A process to validate an idea, to generate demand first, and then generate supply. The idea is to conduct tests of 30/150 samples for each of the 4 acronyms. Keep testing until you find the right thing to sell, the right audience to sell to, the right offer, the right price, etc. Once you solved the puzzle, you stop testing and repeat the same process.

  • C - Concept
    • Making sure the idea is a good concept
  • A - Audience
    • Building an audience. Who is this service/product for?
  • O - Offer
    • Presenting them with multiple offers to see what they like
  • S - Sale
    • Figuring out how we are going to sell what they liked to a wider audience

The Fundamentals of Business

  • Demand and Supply is everything
    • If there is a lot more supply than demand, price is low
    • If there is more demand than supply, price is high
    • Myth: If you do a really good job, you will get paid well
    • Truth: If you create a demand/supply tension, you will get paid well
      • In other words, you have to create more demand than supply in your business
  • The rules of fairness do not apply in business
    • Examples
      • An airline company is really hard to run, you need to be almost perfect every time, it is expensive, and they only make 3-7% margins
      • A supermarket chains are sell “food” one of the things humans need to survive, yet they have 3-5% margins
      • A Rolex watch is not needed, it only tells time, there any many cheap alternatives, but they have 75% margins
    • Why is the prices of food and airlines so low compared to Rolex?
      • The airlines and supermarkets are focused on supply
      • Rolex knows how to create a demand/supply tension
  • Why do people buy?
    • People have to be at least 90% sure they want to buy something before they actually do
    • For people to just show interest (waiting list, registration of interest list, complete a quiz), people only have to be 10-20% sure they want to buy
      • People only have to be early in the buying process
      • After they get on the list or do the quiz, we can then start to warm them up

How to generate leads?

It is in the process of getting leads that you manufacture the environment where you have more demand for your business than supply.

  • Don’t promote the product, start with a
    • Waiting list
      • Product/Service has not been created
    • Registration of Interest
      • You can fulfill/start at any time
    • Assessment/Quiz
    • Important
      • On each of these lists/quiz, you need to ask questions that will put your leads into groups. You then will select the best leads to work with.
      • You can charge for the assessment or make it free
  • Create demand/supply tension
    • You have to tell/show people you have limited capacity
      • Examples
        • I have a capacity of 10 people and we have 100 on the wait list
        • We can’t take you on as a client just yet, but if you want, you can join our discussion group
  • Meet with the lead
    • Meet to discuss the results of the assessment. Tell them again that you do not work with everyone and that you have limited capacity, and that you may only provide them with some resources for them.

Creating Demand Examples

  • Music Festival - You cannot buy tickets to the festival, you first have to register for your interest in attending the show. They get 700k people to register on the list and then they send out an email. They then tell you that they are going to let you buy the tickets on one day and only for 30 minutes. They also tell you that 700k people have registered but they only can have 130k tickets for sale. Tickets sell out in 6 minutes.
  • Tell them that you only have a limited amount of time/slots and that you only work with a specific type of customer. This is done so you only work for your ideal client (the person you enjoy working with and the person you can provide the most value to) and this is also done to create a feeling that you are in demand.
  • Professional speaker - He used to promote himself as a professional speaker, “book me as a professional speaker”, download my rates pdf, download my speaking keynotes, etc. He changed it to, if you are have a conference coming up, I have a registration of interest page you can fill and I will get back to you. This page asks questions like “how many people will be attending?”, “is it free tickets or paid tickets?”, etc. He then uses those responses to tell the clients he wants to work with how many conferences he is able to take on and how many he has been asked to participate in, thus he creates demand.
  • Show maker - The show you want it not available in that size, the company then asks you to fill out a form and they will tell you when it is available. You then get an email a few weeks afterwards, it says good news your shoe is available and here is a small discount.

Notes

  • When you are an entrepreneur, you are looking at a problem that exists and you are trying to come up with a solution that fits that problem
    • A business finds a solution to what the customer wants
  • When you have come out of a school system, you are developing a skill set and you are trying to find an employer that needs those skills
    • An employee tries to market their skills to an employer

The 3 Part year

  • Annual | Main message - A main message for the year
  • Quarterly | Spotlight Campaigns - Every quarter there is something new, something different, a new product
  • Weekly | Perfect Repeatable Week - The boring things we do every week of the year. These are all the things you do every week over and over. Rinse and repeat.
    • Examples
      • Every Sunday we take out an ad that generates leads, every Wednesday do a live introduction workshop, and we followed up with the leads
        • An introduction event should not be about the product/service you are selling. This is based on the principle of “problem-aware” vs. “solution-aware” customers. Many potential customers are aware of their problems or challenges but may not know about the solutions available. By creating an introductory course that addresses the problem or pain point, you are creating demand for your solution.