Business Advice from 13 Years of Experience

Introduction

• 13 years in business, sold 9 companies.
• Last company sold for $46.2 million.
• Current portfolio at acquisitions.com exceeds $17 million a month.
• Compressing extensive business advice into this presentation.

Key Business Lessons

1. Price Anchoring Strategy

• Concept: Have an extremely expensive item or service to anchor prices.
• Benefits:
  • Increases sales of core offers by creating a price anchor.
  • Allows for nudging up the price of your main offer.
  • 10% of customers may prefer the premium offering (e.g., a weight loss company tripled profit by introducing a higher-priced option).
  • Avoid the mistake of underpricing for the wrong customer budget.

2. The Importance of Advertising

• Observation: "No one knows you exist."
• Example: Despite advertising for a book launch, only one person recognized it during walks.
• Advice:
  • Advertise consistently and across various channels.
  • People are distracted; repetition is key to recognition.
  • Your audience needs to be reminded more than they need new information.

3. Focus on Advertising Until Revenue Grows

• Advice: Until reaching $100,000/month, concentrate on advertising.
• Importance: Without sufficient customers, product iterations and feedback are lacking.
• After achieving this milestone, shift focus to improving product quality and customer retention.

4. Specialization

• Guideline: Under $1 million/year, focus on one channel, one avatar, and one product.
• Rationale:
  • Limits distractions and increases efficiency in product and marketing.
  • Once achieving $1 million/month, consider diversifying channels.

5. Start for Free

• Strategy: Offer services or products for free initially.
• Benefits:
  • Gain testimonials, referrals, and potential paying customers.
  • Builds trust and credibility.

6. Proof Over Promise

• Advice: Focus on providing proof (testimonials, results) rather than just promises.
• Methods:
  • Collect recent, visual proof of customer success.
  • Use high-volume proof to increase credibility.

7. Price Increases

• Insight: Raising prices can lead to increased profits despite potential declines in sales.
• Consideration: Analyze customer conversion rates before and after price changes.

8. Customer Feedback

• Advice: Regularly talk to customers to solve business problems.
• Actions: Gather feedback from both buyers and non-buyers to refine offerings.

9. Sales Calls Framework

• Closer Framework:
  • C: Clarify why they're there.
  • L: Label the problem.
  • O: Overview past experiences.
  • S: Sell the vacation (outcome-focused).
  • E: Explain away concerns.
  • R: Reinforce the decision post-sale.

10. Double Down on What Works

• Advice: Before exploring new ideas, maximize existing successful strategies.

11. Accept Stress as a Constant

• Perspective: All business stages (growth, stagnation, decline) come with their unique stresses.

12. Look-Back Window Concept

• Definition: Customers assess purchases based on their last experience.
• Strategy: Bill customers less frequently to improve perceived value over time.

13. Sell Sawdust

• Concept: Utilize existing resources or assets to create additional revenue streams.

14. Arm Your Sales Team

• Strategy: Equip salespeople with resources and content to address customer concerns.

15. Unify Sales and Advertising

• Advice: Merge sales and marketing functions under one umbrella for better alignment.

16. Three Legs of the Business Stool

• Roles Needed:
  • Acquisition (customer generation).
  • Delivery (fulfilling promises).
  • Operations (supporting functions).

17. Higher Standards Leadership

• Advice: Promote those with the highest standards to leadership positions.

18. Hiring Strategy

• Guidelines: Look for candidates who raise the overall bar for the team.

19. Reasons for Team Underperformance

• Framework:
  1. Lack of awareness.
  2. Lack of knowledge.
  3. Lack of deadlines.
  4. Lack of motivation.
  5. External blockers.

20. Embrace the Unknown

• Insight: The hardest work is often the work you don't know how to do. Focus on overcoming these challenges to drive growth.