Getting from 0 sales to 1 sale is harder, than going from 1 to 10, or 10 to 100, and so on.
Most people have mental baseline , for example 10K/month or 100 USD / day (what their time is worth in their mind) to judge revenue streams. It's not dumb, if they are judging whether to quit a job to pursue the idea or not, but they assign a value to the business potential that is flawed.
Even one sale is a signal that there is further potential to scale the idea. If a someone buys, it's likely there are a lot more similar buyers out there.
Don't judge initial business results on figures alone.
My experience has been like this. Small, almost laughable, figures, and then being creative on how to sell magnitudes more in volume. I have sold toys that retail for $2. Most people would sell a couple, look at the results, and move on to the next idea. When the issue is just the method, not the product itself. And this can take a long time, more than people have patience for. To nurture the idea by trying different methods. They want big results too soon, when business results are painful and slow until a breakthrough.
For small products:
- Different levels of the supply chain (manufacturing, wholesale and/or retail) -- this is a big one. Most think retail as we are all consumers, but only "producers" think manufacture and wholesale first.
- Brand, bundling, packaging design, product variants (eg. sizes, colors, variety, collectible, white labeling), multi-functional, niche appeals (organic, local, sub-culture)
For big products:
- Different markets / demographics
- Marketing angle (eg. a luxury product is not about the product itself, but which feeling/status it communicates. People do not buy a treadmill to get fit, but to feel like they intend to)
- B2B, B2C, C2B (this is a gold mine... you buy FROM the consumer, examples: second hand market, recycling, repair/refurbishing, car trade-ins), C2C (consumers sell to consumers in your marketplace)
For services:
- Team + systems
- Getting the right tools
- Inbound vs. outbound leads
- DIY vs. done for you
- Digital vs. in-person
- Book in advance/Schedule vs. Drop-in / Emergency
- Pay-as-you-go, fixed price, hourly, subscription, trial
Most people have mental baseline , for example 10K/month or 100 USD / day (what their time is worth in their mind) to judge revenue streams. It's not dumb, if they are judging whether to quit a job to pursue the idea or not, but they assign a value to the business potential that is flawed.
Even one sale is a signal that there is further potential to scale the idea. If a someone buys, it's likely there are a lot more similar buyers out there.
Don't judge initial business results on figures alone.
My experience has been like this. Small, almost laughable, figures, and then being creative on how to sell magnitudes more in volume. I have sold toys that retail for $2. Most people would sell a couple, look at the results, and move on to the next idea. When the issue is just the method, not the product itself. And this can take a long time, more than people have patience for. To nurture the idea by trying different methods. They want big results too soon, when business results are painful and slow until a breakthrough.
For small products:
- Different levels of the supply chain (manufacturing, wholesale and/or retail) -- this is a big one. Most think retail as we are all consumers, but only "producers" think manufacture and wholesale first.
- Brand, bundling, packaging design, product variants (eg. sizes, colors, variety, collectible, white labeling), multi-functional, niche appeals (organic, local, sub-culture)
For big products:
- Different markets / demographics
- Marketing angle (eg. a luxury product is not about the product itself, but which feeling/status it communicates. People do not buy a treadmill to get fit, but to feel like they intend to)
- B2B, B2C, C2B (this is a gold mine... you buy FROM the consumer, examples: second hand market, recycling, repair/refurbishing, car trade-ins), C2C (consumers sell to consumers in your marketplace)
For services:
- Team + systems
- Getting the right tools
- Inbound vs. outbound leads
- DIY vs. done for you
- Digital vs. in-person
- Book in advance/Schedule vs. Drop-in / Emergency
- Pay-as-you-go, fixed price, hourly, subscription, trial
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