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You know what’s funny? A lot of people start a business and they really don’t know if it’s going to work. They’ll talk to their friends. They’ll talk to their family. They’ll talk to co-workers. These people will encourage them and say things like, “Yeh man. Go for it. That’s a good idea.” Then some people go so far as to quit their job before doing any real research or due diligence. It happens all the time.
Now this is the problem with that kind of research. You’ll ask these same people that were so supportive of your idea if you can write up their order and things suddenly change. They say things like this. “I don’t know.” “Could you tell me more.” “Could you give me more information.” “I don’t know. It’s the end of the month.” “I’ve got to check with my wife.” “I’ve got to check with my husband.” All of these things are saying, “I don’t find value in what you are selling.”
I’ll give you an example. Now let’s say I opened up my wallet, right. Then I went in and pulled out a $100 bill, saying “Hey, here’s $100.” If I walked up to you and said that every day, then handed you another $100 bill and another $100 bill and did that five or six times every day you would never get tired of me doing that, right? Of course not. Why? Because I’m providing value.
So, when someone says, “Hey, I’m getting too many emails or videos,” they don’t see the value in what I’m doing. If someone immediately comes up with objections after you quiz them about a new product or service it’s because they never saw the value. They were probably just being nice if they acted interested and supportive but were unwilling to give you an order.
There are many people who set up businesses after asking people these very things and they are woefully disappointed. When it comes down to opening up that wallet or giving out a credit card number, things change. What you have to understand is you must validate your business before you get in too deep.
What many people do is they start something. They put their heart and soul into it. Then when people say, “No, I don’t really want that,” then all of a sudden, it’s a problem. You have to validate your business. The first step is to ask for the money. Once you start asking for the money, everything becomes very, very real. All the romance fades away.
Are you going to give me money for this product? Are you going to give me money for this service? Typically, in the beginning, the answer is “No,” or “Maybe,” or “I don’t know.” Money on the table makes people think. So, the first think you want to do is ask for the money. Part of asking for the money is identifying what you are selling.
Let’s talk about Apple. Every time you go to Apple’s web page, they ask you for the money. It’s that little blue buy button. They have tested the color. They have tested the words on the button. They know it works. They haven’t changed that in years. They are high-converting colors. They are high-converting words. How do they know this? They have been asking for the money for years and years.
Apple has a whole group of people dedicated to knowing how to ask for the money. That’s how important it is. If you think you’re going to put something out there and people will be so blown away that they will just buy it, you will be disappointed.
Learning how to validate your business and ask for the money is crucial for your success. As long as you refuse to do this, you are always at risk of being someone else’s cog in their machine.
Pre-selling is one way to validate a product or service. If you put 10, 15 or 20 products out in a year on a pre-sale basis, probably 12 or 13 won’t sell that well. But, one or two of the products will go crazy. The more that you create and put out there, the greater your chance for success. If you are thinking that one thing is going to be your answer, you’re going to be in a world of hurt.
I’ll give you an example. A few years ago, I put out my course, 30 Days to $2500. It sold really, really well. I was also selling a lot of books on Amazon. Then one day, it just stopped selling. It just literally stopped.
I didn’t stop promoting it. The market constantly changes. People are looking for different stuff. One day, people are 100% into your product. Then, 90 days later, they aren’t interested. That’s why you must ask for the money, ask often, and validate often and as fast as you can.
One of the ways you can pre-sell is to individually send all of your friends and family a note. Do not send out a mass Facebook or email message. Individually create these conversations. In your message, say, “Look, I’m asking for your help. Can I get a commitment?”
Get in the habit of doing that. As a business owner, you’re always going to be asking. The sooner you become comfortable with that, the better.
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