About 20…
“That’s how the super rich talk: they just say 5… 20…” Funny thing, that’s how your ideal customers also talk: in a natural way, with a big number, in terms of money. When you’re selling, you have to not think with your own pocket. You have to align with what they can afford and where they see the upside. Value is subjective. And the things they value, have a different appearance to what you see. Can you say to your customer “It’s $ 10 000” without giggling or breaking character? Try it…
Customers are idiots
“Not my customers. They’re fucking brilliant.You’re fucking brilliant.And I respect you.” Noel Gallagher Here’s the thing Customers are not always right. They’ll always be right on what they want (as the outcome). They’ll most likely be wrong in what they need, or on what they want as the solution. You’re the expert. You show them the door to a better place. You lead them through moving forward to not stay the same. Focus on that “1%”. 🙂
A quick question
On the last set of emails I’ve been sending links/vids/shorts to illustrate them a bit more —and in some, to make the starting point of the dailies. How do you feel about them? You can just reply with a 👍 or a 👎. Would really appreciate what you have to say. 🙂
I used to be part of a cult
Yup. Buying into an idea and not quite questioning deeply… until I did: Category Creation. The main argument is that it… “involves the creation of new categories of products and services to introduce to the market. […] Category designers present their products and services under a new category and educates the market on that category.” And while this sounds awesome, it’s not really “creating” a category. To create a category, it needs not to be existing before. And here’s the thing:…
Knowing for a fact
“This industry is very conservative and saving-costs-oriented. We (I) have to be price-competitive.” Have you been in that place? Or heard someone saying that? If so, how do you know for a fact that’s the case? Today I heard that argument. And it might be valid. The next thing to question for you, if you’ve been in that place is: If they’re “saving-costs-oriented”, do they buy and invest in expensive things? If your prospects do (invest in expensive things), it’s not a saving-costs-oriented…
Revenue will *kill* your business
Wait, WHAT?! In the long term, revenue can (and will) kill your business. And this is not about the lack of revenue, but of your revenue stream. When left unchecked, you’ll get played by how much money you can be making. However, how much money goes into your business means nothing when your margins are thin. And here’s where pricing comes into play. Pricing is not about growth —or even revenue. It’s about how to maximize the margins to keep the business at its best. This is why pricing…
On revenue and your business.
Yesterday’s message was about revenue will kill your business. That is, if you’re only looking for it as the metric to follow (revenue = vanity metric). Here’s the thing Revenue alone doesn’t dictate or even diagnose if a business is doing good or bad. Profit, on the other side, does. While having multiple revenue streams is a great thing to have, if you don’t keep those on check, all your efforts will make little difference. It’ll be ultimately a race to zero. And the worst is that you can…
Killing innovation
Following vanity metrics kills innovation. If you’re following revenue as your key metric, you might be on a sketchy path. This might be obvious: higher margins would let you get a healthier business. High vs Low Margin One will let you serve your market at your best and focus on how to bring your customers even more value (value = what they do care about). The other, might be so thin that will focus you on how to keep most of it. And this —guaranteed— will default you to a state of…
I’ll bankrupt your business
Dumb strategy Problem creation Fake Inauthentic Waste money Have you seen businesses claiming any of these? If not, then what’s the reason to say the opposite? If you’re in business, your customers will expect (as the bare minimum) for you to… bring a smart strategy come with problem solving / solutions be the real/authentic you create value (and return money) If your messaging is about what everybody else claims, what would make you different? What is that thing that makes you stand out?…
Ed Sheeran Live: a scam
If you hear you can see Ed Sheeran playing live, next to you, and all you have to do is pay $2. What’s the first thing that comes to your mind? What if next to it, you can get a ticket to Ed Sheeran’s concert that’s 300+ euros, and sell it to you for 200? (Just to humor me, if you don’t like him, pretend you do for this one time 😁) Which one would you choose? That’s what happens to your customers when you go on the lowest possible price to “win” deals. Here’s proof: [Youtube vid 5:55 mins]…