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April 10 - April 14, 2018
Many businesses are modeled on the idea that customers should come back to the kitchen and make their own dinner. Instead of giving people what they really want, the business owners have the idea that it’s better to involve customers behind the scenes…because that’s what they think customers want. It’s all the fault of the old saying: “Give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he’ll eat for a lifetime.” This might be a good idea for hungry fishermen, but it’s usually a terrible idea in business. Most customers don’t want to learn how to fish.
People dont wanft to learn how to get an education, the want to get an education.
people dont ant to learn how to live with zero waste, they want to live with zero waste.
“We’re not selling horse rides,” Barbara said emphatically. “We’re offering freedom. Our work helps our guests escape, even if just for a moment in time, and be someone they may have never even considered before.”
Sell the benefit
The difference is crucial. Most people who visit the V6 Ranch have day jobs and a limited number of vacation days. Why do they choose to visit a working ranch in a tiny town instead of jetting off to lie on a beach in Hawaii? The answer lies in the story and messaging behind John and Barbara’s offer. Helping their clients “escape and be someone else” is far more valuable than offering horse rides. Above all else, the V6 Ranch is selling happiness.
Kyle goes above and beyond by giving her photography clients what they really want…even if they hadn’t realized it themselves.
true for bosses too
Tom Bihn, a bag manufacturer from Seattle, Washington, gives us a similar idea: “We’re consistently and pleasantly surprised by the diversity of our customers. People have a natural desire to categorize and quantify, but we’ve always felt doing so with our customers would be pointless. They’re students, artists, businesspeople, teachers, scientists, programmers, photographers, parents, designers, farmers, and philanthropists.”
It would actually be limiting to say who your cusromers are related to traditiobal categories. One might be able to get way with labeling peopl by their mindset, but only if they were really sure. Publishing this seems dangerously limiting though.
Jason noticed that people of various backgrounds were attracted to the Paleo lifestyle but weren’t sure they could devote much of their time to planning for it. Thus the opportunity: Provide a comprehensive resource that “gave them the fish” (no pun intended, although Paleo followers do eat a lot of fish) by telling them exactly what to buy, cook, and eat each week. Jason started Paleo Plan, a one-man business, in three weeks with $1,500. Within a year, the business grew to earn recurring income of more than $6,000 a month, requiring a grand total of two hours’ work to update the site each
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Wondder if i could do this for my vegan paeo diet
Fill in the blanks with the specific topic, niche, or industry you’re researching: “What is your biggest problem with getting things done?” or “What is the number one question you have about online dating?”
Practical user research technique
“Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work.” —PETER F. DRUCKER
Couldnt agree more
They made a one-page website, added a PayPal button, and went to bed. The morning after making their work available for purchase, they woke up to their first sale. Then they made another sale, and then another. Thanks to a surprise mention on a popular design forum, they sold out of their first print run in ten minutes and had tons of messages begging for a reprint. Could this be the answer to designer burnout?
How did customer #1 find this one page sales website? seems far fetched tht google magically made this appear dfor the right people
“It’s funny, because we’re both obsessive planners,” Jen told me. “But this project had almost no planning whatsoever in the beginning, and now it’s our full-time work.”
Don’t think innovation; think usefulness.
Make sure the market is big enough. Test the size by checking the number and relevancy of Google keywords—the same keywords you would use if you were trying to find your product. Think about keywords that people would use to find a solution to a problem. If you were looking for your own product online but didn’t know it existed, what keywords would you search for? Pay attention to the top and right sides of the results pages, where the ads are displayed.
Focus on eliminating “blatant admitted pain.” The product needs to solve a problem that causes pain that the market knows it has. It’s easier to sell to someone who knows they have a problem and are convinced they need a solution than it is to persuade someone that they have a problem that needs solving.
Almost everything that is being sold is for either a deep pain or a deep desire. For example, people buy luxury items for respect and status, but on a deeper level they want to be loved. Having something that removes pain may be more effective then realizing a desi...
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Parts of this section are based on the advice of Jonathan Fields, the smartest guy I know in market testing. Learn more at JonathanFields.com
friend of mine did this with an information product aimed at the high-end car industry. He offered a specialty guide that sold for $900…except he didn’t actually create it before he advertised it in a magazine. He knew it would be a lot of work to put together the guide, so why do the work if no one wanted it? Partly to his
Decisions like these may sound like a no-brainer (Why should two designers spend their time making post office runs?), but implementing them can take a lot of work. In Jen and Omar’s case, it wasn’t just a matter of hiring the local warehouse to do their shipping; they also had to complete the daunting task of syncing their online shopping cart with the fulfillment house.
Squarespace has this capability built in. If enough people have successful enough ecommerce sites to warrant this, is thdere more opportunity to create on online business than I thought? would love to get squrespaces data
Much more than with Matix [the paintball business], I wake in the morning feeling I’m making the world a better place, and that I don’t need to suffer for it. I don’t need to volunteer my time to another NGO or donate money; I instead have focused my best efforts to make the world a better place for my country and my children—and I will also be compensated for it.
The dream
We provide [product or service] for [customers].
Yep
Any analysis of “launch marketing” should give credit to the classic book Influence by Robert Cialdini, who was one of the first to study how consumers decide to make purchasing decisions. Jeff Walker, an entrepreneur and educator, is also well known for his work on product launches.
Read this
When I launch a new line of dresses each year, I contact two or three influential bloggers and create a custom dress for them, which always brings in tons of new customers when they write about it. But most importantly, I turn my attention toward my clients. Often, I upgrade someone’s shipping to overnight for free, or double someone’s order, or include a copy of my favorite book with a handwritten note. I like to package my products for shipping like a gift to my best friend. This strategy has been a huge contributor to fast growth and popularity in my industry.
Interesting maafrketing sgtrategy
John was recognized by BusinessWeek as an up-and-coming leader. 9 Clouds did $45,000 in net income during the first six months of operation, $180,000 the next year, and is now on track to becoming a mid-six-figure business.
Dont have to make a lot off money to be featured in a magazine
contest. The CEO doesn’t get away with saying, “But look at all these people who like us on Facebook!” Shareholders will not accept that. You are the majority shareholder in your business, and you have to protect your investment. You have to make sure that your recurring activities are as directly tied to making money as possible. There’s nothing wrong with having a hobby, but if you want to call it a business, you have to make money.
This is common for the once poor
To fund the latest incarnation of the gym, we called upon the community to “invest” in us, much like a three-year CD. We offered 3 percent above prime, which is more than you could get then or now, and people I’ve never even seen at the facility came up with the cash to get it started. My partner and I, the founders, are the only paid full-time staff, and we just hired someone to manage the volunteers for us for a small stipend. Our community fundraising project brought in $80,000.
There are some interesting fundraising mrthods out there
“How will this idea improve my customers’ lives, and what is that improvement worth to them?” Then set your price accordingly,
Even though there are few products, there is always a range of prices and options. You can buy the latest iGadget or computer at the entry level (which, knowing Apple, isn’t cheap), one or more midlevels, or one “superuser” high-end level. The leadership team at Apple—and anyone using a similar model—knows that this kind of pricing allows the company to earn much more money than it otherwise would. This
Eveerlane employees a similar model
Also, having a high-end version creates an “anchor price.” When we see a superhigh price, we tend to consider the lower price as much more reasonable…thus creating a fair bargain in our minds. The internal thinking goes like this: “Wow, $2 million for the latest MacBook is a lot, but hey, the $240,000 model is almost as good.”
Everlane uses this model too
You can literally sell the same product at different prices with no other change. As long as you don’t imply that there are added features in the higher-price version, it’s not unethical. Big companies do it all the time; it’s how cell phone carriers, hotels, and airlines make money. To reduce confusion, though, it’s better if you can add something with real value to each higher-level version of the offer.
Should probaabably combine product colors and sizes, but add variety through pricing options
Almost any business can create a continuity program. Speaking of book clubs, there is also a Pickle of the Month Club, an Olive Oil of the Month Club, and a Dog Treat of the Month Club. In Portland, my friend Jessie operates a Cupcake of the Month club. If you like bonsai plants but aren’t able to keep them alive very long, the Bonsai of the Month Club is for you, but you’ll have to choose among four competing companies that offer different versions.*
If people buy my limited seletion i need to grow it for thr exft time thry need something.
i dont like subscriptions because it leads to over purchasing and waste
(Note: Don’t get too hung up on the exact numbers here. The point is that in almost every case, a recurring billing model will produce much more income over time than will a single-sale model.)
But if customers get annoyed because theey are charged mor thn they wouldd otheerwise buy, then they will leave the program forever, never to return
The most important thing Brian says here is in the last paragraph: “It’s not market share; it’s share of the customer.” Like many of the people in this book, Brian doesn’t spend much time worrying about what other people are doing—he worries about improving his customers’ lives through helpful services. As a result, he gets paid over and over again.
Need to make a one stop shop. The time spent on the site will be its own advertising. And it is cognatively easier on the customer if they know theu can get what they need rather than wasting time checking
knew that people all over the world wanted to learn about snowboarding—what if he could teach them all virtually, without needing to be in the same place? Getting his act together, Nev worked with a couple of close friends to create Snowboard Addiction, a worldwide series of snowboarding tutorials.
you dont need a certification to share your knowledge or sell your goods
$30,000 in year one—not bad for a ski bum. (Since Nev had never been that focused on making money, that was the highest annual income he had ever had at that point.) The next year, he put more thought into the business, scaling up with affiliates and a broader range of products. The result: just under $100,000 in net income.
Make money in more than one way
“Testing is important, but it pales in comparison to the traffic source,” author and entrepreneur Ramit Sethi told me. “People love to spend time split-testing headlines, copy, graphics, even tiny boxes. They can usually achieve greater returns by focusing on the source.”
Figure out where our traffic comes from. Drive trafficc. Make headway
When I talked with business owners about the kind of tweaks they worked on, many said things such as “The most important thing is to keep taking action.”
There are a lot of basic action items to apply to all ecommerce sites in here. Dont do anthing which does not add value to your customer base though.
INSTITUTE A NEW UPSELL. Adding a good upsell offer—or several—is probably the easiest and most powerful strategy you can use to ramp up your average order size. Some business owners are initially apprehensive about upsells, not wanting to apply a high-pressure or “sleazy” technique. But a good upsell isn’t sleazy at all; it’s contextually appropriate and inspires appreciation from customers. “Wow, thanks for the offer!” is a common response. Think about going to a restaurant where you hadn’t planned on eating dessert, but the waiter’s recommendation of the chocolate bread pudding is so
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The confirmation page that appears after an online purchase is one of the best and most underused places for an upsell offer. Right after a customer has purchased, they are highly inclined to purchase something else. Make a strong offer here, and your conversion rate can be 30 percent or
ENCOURAGE REFERRALS. Most people know that word of mouth is the greatest source of new business, but instead of waiting for something to happen, you can encourage your customers to spread the word.*3 When asking for referrals, it helps to be specific: “Can you send our offer to three of your friends?” or “Can you ‘like’ our page on Facebook?” might be a good fit. Again, the confirmat...
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INTRODUCE THE MOST POWERFUL GUARANTEE YOU CAN THINK OF. Most businesses have boring guarantees: If you don’t like this, you’ll get your money back. But when we buy something, our money isn’t all we’re concerned with. We’re also concerned about time and validation.
a pain in the ass—some businesses provide a guarantee of 110 percent, ensuring that the burden is on the business to deliver. Zappos famously created free shipping both ways to take away the hesitation about buying shoes without trying them on. A host of competitors had to follow suit.*
ALTERNATIVELY, MAKE A BIG DEAL ABOUT OFFERING NO GUARANTEE. Instead of providing an incredible guarantee, provide no guarantee—and make a big deal about this fact. Note that this strategy usually works better for high-end products. It will likely decrease overall sales but increase the commitment level from those who do purchase.
Ironically, people who pay for high-end products tend to be better customers all around. “Low-paying buyers are the worst,” one business owner who sold a broad range of products at different prices told me. “We have far more complaints from people who pay $10 and expect the world than from those who pay $1,000.”
“The simple act of raising my rates by 25 percent allowed me to either work seven hours less a week or make a significant increase in my monthly income,” he told me on a Skype call from Belfast. “The other, unexpected benefit was that it gave me much more confidence. Until I upped the rates, I didn’t make the connection that I was worth more than I had been charging.”
You may have heard that the way to build a following on Twitter or other social networks is to promote other people’s work. People don’t want to hear you talk about yourself all the time, right? This advice is well-meaning and sounds good on the surface. Unfortunately, it’s also wrong. Promoting other people’s work and sharing links to interesting articles is fine, but don’t expect that merely doing that will help you gain followers or attention. People follow you (or your business) because that’s what they’re interested in—you.
Eureka
Corbett Barr maintains a helpful (and free) set of resources on building traffic at ThinkTraffic.net.
John Jantsch wrote a great book called The Referral Engine, which is all about creating a systemized process for encouraging referrals. Highly recommended.
A little-known secret at Zappos is that they do cut people off who abuse the generous return policy. CEO Tony Hsieh explained to me that if a customer blatantly takes advantage of them—returning worn shoes on day 364 of the 365-day return period, for example—they’ll honor the refund once, but they’ll also gently advise that customer not to purchase from Zappos anymore. Fortunately, he also said, most people are honest.
Nathalie had a personal success story of dramatically improving her health after switching to a raw foods diet. Eating only fruits, vegetables, and nuts sounded crazy at first, but the results spoke for themselves: In the first month, she lost more than ten pounds and suddenly had energy throughout the day. As she talked with her friends, Nathalie was a natural evangelist—not pushy or judgmental, but offering tips and strategies that people could use to make real improvements even if they weren’t ready to jump into a completely raw diet as Nathalie had done. After relocating to Toronto, the
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People need help and you can help them
Before she moved to Connecticut, Brooke operated similar businesses in California and New York. With each move she learned a little more about what to do and what to avoid. Opening the same kind of business in different cities was insightful. After moving to New Haven, she had filled her client list within four weeks, and then she took on a partner to manage additional appointments. A single mother with a young child, Brooke works part-time but still earns more than $70,000 a year from the practice.
At somebpoint a manger cn be useful
Hiring employees was my biggest challenge as a business owner. I put it off for years and turned away tens of thousands of dollars each year because I was afraid to grow. Finally, I realized that I had hit a ceiling. I couldn’t make any more money without bringing some members to my team. Since changing the structure, I’m able to accept all of the orders I had had to turn away. I’m no longer overbooked, and I can invest extra time in moving the business forward in other aspects. Do I wish I could do it all myself? I used to, because I don’t like to lead or be led. I don’t like to feel like the
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I have a similar sentiment but need to learn how to make a team like this
