New niche … no problem.
Being #1 in a field where you’re the newbie.
Fellow Business-Builder,
Last week I was in Tampa on a training program that a client of mine was hosting. Not only was I there to begin thinking through the marketing campaigns we will be using, I was also there to start fulfilling a dream of mine.
As I alluded to last week, marketing to the affluent is a particular interest of mine.
Combine that with a niche that I personally think will be big in the coming years (luxury fractional vacation homes) … and I was glad to go through the program and be certified as a consultant for the leading fractional real estate company in the world.
What is important for you to understand …
This is a niche that I have been passionately researching for some time now.
I have a grand plan here in both the marketing side, and the developer side.
And I want to be the best of the best in this new niche.
Today, I want to go through a plan of attack I will be using to lead the field in this niche, and share with you the exact blueprint that you, as well, can copy into your own business and lead your industry.
(1) You have to claim the spot … you can’t wait for others to appoint you “the best”.
One of the most common mistakes I see people making when trying to position their business is the lack of assertiveness. You cannot sit back and watch as others take the title; it is completely in YOUR hands to claim it.
Find your unique area that differentiates and further niches your focus, then plaster that all over your marketing campaigns. If you take the factional business I am talking about here … luxury waterfront properties will be my main focus.
The properties I help market and convert/develop to fractionals will be $1.5 million + properties that are located on the water.
The focus begins in a lake area that I am near to, and hosts hundreds of properties that fit this profile. I have a website name that says both luxury and waterfront in it. The copy and graphics will support the theme and give the exact image that highly-affluent buyers are looking for.
What about you? Do you have tightly defined niches that you could be focusing on? Especially ones that you have seen a higher quality of client come from?
An easy way to start this process is to create a niche Web presence and start marketing that to test the niche and the response you get. Once you have proven it to be a winner … move all your marketing efforts to the new niche.
(2) You need to build scarcity into your business model. Everyone wants things they can’t have … and your area of expertise is no different.
Offering free downloads are a great tool for generating quality leads, but offering free consulting or coaching time is setting your prospects up to expect this from you.
You know this as well as I do … people do not appreciate free.
They don’t value it. They get used to it. And they are highly reluctant to pay for it if they have had a taste of free.
In a market like mine, the free part comes in to the lead generation side and the initial feasibility analysis.
BUT, if we decide that their home is a good candidate for my services … there is a significant fee to set it up properly. And the affluent buyers, who I will deal with, realize that expertise comes with a price.
They wouldn’t let someone into their multi-million dollar beachfront home if they didn’t see a significant level of expertise.
The wording of your website and marketing materials needs to emphasise your credibility, your experience in the field, your accreditations if appropriate, and how they should expect to work with you.
Are you setting up their expectations in advance so there are no surprises and they realize you are a professional and your time is valuable?
How could you reposition your offerings (maybe your bundles if you sell smaller ticket items) so the value goes up and their perceptions of your expertise shifts and becomes much more prominent?
(3) Start from the end and work forward. Figure out the exact lifestyle you want this business to give you. Know what your days will be like, what your income will be, where you will spend your vacations with family, how you will spend and invest your money, and exactly what this new lifestyle will feel like.
In the fractional business, there are a lot of different pieces that must all come together seamlessly to the end client.
It needs professional management companies involved, concierge companies, proficient developers, and a serious eye for fine detail (not to forget all the marketing that needs to be done to get the affluent buyers in the project!).
There is no possible way one person, even one company, can do all of this.
Trying to do so is setting yourself up for failure.
So I need to have a team put together of professionals. Each of them excellent at their own specialty.
Knowing this up front, and putting significant amount of time, initially, in the right team, ensures I get the lifestyle I want once everyone is in place to do their part.
Scrambling at the last minute is very evident to your buyers, and will quickly turn them off.
(4) Make them qualify. The best form of client filtering I use is two-step marketing.
For me, it works exceptionally well with leads generated offline and then brought online.
One single ad I wrote for a lead generation campaign ran untouched in the same newspaper for two years.
Every time it ran, it generated me 30-50 QUALITY leads. Those leads ended up buying 250% more than leads from other sources.
They bought frequently, and at higher price points.
In order to get the package I offered on the campaign, they had to go through a couple of simple steps, which filtered out the tire-kickers from the serious ones.
Years later they continue to buy.
So find that tightly-defined perfect client you want, find out how to get in front of them, put together a really strong package for them, and make them go through a few steps to get it.
If you have done it right, the type of person you get will be of a much higher quality than any others.
(5) Charge more than anyone else. I am a big believer in avoiding price competition.
There is always something else you can be better at than the lowest price.
Seems to be a no-win battle always trying to undercut the others.
Which is why bundling products, or selling them through membership-type models is always my first choice for commodity-type sales (much like the Million Dollar Lobster story I have shared here before).
Find ways to position your services, your bundles, and your backend offerings at the top of your niche.
First, those who are your ideal buyers will always wonder what you are doing that makes you the best (the highest price immediately makes consumers think there is something better … it’s basic psychology).
(6) Focus on the wow factor – both with what you sell, and how you deliver it.
Honestly, when was the last time you were wowed by a company you bought from? In the past month? In the past year? It is so rare these days that we have all become used to expecting little … and getting just what we expected.
I am making it my personal mission in the coming year to create wow campaigns with every order through my main business.
Plus, the fractional business I am discussing here just screams out to me “PLEASE WOW ME!.”
The types of buyers I will be dealing with expect wow factors built in.
When you are the one person to give them something extra with the transaction … they won’t forget.
When you think of how many times you have been wowed lately … doesn’t take long to think about it… does it?
This is a BIG reason why the Lobster Brothers have done so well (from a $9 product to a million dollar+ business in nine months … by wowing their buyers).
Do just one extra thing for your buyers … and watch what happens. It can be a hand-written thank you card with a small gift certificate to something completely unrelated to your business.
If you sell higher-ticket items, include a very well done gift basket. There are thousands of promotional product companies out there you can deal with for wow gifts.
Find one that makes the right impressions … and include it with every purchase for the next two months. Then let me know what happens!
Many of these points are not exactly highly-advanced.
Anyone can and should be able to implement one or all of them in their business. You may even be tempted to dismiss them because they are relatively simple.
There is no magic software that will make you a million overnight here.
No secrets that were discovered in 500 BC, now being released to the public.
BUT … before you dismiss this and click away to another blog or article: have you actually DONE one or all of the above?
Having these tools at your disposal will do more for your business than any magic pill that is being hyped up on the internet.
If you don’t have the basics down, the advanced tools are completely useless.
Once you have all of the above implemented into your business model, THEN you can and should be looking deeper into the specific advanced skills you want to use.
Trying to skip over the basic steps means your entire model is flawed … you know that … so make sure you do it right.
I would love to hear your ideas.
To your success,
Troy White
Editor, Small Business Mastery
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Troy White is a top marketing coach, consultant & direct response copywriter based in Calgary, Canada. He has a powerful approach to growing small businesses and entrepreneurial run ventures on a budget. His FREE Cash Flow Surges newsletter shares tons of great strategies.
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A Final Note:
If you have specific subjects you would like addressed, or have any comments on what you have seen here, please submit a comment below and I will see how I can help.
"Don’t wait. The time will never be just right.”
–Napoleon Hill
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7 Comments »
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Comment by Doberman Dan — November 5, 2009 @ 11:05 am
Troy,
This is an excellent template for success.
You revealed step by step what needs to be done.
I wish I would have had a template like this when I first got started in direct response. It would have saved me a lot of money and heartache.
GREAT article.
Best,
Doberman Dan
Comment by Troy White — November 5, 2009 @ 11:37 am
Thanks Dan!
Great to hear from you.
I agree - wish I had this 8 years ago when I left that awful job thing and ventured out on my own.
But, we know it now - and it becomes second nature to use it/milk it/profit from it moving forward.
This is the formula I am using with all my clients - one of which is selling waste bin rentals (garbage removal in those big monster bins).
We sent out a direct mail piece the other day to a small list of 200 targeted home builders.
We are already at 5% response and it just hit mailboxes yesterday. And he is one of the highest prices in town.
In a recession.
The formula works… if you work it!
Thanks for sharing Dan. Troy
Comment by Jeff Moreau — November 5, 2009 @ 1:33 pm
Hi, Great post. Just a heads up, no link when posting on Twitter.
Comment by Walter Daniels — November 5, 2009 @ 3:01 pm
While some of your ideas “only} apply to high dollar items/services, the fundamentals apply to everything. By making the customer the focus of your efforts, and making it _clear_ that you do, you can become one of the top. Every time you mess up, the tendency is for them to tell 10 others. Every success, may tell only one. But, if you care enough to try to fix the error, they will remember and maybe tell 10 people about the mistake and the attempt to set it right. Customer service is not another word for cheating, but serving.
Comment by Troy White — November 5, 2009 @ 3:58 pm
Will look into that Jeff - thanks.
Walter, You are correct… the principles apply to every business… high priced or not. It is also a very effective way to re-position your business and self in the commodity type of market. There is always a niche within the niche that can help with positioning, marketing, customer qualification, etc.
The key is to get out there and find it!
Thanks for the input. Troy
Comment by Santa — November 6, 2009 @ 1:55 am
some of the points you mention in your post are common sense, but most marketers don’t implement them in their marketing.
What I found interesting is the repositioning - charge higher prices, offer the WOW factor (really important: you can do this by having a friendly customer service, extremly good packing, fast shipping at no extra cost, an aftersale email asking if the customer likes the products etc).
Comment by Chuck — November 7, 2009 @ 2:16 am
Hey there Troy, thank you. This is good stuff. Items 5 and 6 really go hand in hand.
One thing, because I’ve been thinking about this lately… I agree with item 1, claim the top spot, don’t wait for some nebulous third party to declare you such. At the same time though, you went through a “certification program.”
I think I understand the reasoning for both. But don’t they seem at odds? (Appointing yourself vs. certification/accreditation from another).
It’s a question of credibility. (Is that why you went through the certification?) Without that, how much credibility can a self-appointed “top newbie” realistically expect?
Best wishes,
Chuck