If your premium offers aren't converting like they used to, it's not your program, it's your messaging. Start here.

In this episode, we dive into why your proximity-based, high-ticket offers need identity-driven messaging, not just intellectual proof. Learn how to shift your strategy to connect with sophisticated buyers and boost conversions without overhauling your entire business model.

Why you should listen: 

  • Master Identity-Based Messaging: Learn why proximity-based offers, like high-ticket coaching or done-for-you services, require marketing that leads with values, presence, and personal resonance.
  • Bridge the Messaging Gap: Discover how to adjust your marketing when your business model evolves, especially if your content feels flat or overly strategic.
  • Understand Sophisticated Buyers: Unpack the psychology of high-end buyers and how their decision-making process is fundamentally different from low-ticket purchases.
  • Avoid the Influence Trap: Stop modeling your strategy after content creators selling mass-volume offers and start aligning your messaging with your premium business model.

If your content isn’t converting the way it used to, this episode breaks down why identity, not just intellect, is key to sustainable sales.



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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
If you read the title of thisepisode and that's what made you
click about why proximity basedoffers need identity based
messaging, I'm so excited thatyou are here and that we get to
have a really honestconversation about this topic
because here's what I know to betrue, and this is something that
it took me a long time and a lotof money of mistakes to learn

(00:20):
this lesson in business.
But, and this might sting just alittle bit because listen, your
offer might be absolutelyincredible.
You know your stuff.
You're delivering results.
You're delivering on thatpromise.
Clients, once they're on theinside of your program, rave
about you, love working withyou, but if you are still
marketing publicly.

(00:41):
Like you are selling a 100 or a300 or a thousand dollars
digital course, it is not goingto land when you are trying to
appeal to a more sophisticatedbuyer when you are trying to
sell a more premium, highertouch offer.
And in today's episode, this isreally for you If you have
recently shifted your businessmodel or if you were thinking
about introducing a newer orhigher ticket, higher touch

(01:03):
offer within your businessoffer, because when you're
selling private one-on-onecoaching, higher in done for
you, delivery a high levelmastermind.
VIP days, a curated groupcoaching experience.
How prospects approach makingthat buying decision is very
different than when they arereading a sales page to make

(01:25):
more of an impulse purchase fora product that really has a much
lower barrier to entry.
There's no applications.
There's no sales call.
It's just whether or not theycan afford to pay and whether or
not the price point that you'reasking, usually a couple hundred
dollars matches the promise andthe tangibility of whatever it
is that you're going to beteaching that's outlined on the

(01:47):
sales page.
But if you've made this shiftand you are still marketing like
that, but you're noticing havinga difficult time converting
these higher end clients.
Usually it is because yourmessaging has not cut up to the
changes that you've made in yourmodel.
You're probably still educating,you're still teaching, and
you're still trying to proveyour expertise and.

(02:10):
You're probably running verylarge challenges, five day
events.
It's like this high volume, highcontact type of sales approach,
but it's not converting like itused to.
And today we're gonna be talkingabout why proximity based offers
need a different kind ofmessaging because when people
are buying access to you, yourintellectual property.

(02:31):
Your perspective, your presence,proximity to you, proximity to
the individuals that you'vecurated in this space.
They're not just investing in aresult alone.
Yes, getting result isimportant, but they're also
investing in who you are and howyou lead, and what influences
the lens at which you're goingto be guiding them to get to

(02:54):
that definition of success.
And that means that themessaging that you put publicly
needs to reflect you.
Not only your intellect and yourmethod, but your identity, your
values, your image needs to becongruent.
The lifestyle that you'reliving, there needs to be
harmony amongst that.
So if your content has beenfalling flat or overly strategic

(03:16):
way to educational, how toinfluencer type based.
Or like it's missing that heart,that soul, that connection, even
though it's technically correct.
This episode is gonna help yousee why and what to do about it.
So let's get all the way in.
Now when I first really startedto get a good understanding of
what this concept was and whyproximity based offers needed a

(03:39):
different approach, thantraditional digital courses, I
was, this was probably back inlike 2019.
I was at a critical inflectionpoint in my own business.
I had made about 300,$350,000 inrevenue.
I was selling my signatureprogram at the time, it was
called Services That Sell.
If you've been listening sincethat's been around.

(04:00):
Thank you.
And if you actually were in thatprogram like, like you, you know
what that was like.
It was a$2,000 digital course,but it had coaching components
in it, and I had joined aprogram that was$18,000 and I
thought that the way for me toscale my business was by
figuring out how to.
Scale this$2,000 digital courseand probably three months into

(04:24):
this$18,000 investment.
I had a massive aha momentbecause I was setting up the
automated webinar, creating anevergreen email sequence.
I had just paid for a Facebookads manager, um, and I was like
following the process andfollowing the method, but what I
noticed was even at that$2,000price point, there was still

(04:46):
this grittiness.
There was still this ancy andthis friction for my prospect to
make a buying decision withouthaving some sort of human
contact.
And I.
I started to analyze all of mypeers who were also in this
program with me.
There was probably like 15 of usat the time, and I noticed a
very clear distinction.
The people in the program thatwere really having success with

(05:09):
this webinar, automated emailsequence, evergreen kind of
thing, were all their programswere a thousand dollars or less.
And I noticed that me and myother peers that were selling
programs that were two, three to$5,000, the process was just not
working the same way it wasworking for those, selling a
lower ticket offer.

(05:29):
And that is when I had my ahamoment that around that 200 to
$3,000 price point.
People's approach, like thepsychology that they use, the.
Sermon that they apply whenthey're making a buying decision
is fundamentally different thanwhen they are trying to buy a
$200 product for, in comparisonto a$4,000 coaching program.

(05:50):
And that was really when Istarted to notice the
distinction in how marketingneeded to shift.
And quite honestly, like the gapthat was missing in this online
education space because.
I've taken so many coachingprograms, masterminds, worked
with coaches over the years,spending hundreds of thousands
of dollars, like trying tounderstand this industry and

(06:10):
develop my skillset.
And I have yet to meet somebodywho was able to give the context
of when these funnels make senseto apply and which business
models these marketingstrategies are most effective
for.
And I'm not saying that this isA blanket statement, but this is
just what I have noticed in myown experience and what has
worked really well for mystudents.

(06:31):
When you are really building abusiness, primarily based off of
your intellectual property,secondarily, you are building a
business that is relationshipbased, meaning like.
The clients that you are workingwith, there is close proximity
to one another.
It is more of a relational basedoffer.
There's more intimacy within therelationship of who you're

(06:51):
making the investment decisionswith.
and I also just really noticedthat if I.
Like the other distinction thatI noticed between me, my peers,
and the leaders in the space whowere kind of educating us on
this is that I'm not spending,$50,000 a month on ads.
I am not.
Running my business like acontent marketer or like an

(07:13):
influencer.
I am really doing this from alifestyle perspective.
I am doing this to preserve asmuch profit as possible, and
when I notice thosedistinctions, that's what really
helped clarify this concept thatI'm introducing to you today.
When you are selling to a moresophisticated buyer, and what I

(07:35):
mean by that is, is you'resolving a more specialized
problem.
You're charging a higher ticketprice point because the
specialization of the problemthat you're solving and you're
selling to somebody who is usingmore discernment.
Your approach to your marketingand messaging needs to match the
psychology that that person isapplying to their buying
decision.

(07:56):
And that is a fundamentaldistinction that I've noticed in
the digital marketing onlineeducation space, based off of
where the price point of youroffer is and also the type of
marketing style that you areprimarily leading with.
If you don't have hundreds ofthousands of followers, you
know, 50 to a hundred thousandpeople on your email list, you
need a different approach tomarketing.
I'm nine years into business andmy email list is still hovering

(08:19):
around 10,000.
Like we've made millions.
I've made over$7 million in mybusiness over the last eight
years.
But like I am not running a massvolume play.
I am running a business modelthat really is rooted in
lifetime value, long-term clientretention, specific, specialized
problems for niche nuancedaudiences.

(08:40):
And I think when I reallyunderstood that, could claim
that and then adjusted mymarketing strategy to that,
that's when things reallystarted to shift for me.
The other thing that's reallyimportant for me to note here is
that our industry flows incycles.
This is true for any businessindustry.

(09:02):
I would say back in 2018 to2022.
Very heavy educational how to.
Tactical type of contentperformed very, very well.
What I'm noticing now between2023 we're in 2025, I think this
is going to be the case for thenext few years, is that

(09:22):
educational content alone is notenough to establish credibility,
trust, and move a higher tickettype of client to make a buying
decision.
Yes, it's part of the equation,but it can't be the.
Only thing that you focus onwhen it comes to your marketing
content, and part of the reasonwhy I think that this shift is

(09:47):
happening is because there is arise of artificial intelligence.
All of us have access to chatGPT, now we can pretty much ask
anything and get a reasonableresponse.
I think because of that, thereis a level of human connection
that buyers, especially morediscerning buyers, more
sophisticated buyers, morebuyers who are looking to solve

(10:11):
um, more complex problems, theyare looking for a greater level
of connection, not just yourintellect alone to make that
buying decision.
And whenever I'm trying to likeexplain this concept, I always
like to look at my own buyerbehavior pattern as a gut check,
and I recommend that you do thesame.
I want you to think about thelast time that you made a

(10:32):
purchase that was less than ahundred dollars on an online
education, some sort of skillsetdevelopment thing.
And I want you to think the lasttime that you were considering
or made an investment insomething that was maybe 5,000,
10,000,$20,000, and I want youto pay attention.
What was the difference in howyou made that buying decision?
What were the questions that youprivately considered?

(10:53):
What were the thoughts that youprivately had?
What were the touch points thatyou made sure to make with the
creator and before you feltcomfortable making the buying
decision?
And I want you to think aboutyour own lens, your own level of
discernment, and how that isdistinctly different dependent
on the price point of the offer,the sophistication of the

(11:15):
problem that that offer issolving, and the specificity at
which it is addressing throughthe problem that it solves.
And I want you to understand ifyou are going through that level
of.
Differentiation when makingthose types of buying decisions.
So are your prospects.
And I just think it's reallyimportant that when you are
selling Morgan, that proximitybased offer, you need to lead

(11:37):
with more identity basedmessaging.
'cause when I made the shiftafter coming back from my
sabbatical.
And I've always, my business hasalways been rooted in higher
ticket offers, but even makingthe shift from primarily selling
a curriculum based offer thatsold a very specific promise,
that taught a very particularprocess and methodology to now

(11:57):
primarily selling privateone-on-one coaching six month
relationships.
Clients can either pay a flatrate fee or clients can do a
revenue share model.
It is a very different dynamicand yes, like there's a level of
intellect than respect thatneeds to be established.
The client needs to actuallytrust that they that in my

(12:20):
advice and my ability to helpthem build their business and
grow their business and navigatebusiness challenges that they're
coming up against.
But the thing that my clientshave said over and over and
over, and over and over again.
That was the kicker.
That was the, the final thingthat caused'em to feel safe and
trust in making the buyingdecision was identity based,

(12:40):
alignment aligned, valuesaligned perspective and point of
view on not just achievingsuccess, but really how I went
about achieving my success, thevalues that I was leading with
as it related to achieving mysuccess.
The constraints in which Iprioritize aspects of my
lifestyle.

(13:01):
That is what made the differencebetween whether or not they
would invest in a privateone-on-one coaching
relationship, because it is justthat it is a relationship.
It's not just a transactionalbased offer.

(13:23):
And the thing that I wanna noteis that you are probably already
doing a lot of identity basedconnection and trust building
privately.
Like once somebody gets onto asales call with you or once they
get inside of your container orsomething along those lines, but
very.
Often what I notice withclients, and what I'm noticing

(13:43):
in the marketing landscape rightnow is many people are not
leading with that publicly intheir marketing strategy.
They're doing it privately,naturally, but when they start
thinking about how do I.
Not even, how do I, I think manypeople hide from doing this in
their public marketing becauseit feels too vulnerable.
It feels so left field from whatthe large voices in our industry

(14:07):
are saying, because many of usfollow content creators.
Many of us follow influencers.
Many of us follow the big onlineeducation folks who are in our
space, who are, who are stillrunning their marketing.
Towards lower impulse basedpurchases as their primary
mechanism for their businessmodel.
And when we start comparing andprimarily learning from that

(14:30):
point of view, of course it'snatural.
We're going to adopt that andtry to mimic that.
But I.
I really want us to use somemore discernment is if you are
leading a proximity basedbusiness model.
If you are selling, you know,you're only working with 10, 20,
30 clients in a year, yourmarketing strategy absolutely
needs to look differently thenthe person that's selling 3000

(14:53):
spots into their digital course,because it's a, it's
fundamentally a different gamethat you are playing, and that
means your strategy needs toalso change and shift.
The other thing I reallystruggled with when shifting my
messaging to more of an identitybased approach versus leading
with like the how to educationalintellect was that.

(15:19):
I also had to reconcile not justthat fundamental belief and that
fact and make that change in mymarketing approach, but I also
had to really reconcile withlike what parts of my identity I
felt comfortable monetizing andreally magnifying.
And also I think it's adifferent shift too when you.
As an individual havesignificantly evolved so far

(15:43):
away from who your prospectsused to be, like who they are
versus where you are.
You know, like I think about theproblems that I used to solve
for the person that was buyingservices that sell are very
different than the problems thatI'm dealing with on a day-to-day
basis.
Running a seven figure coachingbusiness and when, when your
identity gets so far.

(16:05):
Beyond where the gap gets sowide from where your prospect is
in regards to the offer thatyou're selling.
That's the other thing youreally have to reconcile is
because many of us probablyapproach our content, at least I
did, where I'm just like, I'mdocumenting my journey.
I'm going to document real timewhat I'm working through, the
problems that I'm navigating,what's coming up on coaching

(16:27):
calls, like I'm, I'm, my contentis very rooted in the relevance
of what I'm personallyexperiencing.
But if that is how you used tomarket and you're now 10, 15, 20
steps ahead of where your coreoffer.
Is and where that prospect is,there can be a really big
dissonance between what you areexperiencing day to day in the

(16:48):
business and what your prospectis going through as it relates
to where your offer is and theproblem that that offer solves.
And when you start to reallyunderstand these moving dynamics
of, Hey, I probably shouldn'tjust lead with my intellect in
my marketing.
I need to also start to infusemy identity.
And then when you start torealize how far maybe beyond.

(17:09):
Your prospect, your currentidentity is, that's another
thing that needs to bereconciled.
And then let's not even talkabout the layer here.
If you've already delegated allof your marketing distribution
out to a team, you have somebodyelse that's, you know, taking
your B-roll and putting text onscreen for you.
You have somebody on your teamthat's taking your live streams
or your podcast episodes andstripping it and making those

(17:31):
into carousels.
when we layer in the dynamic ofyour team members who are
supporting the distribution ofyour content, the number one
thing that I personally missedthe mark on, and I see clients
miss the mark on over and overand over again, is that nobody
now is responsible for themessaging that is at
responsibility.

(17:53):
That when you were the onecreating your content, when you
were the one maintaining a pulsein your prospects, when you had
close proximity to them becauseyou were just a step or two of.
Above them to now where you are,you've delegated the
distribution of your marketingcontent.
You got people posting 2, 3, 5times a week on your behalf, but
nobody now is responsible formessaging.

(18:14):
And messaging is something thatcannot be delegated.
It is something that can, youcan hire people to distribute
it, but you, when you areselling your intellectual
property, when you are selling aproximity based offer, when your
prospects are making buyingdecisions based off of that
alignment of your values, andnot just your intellect, but the

(18:35):
identity in which you're leadingyour lifestyle, and that is how
they want to experience theresults.
You are the source material, andit's so important that.
At that is a responsibility thatmany of us as we scale ourselves
outta the business, and we'regonna talk about this more in
depth, um, in a couple episodesfurther in this season because I
think it deserves its ownepisode.

(18:57):
I just wanna unpack thedifferent layers here that
happens when you make theseshifts in your business model,
when you choose to change yourbusiness model, when you choose
to introduce a new offer that isfor a more sophisticated buyer,
and you start noticing, Hey, whyis my messaging not landing the
way that it used to?
Why is my content not convertingthe way that it used to?
It is because there now is aperception gap, and there's

(19:20):
probably a very big missing holein.
Your messaging and what needs tobe conveyed and communicated for
a prospect to reduce theirperceived risk, and to not just
see you as a credible,respected, intellectual
individual, but also have thatsense of connection and trust
and intimacy that makes themfeel safe making a buying

(19:40):
decision.
And really when you can makethis shift in your messaging to
highlight the things that you'reprobably already doing and
discussing privately andbringing that publicly, or if

(20:03):
you're somebody that has areally strong referral base and
many of your clients come ordiscover you by way of somebody
referring you, I want you tothink about that transference of
trust that is happening again ina private room, in a private
conversation.
And it's just how can we startto amplify and.
Speak those things publicly onour platform versus only
reserving that insight into youas an individual and that

(20:26):
insight into your values andthat insight into like really
the true authenticity of who youare privately.
We gotta bring that publicly.
I really hope this episodelanded for you.
If you have more questions aboutthis, feel free to send me a DM
over on Instagram.
I would love to continue theconversation because if your
offers have evolved, but yourmessaging hasn't, this is your

(20:47):
sign.
You don't need to burn it alldown.
You don't need to add moreoffers or just throw more money
at your ad funnel or justproduce more content.
It's really time to reconsideryour involvement and how you
need to get back into yourmarketing department.
And you just need to bring moreof you into your messaging from

(21:10):
a public perspective, becausewhen someone is buying access to
your brain, your presence, yourleadership, your perspective,
they're not just buyingintellect and information alone.
They're buying resonance.
And that's why identity-basedmessaging matters so much when
you are selling those types ofoffers.
And that is the core of whatyour business model is.

(21:34):
I really hope this episodelanded for you.
I hope that we can continue theconversation.
If you are not alreadysubscribed on Apple iTunes or
Spotify or wherever you listen,make sure to do that.
Uh, if you enjoy this episode,leave a review.
Okay.
I read them.
I appreciate them and it helps.
So much to get other listenersto find this podcast.

(21:56):
So it would mean the world to mefor you to do that.
And if this messaging topic issomething that you wanna go
deeper in, I have an invitationfor you in the show notes, so
make sure to check that out.
I'm creating a new course allabout messaging.
Um, it's gonna be called market,like a CEO, so you can get all
the details on that in the shownotes as well.
And in the next episode we'regonna be talking all about what
happens when you step out ofyour content too far and your

(22:19):
conversions start to tank, andwhat happens when you really
start to delegate.
To the point where now it'scausing harm in your sales and
your cash flow.
And spoiler alert, it's not ateam problem.
It's not that you probably havethe wrong people in the right,
in the wrong seats, but it'sprobably a messaging issue and I
wanna make sure that weunderstand that dynamic.
Especially if you are at a pointwhere you have delegated your

(22:40):
messaging, but your contentisn't converting like you really
wish it would.
Make sure you tune into the nextepisode next week.
So I'm gonna be breaking thatall the way down.
So I will talk to you soon.
Thank you so much for beinghere.

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