The full title of this book by Ryan Levesque is
“Ask: The counterintuitive online formula to discover exactly what your customers want to buy…create a mass of raving fans…and take any business to the next level“.
In my review posted to Amazon.co.uk, I rated the book at the Four Stars level. This means it is Good and Well Worth Reading.
Here is my book review.
Very clever but…
I get suspicious when a book has many more five star reviews than anything else in case friends and family have been press-ganged or there’s been some kind of marketing campaign to drum up support.
The book splits into two parts – his story as part one and the Ask process as part two.
He correctly suggests that some people might prefer to jump straight to part 2 and I wish I had. What I learnt from reading the cloying first section is that he’s very bright and he’s prepared to work hard for what he wants. He also admits to be influenced by two marketing experts that I admire – copywriter Gary Halbert and digital marketer and researcher Glenn Livingston.
The Ask approach is based on finding out what customers want and then delivering it to them through a website and email sales funnel. Yes, this is about INTERNET MARKETING but it can be used for physical products.
I think we can all agree that different people in a product-market have different needs and wants and there are only three options:
1) A business might have many different but quality products that genuinely fit different needs and has a challenge to match customers to the right products.
2) A business has one or a small number of products and should pre-qualify customers so that they know whether they are a suitable fit or not.
3) A business has a few products or many poor products and aims to sell them to all the different needs through lying, deception and manipulation. I bet you’ve met sales people you thought you could trust to help find what you need only to be disappointed afterwards. If not, you’ve been very lucky.
As customers won’t have seen the products, the Ask process can be used for options 1 and 3. It’s less relevant for option 2 since customers can easily qualify customers in advance. The author wants readers to use it the right way but recognises that it can be used with bad intentions.
At its best, the Ask process imitates and automates a one-to-one selling relationship based on talking and listening. In the same way that a sales person will adjust to what’s been revealed by the buyer, so can the Ask process.
The first survey aims to investigate the market and to capture the thoughts of potential customers on a no risk, low involvement basis. Then the data needs to be analysed. It can be used to help design products and to develop marketing messages.
It is used to design the second survey which is used to match customers to products based on their needs.
The third survey asks people who did not buy, why not and the answers can be used to adapt the marketing messages again.
The fourth survey pivots to further new products.
Adding to the process is the explanation of emails built into funnels for buyers and non-buyers. At its limit, there is a thin line between effective marketing and preying on weaknesses to get someone to buy something they don’t really want or need. That’s why buyer’s remorse and Internet returns can be high.
The Ask process is very clever in the same way that Jeff Walker’s Product Launch Formula is clever, although as methodologies, they are very different.
The author would like to think that it can become the standard approach for e-commerce and Internet marketing. That depends on it being used to sell products that deliver good value to committed customers. Like the PLF, if it is abused, it could get a bad reputation and customers would learn to recognise the approach and actively resist.
The author shares plenty of his approach but it’s also a long pitch for his products and services. First there is the software needed to run the surveys, next is a training course to give you more details, third the option to join a mastermind group to share experiences and finally, you can, of course, buy the entire process from his company.
I’m left admiring the methodology and I’m glad I know about it but many businesses have discovered that there are limits to customer research.
As Henry Ford remarked, if he’d have asked, people would have requested a faster horse instead of the car.
As I was reading it, I couldn’t see a use for it in my business. I fit into category 2 where I have a very limited range of services and I can qualify customers in advance. I’m rating it as a four star book. I didn’t like part 1 and I would have liked more insight in the case studies along with less blatant marketing.
It is available to buy from Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com.
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