mastermind marketing system &referral system &Risk Reversal Martin Lee on 10 Aug 2007 02:04 am
The Three Most Powerful Ways to Increase Business – Increasing Your Number of Clients
This is part 4 of a 12-part comprehensive summary of Mastermind Marketing System.
A Trick Question
How many ways are there to grow your business?
Not 1000, not 100, not 10. There are only three things you need to focus on:
1) Increase the number of clients.
2) Increase the size of the transaction.
3) Increase the frequency of the transaction.
Apply all three at the same time and you’ll get geometric growth. For example, a 10% increase in each of the three categories will give you a total of not 30% growth, but a compounded growth of 33.1%.
Most companies focus only on the first way. Getting more clients.
This is the slowest and least effective option of the three ways. It takes a lot of effort to find a new prospect and to convince him to buy from you the first time. It is far easier to get him to buy from you again.
But let’s look at a dozen ways to increase your number of clients:
1) Know your attrition rate and reduce or eliminate it.
2) Formally and systematically train sales staff or people in your company who have direct contact with the public in consultative, advisory selling.
3) Look at the process used to target your clients.
4) Establish a formalised or systemised referral system. A referred client buys the most, refers the most people and costs the least to acquire. Therefore, before you start looking at the other ways to increase the number of your customers, you should look at setting up a referral system.
5) Normally, people will follow what everyone else is doing in their industry for customer creation or revenue generation. Go outside your industry.
6) Acquire clients at breakeven upfront and make profits on the backend. Make it easier for them to say yes by lowering the price or giving them more bonuses. If you recognise this fact, you will have more money to spend on your marketing, advertising, commissions, referral fees, etc.
But first of all, you will need to calculate the marginal networth or lifetime value of a client. Look at your number of active clients (and the attrition rate), how often they buy from you and how much they buy from you. Calculate the worst case outcome and use it as your baseline.
7) Risk Reversal
Every time two people comes together to transact a business, one side is always asking (either explicitly or implicitly) the other party to assume more or all of the risk in the transaction.
If you can recognise and eliminate the risk, it will give you tremendous growth of new clients.
Help the client visualise what your performance satisfaction looks like, and give them a guarantee on the benefit or the result.
8 ) Host Beneficiary Relationships (Or joint ventures).
9) Advertising.
10) Using direct mail.
11) Running special events and information nights.
12) Acquiring qualified lists.
13) Developing a USP.
14) Use of public relations and articles.
Think about it. If you are currently using X number of ways to get new clients, what will happen if you start using X + Y number of ways?
End of summary.
Reminder: If you have not registered or couldn’t make it for the rebroadcast of Jay’s “Master of Passive Income” training previously, there are a few more sessions just added. Here’s the registration link again. Registration is free.
on 10 Aug 2007 at 3:11 pm 1.Paul said …
Martin
Another excellent summary of the essential thinking of Jay.
The 3 Eays To Grow A Business comes up in just about everything you can hear or read about Jay but constant repetition is what is needed.
Too often people hear but don’t listen, listen but don’t action, action but don’t test and optimise.
on 10 Aug 2007 at 6:33 pm 2.Wilbur said …
A good way to discourage reads of your blog is with the “content link” system that pops up little obnoxious boxes when you move the mouse around.
It is especially bad when you roll your mouse over “Continue Reading” and it pops up a little blurb about “psychic readings”.
With that nonsense, I will probably never return… which means I’ll never be a customer… which means I’ll never refer anyone to you….
on 11 Aug 2007 at 6:10 am 3.John B said …
Martin,
Nice summary. After going through alot of Jay’s material, I’ve found it useful to ask, why, why something works.
I can think of one industry in particular, everyone is smart, they all want to make money.
The top dealers have been in the business 20+ years, working 40-50-60 hours a week, they do upper 6, low 7 figures in sales, and yet no one has even spent a minute working on the 3 boxes in 3 ways to grow a business. Everyone goes after new customers automatically.
I think the lesson is…
-Question what everyone is doing “automatically” or unconsciously.
-Always focus on the best result/the best combination for the client/customer. Don’t just sell to sell.
-Just playing around with the variables (boxes), I think you have a big advantage vs your unconscious/automatic competitors.
John
on 11 Aug 2007 at 9:26 pm 4.Alvin Huang said …
Though simple in theory, this methodology by Jay Abraham is universal and can be applied to all forms of businesses. The exponential effect is simply tremendous if managed right.
Now the more important question remains. Which of our marketing activities are geared towards improving these 3 points of clients number, size of transaction and transaction frequency.
If we categorize your marketing activities by these 3 areas, we will realise that you are most likely only working on 1 or 2 areas. I.e Leaving money on the table…
Regards,
Alvin Huang
on 15 Aug 2007 at 4:48 am 5.Michael said …
Good review.
I would also add create new products and services to this list of 3.
If there are any readers who have read Jay’s info and dont have a chance to practice the techniques in their own work and would like to practice them with me let me know.
I have several Jay Abraham Applied Marketing Techniques Internships with my company. If you have what it takes and are tired of JUST reading about these great techniques and methods and want to take ACTION – please contact me.
Thanks,
Michael
on 15 Aug 2007 at 7:14 am 6.Martin Lee said …
Hi Paul,
You bought up a very valid point. One thing that Chet Holmes wrote in his book is that the real results only come when you do things, and do it with “pigheaded discipline and determination”.
Hi Wilbur,
Thanks for your feedback. I have sorted out the “content” link problem.
Hi John, don’t forget about going outside the box!
Hi Alvin, most people or businesses get too fixated on point number one “getting more customers”. A lot more money could be made if they looked at the other two points.
Hi Michael, I think creating new products and services would fall under points 2 and 3.
Here is Michael’s website for anyone who wants to take up his offer.