The market does not pay you for the quality that you offer; the actual reward lies in how better you are at solving people’s problems.

New businesses starting and failing not long after is not entirely uncommon. In fact, as many as 3 out of 4 businesses are dead by the end of their 3rd year. So, what does it actually mean when a business fails? And what are the reasons behind it? To make it super simple, businesses don’t fail due to lack of resources; they fail due to lack of the right strategy. Many businesses in their early years go through quite a bit of trial and error to find what ‘works’.

Here’s the thing, business success is a science. There is an exact formula that is tested and tried (by the already big businesses) you can apply to your own, and it isn’t as hard as you think to apply to your own business.

But, in a world where there’s constant pressure looming over every business owner to win right from the start, very few owners actually stop to think and even fewer actually implement this exact formula so they can to get to the big league as fast as possible with as few a nightmares as possible.

So, let’s begin.

This is the first thing that you must know: your customers are only interested in themselves, nothing else matters. This is the starting point of everything. Picture the last time you went on your first date with someone. Think about what needed to happen to go on the second date. Before you both agreed to go on the second date, both of you wanted to know if you the other person is suitable to go on a second date. And if one didn’t want to go on a second date, they did not care what the other person thought. Business is the same. What you’re doing is effectively speed dating your leads before they decide to buy from you.

1. Laser In On What Your Dream Buyer Wants

The key is getting to know three things about your customer:

1. What did they want to achieve? Their goals and aspirations.

2. What are they trying to avoid? Their pains and uncertainties.

3. What’s holding them back from getting what they want? Their barriers.

Now calling up random people and asking these is one way, but one of the most effective ways of doing this is reading, watching, and listening to the audience talk about these. This way you can get a bigger picture of what they are really feeling when it comes to the three points above.

There are several ways you can really hone in to find out what your ideal customer is feeling. This is one massive step a lot of businesses don’t even bother with. But to be successful, it must be done. Some of the best places to do that are:

1. YouTube videos they would watch

2. Reddit forums they would be a part of

3. Quora

4. Other related forums

5. Books they would read

6. Facebook groups they would be a part of

7. LinkedIn groups they would be a part of

8. News articles they read

Then to get a clear picture of what they are feeling, read the comments, the questions and answers to all of the above. Break them down what’s common and how important each is. If you do this exercise, you should get a large amount of research. When we do this for our clients, we get close to 100 pages of research to go by before going any further. Knowing these gives you the knowledge of what to offer your potential customers to go on a ‘second date’ with you.

One more important thing about this is that you must note the exact language they are using in these comments, not just using words that are similar, but using the exact words and language they are using. Then use this language when you’re communicating with them, and the chances are they’ll feel like they already know you. Yep, that’s the third and the fourth date coming.

Then keep using this same language in all your communications, the prospects will start to get warmer each and every time they interact with you.

Very few businesses do this, and most of them don’t find a way to way to use it well. Many businesses go wrong because they assume that they already know everything. They tend to use

all the latest upcoming and charming marketing techniques and they keep trying the latest gimmick and not really diving deep into the real truth of your customer’s profile.

To dig deeper into their mind, you must be obsessed with their likings, passions, fears and desires. This is the most powerful knowledge you can hold with you.

2. Understand The Larger Market Formula

Think about the last thing that you bought something for yourself. Maybe it was a pair of Air Pods, a pair of shoes, or maybe a car with the latest technology. Whatever it was, before you bought it, you went through all of the following stages (starting from the above of the diagram):

Let’s understand this more deeply with the help of The Larger Market Formula. This formula divides the entire section of the audience into four prime categories:

3% of the audience is buying right now.

17% who is under information-gathering mode.

20% who are aware of the problem.

The last one, i.e. 60% of the audience who isn’t aware of the problem.

What does this mean?

At any given point in time, the top 3% of the people are in “buying mode”. They are like the thirstiest people in the audience and are willing to pay to get what they want. They are red-hot and ready to go now. And appealing to them is not very hard. But the biggest issue you’ll face is letting them slip to your competition where they will spend their cash. You want to catch them before that point. You should close these at a very high rate.

Then cream layers are the two layers in the middle – the 37% of the audience with the biggest cash sitting in it. This layer includes the ones who are gathering information, i.e. the 17%, and the rest of 20% who are aware of the problem. You want to be in contact with prospects in these layers as soon as possible because they are on their way to the top 3%. Once they get in contact with you, you need to nurture them to be in the top 3% – therefore the sales. This is where the real money lies, and you want to make sure you do everything you can to capture their attention.

The actual challenge lies in the last category of the audience, who aren’t even aware of the problems. The science behind getting in front of them is generally through channels when you can go to them without them coming to you. Once you understand this, you can put it in use to get hold of the majority of the audience.

When you look at the entire market, to move the revenue needle at a rapid pace, you have to pull 97% of the prospects to that top 3%. Once those “disinterested” people get captivated by you and you create big value for them, they can be the most loyal customers for your business. The reason why most businesses fail is that they treat every prospect like they do it for those top 3%. They don’t have any mechanisms to seek and hold the attention of the rest, 97%.

Understanding the Larger Market Formula is your chance to stand out from the crowd by delivering massive value to prospects at earlier points in the market. This all starts with a deep analysis of what’s going on in the customer’s mind.

3. Create the Perfect Bait for the Buyer

Now that we know the customer’s goals, pains, and barriers, it’s time to use this information to get in contact with them. One of the best ways to do this is to provide big value to the prospects who are into your offering but are looking for more information about the product first. Your prospect needs the information, and this is what you are going to serve them first. Think of this like a drink or a coffee you buy someone when you first meet them. This is a crucial step that will make a business stand out from the rest because of the upfront value created right from the start. This can work even for brand new businesses that are looking to beat established businesses.

A lot of businesses posts ads like “SALE” or “Cash Back” or “Discount”, but this doesn’t stop someone on their tracks. It’s boring and the care factor becomes zero pretty fast. And these ads only target the 3% who are thirsty for the offering and not the rest. Not going to work.

However, to stand out and do better than others, create content for your prospects and create value at a very high level. Not just a piece of content for the sake of it, but a piece that really delivers value to get to say “wow”. That should be your only standard. This will then attract your prospects to you before you can then take them up the larger market formula.

High-Value Content Offer

An HVCO is a piece of information that help your prospects. These are some of the forms they can come in:

• eBooks,

• Free reports,

• Informative journals,

• Checklists

• Videos

• Workbooks

• Webinars

• Quizzes

• Plus many more.

The legitimate goal of an HVCO is always to add incredible value to your customers’ knowledge. Use the information done in the research phase to create content around those points.

Be cautious about the information that you deliver to your prospects. It shouldn’t be cheap and gibberish that already exists in numerous articles existing in cyberspace! It should be high quality that makes your prospects say “wow”.

4. Capture Their Contact Information

Now that you have content for your prospects, you can use this to get the details from your prospects by offering it as a magnet to get contact details of your prospects by presenting them with a “sign-up” option on a landing page.

The phrase “first impression is the last impression” stands out to be true here. When you offer them outstanding facts and reports, they instantly start to build trust with you. But, if you rub them the wrong way by providing them with useless facts, you have lost one of your loyal customers. So it’s important to make sure it’s done right with the right messaging.

The whole point of this exercise is to get them to think “if this is the information that is free, I wonder what I’d get if I paid?” This is a big thought and it’s the beginning of them becoming one of your customers.

To do this, everything from the lead magnet to the landing page must effectively say that “we are good at what we do, and you need to get in on this”. Doing this will lower their barriers and turn up their desire to give their contact details to you to get that piece of content. Make sure you use all the data you found in your research as a part of all the assets that you will build.

Below are the major elements that need to be there on your Sign-Up Page:

1. A attention grabbing headline.

2. A sub-heading that re-describes your offer.

3. Legendary bullet points about how your content is going to add value to their knowledge.

4. An eye-catchy, self-explanatory visual representation.

5. A simple form for your audience to enter their details.

5. Create An Irresistible Offer For The Dream Buyer

Once the prospect has given you their contact details, this is the first time confirming that you have removed some of their skepticism and improved your trust. So, when that is fresh in their

minds, this is the best time to show them an offer that they can’t refuse.

An irresistible offer is exactly as it sounds, it’s an offer that speaks so loudly to their deepest needs, pains and eliminates barriers. Done correctly, it should be very difficult for the prospect to say no to that offer. After the lead capture stage, the trust your newest lead have in you are much higher than before; and when you turn up the heat on that trust by offering something irresistible, they cannot say no. It’s as simple as that.

Let’s have a look at all the different parts an irresistible offer should have:

6. Getting Your Bait In Front Of The Dream Buyer:

After coming up with an irresistible offer, it’s time to put this in front of all four categories of prospects discussed before (an offer appropriate for each category). But before spending on advertising your product or service, get clear on your cost per acquisition (CPA). This is the cost that is needed to be spent to acquire a new customer. CPA is a vital number to gauge if the marketing is profitable or not.

To make sure that your bait is placed at the right time in front of the right prospect, you must not rely on one single source of bringing in traffic because that source of traffic can change their rule anytime they wish; and you don’t want to left exposed if this happens.

For example, in 2016, Google changed the landscape of its advertisement platform without any warnings. This affected the sales of so many businesses and the competition among the top

players soared as a result. Being in the know of all these changes to each of the platforms is absolute key when running a marketing campaign.

A good way to start is with one of the following channels: SEO, Google Ads, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Email, or any other channel. Choose the one as per your budget and keep working on it until you get a profitable campaign.

Once the first channel is profitable, start using another channel. You want to have as many channels as possible running at the same time to make sure that you have a diverse traffic system and to avoid being affected by one channel.

7. Drip Feed Massive Value To Your Dream Buyer

This one is important to understand. It’s basic human psychology at play. Just because someone gave you their contact details, does not necessarily mean that they are ready to part with their cash. Think about it, when you first meet a stranger, do you fully trust them? The answer is probably no. And do you believe them straight away? Probably not. These are the two feelings of your prospect that you need to address.

In order to get someone to pay you, you need to build their trust in you as well as decrease their scepticism in you. Usually, when the trust goes up, scepticism goes down. This is the aim of drip-feeding your leads with massive value. Massive value is created when you give your prospects content that they really want and need, free of charge.

With each piece of value you deliver, they get closer and closer to buying from you.

Once you start believing and working on this, it’ll become one of the biggest and most powerful tools that can get you more paying customers.

8. Convert To Your Dream Buyer To A Paying Customer

After understanding the needs of your customers, building trust with them and killing off scepticism, it’s time to start closing the prospects. For that, you need to weed out the people who are not a perfect fit for your offering so that you can focus on the ones who matter. There are mainly 4 types of buyers:

1. Buyers in heat

2. Buyers in power

3. The dreaded lookie-loos

4. The mistakes

Buyers in heat are ready to go now and they are the best group. They don’t need much to get going and they are the easiest to close. About 10-20% of buyers are in this category. They must be closed; else they will go somewhere else and spend their money.

Buyers in power are the second-best group and makeup about 30-40% of prospects. The difference between buyers in heat and buyers in power is that buyers in power don’t have the same urgency as buyers in heat, they need the product or service, but they are looking and shopping around till they find the best deal for them. You need to talk more to these prospects and find out what’s really going on for them. Once you do, deliver it to them and you’ll close more of them.

The dreaded lookie-loos are the worst type of prospect, and they make up about 30-40% of prospects. These prospects are better known as “time-wasters” or “tire-kickers”. They will disguise to be a buyer in power acting as they are genuinely interested, but they never have the intention to buy. They absolutely suck resources from your sales team, and your business by going completely under the radar if not detected early. These are some ways to recognise them:

1. They ask questions that they already tend to know the answers to.

2. They tend to give out a lot of “ooohs” and “ahhhs”.

3. They tend to be either vague or overconfident about financial information.

If you detect any of these, be alarmed. If they are a lookie-loo, get rid of them asap.

Pro tip: have a fool-proof script that you will refine and frame over time. After that, the next requirement is the staff who can follow your script.

9. Generate More Revenue From Dream Buyers

A big portion of the leads that you will get will not buy even after you’ve got their full trust, because things change with people. Circumstances change, goals change, needs change. But you still need to keep on top of their mind for the time that they are ready to buy from you.

This is when you use the power of email marketing to provide them with more value and to keep building the relationship.

No matter how much Google Ads, Facebook Ads, Instagram, or any other platform contribute to profits, Email is still is the foundation of many successful businesses today. As per a study conducted by McKinsey and Company, if you spend a dollar for Email marketing, you get back forty dollars more than you would from any other platform. That’s 40 times more revenue.

So it is crucial that you contact them regularly to keep creating value for them before they become a paying customer.

10. Review Regularly

Just as everything in life, things change, and in the digital world, things change even faster and so do your customers’ needs and what they respond to. So, to stay ahead of the curve and of your competitors, truly great businesses revisit this process over and over and again to stay not only current, but ahead of time.

11. Conclusion

There is a big difference between a business owner and a business builder. Former is like a mouse stuck in a spinning wheel. He firmly believes that just having a great quality product alone is enough to turn his business into a success. In comparison, the latter is an entrepreneur who strongly focuses on oxygenating his business with constant sales and marketing techniques. He understands the human psyche and plays around with basic human notions such as likes, dislikes, fears, insecurities, hopes and desires and creates their product or service around them, not the other way around.

To build a truly successful business that puts money in your pocket day in day out, it takes a lot of effort and resilience; things that a big majority of businesses are not willing to go through. The business builders who are methodical about the way they do things and adopt what the already successful businesses do will be the only ones that will become successful, long term.

All the processes and strategies discussed before can help you transform your business into just that, a successful cash cow, long term.