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Plug-In Profits

April 11, 2007

I coach business owners in all types of industries…including Internet based business, real estate agents, chiropractors, authors, speakers, etc. No one wants to believe it, but marketing is all these businesses is very similar.

My “lead” coaching offer is http://www.mymarketingcheckup.com. The online business assessment is included with this package, and business owners are often shocked just how much value they get out of the assessment even before they speak with me.

It asks them question after question that pinpoints mistakes and areas they can improve immediately for increased profits. Then, when we get on the phone together…we create a simple step-by-step plan for action and success.

During these calls…I often find a few very well placed questions to be the key…

One of these questions is two part, “Where and How do your perfect target customers make their buying decisions?”

Of course, this question means you have to know who your perfect target customer is, but that’s a subject for another post.

So let me ask you the questions…

Where does your perfect target customer make their buying decisions?

How do they make their buying decisions?

These are important questions. If 90% of your target market makes their buying decision based on referrals, quit wasting your time running Adwords advertising…or any type of other advertising. If 70% of their decisions are based on media reviews, you know it’s time to work harder on PR.

How are they currently buying from you?
How are they buying from your competitors?
What is the most influential key to their buying decision?

One of my absolute favorite questions is, “How can I cost effectively get my offer in front of a group of hungry customers?”

I call this “plug-in profits.” For example, my books are listed on Amazon…because that’s one of the places people like to buy books. They already have traffic built in. They already have people searching for books. Ebay is another site like this. They already have traffic, and you can tap into their traffic very low cost.

Who else already sells to my customers? Do they have a list? What can I uniquely offer the list owner and the list members? Which one is easier…to build a site that generates a ton of traffic or JV with someone who already has the traffic. Of course, you should be working on your site, but that takes time. You can generate profits right now, today, by finding a way to tap into traffic that already exists.

It may be a product JV where you give them 75% of the profits from the first sale. It could also be something much more simple. You might write them an exclusive expert article they feature in their newsletter or on their site.

Even general “article submissions” are based on this principle…tapping into lists and traffic that already exist.

Perhaps you give them your product to include as a bonus with their offer. I’ve been on both sides of this type of transaction…where I freely allow another marketer to include my ebook with their offer and where I’ve included someone else’s product in my offer.

You don’t get any profits upfront, but you’re putting your value in the hands of a perfect target customer (make sure they qualify before you set-up the deal).

You can generate plug-in profits off the Internet as well. Have someone send out a mailing to their clients to recommend your product or service. Speak for an upcoming event (where someone else puts people in a room to hear you). Do a teleconference for someone’s list. Negotiate for free or discount coupons to be given out at the sales desk where your target customers visit.

For example, a new gym promoted themselves by allowing a local nutrition store to give away a free one month membership to their buying customers. Who else could model this? The massage therapist, chiropractor, etc. could follow suit to the same audience.

Who right now has your target customers buying from them? How can you make them an irresistible offer? I’ve dealt in industries where it’s not legal to pay a referral fee. That doesn’t matter. There is always another way to get something done. Do a cross mailing…where they mail their customers about you and you mail yours about them. Include something free you normally sell that they can use as an incentive to sell more to their customers.

There are so many variations on this theme…

It all comes down to three simple questions.

1. Who is already reaching my perfect target customer?
2. How can I be of service and make a unique irresistible offer to the vendor?
3. What would be irresistible to their clients to “try out” what I offer?

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Written by Terry · Filed Under Coaching 

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