Andy Jenkins Post: Shawn White Snowboards His Way To List Building Gold?

I love this post by Andy Jenkins on Gold Medalist, Shawn White. I hope you enjoy it!

Did you watch the Winter Olympics? I watched the snowboarding competition for the first time this year and got to see Shawn White get his second consecutive gold on the half-pipe.

And that’s why I want to talk to you today about list building. And no, I didn’t hit my head snowboarding or anything (not recently anyway…)

See, unlike some of the other sports, in snowboarding the half-pipe, the longer your routine goes, the *slower* you go. That loss of speed means fewer tricks, and a lower score.

That’s why most competitors try to pull off their best moves at the beginning, before that momentum is spent.

This is a lot like the diminishing returns we marketers see in our lists over time. We can get a big spike of incoming subscribers when we do a launch, and we can get a great response from them at first.

Then it’s a good response… then so-so… then it dwindles away to the point that your formerly “hot” new subs are just lukewarm with the rest of your long-term, but disengaged subs.

We can’t do any more “tricks” because we’re just out of juice.

And you know what? That’s perfectly natural. That diminishing return happens in everyone’s businesses, and that’s why you can’t just do one big launch and coast along for life.

We go through the process again and again, with a fresh burst of speed, and a new chance to bust out some great promotions while your list is active, only to have things eventually die down again…

And much like some of those Olympians, it can get to you. Even though these athletes get multiple runs and get to keep their highest score, many of them fell flat on their later tries.

Some folks let the friction and gravity from each run grind them down psychologically, too. But not everyone.

Mr. White, aka “The Flying Tomato” managed to get a higher score with EACH RUN. And this was my favorite moment – he ALREADY won the gold, and got the opportunity to do a “victory lap” and greet his roaring crowd of fans at the foot of the slope…

He actually sheepishly suggests he should just coast down the middle without doing any tricks.

Too fast to bleep on live TV, Shawn’s coach colorfully “suggests” that Mr. White should do his super secret trick… the one he never even needed to use in the competition, just for fun, just for the fans.

So he goes down the pipe, doing the usual tricks, and actually lands the “Whitesnake” – a trick he invented – on the LAST sweep up the pipe before the finish line.

I don’t even know how many spins and flips it is. Like 70 or something. But it sure was AMAZING to watch.

And the judges actually gave him A BETTER SCORE than the one he won the gold with. He had already won, and he busted out an even better performance, just for the JOY of it.

My takeaway is that just because there might be less chance for a big return, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to do our best for our customers and subscribers each and every time.

And it’s not just champion athletes that can elevate their game this way – world class ARTISTS of all kinds strive to do this in every possible form of human expression and achievement.

Why should we, as marketers, be any different?

Whether we’re in launch mode, or doing a promotion, or just doing pure content – you have to care enough to try and do better each time. Always try to get the biggest and best response.

Because when you always TRY to do better, you DO get better. And that can be the difference between bringing home the gold and eating dirty snow.

GO BIG, or as they say, go home.

Until next time,
Andy

P.S. Did you have any personal heroes in the 2010 winter games? I can’t be the only one who finds inspiration for both work AND life in this stuff. What moved you? How will you apply it? Tell me in the comments.