Ready, Fire, Aim: Zero to $100 Million in No Time Flat
von Michael Masterson
Getting your product right is a very important goal, but it should not be your priority in Stage One, because it is impossible to know what "right" is until you get feedback from your customers. Money and time invested in perfecting the product before it goes to market are often wasted. What may seem like thoughtful improvements in planning may be deemed by the customer to be unnecessary or even undesirable. The formula is very simple. Figure out how much a customer will spend with you, on average, over a lifetime. Deduct the cost of goods from that. Then deduct a percentage of your overhead. And then figure out and deduct how much you want to profit from that customer. The final number is your allowable acquisition cost-the amount of money you can "spend" (i.e., lose) to attract a first-time buyer.
The formula is very simple. Figure out how much a customer will spend with you, on average, over a lifetime. Deduct the cost of goods from that. Then deduct a percentage of your overhead. And then figure out and deduct how much you want to profit from that customer. The final number is your allowable acquisition cost-the amount of money you can "spend" (i.e., lose) to attract a first-time buyer.
In the long run, I believe, a customer-oriented business will be more profitable and easier to run. That is because when customers are treated well, they stick around longer, buy more products, and recommend your business to their friends and colleagues.If you take my advice and establish this kind of benign but fuzzy concept as your main purpose for being in business, you will be happy later.
For a business to grow into a $100 million or a $300 million enterprise, it must be very good, if not great, in five areas:1. Coming up with new and useful product ideas.2. Selling those products profitably.3. Managing processes and procedures efficiently.4. Finding great employees to do the work.5. Getting people, procedures, products, and promotions going.
The most important thing, by far, is starting with a good product, a product that provides a big benefit to the customer. The benefit has to be so big, in fact, that it's easy to communicate. The moment your customer hears about it, he has to be able to see himself benefiting from it. That's a good product, one that offers that kind of huge, instant appeal.
Make sales your company's top priority. Spend 80 percent of your time overseeing marketing and sales. Don't delegate this role to someone else. Do consult with and hire good marketers and copywriters, but never let them run your business for you. In the first stage, the driving force of your business is sales. As CEO, you need to be in the driver's seat.
"Getting your product right is a very important goal, but it should not be your priority in Stage One, because it is impossible to know what "right" is until you get feedback from your customers. Money and time invested in perfecting the product before it goes to market are often wasted. What may seem like thoughtful improvements in planning may be deemed by the customer to be unnecessary or even undesirable."
"The formula is very simple. Figure out how much a customer will spend with you, on average, over a lifetime. Deduct the cost of goods from that. Then deduct a percentage of your overhead. And then figure out and deduct how much you want to profit from that customer. The final number is your allowable acquisition cost-the amount of money you can "spend" (i.e., lose) to attract a first-time buyer."
"In the long run, I believe, a customer-oriented business will be more profitable and easier to run. That is because when customers are treated well, they stick around longer, buy more products, and recommend your business to their friends and colleagues.If you take my advice and establish this kind of benign but fuzzy concept as your main purpose for being in business, you will be happy later."
"For a business to grow into a $100 million or a $300 million enterprise, it must be very good, if not great, in five areas:1. Coming up with new and useful product ideas.2. Selling those products profitably.3. Managing processes and procedures efficiently.4. Finding great employees to do the work.5. Getting people, procedures, products, and promotions going."
"The most important thing, by far, is starting with a good product, a product that provides a big benefit to the customer. The benefit has to be so big, in fact, that it's easy to communicate. The moment your customer hears about it, he has to be able to see himself benefiting from it. That's a good product, one that offers that kind of huge, instant appeal."
"Make sales your company's top priority. Spend 80 percent of your time overseeing marketing and sales. Don't delegate this role to someone else. Do consult with and hire good marketers and copywriters, but never let them run your business for you. In the first stage, the driving force of your business is sales. As CEO, you need to be in the driver's seat."
"What's most critical to know about any business is invisible to newcomers. No amount of planning or preparation is going to change that. The key to being successful with start-ups is having a good general idea of what you want to do but being flexible enough to change plans quickly as you discover the invisible secrets of the market you've jumped into."
- →When you create me-too products, you are imitating something that is already being sold. As such, you are following the market. To be consistently successful, you have to anticipate the market, not follow it. And the way to do that is by creating products that are not entirely new, just a little bit better than the hottest thing out there.
- →Find out what products are currently hot in the market.2. Determine if your product idea fits that trend.3. If it does, you're set to go. If it doesn't, follow steps 4 and 5.4. Come up with me-too versions of several hot products.5. Improve them in some way by adding features or benefits the originals lack.
- →The first thing he needed to do-and the main thing he should be spending his money on at that point-was to find out howmuch it would cost him to acquire an online client, and how much net revenue that client would be worth. That, I said, would cost him about $50,000, not a million.
- →In my earlier days, I was a big proponent of setting revenue and profit targets. I don't like to use those now, because I think they send the wrong message. I want all my clients' employees to spend their time thinking about making and/or selling great products.
Ähnliche Bücher gesucht?
Beschreibe deine Situation. Die Suche findet das passende Buch aus der gesamten Bibliothek.