This post has two parts. The first is an explanation of the retro-incentive, a powerful tool for people willing to play the long game. The second is an inception moment. You’ll see what I mean.
Remember Stealth Influence?1
It’s built on a few foundation assumptions. One of them is that people like and trust their own ideas more than anyone else’s. Our general belief is that it’s always better to let people come to their own conclusions instead of telling them what conclusion they should come to.
There are many ways to do this. The Stealth Influence training will help you develop the fundamental or baseline skills necessary for them all.
Here is my favorite.
Instead of telling people the consequence of missing something…let them miss it and experience it themselves.
That’s it.
Stop trying so hard to make the short-term sale - simply let people on the fence miss the opportunity. One of two things will happen: 1) they will miss it and regret missing it - building internal pressure not to miss the next one. 2) They will miss it and be glad they did - in which case it’s a good thing you didn’t sell them.
A retro-incentive is giving your buyers, members, or inner-circle additional benefits for something they did in the past that other people might be bummed they don’t get (Which means they have to know what they missed). Do it for years on end and your audience learns: “Every time I’m on the fence and don’t participate, I miss something I wish I didn’t miss”.
Sometimes it’s direct. For example, in our world, we do our best to give the earliest buyers and supporters the best deal(s) by grandfathering them in their existing price or giving them access to new benefits.
Sometimes it’s less direct. For example, we just turned paid memberships on for this publication.
Super simple pricing. It’s $10 a month or $100 a year. We’re not going to try to sell you on it. We still have to figure out how much we can deliver consistently to make it a no-brainer.
Here’s the indirect retro-incentive moment. We’re an ecosystem of action-takers that wants to continue to reward people who are taking action to help themselves. Instead of dangling a carrot - “If you do this, you get this” - we invert it as often as possible - “You did this for yourself, so you deserve this”. So…
It’s April 19th. If you’re currently (at the time of writing this)….
An annual subscriber to the TGA+ publication
In Laurel’s $7 Ad program or
An annual subscriber of
’s publication
You’ll get free access to an entire year of this publication.
Why? Because you committed to do something for yourself inside and around our ecosystem. And we believe that if we support the people around us by rewarding the people that support them, they will return the favor. It’s indirect because we aren’t only rewarding our members - we’re rewarding members of the people with audience overlap. And guess who wins the biggest?
…the people in that audience who get in the earliest.
Important. ^ I told you that because this is an educational post about retro-incentives. If this was a pure retro-incentive play, I wouldn’t have said it explicitly, hoping that you realize it on your own.
And here’s the inception moment.
If you read the above and felt something like... “I wish I would have known that before, I was going to subscribe next week but I would have sooner had I known…”
You’re experiencing the effects, in real time.
If you read the above and felt something like... “I’m so glad that I enrolled in XYZ last week, month, etc”
You’re experiencing the effects, in real time.
If you read the above and felt something like... “I don’t want access to another publication”
You’re experiencing the effects, in real time.
You can decide for yourself whether it’s worth deploying something like this. It works best when done consistently for years - or decades.
Here’s What Happens Next:
If you meet the criteria above BEFORE this is published, you will get free access.
Here’s how it works:
We haven’t even told Laurel or Sean about this yet. They will get a link for their paid subscribers sometime this weekend and use it or share it however or whenever they want. Please do not harass them for it.
TGA+ members, Guardians, Arena Members, and The Success Circle members will get their access link this weekend as well. Please do not harass us for it.
There is nothing behind the paywall right now to rush for.
Here’s What You Might Have Missed:
Conversion Multipliers in the Laurel Corner:
We hope you find this useful.
Live to learn. Give to earn.
PS. With the new paid tier(s), the referral program will be rebuilt to be robust - and fun. Whoever ends up on this leaderboard will get some cool stuff. To stay aligned with the theme of this post, we’ll have to wait until it happens to share.
The TGA “Out Of Print” Business Development Books and Letters are available by clicking here for Guardian Academy paid subs. A lot of marketers try and resell this stuff, just get it here.
The pre-req or “Starter/Self Stay Guide” to understand marketing and sales through the lens of TGA principles can be found right here.
Social Media: Check the Guardian Academy Instagram for aesthetically pleasing stuff and exclusive video clips. Twitter (Or X) for more frequent updates and insights.
Forthcoming Event and Experience Dates can be found by clicking here. Nothing compares to being in the right room with the right people. It doesn’t have to be our room with us - just get yourself in proximity to the right people, places, and things for you.