GETTING INTO THE MIND OF YOUR IDEAL 
PROSPECT 
 
We're  going  to  go  deep  into  the  mind  of  your  ideal  customer.  In  fact,  we're  going  to  enter  the 
conversation that's going on in their minds. How do we do this?  
 
There  are  a  couple  of  techniques  and  they  are  especially  useful  if  you  have  an  established 
business  already  or  if  you're  about to start a brand-new venture or a brand-new business (where 
you don't have an existing customer base).  
 
How  do  we  find  out  what  our  future  customer  base  would  want?  Surveys  and structured asking 
are  a  good  way  to  start.  I  say  they're  a  good  way  to  start. They're not the only way that you need 
to  do  the  research  because  here's  the  thing.  Surveys  are  pretty  helpful,  but  the  problem  with 
surveys is that people lie.  
 
If  we  tell  people,  hey,  what  would  you  prefer  to  have  for  lunch,  a  burger  or  a  salad?  Everyone 
will  say  in  the  survey:  ​Of  course,  I  prefer  salads​.  They're  much  healthier. They're better for you 
and  everything  like  that.  But  if  you  put  a  burger  and  a  salad  in  front  of  someone,  very  often 
people will choose the burger instead.  
 
WE'VE GOT TO DO TWO THINGS IN SURVEYS:  
 
1. We've  got  to ask open-ended questions. One of the open-ended questions I really like is: 
What  is  the  biggest  challenge in your business right now​? This is assuming you're talking 
to  business  owners.  Another  question  would  be:  W ​ hat  is  the  biggest  problem  with  back 
pain you're having right now?  
 
This  example  is  if  you’re  a  chiropractor  or  something  like  that.  Asking  them  what  their 
biggest  challenge  is  right  now—it's  an  open-ended question. What I like about that is you 
can start capturing some of their words, and you can even read between the lines.  
 
Even  though  people  lie  on  surveys,  you  can  read  between the lines, and you can capture 
some  of  the  words  they  use  because  we're  going  to  use  that  in  our  messaging.  That's 
going to be powerful.  
 
2. Start  to  spot  trends  in  the  data​.  You  want  to  see,  are  there  any  patterns  that  you're 
spotting?  Are  there  any unusual markers that you're seeing where people are responding 

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 in  a  way  that  is  different  from  what  you  hypothesized?  Maybe  you  thought  everybody 
was going to put their hand up and say, “I'm interested in salads,” but they're all putting
their hand up and saying, “Hey, I'm interested in burgers.” Maybe you've gone deeper
into the survey  and  you're  asking  them  about  if  they  prefer  burgers  with  beef  or 
burgers  with  chicken or vegetarian burgers?  

You're  starting  to  spot  trends  in  the  data.  The  trends  that  I  like  to  really  uncover  are 
non-obvious trends. Sometimes it takes a little bit of data and analysis. Maybe you need
to  spend  a  little  time  in  Excel,  sorting  and  sifting  through  the  data and trying to really 
uncover some trends that are in there.  

A  really good resource for creating some of these surveys is a book called ​Ask ​by Ryan Levesque. 
He  basically  outlines  a very, very detailed process on how to create surveys that generate a lot of 
qualitative  and  quantitative data. The A​ sk process is excellent if you've got a reasonably large list 
and you really want to extract a lot of good insights out of it.  

If  you're  working  with  a  smaller  dataset,  then  you  may  want  to  run  a  less  structured  survey,  so 
you  might  be  surveying  10,  20,  30,  40,  50  people,  whatever  it  is.  You  can  use  a  basic  tool  like 
Survey  Monkey  or  Google  Forms  to  collect  the  data,  and then you can use that as a data point in 
your overall decision around your messaging.  

Don't  go  making  this  a  big  scientific expedition and don't use this as a source of procrastination. 

We  just  want  to  use  this  as  one  data  point  in  our  decision  process  because,  as  I  said,  people  lie 
on  surveys.  We  don't  want  to  wholly  rely  on  survey  data,  but  we  want  it  to  be  one  piece  of 
information that we use in really clarifying our message to our target market.  

The  next  thing  when  it  comes  to  messaging  is  really  thinking  through,  ​What  are  they  really 
buying?  Or  to  put  it  another  way,  ​What  job  do  they  want  your  product  or  service  to  do?  For 
example,  somebody  buying  a  Toyota  or  a  Honda  is  looking  for  something  very,  very  different 
than somebody buying a Rolls Royce or a Ferrari.  

Even  though,  functionally,  both  products  might  be  quite  similar—they  get  you  from  A  to B, you 
can  take  your  dog  to  the  dog  park,  you  can  put  your  shopping  bags  in  the  car,  and  so  on.  The 
Ferrari  and  the  Rolls  Royce  owners  are  looking  for  something  very,  very  different.  They're 
looking  for  exclusivity.  They're  looking  for  heads  turning.  They're  looking  for being part of that 
private VIP club.  

Luxury  and  exclusivity  are  obvious  things  that  Rolls  Royce  and  Ferrari  buyers  are  buying,  but 
here's  a  less  obvious  feature. A lot of Ferrari ​and Rolls Royce buyers actually buy sound. Did you 
know that?  

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In  the  case  of  Rolls  Royce,  it's  the  absence  of  sound.  They're  famous  for  making  some  of  the 
most  silent  cars.  They  actually  put  together  300  pounds  of  sound  insulation  material  into  Rolls 
Royce Phantom. Their target market is extremely valuable. They value silence. They value quiet.  

Let's  look  at  Ferrari  owners.  Ferrari  owners  are  obsessed  with  the  sound  the  car  makes,  that 
roar  when  you  hit  the  accelerator.  It  commands  attention. It's actually more important than the 
car  being  fast.  There  are  many  cars,  especially  now  electric  cars  like  the Teslas, and others like 
that, that are actually much faster than the Ferrari. 

But  the  Ferrari  creates  that  roar  that  commands  attention.  It's  almost  like  a  primal  roar,  and 
that's  something  that  really  gets  the  adrenaline  pumping  for  a  Ferrari  owner.  Can  you  see  how 
we went above the surface level here?  

We  actually  looked  at,  yes,  people  are  buying  exclusivity,  people  are  buying  luxury,  people  are 
buying  part  of  that  VIP  club,  but  now  we  go  a  little  bit  deeper  and  some  of  the  features  that 
they're  buying  is  sound  or  absence  of  sound.  This  is  what  I  want you to do with your product or 
service. What are people really buying? What job do they want their product or service to do?  

Now  that  we've  dug  a  little  deeper,  I  want  to  go  one  more  step,  go  really,  really  deep.  This  is 
where  we need a lot of empathy to really understand what goes on in this person's mind. I like to 
think  about,  ​What  does  this  person  dream  of?  ​What  are  their  hopes?  What  are  their  dreams? 
What  are  their  desires?  What's  simmering  below  the  surface  and  really  the  thing  that  drives 
them?  

I  know  for  many  Rolls  Royce  owners,  the  car  is  really  a  symbol.  It's  a  trophy  indicating  they've 
arrived  at  a  certain  destination,  that  they've  achieved  certain  goals,  that  they've  become  a 
certain person, and that they've achieved a very high level.  

I  want  to  give  you  another  example  from  my  own  life.  I recently finished building a house. One 
of  the  reasons  that  I  chose  the  location  where  I'm  at,  there  are  surface-level  things.  It  is  a 
beautiful location. It's near the beach. There's a parkland nearby.  

Those  were  really  important  things to me, but one of the things I absolutely love about the place 

where  I  live  is  it  is  absolutely  silent.  I've  got  neighbors  around, but they're not too close. To me, 
as someone who spends a lot of time thinking, this is incredibly important to me.  

Silence  helps  me  get  back  into  my mind and really think about things. I know a lot of people are 

the  opposite.  They  need  people  around,  and  they  need  the  buzz of the city and all of that sort of 
stuff. And that helps them to think, but I'm quite the opposite.  

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I  need  silence  and  I  need  to  be  able  to  get  into  my  own  head  and  really  think  deeply  about 
things; silence massively contributes to that. When I was traveling recently throughout the
United States, I spent quite a bit of time in New York City.  

I  just  started  to  get  anxious  towards  the  end  of  my  stay in New York. I loved the city. It was a 
beautiful city—lots of things to see and do—but the noise, the constant sirens, and things like
that, I started to feel anxiety. That was one of the things I missed most about home.  

When  I  got  back  home  and  I  could  just  hear that silence where you could literally hear a bird 

chirping a mile away; it was just fantastic. That's one of the things I absolutely love about where
I live. If you're someone who's selling property in this area, you'd be crazy not to leverage that as
a feature.  

Yes,  you'd  be  talking  about  the  beach.  Yes,  you'd  be talking about the parkland and all of that 
stuff. One of the things I love, and I'm sure many of my neighbors do, is just the dead silence
and the calm that's around here.  

I  think  that's  exactly  the  same  thing  that  some  of  those  people  who  are  buying  the  Ferrari, 
they're buying the Rolls Royce, the Ferrari ​ gives you that visceral feel, that animal almost in you
as you hit the accelerator. The Rolls Royce, you're blocking out the world, and there's silence as
you're moving through the city. These are the things that are in level three, so to speak. 

Level  one  is  that  surface  level  stuff  that,  yes,  you're  buying  the  Rolls  Royce  for  luxury,  for 
exclusivity, for being part of that VIP club. That's obvious. That's the surface level stuff. We get
to the less obvious stuff in level two, like the sound, the feeling of silence, or the feeling of that
visceral roar as you hit the accelerator.  

We  go  even  deeper  and  then  we  think  about, ​What does this person dreams of?  As I said, this 
requires a little bit of empathy. This requires us to go deeper and really understand who that
person is. That person might be buying that car as a trophy to fulfill their childhood dreams of
being someone. That's level three.  

This  is  what  I  want  you  to  think  about  in  terms  of  your  own  target  market,  in  your  own 
messaging. What's the surface level stuff, the stuff that we all know? We want to go a little bit
deeper, the stuff that maybe only the insiders know.  

Level three is: What

​ does this person really dream of? How can we get into their minds? If you're
not  part  of  your  target  market,  that  may  require  quite  a  bit  of  researc h,  quite  a  bit  of 
conversation to really uncover those gems. That's what I want you to do. Really think about your
messaging on those three levels: the surface level, the less obvious stuff, and then, What does this
person actually dream of?

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