Do You Want Sales?

[BizyDad]

Of course you do. That's what everybody wants right? At least everyone on this forum.

Sales means money. Business is about making profit.

So sales is what we're here for right?

Well, I'm reading this book that @SEBASTlAN recommended. 12 Months To A Million Dollars by Ryan Daniel Moran. And he's got this little line on page 68 that got me thinking...

Which is more important?

Do you want to get sales? Or do you want to get customers?

Too often people come in here asking questions like what product should I sell or what skill should I learn?

Rarely do people come in here and ask who can I serve?

No matter how many times @Andy Black patiently attempts to adjust their worldview, it keeps happening over and over. I swear he has the patience of a saint.

If you focus on customers, everything else in business becomes easier. You will build a business that makes people happy. You will build a business that cares about delivering on the promises you're making.

And your customers will tell other people. And those people will become customers. And they will tell other people.

That's the best kind of marketing. Credible AND free.

If all you are is an old school salesman looking to make a sale, people aren't talking about you. People see you coming a mile away.

Sure you can still make a living. Maybe you can even get rich in time.

Focusing on customers gives you power that those others don't have.

And now I'm realizing, even though I've built serving customers into both my business's DNA, this little line in this one book made me realize all these other ways that I am not focused on getting customers.

For example, in my e-commerce business, we are great at answering the phone, responding quickly, answering questions, making excellent recommendations tailored to what you need, sending out timely quotes, closing the business, fast delivery, checking in to make sure things are working well.

And then throwing your email on a list and letting you know about a deal once a quarter that may or may not even be tied to the types of products you previously purchased

And that last one really falls flat doesn't it?

We make such a great first impression, where other companies in our space just treat you like a digital transaction. We do stand out. We do get repeat business. Our average order size continues to grow, as does our repeat sales every month.

But I still feel like we get a little lucky when people come back to us.

And I don't know that anyone ever actually recommends us to other people. I'd be surprised to find out that it happens more than a couple times a year.

Going forward, I want to find a way to get more customers. Nurture more customer relationships in my e-com business.

I took over a business that did a little more than million the prior year. Last year it did 1.6. This year my goal was to hit 2. And I was happy with that.

Until 2:30 a.m. today.

When I realized that there's no reason we can't hit 10 million inside two or three years. We just need "all the customers".

As long as we get truly laser focused on customers, not sales, that shouldn't be a problem.

Because no one else in our space is really focused on them.

I hope this helps someone today.

 

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[Andy Black]

Of course you do. That's what everybody wants right? At least everyone on this forum.

Sales means money. Business is about making profit.

So sales is what we're here for right?

Well, I'm reading this book that @SEBASTlAN recommended. 12 Months To A Million Dollars by Ryan Daniel Moran. And he's got this little line on page 68 that got me thinking...

Which is more important?

Do you want to get sales? Or do you want to get customers?

Too often people come in here asking questions like what product should I sell or what skill should I learn?

Rarely do people come in here and ask who can I serve?

No matter how many times @Andy Black patiently attempts to adjust their worldview, it keeps happening over and over. I swear he has the patience of a saint.

If you focus on customers, everything else in business becomes easier. You will build a business that makes people happy. You will build a business that cares about delivering on the promises you're making.

And your customers will tell other people. And those people will become customers. And they will tell other people.

That's the best kind of marketing. Credible AND free.

If all you are is an old school salesman looking to make a sale, people aren't talking about you. People see you coming a mile away.

Sure you can still make a living. Maybe you can even get rich in time.

Focusing on customers gives you power that those others don't have.

And now I'm realizing, even though I've built serving customers into both my business's DNA, this little line in this one book made me realize all these other ways that I am not focused on getting customers.

For example, in my e-commerce business, we are great at answering the phone, responding quickly, answering questions, making excellent recommendations tailored to what you need, sending out timely quotes, closing the business, fast delivery, checking in to make sure things are working well.

And then throwing your email on a list and letting you know about a deal once a quarter that may or may not even be tied to the types of products you previously purchased

And that last one really falls flat doesn't it?

We make such a great first impression, where other companies in our space just treat you like a digital transaction. We do stand out. We do get repeat business. Our average order size continues to grow, as does our repeat sales every month.

But I still feel like we get a little lucky when people come back to us.

And I don't know that anyone ever actually recommends us to other people. I'd be surprised to find out that it happens more than a couple times a year.

Going forward, I want to find a way to get more customers. Nurture more customer relationships in my e-com business.

I took over a business that did a little more than million the prior year. Last year it did 1.6. This year my goal was to hit 2. And I was happy with that.

Until 2:30 a.m. today.

When I realized that there's no reason we can't hit 10 million inside two or three years. We just need "all the customers".

As long as we get truly laser focused on customers, not sales, that shouldn't be a problem.

Because no one else in our space is really focused on them.

I hope this helps someone today.

"The purpose of a business is to create a customer." (Peter Drucker)

My own personal definition of a customer is someone with a *custom* of buying from us. Aka repeat business.


Another line I love:

"The most important formula in business is R+R=Profit. Repeat Business + Referrals = Profit" (Blaise Brosnan)



And another: "The first purchase is a test." The first time they buy from you they're a buyer. If you both pass the test they may become a repeat buyer, aka a customer.


Traffic? No, it's people visiting your site.

Landing page conversion rate? No, it's people converting into prospects, buyers, customers, or champions.


Sure, we can make money shuffling electrons around. Most folks do better thinking about the people we serve and not the stuff we build.


Thanks for the shoutout. I try to help people get started. They're normally stuck because they're looking inward at themselves rather than outward at who they're going to serve.

The fact that we have to do this daily just shows how big the problem is. As entrepreneurs we should see this as a massive need and opportunity rather than find it frustrating.


A related thread (plus all the ones in the first row in my signature):

MINDSET - Clarity of Purpose (Get Your Goal Right)

Clarity of Purpose When I hurt my back as a youth my parents took me to an Alexander technique practitioner. I don't even know what the Alexander technique is (or care really), but I walked away with a lesson I've remembered ever since. (One day (!) I'll record this as a video and post it in...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

 

[Artiom O]

I agree that building stuff and other things are irrelevant when the customers are forgotten.

The reason we do all this stuff is just to help someone. Helping people is the foundation of any money transaction.

But because of today's media, for some reason it shifted towards a more corporate specific topic. Bosses in suits taking big decisions, getting busy with their laptops open. It's the picture that everyone envisions when they think about entrepreneurship.

At the core, the goal of all of this is just to serve someone independently or the market as a whole.

And the intelectual stuff like having a specific set of skills, knowledge and being prefessional, experienced comes down to the problem the market has, and the solution. And before trying to help the entire crowd, you need to try and sevre only one person. That one turns into two, three, four until everyone knows about it.

(Also, thank you @BizyDad for teminding us about this. It has been discussed a lot, but I still feel like we need more posts like this.)