Mr. Gray
Contributor
- Joined
- Nov 8, 2016
- Messages
- 38
I did not write this, I found this on Reddit.
Below is the link to Reddit.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Entreprene...ple_steps_to_predictable_startup_growth_in_3/
n 1972 when Bobby Fischer was playing Spassky, he used an opening from the 1800s called The Scotch Game to become World Champion. Everyone gasped because most Americans were using openings and styles that the Russians already knew how to defeat.
The Russians had trained themselves to recognize patterns and systems that would beat the Americans without much thinking. Their wins did not require much human discretion on the player’s part. The Scotch Game opening was unexpected because it opened up a more superior strategy that made Bobby Fischer’s name even more infamous.
I can count on one hand the number of entrepreneurs who have a solid strategy for becoming the leader in their field.
Setting up your business for success Strategy is when a restaurant owner says, “We’re going to focus on creating premium sandwiches and milkshakes for suburban neighborhoods.”
Tactics is when he says, “let’s use almond milk for the shakes instead of whole milk.” Or “let’s hand cut our fries and dip them in sea salt 2 minutes before they are served.” If you approach his business owner with an idea for a franchise that sells premium sandwiches in urban neighborhoods, he’ll reject the idea.
It’s not because the idea is bad but because it doesn’t fit in with his strategy. Strategy is the path you define for your business. Tactics are the different ways you choose to ply that path.
Your website, your ads and your blog are not your strategy.
When a business owner is accepted into our fold, the first thing I do is work on his business growth strategy.
This process usually involves restructuring the business model to focus on the most productive activities.
We do this because most entrepreneurs don’t know what to focus on. They are overwhelmed with too many things at the same time. I’m taking you behind the scenes so you can apply this process to your business.
Follow this process by answering these questions and implementing the insights you get.
I’ll use a fictional example of a software company that provides financial services. Whether you are a dentist or running a SaaS business, you can use this example.
Step 1 What’s unique about the business and what is currently bringing the best results? Great businesses are built on unique insight and create execution. What unique insight do you have about your industry, market or product? What have you seen that is so obvious to you but your competitors haven’t noticed? What traffic sources are currently bringing in the highest quality leads? What are we doing that converts the most leads? What will your business never do for money no matter how enticing it may seem? What are the business’ greatest assets?
Example: “We have noticed that no one is using artificial intelligence to help people manage and multiply their money. We have also found a way to determine a person’s risk appetite based on their spending behavior. This is what makes us different.
Secondly, we have a mobile app, consulting practice and group coaching model for clients. we have noticed after surveying our clients that the web app and group coaching products are the most desired. We looked at the data and saw that 80 percent of our revenue comes from those two products. For this reason, we will no longer have the consulting practice.
Third, using webinars to show demonstrations of what our software can do has brought us the best clients. ”
Step 2 Who is the ideal client and what are his/her characteristics? Ask yourself this question, “if I only got paid after the client has the results I promised, which clients would I target?” A follow up question is “Which kind of customer can I get results for quickly with my eyes closed? ” What kind of client will you never work with no matter how much money they offer?
You want to pick one type of client who you understand, connect with and can get results for without absolute certainty.
Example : “My favorite kind of client is John. He is a 38 year old man who recently sold his first business for $200MM or more. He has a teen daughter and a 10 year old son. He lives in a major city such as London, Zurich or NYC. He is happily married, spends Saturdays at home and Sunday mornings at church.
He is looking for an automated way to manage and multiply his money. The reason he wants to multiply his money is so that he has enough to be able to start a new business in a few years without having to raise capital. “
Step 3 What’s unique or different about the product? At this point we want to know what you’re doing different with your product or service. What alternatives are people currently using? Before you, what were they doing to get their desired outcome?
Example “Before us people had to contact an advisor to help them manage their and multiply their money. The process was usually generic and not tailored to the client’s risk appetite or aspirations or spending behavior.
With our cloud based service, people are able to input a set of answers that our algorithm assesses and uses to suggest the top 3 investments in the market at anytime.”
Step 4 Our story, message and offer: What do our ideal prospects need to hear or see to become clients? What will you stand for? What are you against? What is the best way to describe what you do to a 4 year old? What incentives and reasons can you give them to buy from you? What do your prospects need to tell themselves so they are convinced that you are the right business to work with?
Your business’ message needs to be so well defined that no one can confuse you with a competitor.
Example “We started this business to make multiplying money easier for high net worth individuals.
We noticed people who had over $200MM in assets usually lost a lot of it due to poor advice about taxes and investing. Those who knew what they were doing usually got overwhelmed because they couldn’t find simple answers to pressing questions. Our business was built to stop greedy brokers from cheating unknowing prospects with high fees for little work done. ”
Here are some popular kinds of offers that you can copy and paste into your business- *Samples *Risk reversal *Try before you buy *Free trial *Free training *Free consultation *Bonuses *Buy 1 get 1 free *Free shipping *No money down *Small deposit plus deferred payments *Free gift when you come in *Only pay for shipping *Only pay for shipping, if you like it, keep it and I’ll charge you, if you don’t, keep it but I won’t charge you
Which of these will convince your ideal prospect to give you a chance?
A good offer is simply the system that turns a prospect into a client. It is made up of psychological and mental triggers that offer the prospect a compelling reason to give you money.
Step 4 What metrics should define your success? A business that makes most of its revenue from advertisers and sponsors needs a lot of traffic. A business that makes it’s money from affiliates and joint ventures needs more partners, endorsers and may even need to focus on syndication.
The metrics we like to focus on are 1 Conversion 2 Sales 3 Profits 4 Impact
Whatever your metrics are, you need to make sure they are always increasing. Some businesses even focus on getting at least 1000 new email addresses every week.
Example “The metrics we define our success by are daily active users and assets invested in our app.”
Step 5 What’s the current marketing and distribution strategy? How are people hearing about us? What are we doing to attract new leads? What are we doing to increase our sales and profits? What do our marketing systems and sales funnels look like? What campaigns are currently running and how are they performing? How much are we spending on promotion and how much are we getting back?
At this point we look at the business’ marketing and sales systems. For SaaS companies, consulting and professional services, these are the traffic sources that we have found to create the greatest ROI.
Traffic sources that work constantly
1 Syndicated endorsement and distribution When a trusted source either endorses or distributes your product to their clients, it’s more or less money without stress. Affiliates, joint ventures and strategic alliances fall under this bracket.
The reason this works so well is that someone else has already done a lot of work to get clients that trust them. When you get access to those clients, you make money without the years of work or money that the other person spent.
2 Education based Direct response marketing and advertising campaigns This is simply getting your prospects to respond by giving them answers and results in advance. A lot of your competition focuses on awareness based marketing where they talk about themselves instead of addressing what the prospect wants to know. Your bank or favorite cereal brand probably does this. DON’T COPY them. (unless you have millions of dollars of your marketing budget to waste. )
It’s important to note that the key to great advertising is that it has to be dynamic and based on the prospect’s behavior. One-size-fits-all marketing is a waste of time, energy and resources.
3 Establishing authority and expert status via promotion Promotion in this context includes PR, syndicated content, guest posts, interviews, speaking engagements, appearing in relevant trade journals/blogs/podcasts/magazines or even holding your own events etc
Step 6 What can we do to improve the performance of online assets It’s at this stage that we look at how the website and other online assets are performing. We have worked with businesses who have made most of their money coming from their efforts on Instagram. We’ve also worked with people who only use offline strategies such as direct mail.
At this stage we review landing pages, keywords, opt-in pages, email sequences, SEO, content strategy, copy et cetera.
We ask questions like… Is this message being communicated on all the touch points? Are the social media efforts increasing sales? Is each page optimized to direct the visitor? Are the landing pages optimized for relevant queries?
Step 7 Are the systems, funnels and back end sequences working as they should? In the penultimate stage, we find out if the client acquisition, conversion and retention systems are automated. These parts of the business should be set up before you even try to drive traffic to the website or office. This is an area where only 1 out of 10 business owners get right.
Conclusion You want to focus on 1-Attracting the right customers. 2-Automating your client acquisition, conversion and retention campaigns. 3-Increasing sales and multiplying profit per customer 4-Building a business that works for you without extra effort or overhead on your part.
Below is the link to Reddit
https://www.reddit.com/r/Entreprene...ple_steps_to_predictable_startup_growth_in_3/
Below is the link to Reddit.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Entreprene...ple_steps_to_predictable_startup_growth_in_3/
n 1972 when Bobby Fischer was playing Spassky, he used an opening from the 1800s called The Scotch Game to become World Champion. Everyone gasped because most Americans were using openings and styles that the Russians already knew how to defeat.
The Russians had trained themselves to recognize patterns and systems that would beat the Americans without much thinking. Their wins did not require much human discretion on the player’s part. The Scotch Game opening was unexpected because it opened up a more superior strategy that made Bobby Fischer’s name even more infamous.
I can count on one hand the number of entrepreneurs who have a solid strategy for becoming the leader in their field.
Setting up your business for success Strategy is when a restaurant owner says, “We’re going to focus on creating premium sandwiches and milkshakes for suburban neighborhoods.”
Tactics is when he says, “let’s use almond milk for the shakes instead of whole milk.” Or “let’s hand cut our fries and dip them in sea salt 2 minutes before they are served.” If you approach his business owner with an idea for a franchise that sells premium sandwiches in urban neighborhoods, he’ll reject the idea.
It’s not because the idea is bad but because it doesn’t fit in with his strategy. Strategy is the path you define for your business. Tactics are the different ways you choose to ply that path.
Your website, your ads and your blog are not your strategy.
When a business owner is accepted into our fold, the first thing I do is work on his business growth strategy.
This process usually involves restructuring the business model to focus on the most productive activities.
We do this because most entrepreneurs don’t know what to focus on. They are overwhelmed with too many things at the same time. I’m taking you behind the scenes so you can apply this process to your business.
Follow this process by answering these questions and implementing the insights you get.
I’ll use a fictional example of a software company that provides financial services. Whether you are a dentist or running a SaaS business, you can use this example.
Step 1 What’s unique about the business and what is currently bringing the best results? Great businesses are built on unique insight and create execution. What unique insight do you have about your industry, market or product? What have you seen that is so obvious to you but your competitors haven’t noticed? What traffic sources are currently bringing in the highest quality leads? What are we doing that converts the most leads? What will your business never do for money no matter how enticing it may seem? What are the business’ greatest assets?
Example: “We have noticed that no one is using artificial intelligence to help people manage and multiply their money. We have also found a way to determine a person’s risk appetite based on their spending behavior. This is what makes us different.
Secondly, we have a mobile app, consulting practice and group coaching model for clients. we have noticed after surveying our clients that the web app and group coaching products are the most desired. We looked at the data and saw that 80 percent of our revenue comes from those two products. For this reason, we will no longer have the consulting practice.
Third, using webinars to show demonstrations of what our software can do has brought us the best clients. ”
Step 2 Who is the ideal client and what are his/her characteristics? Ask yourself this question, “if I only got paid after the client has the results I promised, which clients would I target?” A follow up question is “Which kind of customer can I get results for quickly with my eyes closed? ” What kind of client will you never work with no matter how much money they offer?
You want to pick one type of client who you understand, connect with and can get results for without absolute certainty.
Example : “My favorite kind of client is John. He is a 38 year old man who recently sold his first business for $200MM or more. He has a teen daughter and a 10 year old son. He lives in a major city such as London, Zurich or NYC. He is happily married, spends Saturdays at home and Sunday mornings at church.
He is looking for an automated way to manage and multiply his money. The reason he wants to multiply his money is so that he has enough to be able to start a new business in a few years without having to raise capital. “
Step 3 What’s unique or different about the product? At this point we want to know what you’re doing different with your product or service. What alternatives are people currently using? Before you, what were they doing to get their desired outcome?
Example “Before us people had to contact an advisor to help them manage their and multiply their money. The process was usually generic and not tailored to the client’s risk appetite or aspirations or spending behavior.
With our cloud based service, people are able to input a set of answers that our algorithm assesses and uses to suggest the top 3 investments in the market at anytime.”
Step 4 Our story, message and offer: What do our ideal prospects need to hear or see to become clients? What will you stand for? What are you against? What is the best way to describe what you do to a 4 year old? What incentives and reasons can you give them to buy from you? What do your prospects need to tell themselves so they are convinced that you are the right business to work with?
Your business’ message needs to be so well defined that no one can confuse you with a competitor.
Example “We started this business to make multiplying money easier for high net worth individuals.
We noticed people who had over $200MM in assets usually lost a lot of it due to poor advice about taxes and investing. Those who knew what they were doing usually got overwhelmed because they couldn’t find simple answers to pressing questions. Our business was built to stop greedy brokers from cheating unknowing prospects with high fees for little work done. ”
Here are some popular kinds of offers that you can copy and paste into your business- *Samples *Risk reversal *Try before you buy *Free trial *Free training *Free consultation *Bonuses *Buy 1 get 1 free *Free shipping *No money down *Small deposit plus deferred payments *Free gift when you come in *Only pay for shipping *Only pay for shipping, if you like it, keep it and I’ll charge you, if you don’t, keep it but I won’t charge you
Which of these will convince your ideal prospect to give you a chance?
A good offer is simply the system that turns a prospect into a client. It is made up of psychological and mental triggers that offer the prospect a compelling reason to give you money.
Step 4 What metrics should define your success? A business that makes most of its revenue from advertisers and sponsors needs a lot of traffic. A business that makes it’s money from affiliates and joint ventures needs more partners, endorsers and may even need to focus on syndication.
The metrics we like to focus on are 1 Conversion 2 Sales 3 Profits 4 Impact
Whatever your metrics are, you need to make sure they are always increasing. Some businesses even focus on getting at least 1000 new email addresses every week.
Example “The metrics we define our success by are daily active users and assets invested in our app.”
Step 5 What’s the current marketing and distribution strategy? How are people hearing about us? What are we doing to attract new leads? What are we doing to increase our sales and profits? What do our marketing systems and sales funnels look like? What campaigns are currently running and how are they performing? How much are we spending on promotion and how much are we getting back?
At this point we look at the business’ marketing and sales systems. For SaaS companies, consulting and professional services, these are the traffic sources that we have found to create the greatest ROI.
Traffic sources that work constantly
1 Syndicated endorsement and distribution When a trusted source either endorses or distributes your product to their clients, it’s more or less money without stress. Affiliates, joint ventures and strategic alliances fall under this bracket.
The reason this works so well is that someone else has already done a lot of work to get clients that trust them. When you get access to those clients, you make money without the years of work or money that the other person spent.
2 Education based Direct response marketing and advertising campaigns This is simply getting your prospects to respond by giving them answers and results in advance. A lot of your competition focuses on awareness based marketing where they talk about themselves instead of addressing what the prospect wants to know. Your bank or favorite cereal brand probably does this. DON’T COPY them. (unless you have millions of dollars of your marketing budget to waste. )
It’s important to note that the key to great advertising is that it has to be dynamic and based on the prospect’s behavior. One-size-fits-all marketing is a waste of time, energy and resources.
3 Establishing authority and expert status via promotion Promotion in this context includes PR, syndicated content, guest posts, interviews, speaking engagements, appearing in relevant trade journals/blogs/podcasts/magazines or even holding your own events etc
Step 6 What can we do to improve the performance of online assets It’s at this stage that we look at how the website and other online assets are performing. We have worked with businesses who have made most of their money coming from their efforts on Instagram. We’ve also worked with people who only use offline strategies such as direct mail.
At this stage we review landing pages, keywords, opt-in pages, email sequences, SEO, content strategy, copy et cetera.
We ask questions like… Is this message being communicated on all the touch points? Are the social media efforts increasing sales? Is each page optimized to direct the visitor? Are the landing pages optimized for relevant queries?
Step 7 Are the systems, funnels and back end sequences working as they should? In the penultimate stage, we find out if the client acquisition, conversion and retention systems are automated. These parts of the business should be set up before you even try to drive traffic to the website or office. This is an area where only 1 out of 10 business owners get right.
Conclusion You want to focus on 1-Attracting the right customers. 2-Automating your client acquisition, conversion and retention campaigns. 3-Increasing sales and multiplying profit per customer 4-Building a business that works for you without extra effort or overhead on your part.
Below is the link to Reddit
https://www.reddit.com/r/Entreprene...ple_steps_to_predictable_startup_growth_in_3/
Dislike ads? Become a Fastlane member:
Subscribe today and surround yourself with winners and millionaire mentors, not those broke friends who only want to drink beer and play video games. :-)
Membership Required: Upgrade to Expose Nearly 1,000,000 Posts
Ready to Unleash the Millionaire Entrepreneur in You?
Become a member of the Fastlane Forum, the private community founded by best-selling author and multi-millionaire entrepreneur MJ DeMarco. Since 2007, MJ DeMarco has poured his heart and soul into the Fastlane Forum, helping entrepreneurs reclaim their time, win their financial freedom, and live their best life.
With more than 39,000 posts packed with insights, strategies, and advice, you’re not just a member—you’re stepping into MJ’s inner-circle, a place where you’ll never be left alone.
Become a member and gain immediate access to...
- Active Community: Ever join a community only to find it DEAD? Not at Fastlane! As you can see from our home page, life-changing content is posted dozens of times daily.
- Exclusive Insights: Direct access to MJ DeMarco’s daily contributions and wisdom.
- Powerful Networking Opportunities: Connect with a diverse group of successful entrepreneurs who can offer mentorship, collaboration, and opportunities.
- Proven Strategies: Learn from the best in the business, with actionable advice and strategies that can accelerate your success.
"You are the average of the five people you surround yourself with the most..."
Who are you surrounding yourself with? Surround yourself with millionaire success. Join Fastlane today!
Join Today
