Working Out Funnels, Offers, and Messaging on LinkedIn: Coaching Call with Akil Sherman, CPT

In this Coaching Call style 10 Minute Marketing episode, I’m thrilled to sit down with Akil Sherman, owner of Akil Sherman Online Training & Coaching. With over two decades as a Certified Personal Trainer and experience in corporate wellness, Akil now offers online fitness coaching to those seeking ways to lose fat and get healthy. 

In this episode, we talk about Akil's journey and finding his target audiences in both a pre and post-pandemic marketplace. We also peel back the layers of the success he has found on Facebook and mastering his marketing message, how he is testing various offers and the work he needs to do to crack the code on LinkedIn marketing.  

In this episode, we discuss how to craft a compelling LinkedIn profile and content that connects with potential clients. This includes the differences between branding on LinkedIn through a personal profile versus a business page and what tactics the LinkedIn algorithm will reward for each. We also touch on the importance of working on personal profile features to convert leads by offering a simple and enticing call-to-action.

Tune in to this opportunity to learn from Akil's challenges with maximizing his marketing funnel, as well as my tips on how to optimize your LinkedIn profile for business success!


About Akil Sherman
Akil Sherman has helped thousands of men and women lose body fat and build healthy sustainable lifestyles over his 23-year career as a Certified Personal Trainer.

Check out Akil's free 7 Foods to Avoid for Fat Loss resource here.

Learn More about Akil Sherman Personal Training.
Follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.

Transcript

Sonja Crystal Williams: 0:11

Hi everyone, welcome to today's episode of 10 Minute Marketing. I'm your host, Sonja Crystal Williams. So today I've got a friend, someone I've known a really long time, former client, all those things Mr. Akil Sherman, joining us today. Hi, Akil.

Akil Sherman: 0:27

Hello, hello, hello Sonja and hello world.

Sonja Crystal Williams: 0:33

Thank you for being here, so I'm gonna share a quick background about Akil. He has helped literally thousands of men and women lose body fat and build healthy, sustainable lifestyles over his 23 year career as a certified personal trainer, and you've done that also all over the world, which is pretty amazing. So let's start there. I want to hear a little bit more about your background, what you've been doing with yourself more recently, and just a little bit about your career.

Akil Sherman: 1:05

Well, okay, well, thank you for having me. First, let me say that, man, in terms of background, gee whiz, I've been doing this. It feels like forever. You know, it was one of those things where, growing up you know, I think I don't know my parents told me this, but I heard it somewhere where, you know, do something that you love, you know, and if you don't feel like work, right. So one of the three things we're fitness. Other two was hip hop and video games. Let's just say those didn't work out Okay.

Akil Sherman: 1:33

So here we are with fitness, okay, and you know it's crazy because it does not feel like I've been doing this that long. I'm obviously like you said, and you know I've been doing one-on-one personal training, but I also spent seven years doing corporate wellness as well, and in 2018 is when I made the transition from in-person and face-to-face to online. You know. So it was before pandemic, when everybody, you know, ran, you know, to their laptops and started zooming all over the place. But you know, one thing I will say is that what I found in regard to aging is that aging is not synonymous with decay, and so we have a lot of control over how we age, you know as we, but I say this by the time we hit 25, we kind of know it's vegetables, water, lean protein, get sleep, exercise, you know.

Akil Sherman: 2:27

Now, whether we do that or not is a whole different conversation. And I say that because you know people are like well, I don't know the purpose of a trainer. Well, because you could definitely at this point you can go to Google, you can go to chat, gpt, you know, but they're not going to make you get up and do stuff, you know, and they're also not there for support, motivation, encouragement or guidance. So you know there's still some other things that are left on the table. But, um, lately, you know it's been interesting because this feels saturated.

Akil Sherman: 2:57

But then I know I'm better than a lot of these trainers out here, and I say that tongue in cheek was serious, because I'm actually a trainer who struggled personally with body fat and you know you don't have a lot of body types play a part as well. As you know, it matters who you're getting your information from, and so my specialty is indeed body like, helping folks lose body fat, but sustainably, like I don't like using the language weight loss. I don't like that and I don't. I rather call it fat loss, because that's more specific, because weight loss also infers that we're talking about losing muscle and fat, and we don't want to lose muscle. You know, as we age we're going to do that naturally, so we don't want to. You know, speed that, along with any dubious methods that will create that outcome.

Sonja Crystal Williams: 3:45

One of the things and you were bringing up something that your parents talked to you about as a kid and it made me think about like something I used to see all the time as a kid on TV that made me feel like fitness was important.

Sonja Crystal Williams: 3:56

So I I was an army kid and I spent my childhood living overseas and at that time this was before personal satellite dish TV and direct TV and all that stuff existed and cable existed the way it does today. We only had like two or three English channels as a child growing up overseas and we didn't get commercials. We had public service announcements, okay, and so there was this public service announcement that used to come on and I would never forget it and I remember it and it was a picture, it was a video of like I don't know, just somebody eating like lots of stuff that's considered bad for you, like really bad glabs and glabs of it. And then at the end of the commercial or public service announcement, the person was walking down the street and they had this is probably politically incorrect now, but it was like a giant donut on that person's bottom and they were walking down the street. The message of the PSA was what you eat at 20 determines what you are at 40. Did you ever see that one growing up?

Akil Sherman: 5:03

You know what. So let me, let me amend. I said I saw I saw a commercial where they had they replace a person's cheeks with donuts. I was, so it was yesterday. I forgot what that was for you know, but but that's true. You know, I love that message because I talk a lot about that in regard to you know, people, we turn 50, we turn 60. And we think that this just came out of nowhere and it's no, like it's an accumulation of your habits. Like if what you do in your 40s dictates the level of health you're going to have in your 50s. Or like to the point that PSA, you know, what we do here is like it's an investment. One way or the other. Like if you invest in processed sugar, refined carbohydrates and saturated fat, you have one outcome. If you invest in fresh fruit, fresh vegetables, lean sources of protein, in low glycemic, non inflammatory grains and drink water, you will have another outcome. And so you know, either you invest one way or the other, but you're going to get a return on that investment either way.

Sonja Crystal Williams: 6:14

True, I want both personally, but we won't talk about that today, so, all right. So one of the things you talked about was pre-printed pandemic. You were in corporate wellness, okay, and now, post pandemic world, you have entered into online training, which I would imagine from a and this is where I'm going to make the shift for everybody listening, because this is a coaching episode of 10 Minute Marketing today. So this is where I want to kind of shift into like that's such a difference just in terms of how you create an audience on the corporate wellness side versus the one-on-one online fitness training, and as well as just how you put yourself in front of people and select what marketing channels or sales channels, for that matter makes sense for you. What do you feel like as you've made that transition? Like, have you had thoughts about, like the parallels between what you were doing on the corporate wellness side when you were working with big companies and for you I know it was sports teams and whatnot versus making the shift to working with individuals?

Akil Sherman: 7:22

I will say that people now, I would say post pandemic, and even the corporate, you know there's been a greater focus on health. You know, because folks are stuck at home and some people unfortunately it's 2020, some people are still trying to work off pandemic wait.

Sonja Crystal Williams: 7:39

Oh yeah, I mean that's not easy, you know, definitely. I mean there was statistics on how much, you know, weight changed for many people, many Americans, and how that impacted us, you know, as a country. So yeah, and it was hard, even mentally, on our mental health.

Akil Sherman: 7:56

And so both have been given much more runway, if you will today, because you know people first of all. People are like I'm going to protect my mental health. You know independent because you had folks had a lot of time to sit and think. You had about 18 months to sit and evaluate. You know yourself, your relationships, your health, everything, and so I mean that that that was ideal. Some people did that right Not everybody, of course, but a lot of people did do that, and companies did that as well. You know, when they start to look around because it's productivity right, you know if you feel better you're going to have you want to be more productive, like you brought up.

Sonja Crystal Williams: 8:37

A really good point, too, though, that you know there's fitness trainers all over social media. There's so many, and so how do you stand out in such a crowded marketplace? And here's the thing it's crowded marketplace, yet there's billions of people in the world who want the content right, so you have a specific niche. How do you get in front of that niche? What are the channels that you feel like so far have been effective for you?

Akil Sherman: 9:08

Well, you know what? That's a great question. So I would say I want to put the channels to the side for a second and address the fact that it was important for me to understand who my target audience was, as well as my positioning. Because, to your point, like number one, I thought that I could just train anybody who wanted, just anybody, and I had to have a realization that that was different when I was. So I will say there was a big difference between being face to face and being online, because being face to face, I really could train anybody, because if you were going to come meet me, you're like, at that point, you like I'm paying for this, right, so I would make the effort to get and make the trip. But online is real easy for you to disregard what I send you through email. So I'm not really suited for people who aren't doing anything.

Akil Sherman: 10:04

I'm better suited for people who are already in the gym taking some action, for people who are already engaged in trying to eat better, trying to get the water in, and they are looking for you know, they know they got the pieces, but they're looking for maybe the last combination in the lot. It's like, okay, I'm doing the exercise. I'm eating the food. How come I'm not seeing the results that I think I should see at this point? You know what are the things that I'm missing. What am I missing? And so that's where I come in, you know, and so that is what I'm suited for. So, understanding number one, like I said, my target audience, I'm better suited for people who are already doing something and understand that I'm not having to be the person that gets them motivated. You know what I'm saying? Like that they have.

Akil Sherman: 10:48

That's something I guess you know I'm saying you have some, I need people. I've been working with people that already have some level of motivation and then messaging you know. So to your point, it is crowded. But there are a few things that you know, after two decades of doing this, that I am distinguished from a lot of the crowd. And that number one I've actually had a spare tire, I've had the belly fat, I've had love handles, I've had back fat and I've gotten rid of it. And so I understand that is a different, that's coming from a different place than someone who grew up always in shape, always had a six pack or they were athletic, got some fat and then it was very easy for them to drop that and go back to where they were. And so my whole point is between understanding what it is like to actually have body fat and then understanding proper nutrition and not I'm not going to tell you just caloric deficit, because there's the other thing.

Akil Sherman: 11:43

There are a lot of people, particularly over the age of 35, who, if you've been struggling with body fat for a long time, you've been trying to eat less for a very long time and you're probably frustrated because you were on some diet that you could not eat protein. And then you, you fell off, you binged, and then you start this negative self dialogue about how you're a failure, how you never can be successful, how this never works for you, and you feel hopeless. And it's true, and the truth is that's not the approach you need to take. You know, like that's not where you need to focus your energies. So those are a few ways where I distinguish myself from the crowd, because everybody else is going to tell you caloric deficit, abse made in the kitchen and you know, eat more protein. And then they just sit back like I just did it. I just did it Just like that's not the whole story, guys.

Sonja Crystal Williams: 12:33

Okay, so let's come back to channels then. What channels are you on? Where do you like to be?

Akil Sherman: 12:41

I like to be on nothing. No, I mean, social media is a pain in my butt, but I'm on Facebook because that's what my target audience is. I'm currently on Facebook because my target is usually 35 to 55 busy professionals. I am on Instagram, but I don't have as much success on Instagram. And I would like to be on LinkedIn, but I have not cracked the LinkedIn code, so I also have some small, very, very small following on YouTube as well. So I'm in those pop input. I don't do you tick tock Just because it's a commitment.

Akil Sherman: 13:18

Sure, and I haven't mastered the things that I'm already doing. So just adding another channel because it's there doesn't really resonate with me Right. So it's like it's more about me understanding marketing, my messaging, my positioning and my offer, like that is that's the areas I feel like I that's been like. The third quarter of the year is where I understood that I needed to be better in those three areas and I'm currently tailoring and working and testing my offers and my messaging and I'm so I'm in a better place in my business than I've been in the past because I've been able to identify that I would say at the top of the year, the main thing was make a content. I've mastered making the content. Now it could be visually better. Sure, you know I give you all of that. But Between making reels and demo, demo videos, you know a short form where I'm, you know, explaining something, or long form when I'm explaining something going live. I don't have any issue with doing that like I go live probably like four times a week now maybe a five, depending on you know if, because I also like back to Facebook. You know, back to the channels.

Akil Sherman: 14:27

I'm an admin in one large group that's about 90 thousand 95 thousand, and then I'm a moderator in another group. That's a hundred thousand, and so you know so. So I have that going for myself as well. I do go live on my personal page and my business page. I am running ads More consistently. That was something that I was not good at in the past, um, consistently running ads, and so the focus with my ads right now Are visibility. You know, it's just. I'm not, I'm not treating it as you know. I run the ad and I'm getting money. No, at this point, I'm just want you to see me.

Sonja Crystal Williams: 15:04

Okay, Facebook's been successful for you. You've got to handle on your content. The content is consistent. I would take it right. You're consistently posting content. Okay, and Instagram LinkedIn. But let's talk about LinkedIn because I know for you and I from previous conversations, LinkedIn it sounds like in 2024. If you had to pick, where am I gonna shift my attention to beyond Facebook? It sounds like LinkedIn is the place you want to be, is that?

Akil Sherman: 15:30

right, yes, okay.

Sonja Crystal Williams: 15:33

So, LinkedIn, let's talk about it.

Akil Sherman: 15:37

So one thing, let me say this this is and you could tell me if I'm On target or off base Okay one thing that I've, I'm having to embrace and what's successful is long form writing, long like the writing, so like LinkedIn. Seems that like just today actually, um, I saw my business page. They had three prompts, separate prompts where you could swipe, and it was asking about like hey, what's going on In wellness business, or something like that. It was basically prompting me to write so so, so I, so I so. It's not like as simple as just like click the button on my phone and go live, right, it's kind of like you have to, like I said, it's a few layers to that for LinkedIn.

Akil Sherman: 16:21

So so then, what I've been doing, though, is uploading the video to the platform and then, you know, putting the caption and then putting it on my business page. They may be sharing it to my personal page, and I've also tried just Uploading it natively to the personal and the business. You know, I did that today, actually, with a long form post with a picture, um, and, and we'll see how the impressions go, but then I also understand it's a time Quotient in there, because it's a professional platform, so people are at work, they're not checking it. This is necessarily like a Facebook, you know, I mean, and so, um, it's just a different from beast Like. I do understand that, you know.

Sonja Crystal Williams: 17:06

So let me clarify. You have the personal LinkedIn account and then you also set up what would it be Akil Sherman Online Training and Coaching as a business page on LinkedIn. Okay, now question what prompted you to want to create a business page on LinkedIn?

Akil Sherman: 17:23

Well, I didn't want to do that. I thought it was prudent. I thought that is, you know, in terms of running ads, okay, I don't think I'm not sure if I could run ads to if I didn't have the, if I didn't have a business page. So, looking to setting up myself for the future of running ads and boosting posts and all that good stuff, I was like, well, okay, I have to, you know, go that route. So that was what, that was Okay. So I'm gonna. I'm gonna start there.

Sonja Crystal Williams: 17:48

I think LinkedIn is a little different than other social networks, definitely different than Facebook, in the respect that you can thrive more on LinkedIn when you're on the internet, more on LinkedIn when you are the face of the business through your personal profile probably 10 to 100 times more than you will through that business page. Okay, now to your point. It's there's a legitimate reason why you set up that business page because you want to set yourself up for the future of being able to run ads, and you could keep moving in that direction. The only thing I would encourage you to think about is make For now only because you're doing this yourself. You don't have an army of people behind you creating content. Your time is valuable and you're splitting how you spend your time between the management of multiple social networks and you're trying to capture impressions across multiple social networks and particularly in LinkedIn. It's like you're trying to capture impressions in two places that kind of say the same thing your personal profile A kil Sherman, because you are the face of your brand, and then you have your brand that lives on its own page. I would recommend you invest more time in the Akil Sherman profile, your personal profile, than the business page. Keep that page, keep it active. I'm not saying abandon it, because you do need to be set up when at some point LinkedIn ready to launch those ads. But LinkedIn really thrives and business pages thrive more through shared content from a personal profile. So if you're doing anything, things that you might post on your page might get shared or amplified through your personal page. But honestly, I wouldn't say that LinkedIn prioritizes that in this algorithm. Okay, and so think that.

Sonja Crystal Williams: 19:38

Even when you mentioned those prompts, so let me explain that to everybody, because this is a shift that LinkedIn's been making recently, and they actually made the announcement recently and opened it up publicly to many accounts. Some accounts may not even have the ability to do it yet, um, but LinkedIn gives you the ability to do what's called collaborative articles now. So what you're seeing are probably prompts that are trying to get you to contribute to collaborative articles. Um, let me tell you a couple of things about collaborative articles. Don't just reply to any prompt they put in front of you. Your prompts need to be very focused around fitness and wellness. Only, they know you're a small business owner, so they might throw a small business prompt at you. They might know you're into speaking publicly so they might throw a speaking prompt at you.

Sonja Crystal Williams: 20:23

Those don't have anything to do with the audience you're trying to capture or where you want to be known as an expert. So when you do choose to contribute to collaborative articles, they need to only be around subject matter that are specific to what you do for a living, and then even then niche it now right, like I could talk about small business in that under that topic all day. What ends up happening is when you do enough prompts on collaborative articles At least right now, the way the program is proposed to roll out is if you do, say roughly 20 or 30, you will get a badge on your profile, and this is why you should be doing on your personal profile, not the business. You want the badge on Akil's profile. And now you are a top voice in fitness, top voice in wellness, right?

Sonja Crystal Williams: 21:09

And that just makes your profile maybe stand out a little bit more. When you're posting things and strangers see it, you don't want to be the top voice in entrepreneurship. Who cares, right, that doesn't matter. So don't answer those prompts when it's trying to get you to answer questions around. What struggles Do you face as an entrepreneur who cares? That's not important to you, right? So that's gonna help you streamline a little bit more.

Sonja Crystal Williams: 21:32

Okay, now, great, let's look at your personal profile. Do you like what I'm saying so far? Okay, it makes a lot of sense. Um, it's also a better time. You know management for you. Okay, the other piece is a Couple of things, actually.

Sonja Crystal Williams: 21:50

I'm looking at your profile right now. You have a really great message under your name, so that's one of the great golden rules that you followed. It says I help busy professionals lose stubborn body fat and develop a healthy, sustainable lifestyle in 90 days. I love that because it's a sentence. I know exactly who you are, what you do and if I decide I'm gonna connect with you. I know what you're about like right away, without even looking at anything else on your profile. So you, you like phenomenal, did that great? My question, though, is when I start to scroll down your page and I look at your content, or I click the link where it says check out my online Service. My question is and it's a question, not a judgment the question is does your content align with that offer? Every single content that you're releasing right now, every single piece of content.

Akil Sherman: 22:42

No, no, it is not like no.

Sonja Crystal Williams: 22:47

Okay, so that's that's. That's that's where now we start to shift, where your content goes in that, if that's the offer because I know you said you're testing out different offers it's a good sounding offer to me. I mean, but now, cuz, technically I fit in your demographic, right. So I'll speak from the experience of a person in your demographic, and I trained with you in the past, I've been a client of yours on the face-to-face side, so so I know that, okay, this is appealing to me. Oh, what can he do for me in 90 days? And then I start surfing your content and I'm like, well, I don't know, that doesn't exactly answer my question. So Now you might just kind of make that shift and start thinking about, as I start, creating content for LinkedIn and honestly, this can translate to the other Networks where you want to have and provide a lot of value. But as I am thinking about content and planning it, how do I constantly create content that answers that question For a busy professional, because their time is valuable. So you, you do need to kind of give it to them, like, what am I getting in 90 days? And try to think about ways to answer that question Visually. Maybe it could be with graphics, it could be long-form posts, it could be video.

Sonja Crystal Williams: 24:09

The trend right now, okay, on LinkedIn, is the writing. So you are right about that. You. You have, you have hacked that code. Okay, LinkedIn is going to reward you more for writing and the style of how you write matters because it needs to be digestible. No long paragraphs, no long long story Like. If you're gonna do long form great, break the text up. Little sentences, think skimmable, because anyone who's Going down their feed, whether it's on a desktop or mobile device, they are skimming, they are skim reading. They are not fully engaged at any point in time on any of these networks, for that matter, at least until you capture their attention enough, and then at that point maybe they do go to your website and they Want more information. So your content needs to be skimmable. Your first, really too long, really your first line, but probably two, no more than three lines on LinkedIn are the most important Because that's what they're gonna see before they click see more. You know that from Facebook because the same rule applies on Facebook, right, and so we need to draw them in with that hook right. There's a, there's a saying We've probably talked about this before hook story offer right. This is kind of click funnels Russell Brunson's approach. I know you've done some, probably, reading in and around his stuff so you can still follow that format, but the hook story offer format doesn't tell you about skimmable content like right. There's some of those newer Things and factors that you have to consider the tone of your content, the the, the way you write matters.

Sonja Crystal Williams: 25:47

Thinking about speaking. I got this tip from a LinkedIn influencer. Think about speaking To a specific person. Not I'm speaking to an audience of busy professionals. No, think about I'm speaking to Sonja, I'm speaking to Susan, I'm speaking to Joe, like somebody you actually know. Think about how you speak to them when you write that post and write it that way. Write it that way. Then you can go back and revise it and all that. But it should sound genuine, it should sound conversation, it should sound like it's coming from you, not an entity, because you want to keep yourself human and relatable and that's so important when you're the face of the brand to be able to do that. These are other things. Couple other things. Links. Drop your links in the comments, at least at the moment, and algorithms change. LinkedIn will not necessarily reward your post with more visibility when you put a link in the post.

Akil Sherman: 26:53

Experiment with.

Sonja Crystal Williams: 26:56

Yeah, they all are. Experiment with that, experiment with some text-only post. Don't worry about always having to put an image.

Akil Sherman: 27:03

I see that that succeeds better in LinkedIn too. They don't care about pictures. I got that vibe a little while back as well.

Sonja Crystal Williams: 27:14

I think these are some good starting points for you. Okay, so let's hone in on one more thing. When we do click to the website, it goes to You've got a link off of your profile. It goes to your homepage of your website. You've got imagery-wise. It's great because you've got a lot of the before and after photos of clients you've worked with, where you've helped them transform through your 90-day program. You say it in plain language I help busy professionals lose fat and get healthy. Then you give them some reasons why you do have a conflict because you've got on here a six-month program but you're messaging on LinkedIn.

Akil Sherman: 28:05

So I thought about that. Okay, so let me address that. Because, I do have a six-month program. You will see results in the first 90 days, though my program is six months, so I was trying to thread the needle of. You will see results in 90 days, but I'll be working with you longer than that. Okay, see, I get something different from that. That feels like bait and switch. Because I didn't want to say you know, I can help you lose belly fat and build a healthy lifestyle in six months, Because they're like six months.

Akil Sherman: 28:41

Because, like I don't know, so that you're helping 90 days does sound good.

Sonja Crystal Williams: 28:47

I said 90 days does sound better than six months. Right, it's shorter. And then days versus months. You know, of course it sounds good. You know, I would try to figure out how to reword that on the website. Then you got to get 90 days in there somewhere. If that's what you're going to lead with on LinkedIn.

Akil Sherman: 29:07

I just dropped the 90 days and I helped busy. See, I didn't know, but I feel like the time element had to be.

Sonja Crystal Williams: 29:14

It does make it more specific, yeah.

Akil Sherman: 29:17

Because I was like you know, I could have just left it. I helped busy, fresh and lose body fat and build a healthy lifestyle, and folks like yeah.

Sonja Crystal Williams: 29:23

Exactly 90 days adds a punch to it, or a timeframe will just say a timeframe definitely adds a punch to it, because now I know what you're going to give me in a certain amount of time and I already can make a decision if I'm willing to commit to it or not, right?

Sonja Crystal Williams: 29:38

It's like a sales tactics, right? Things you learn in sales training, which is one of the things you want to do in your message, is get people to constantly say yes in their head. Right, when you're selling something to someone, even verbally, you constantly want them reaffirming the things that you're trying to sell them on. And so I mean I can answer that question from a yeah, I'm going to do 90 days. I might not do six months, but I'll do 90 days. So I'm not saying change your program, but you definitely have to find a way. I think it's great. I would keep it. I think it adds a punch. I think you got to find a way on your website. If it truly is a six month program, then how do you reframe that? But it does today how it stands. It does feel like a bait and switch. And then we get to book a free call. Now the question is why do they care about booking a free call?

Akil Sherman: 30:29

Well, to see, if you know, kick the tires and see if this is something they may want to do.

Sonja Crystal Williams: 30:34

Okay. So I feel like we need a round two because we're only going to get so far today. But I think, on that call to action, so you have a good offer in place, but I think your final, your final kind of closer to book a call, it kind of depends on how your program is structured. Right, but most people, if they're motivated and they are already doing fitness and you are offering a program 90 days and you can help me do something really specific 90 days, six months, whatever the case might be and I'm doing it online I don't really feel like I need to talk, like I just I want to take action, I want to start moving into something. Even here's the thing, even here's the really to think about.

Sonja Crystal Williams: 31:23

If you consider charging $50, $75 or something for some type of quick, something that moves them along toward that goal, something it could be consultative, it could be a reading on something, a test you give them Maybe that's even you know, maybe it's a quiz, instead of just book a call and they have to submit their email address and now they're on your email list and you now send your offer to them or you email the offer to them, maybe you take them to a video where you really explain the program. That also pre-creates more automation for you, so you're not spending your time having to talk to each individual person to vet them. Like, let them vet themselves. Take them to a prerecorded video that explains your program or things about generally what you're willing to offer, and then you upsell to the next step. You know what I mean. Like, try to think about different ways you could frame that, but I feel like, book a call. You probably are going to lose a lot of people in that last step.

Akil Sherman: 32:31

I like the video. I like the video. I like the video of spelling out what it entails, cause one thing that I am forever guilty of. My clients have told me this they're like what you actually do is so much beyond what I thought was going to be. And I don't have a, but I do.

Akil Sherman: 32:54

I guess in my brain I have a difficult time articulating that because I'm actually doing the thing. It just doesn't sound sexy. Like I'm going to help you eat better. I'm going to help you lose fat, I'm going to help you get stronger. Like we're going to work on sleep, like all this stuff. I'm going to help you build a healthy lifestyle. But it doesn't sound sexy, it's not punching. Yeah, when you get in there, you're like oh wait, cause like I have. And then two, because I've been through the fat loss journey, I'm generally going to have the answer for why you're at a plateau and if you follow what I'm doing, what I tell you to do, you're going to get results. They all have, and so I don't do well articulating that cause it sounds like everybody else.

Sonja Crystal Williams: 33:40

I don't know, and even honestly, when I click the link to book a call, it's just me booking a call I don't have. There's no. Even if you stuck with the book of call, there's no questions.

Akil Sherman: 33:50

If the questions come when you book the call, like you get sent to a. What is that? It's a questionnaire, it's a page that, once you book the call, you get a follow up email to a link to give me the to do the questions.

Sonja Crystal Williams: 34:05

But you have to commit to booking the call first. So I don't feel as invested. I feel like you're investing in me when you ask me some questions and it starts helping me understand. Oh, this is going to be a one on one. You know, I feel like he's paying attention to me. I'm going to get a free problem solving call. Why can't you lose stubborn fat call or something? You know what I mean and I feel like even Calendly cause you got it linked to Calendly gives you the ability, even if you wanted to ask two or three of those you need to do the full questionnaire. You just start it with two or three little questions, like that's something to think about.

Akil Sherman: 34:44

I like that, I like the video, I like the questions. I like all of that actually. So no cause, yeah, I like that.

Sonja Crystal Williams: 34:53

So I think, I think, I think LinkedIn definitely is part of the equation that's going to help you and some of the shifts we talked about. But I think, I think just a little bit more tweaking on the offer and the steps. It's a funnel, honestly, it's not just the offer.

Sonja Crystal Williams: 35:06

It's the entire funnel. So I'm going to I'm going to pause us here because, listeners, we're not giving you all a kill secrets, but we'll talk more about that one off through our separate coaching. I'm going to pause us here for today. Akil, I want to thank everyone for listening. I hope you all got a lot out of today. Listen, we're using LinkedIn as the as one example of many things that you could do across really any of these social media networks, and I thank you today, Akil, for being transparent, sharing a little bit about your journey, your challenges, your struggle and what we're going to do to tighten up your funnel.

Akil Sherman: 35:44

All right, Thank you for your time, thank you for helping me.

Sonja Crystal Williams: 35:47

You're welcome. All right, until next time. Everyone Thanks, and we'll see you soon.