Forget wars, climate change and political chaos…

My coffee machine has just died!

After more than 12 years of hard work, my treasured bean-to-cup machine has sprung a critical leak.

This might not sound like a major problem to you – but for me it’s an EMERGENCY!

You see, I get up at 5:30am each morning…

And the first thing I do (apart from feed the cats) is bang out a four-shot espresso.

I’ve been doing this for so long, I haven’t realised quite how central coffee is to my existence…

Until it wasn’t there.

The other morning, I discovered – in horror – that the machine was broken.

Without that first cup, my day just couldn’t start!

As the French writer, Honoré de Balzac once said: “As soon as coffee is in your stomach, there is a general commotion. Ideas begin to move… similes arise, the paper is covered.”

Well, I feel the same way!

So in desperation I ran (yes, RAN) over to the office at the back of my house.

I picked up our bulky coffee machine and hauled it back into the house.

Quickly, I plugged it in, filled it with coffee, and waited for my drink like an addict waiting for a fix.

As soon as I was revived, I spent two hours searching online for a replacement.

There was so much to think about!

Should I stick with the same De’ Longhi machine, or defect to another brand?

If another brand, then which one?

And how much was I prepared to pay for a new machine? (You can spend anywhere from a couple of hundred to thousands!)

I went down plenty of rabbit holes…

Review sites…. Amazon…. blogs…

In the end I decided to stick with my De’ Longhi Magnifica so I bought the latest version, known as the Evo.

It had the right dimensions to fit in the same space and it could do extras like Lattes and doppios.

The next day the new machine arrived… but I’d ordered it through Heloise’s Amazon account and they needed a code that they’d sent to her.

But she was out!

TOTAL PANIC!

I called her up and told that I desperately needed the code.

“Can I call you back later?” she said.

“No, absolutely not!” I said, on the verge of a total breakdown, “The delivery guy will take our coffee machine away!”

Now, I realise that this all sounds ludicrous.

Especially if you don’t drink strong coffee every morning.

But this goes to show how seemingly ‘everyday’ problems can become urgent for some people.

In those situations, they experience heightened emotions that are surprisingly powerful.

And as a result they become VERY hungry buyers.

Which is a great lesson for you, if you’re trying to create or sell a product.

The Urgency Factor

We take so much for granted in our lives.

Coffee is one of those things (for me, anyway!)

But it also includes our physical and mental health, our finances… our home… our relationships… and our neighbourhood.

We often don’t realise how much we cherish these things until – suddenly – they are threatened, damaged, or taken away from us.

Suddenly, we see just how much something means to us.

And we will do almost ANYTHING to re-establish normality – and as soon we possibly can!

That means browsing for information online… seeking help on AI… contacting trusted friends and colleagues for advice… scouring review sites.. downloading tools… signing up for courses… buying products on Amazon and eBay.

When you’re experiencing an urgent problem, it’s amazing how much time, effort and money you’ll spend on fixing it.

It’s in these frenzies of problem-solving that many customers can end up finding you and spending a lot of money on what you have to offer.

The key is to work out what’s making them so frantic…

Then offer something specific to help them.

For example, when my coffee machine died, I didn’t want a book called ‘The Complete History of Espresso-Making’.

What I wanted was a reliable, trustworthy list of “Best Bean-to-Cup Machines Under £800” so I could make an informed decision and get my coffee back!

This is where a good ‘lead magnet’ comes in.

Give your potential customers something that solves the immediate, pressing version of their problem – and fast!

These could include quick-start guides, checklists, templates, tools…

Anything that gets them to where they need to go quickly, so they don’t have to spend two hours down the same rabbit holes that I went down.

In return, all they have to do is submit an email address, with permission for you to contact them.

The lead magnet doesn’t need to solve everything.

It just needs to solve the ONE urgent thing that’s keeping them awake at 2am, or has them frantically googling on a Monday morning in search of a fix.

Once you’ve done that, they will be more likely to trust you when you offer them something more substantial, like a product, course or membership.

The same then applies to the way you frame the bigger offer in your sales messages and listings.

Because if you focus purely on the surface benefits, you are missing out on sales.

For instance, compare “Our software helps you manage invoices” with “Stop lying awake wondering if that unpaid invoice has slipped through the cracks again.”

Or “This work planner helps you stay organised” with “No more that gut-drop feeling when you realise you’ve missed another deadline.”

To do this, you need to carry out a little research into what’s keeping your customer up at night.

How to Identify Your Customer’s Deep Emotions

Start with the places where people are already asking for help, venting their frustrations or complaining.

You can do this by going to Amazon and reading reviews of the kinds of product your customer is likely to be shopping for.

Also use the search tool in social media platforms like Facebook, X and Reddit to find conversations related to the topic or the problem.

Read the comments, not just the posts, because that’s where you’ll find a lot of the panic, confusion or vitriol.

It’s also worth considering people you know in real life who might be potential customers or subscribers. Ask them what makes them frustrated or what motivates them to seek a solution sooner rather than later.

AI can also help here. Give Claude or Chat GPT a full rundown of your ideal customer’s profile – as much information as you can, as it all helps!

You can also feed it comments from forums, social media and Amazon reviews. Then ask it to “act as my customer” so that you can interrogate it.

Alternatively, get the AI to describe, in first person, what a bad day in their situation feels like.

Now you can use these insights to craft headlines, listings and sales copy that directly taps into those heighted emotions.

For this you can use…

The PAS formula

PAS stands for ‘Problem – Agitate – Solve’ and it works like this:

• Problem – Identify your reader’s emotional trigger point, the deep worry or urgent concern that they might have. Example: ‘Do you suffer from knee pain?’
• Agitate – Stir up those emotions in the reader so you draw them out. Anything to show them that you understand their problem or desire, using concrete terms they recognise. “There’s nothing worse than constant, nagging pain… when it becomes agonising to do everyday tasks like gardening, driving, playing with the grandchildren… or even something as simple as using stairs.
• Solve –Here’s where you turn those emotions into an action. Suggest how you can help solve the problem, then push them to an action that they need to take to get that help. For instance, click on a link, sign up to this service, buy now, call this number, or read this report. For example: ‘I’ve just put together a special report on a revolutionary new therapy that you can try at home.. Click here to read it now.’

When you are writing the sales copy, try to speak in their everyday language. Use their own words back at them wherever you can, drawn from the reviews, comments and social media posts.

Here are some helpful templates for a headline you can use:

• A Simple Way To [get desired result] For [target person]
• How to [urgent result] in [time frame]
• Don’t Try [blank] Without Reading this First
• At Last, The Secret To [result] Revealed
• Discover The [result] Secret
• How to Get [Result] without [Usual Obstacle]
• What NEVER to Do If You Want [Result]
• Finally, An Easy Way to Get Rid of [problem]
• Improve/Increase Your [desired result] In [time period]

Again, you can feed the ‘PAS formula’ into AI and ask it to come up with ideas for you.

As for me, I’m very happy with my new coffee machine.

Equilibrium has been restored!

(That is, until my next emergency, whatever that may be!)