Bootstrap Your Business In The Pandemic Using Brain Science Selling

In these very uncertain times, businesses have to be more careful of their spending. Good thing social media and the internet can now give them the exposure they need at very low prices. According to an article in Nuanced Media, the average cost per thousand of a magazine ad is $32, TV is at $7, while the cost to get yourself to 1,000 people on Facebook is only an amazingly low cost of $.25. 

I lost my job in the pandemic. I am part of the statistics, along with 5M other Filipinos who lost their jobs and livelihood in April of 2020. 

Thankfully, given my Neuro-Linguistic Programming Certification + 20 years in advertising and marketing + e-commerce background, I was able to immediately shift and pivot to a new industry. I created a sales process that I call Brain Science Selling. Understanding how our brain works as an entrepreneur and going deep into the minds of our customers saved me a lot of money as I started my business. 

Brain Science Selling works so well that by February of 2021, I was able to do 178 paid, live training to over 3,500 individuals, spending only $308 in Facebook ads. 

How did I do it? What strategies did I use? 

1. Deep understanding of your market

All sales transactions happen in your brain. It starts with the business owner’s mindset and how deeply he understands his market. In my case, I know how the real estate industry works, having been a former CMO of a developer. The sales teams are very competitive. They want what the others want. My strategy? Social proof. Using my own Facebook profile (I did not create a page until months later), I shared Zoom photos of my training with the teams and tagged those who are in my network. The tags allowed my posts to be seen by their network so it’s instant advertising for me. It organically magnifies that content and was shown to the relevant target market. I also requested to repost my mentees’ messages and posts to create user-generated content. This allowed me to create rapport with my audience. 

2. Provide tons of value

Trainers would usually stop at the end of the 60th minute or whatever time you agreed on. I walked the extra mile. I asked the participants for their Facebook pages so I can follow them and let them know what I think about their strategies and content even after the training. That provided real connection with me and the participants. Many of them were promoted late last year and were then able to get me for their team’s own training. Loyalty is created in the limbic brain when you trigger emotions in your customer. They know that I am there for them. I was building a brand, not just a business.

3. Work with teams

One of the brain’s social needs is belongingness. The brain needs to know that it is not alone in the journey. This is what inspired me to start my business using the one-to-many model. I targeted team leaders, sales directors, entrepreneurs with a small sales team, chambers, brokerage groups, associations, networking groups. There are two reasons why you should do this: One, you get an instant big following. Two, you get them on your Zoom account, they register and you build your email list. Again, this magnifies your single Zoom training to a relationship you can take to social media or to emails. Working with organizations and associations also allows you to meet more decision makers who are again potential clients. 

4. Use Reach and Video Views

So, how did I use the $308 in Facebook ads? Reach and Video Views. Reach allowed me to create more awareness for my new brand. But the strategy behind this goes back to #1. I boosted testimonials, photos of training and text feedback from participants and showed them to a similar market. Video views on the other hand helped build my authority when I consistently created short video tips as teasers for my live courses. Face perception has played a role for social interaction for millions of years, informing us of the identity, age, mood, attractiveness, trustworthiness of a person. This will not stop in the digital age. Especially in the digital age. NEUROSCIENCE 

These Brain Science Selling strategies propelled me to an immediate 5-figure business in 4 months, with only $308 in ad spend. 

I am now in the process of scaling and automating my business with digital courses and PDFs for those who cannot afford the live training. I have also added consulting, one-on-one and one-to-few coaching with select business owners and believers of this strategy. 

I get the pain of not having the capital and the infrastructure of starting a new business in this pandemic. That’s why I try to share my story and these strategies to business owners who are willing to try something new. 

My advice to those in the process of starting their business this year?

Reframe your thinking, make your business a digital native, use social media, but most of all, understand who you are, the gift you are meant to share to the world, understand your market and build authentic relationships with them. Using your brain will literally save you a lot of money.