Launching Your Book to Millions
Pat Flynn is the man behind Smart Passive Income. He is the author of the book, Will It Fly? and soon release his next masterpiece, Superfans. Today, he talks about how you can engage your customers, eventually building your superfans who will evangelize for you.
What We Discuss with Pat Flynn:
- The why behind writing his next book, Superfans
- Who are your superfans and when to start serving them
- Understanding the lyrics of your superfans
- Offering small, quick wins on a micro level
- Creating a sense of belongingness to elevate your brand
- Creating unexpected moments of surprise
- Building superfans without any hidden agendas
- You have to show up in order to build superfans!
- Pat’s book writing process for Superfans
- Rising above your fears to help other people
[01:30] The Impetus Behind Writing Superfans
When Pat conceived the idea of writing his first book, Will It Fly?, Pat went back to the audience and asked them how he could help them the most – validating their business ideas and understanding whether they’re going to work or not.
The idea of Superfans was to serve as a follow-through in helping his audience grow.
Superfans is for those people who already have a little bit of a following – whether in podcasting, affiliate marketing, and monetization, etc.
The book was sort of an extension of Pat’s presentation at a speaking engagement.
[03:55] Turning Your Casual Audience Into Raving Fans
This doesn’t happen overnight. There are a lot of things that have to happen in between to get a person to fall in love with you and have you become their favorite.
Today, social media has become weirder and it’s now much harder to reach more people.
When you have superfans, they will support you for life. It doesn’t take very many of them to help you grow a successful business.
According to Kevin Kelly, if you have 1,000 true fans who drive all the way to just see you speak or buy every product you come out with, and they’re investing $100 into you or your product a year, you already have a six-figure business right there.
When you build your superfans, you get them to support you and they will also share you and defend you from trolls. They will be your ambassadors without having to pay for them.
Serving your superfans is so much fun too!
[07:33] When to Serve Your Superfans
Everybody who comes across your brand could become a superfan. But this is a journey. It doesn’t happen overnight. It happens from the moments and experiences you offer them over time.
This all begins when the person first finds you. People will find you regardless of what social media platform. And this first experience is really important. You have to be something different than what people can expect.
[09:10] Understand the Language of Your Superfans
Understand the language or lyrics of your superfans.
“If you can define a problem better than your target customer, they’ll automatically assume you have a solution.” – Jay Abraham
You need to know the pains and problems of your customers, but you also need to know how they describe those problems.
Speak the lyrics of your customers and you’re going to get people to start paying attention to you and become active subscribers.
[10:20] Offer Small, Quick Wins
Offer small, quick wins because they’re easy.
If you want to change a person’s life, start by changing their day first.
Think of this on a micro-level. Within the first 10-15 minutes, is there anything you can offer that person that would give them something to take home that they didn’t have before?
[12:20] Create a Sense of Belongingness to Elevate Your Brand
Have a community and a place where people can have conversations with both you and each other. Ex. virtual online workshops and live streams
With a community, people will have a sense of belonging and identity of being a part of your brand. This elevates your brand and this elevates you.
Pass the ball to them every once in a while. This is going to help them engage and stay active. They would then want to be part of the community. Ask them to participate.
[15:33] Create Unexpected Moments of Surprise
Give your audience a little bit of time and attention unexpectedly. For instance, send your next customer a reply back with a quick 20-second personalized video. You can use a tool such as Bonjouro. You can have this connected to your emails everytime you have a new customer.
This isn’t something everybody is doing. Soon you will become somebody’s favorite and then you begin to build these superfans. Then they will market for you without asking and defend you because they feel you’re a part of their life now.
[19:35] Avoiding Hidden Agendas and Too Much Automation
People can see through you if you have a hidden agenda – and it’s not actually hidden after all.
Do it because you want to help people and understand that the byproduct of that is all the great things and opportunities that can happen.
Avoid automating things too much. Otherwise, where’s the community? The community happens when you empower people to feel like they’re part of something. You have to show up in order to build superfans!
[23:21] Pat’s Book Writing Process
Pat broke his writing into Google docs. He hired a company that helped him write a book but he wasn’t happy with it.
He knew he had to write it himself but he didn’t have the time. However, he made the decision to make the time to write it.
Then he did a NaNoWriMo challenge so he could get on the keyboard everyday and write as much as he could.
Create accountability and make it public to help you get into the habit of writing.
[29:10] Final Words of Wisdom
Just get started. You can learn as you go. Even if it’s bad, it doesn’t matter. You’re going to start off as a disaster before you become the master.
Don’t let the fear stop you from helping people. There are people drowning out there that need your help. Do whatever it takes to help people.
Episode Resources:
Preorder Pat’s book before August 13, 2019 then submit the receipt at yoursuperfans.com and you will get the audio book for free on launch day.
Will It Fly? By Pat Flynn
1,000 True Fans by Kevin Kelly
National Novel Writing Month Listen on: 
