Where are the buyers?
One of the biggest mistakes people make in business is coming up with a product "everyone needs." They think that because the "market is so big" they'll make more money.
A year or so ago I saw a very interesting documentary about QVC and the Home Shopping Network (HSN). There was a couple on there who thought they'd invented the ultimate product--something everyone "needed." It was, get this, a "toothbrush washer"--what you'd do is store your toothbrush in the special disinfecting "hoopty-hoop" and your toothbrush would always be clean.
Here's the interesting part, though: they thought that since everyone "needed one" that they'd better go ahead and make up a huge inventory, before doing any testing.
So, they mortgaged their house, borrowed a bunch of money, and had 500,000 of these things produced. That's right, 500,000 widgets, stored in a warehouse before they even did any marketing. They were so deep in debt, they had no clue what they were going to do.
Now, to their credit, they did get on QVC with a successful show, selling 50,000 of them, leaving them still in debt, with 450,000 left to go. Ouch (QVC takes a lot, and you don't get the customer).
This is no way to run a business. Maybe these people got lucky, and their invention took off, and they made a bit of money. But, even if they did, they're not left with anything because they didn't get the name of the customer.
Here's a much better way to design and build a business. Find out where the buyers of high dollar products are--you can do that by going to the SRDS and looking through all the mailing lists.
Let me give you an example: I have a friend of mine who sells a marketing kit to auto repair shop owners. I'm not sure on the exact numbers, but there's about 80,000 of them in the country.
They're used to spending lots of money on employees, overhead, equipment, etc., so for them to buy a marketing kit for $1,000.00
to $2,000.00 is no big deal. And, once they buy the marketing
kit, my friend has a continuity program for them, plus a very high dollar coaching program. They love his stuff because they make a lot more money with a lot less time in their business as a result of his marketing kit.
Now, think about this: how many kits does he have to sell in a month to make a lot of money--50? 100? Because he's focusing on a small niche he knows inside and out, he's able to make a ton of dough with little time invested because he's dealing with such a small group of customers who like him and buy over and over and over.
This is the key to success in business, thinking "small," and not "large." Businesspeople who try to sell a "product everyone needs" to the whole world tend to go broke in a big way. Business people who focus on a small niche tend to amass fortunes in a big way.
So... the "Mr. X. Lesson" for today is, think SMALL in your business, not large!
Let's get to it...
Mr. X.
Group M Marketing
Kimble and Kennedy Publishing
A year or so ago I saw a very interesting documentary about QVC and the Home Shopping Network (HSN). There was a couple on there who thought they'd invented the ultimate product--something everyone "needed." It was, get this, a "toothbrush washer"--what you'd do is store your toothbrush in the special disinfecting "hoopty-hoop" and your toothbrush would always be clean.
Here's the interesting part, though: they thought that since everyone "needed one" that they'd better go ahead and make up a huge inventory, before doing any testing.
So, they mortgaged their house, borrowed a bunch of money, and had 500,000 of these things produced. That's right, 500,000 widgets, stored in a warehouse before they even did any marketing. They were so deep in debt, they had no clue what they were going to do.
Now, to their credit, they did get on QVC with a successful show, selling 50,000 of them, leaving them still in debt, with 450,000 left to go. Ouch (QVC takes a lot, and you don't get the customer).
This is no way to run a business. Maybe these people got lucky, and their invention took off, and they made a bit of money. But, even if they did, they're not left with anything because they didn't get the name of the customer.
Here's a much better way to design and build a business. Find out where the buyers of high dollar products are--you can do that by going to the SRDS and looking through all the mailing lists.
Let me give you an example: I have a friend of mine who sells a marketing kit to auto repair shop owners. I'm not sure on the exact numbers, but there's about 80,000 of them in the country.
They're used to spending lots of money on employees, overhead, equipment, etc., so for them to buy a marketing kit for $1,000.00
to $2,000.00 is no big deal. And, once they buy the marketing
kit, my friend has a continuity program for them, plus a very high dollar coaching program. They love his stuff because they make a lot more money with a lot less time in their business as a result of his marketing kit.
Now, think about this: how many kits does he have to sell in a month to make a lot of money--50? 100? Because he's focusing on a small niche he knows inside and out, he's able to make a ton of dough with little time invested because he's dealing with such a small group of customers who like him and buy over and over and over.
This is the key to success in business, thinking "small," and not "large." Businesspeople who try to sell a "product everyone needs" to the whole world tend to go broke in a big way. Business people who focus on a small niche tend to amass fortunes in a big way.
So... the "Mr. X. Lesson" for today is, think SMALL in your business, not large!
Let's get to it...
Mr. X.
Group M Marketing
Kimble and Kennedy Publishing
