the six figure sales document I created for Becky, it's available inside the Copy Vault for Joy of Copy Club members only.
[00:09:42] Among all the other Google Doc sales pages I've written or seen in the wilds of the internet, of course, you can join the Joy of Copy Club anytime, and I can help you write your very own ugly Google Doc sales page. Who knows, maybe it'll help you bring in $150,000 in sales to. I don't know if it hit me up if you want to explore working together. Anyway, that's it for this episode in our Simple is Better mini series. Next week, I'm going to share how simplifying emails and messaging led to a 40% increase in sales for another client. And until then, if you're stumped about what to do next in your business, ask yourself what's a simple next step I can take? I'll catch you next week. And that's a wrap on today's episode of Ill Communication. Hey, if you're picking up what I'm putting down, I would love if you would leave a rating and a review to let me know. And don't forget to follow the show so you never miss out on the tips, prompts, and strategies I share in every episode. They're designed to make you an ill communicator too. As always, you can check out all the links and resources from this episode on the web page. Just head over to Khimky compered cast. I'll chat with you again next week.
Resources Mentioned
Follow Becky Keen on Instagram
Listen to Episode 93 for a Simple Sales Copy Formula
Additional Resources
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