While that was an amazing movie, and I usually love the concept of building first in your mind, as a marketer I have to warn you that it may bite you in the butt!

I was recently talking to one of my mastermind buddies, Natasha Allrich, about this very concept.  We were sharing the programs we were providing, and I told her about one I had done earlier in the year that truthfully, didn’t get the results I wanted.

Natasha asked one powerful question….

“Did you ask your market what THEY wanted, or did you just create a program based on what YOU wanted?”

OK, she busted me!  That is exactly where I went wrong.  I loved my concept, wrote killer copy, threw in loads of value….but never did the research to see if the offering and price point were what my fun lovin’ business owner types would want.

Have you ever made this mistake?  More than likely, yes.  We all do.

The secret is to go to your ideal clients and have them tell you what they would pay for.

I want to give you some tips on how to survey your audience.

1.  Online Survey – I use www.SurveyMonkey.com – Super easy and very low tech!  Make it short, but ask a few questions about price, content, and how to best deliver the program.  Example, would they like a day time workshop live or an evening virtual teleseminar?

2.  Pick up the darn phone – Calling your old (and ideal) clients about what they would want is a great strategy.  You have to stay away from folks who aren’t your market.  Example, your brother the plumber doesn’t get to tell you that you are charging too much….unless you are serving plumbers, that is!

3.  The power of social media – using Twitter or LinkedIn polls to get answers is another effective way.  You are getting access to way more people that you probably have in your neighborhood, so this is a no cost and easy way to gain some valuable information.

4.  Offer an incentive – you can add something to your newsletter or survey that if folks take a few minutes of their time, you will gift them with xyz.  It could be a free report, a $25 off coupon, entered into a drawing for a session with you, etc.

5.  Make sure you keep it short – no one is going to answer 47 questions.  But if you can come up with 3-5 questions that will get you the info you need, you are probably going to be able to get some good answers.

And finally…I’m gonna ask, because I’m not making the same mistake again!

Can I get your two cents?  I have a quick 3 question survey that I’d love you to answer to help me better design my 90 Day Marketing Makeover Program.  You can grab that here:

http://bit.ly/8gkwb

If you fill it out and email me telling me that you read this on the blog, I’ll enter your name into a drawing for a strategy session which is valued at $297 – cuz I REALLY appreciate you taking the time!

Now go out there and start asking your market what THEY want.

Blessings!

“What do you want to achieve in this session,” I asked.

“Can you review the new sales page that I wrote,” she said.

That’s where it started.  And fifty minutes later she had a completely different business model, had a plan to quadruple her income, and added a membership site for more leveraged revenue.

What a rewarding time!  Doing Strategy Sessions is one of my most favorite things because I can take the persons business, understand what motivates them, find what they desire, rip the heck out of their current model, then spin something really amazing out of all the pieces.

In this case we went from a business owner who sold only a $19 ebook, and turned it into a $97 Toolkit.  We then added a 90 day free membership for everyone who buys her  product so she moved from a one time purchase to monthly income.  How cool is that?!?  Let’s do the numbers – if she had 50 sales at $19 she’d be making $950/mo.  50 sales at the new price is over $4800!  Just one tweak and she’s rolling in the dough.

It got me thinking of how many creative entrepreneurs spend so much time energy and money, yet don’t have a business model that has the maximum revenue potential.

A couple of years ago I coached a woman who had a list of 22,000.  (Imagine that!)  She sold one thing – a $247 info product that she was getting ready to sink loads of money in to create videos and promotion for.  The problem was that this was a one time use.  So she had a huge list, worked her butt off to market, but once she made a sale, there was no other offering for those purchasers to get.

The solution?  We also created a funnel for her and added different levels of membership, and a higher end coaching program.   Finally, she could leverage that huge list and get loyal fans who kept coming back for more.

Now I want you to look at your business.  Is there a way to add more offerings?  Can you sell a upgraded version of your product?  Do you have a mechanism to have your customers return, or do they buy once and leave you?

An hour spent brainstorming these three questions can make your life (and revenue) a lot sweeter!  Think outside the box my friends……

And if you need some more support, get a hold of me and we’ll work some magic on your biz.

Blessings,