10 replies
1 Sell to a market that are proven buyers

2 Clearly define what that one person, who represents your ideal customer,
wants in a outcome

3 Prove in as many ways as possible you can deliver the outcome

4 Make an offer that is the obvious choice by eliminating all other alternatives.

All else is just "nice to know" filler
which doesn't have the same impact as mastering those 4 power principles.

Best,
Doctor E. Vile
#80 or 20 #advertising
  • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
    As always, great advice.

    I would only add to number one; 1 Sell to a market that are proven buyers

    Find the factors that make them far more likely to buy, in the way that you sell. That way, you can get the 20%...of the 20%... that are the 4% that are the best buyers.

    For example, if you find that Chiropractors tare your best market, fin the group, inside the group, that are the most likely to buy from you. For example, Chiropractors that also pay for PPC advertising.


    For example, I found, when selling vacuum cleaners in people's homes, that only 4-6% of the homeowners were highly likely to buy from me. So I took the qualifications that the 4% had in common, and only prospected those people. And, because I knew they were highly qualified..and highly likely to buy...(two different things) I would spend time and money to get to see these people. And my time wasn't wasted.

    When I asked for referrals, I made sure the referrals were in that very select group. When I cold called, I asked questions, right away, to make sure they were in that select group. Why? Because a full presentation took 2-3 hours. And I only wanted to pitch one (at max two) a day. So, one wasted presentation...was a wasted day.
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    • Profile picture of the author ewenmack
      Originally Posted by Claude Whitacre View Post

      As always, great advice.

      I would only add to number one; 1 Sell to a market that are proven buyers

      .
      Claude, you've showed us in the past how you got hold
      of a list of high probability buyers...

      1 They bought from a in home presentation

      2 They brought a vacuum cleaner in the same
      price range as you

      3 They replace them at about the time you contact them.

      Shows you've mastered high probability selling.

      Best,
      Doctor E. Vile
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      • Profile picture of the author Oziboomer
        Originally Posted by ewenmack View Post

        Shows you've mastered high probability selling.
        The high probability here is that the 20% of the 20% of the 20% of people who have seen this thread have any valuable addition, understanding or notion of where it could go.

        Here's hoping 19 more people will contribute and open up discussion so we can test a few theories.

        Then it will snowball...
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        • Profile picture of the author savidge4
          I am currently selling a service that does not really have a list of proven buyers. Well except big corporate names like Apple and Microsoft and Google Etc.

          Part of my pre contact pre-qualification process is then seeking out potential clients that I can assert the value of my service against the money they are spending in other places. I sell Conversion Rate Optimization ( CRO ). I look for companies that use paid online advertising - I go even deeper here, and seek out companies that do so on multiple platforms. The value in my service then becomes Decreasing Customer Acquisition Costs ( CAC ). Basically the higher the conversion, the better overall ROI.

          Not so much a list of potential clients that have purchased before, but a list of potential clients that are spending money and obviously have an interest in decreased CAC and increased ROI.
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      • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
        Originally Posted by ewenmack View Post

        Claude, you've showed us in the past how you got hold
        of a list of high probability buyers...

        1 They bought from a in home presentation

        2 They brought a vacuum cleaner in the same
        price range as you

        3 They replace them at about the time you contact them.

        Shows you've mastered high probability selling.

        Best,
        Doctor E. Vile
        The 4% of 4% is just who I was after . But the math isn't perfect.

        For example;
        If I pitched my vacuum to anyone who would let me, regardless of qualifications, I would get about 15-20% of them to buy. So, I would have near unlimited prospects, with a 15% close rate. Many salespeople would just keep that ratio, because they were guaranteed to be busy. I did it like this the first several years.

        If I qualified for credit, my sales jumped to about 40%..but I would be seeing about a third as many people, because I qualified on the phone. So, I may have spent 10% more time prospecting, and 66% less time demonstrating. A far more profitable mix, per hour.

        When I eventually only presented to people who had proven that they were likely to buy (whether they knew it or not), my sales went to about 80%. But I really wasn't spending more time prospecting...because now, nearly all my sales were by referral, past customers, and to customers of other salespeople.

        So, the scale isn't a perfect sliding scale. Meaning, the 20% of the 20% really took no more time to find, that the original 20%.

        It doesn't work that way when you are selling online. The marketing takes over much more of the selling, and the math becomes much more important.
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        • Profile picture of the author Oziboomer
          Originally Posted by Claude Whitacre View Post

          The 4% of 4% is just who I was after . But the math isn't perfect
          When I eventually only presented to people who had proven that they were likely to buy (whether they knew it or not), my sales went to about 80%. But I really wasn't spending more time prospecting...because now, nearly all my sales were by referral, past customers, and to customers of other salespeople.

          So, the scale isn't a perfect sliding scale. Meaning, the 20% of the 20% really took no more time to find, that the original 20%.

          It doesn't work that way when you are selling online. The marketing takes over much more of the selling, and the math becomes much more important.
          People often talk about studying sales funnels and many gurus sell their ideas on sales funnels.

          Many people believe it is the hidden funnel inside their system that brings success and ongoing profit....

          ...BUT....

          I suspect it is the pre-filtering and qualification stages that Claude and Ewen demonstrate by sharing the front end that is in many cases the reason there is success on the back end.

          There is a wonderful momentum achieved when you have the referral flow coupled with the pre-qualifying marketing that pushes people to their "tipping point" and then the magic happens when the skill of a respectful sales engineer guides their goose forwards into a lifetime of golden servitude where both parties benefit by their ongoing relationship of respect for each other.
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          • Profile picture of the author savidge4
            I would somewhat disagree with this. The front end of a funnel requires an action. That action is backed by Motivation. The Motivation could be a number of things, but the presents of the "Tipping Point" is already there at least to some extent. The Funnel and its content is then only needed to increase the motivation, and or the Value plus manipulating a few other variables to create the conversion. I went into the math on this in another thread, I am sure you all have read that.

            Pre qualification as I see it is totally different, equating buying patterns and say in Claudes case the timing in those patterns is a totally different beast. Personally I deal with Satellite Internet and Television. each of these are on 2 year contracts. ( far less cycle time than Claude's what is it 7 years? ) The likelihood of a sale at the end of that 2 yr cycle has great potential. 90% of the battle is knowing when that period ends. - This is information can get easily extracted from a home owner on a cold call. The Contact info and the contract date gets put into the "Buyers list"

            The assembly of a pre qualified list is looking at the probability of the purchase taking place within a very narrowed group or audience. A funnel is like dangling a Carrot at the masses and anyone with the Motivation will click the carrot. The Carrot IS the pre-qualifier, but not the knowledge of having bought before.

            But once through the 1st funnel, and you get on the "buyers list" THEN the outlook of probability comes into play. If they bought once, they will buy again.


            Originally Posted by Oziboomer View Post

            People often talk about studying sales funnels and many gurus sell their ideas on sales funnels.

            Many people believe it is the hidden funnel inside their system that brings success and ongoing profit....

            ...BUT....

            I suspect it is the pre-filtering and qualification stages that Claude and Ewen demonstrate by sharing the front end that is in many cases the reason there is success on the back end.

            There is a wonderful momentum achieved when you have the referral flow coupled with the pre-qualifying marketing that pushes people to their "tipping point" and then the magic happens when the skill of a respectful sales engineer guides their goose forwards into a lifetime of golden servitude where both parties benefit by their ongoing relationship of respect for each other.
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          • Profile picture of the author ewenmack
            I'm seeing the opportunity for big ticket home renovations
            using a little known fact about getting home listings where
            the first realtor talking with a homeseller in their
            home gets the listing something in the 80% plus range.

            The ad angle for a Austin Texas kitchen remodeler
            is to get a kitchen plan of your dreams good enough
            to take to any kitchen remodeler.

            This is getting them in their homes and the new kitchen
            design has input by the lady of the home.

            2 things this achieves...

            1 she can't refuse what she help creat and loves

            2 this is the first remodeling company in the buyers home.

            I've advised a variation of this for a kitchen granite supplier and installer
            as well a company that does re-roofing, siding and windows.

            For the roofing company it takes them out of a utility
            with no appeal to spend money on to have street appeal to the woman of the home
            when she sees what her home can look like with a whole makeover.

            This becomes a low price offer experience with low perceived risk in
            dealing with a contractor.

            There's ways to build lots of value in the proposition which nicely sets
            up a great buying environment.

            Anyway, this covers creating a way to be the first in front of a buyer
            so not only get more to buy, but sets up the close without
            discounting or using tactics that the public find abhorrent.

            Best,
            Doctor E. Vile
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  • Profile picture of the author Oziboomer
    Thanks Ewen,

    Here's a tool from Perry Marshall that people can use to calculate a variety of predicted outcomes based on his 8020 book.

    80/20 Curve

    It also shows and explains why the 20% of the 20% that Claude is talking about exist and what price point you can hit them at.

    Have some fun with it.

    I used it to demonstrate to one of my clients who had an average sale of their particular services at $6K that there was a market for a premium version of the same service at around $140K.
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  • Profile picture of the author bizgrower
    You could use this data to create actions that will likely lead your 4% to refer you to more of the 4%.

    Another math guy in marketing (no affiliate link). I saw him speak. Amazing.:
    Embracing the N.u.d.e. Model - The New Art and...Embracing the N.u.d.e. Model - The New Art and...
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    "If you think you're the smartest person in the room, then you're probably in the wrong room."

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