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You don't need a website, you need sales

Andy Black

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But Andy, if we don't have a flash embedded website and if we don't buy new office furniture and if we don't have fancy business cards and if we don't have a big lighted signed on a low traffic road..... how will we make a sale?
 

Supa

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t8eb7f8_shocked-meme-face-i7.png
 

Ubermensch

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(drops mic)

Are you referring to... having landing pages only (and driving quality traffic to those landing pages) , and not necessarily having (or needing) a home site (to obtain sales)?
 
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Andy Black

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Are you referring to... having landing pages only (and driving quality traffic to those landing pages) , and not necessarily having (or needing) a home site (to obtain sales)?

No, it hinges on the word "need".


I need a website!

I need more money!

I need to go on a course!

I need a logo!

I need a business partner!

I need a mentor!


Is it possible to run a business without all the things we think we need?

Maybe we're putting all these things in our own way?

To prevent us from starting? (aka procrastination!)

To prevent us from shipping? (aka perfectionism!)

Because we think we'll fail if we launch?

Because we don't think we're enough?



Whenever I find myself saying "I need ..." I catch myself and wonder:


Do I REALLY need it?

Is it possible someone else has done without it?

Is it possible *I* can do without it?



The only thing we need to be in business are sales/customers.
 

tflfguy

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RE: The only thing we really need to be in business are sales/customers.

Absolutely.
And for a successful business - mine your customer list 80/20 style and ALWAYS take care of the 20% (who make up 80% of your sales).
 
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nradam123

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If someone need a website I get sales :)
 
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Andy Black

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If someone need a website I get sales :)
If someone says they need a website, I laugh and tell them that line:

"You don't need a website, you need sales."



"Oh, but it needs to look like this, and have a slider, and have our logo, and case studies, blah, blah, blah."



To which I reply:

"Do you want a pretty website, or a pretty bank balance?"


...


I'm not saying they won't necessarily get a website, just that they need to focus on sales instead of the website.

Remember what service I sell to businesses? They come looking for more "traffic" to their website, specifically via AdWords.

I then have to explain that they don't want more "traffic", they want more website visitors who are itching to buy what they're selling. And they ultimately want more profitable sales.

That their pretty website sucks because they talk about themselves and not about what their visitors want.

That their visitor arrived with his credit card in hand and hope on his face.

That you got in the freaking way and didn't just "shut the f*ck up and take their money".

Sigh...


You might want to check out these two threads:
 

Andy Black

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I've been self-employed for 15 years. I've never had a business card but people have been asking me for them a lot in the last couple of weeks. I went for a simple card with my name, email address, and phone number on the front.

Below is a picture of what's on the back. It's been my calling card when I speak to people for many years. It makes sense to make it my actual calling card.

rbJH0zd.jpg
 

JokerCrazyBeatz

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I've been self-employed for 15 years. I've never had a business card but people have been asking me for them a lot in the last couple of weeks. I went for a simple card with my name, email address, and phone number on the front.

Below is a picture of what's on the back. It's been my calling card when I speak to people for many years. It makes sense to make it my actual calling card.

rbJH0zd.jpg
that's so fire ! I love it
 
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Mr_Maravish

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hahah this is funny.

Andy,

What do you suggest to come up with some good copy for an ecommerce website. I am in the process of creating the content and boy is it tough.
 

Andy Black

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Andy Black

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Chromozone

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(drops mic)

Love this!

What I've noticed in my own experience is that it's tempting to keep doing the same thing because it's easy.

If you haven't done it before, then getting something out in the world (even something as small as a MVP) is really hard and takes a lot of effort and pain. It's tempting to keep doing the same thing once you've proved your hypothesis i.e. keep building.

But what you really need to do once you've proved you're not completely insane is to totally change gears and go out and sell. I imagine that once a business gets even bigger you then have to change gears again and become more of a manager.

It seems like there is a massive spike in people failing at each one of the transition points.
 
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Andy Black

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Love this!

What I've noticed in my own experience is that it's tempting to keep doing the same thing because it's easy.

If you haven't done it before, then getting something out in the world (even something as small as a MVP) is really hard and takes a lot of effort and pain. It's tempting to keep doing the same thing once you've proved your hypothesis i.e. keep building.

But what you really need to do once you've proved you're not completely insane is to totally change gears and go out and sell. I imagine that once a business gets even bigger you then have to change gears again and become more of a manager.

It seems like there is a massive spike in people failing at each one of the transition points.
Aha. That reminds me of the phases someone from a tropical mba podcast said:

1) Learn a skill
2) Sell the skill
3) Scale the skill

I liken it to us progressing from technician to salesman to businessman.
 

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I've been self-employed for 15 years. I've never had a business card but people have been asking me for them a lot in the last couple of weeks. I went for a simple card with my name, email address, and phone number on the front.

Below is a picture of what's on the back. It's been my calling card when I speak to people for many years. It makes sense to make it my actual calling card.

rbJH0zd.jpg

In the 90's I was at an antique store in Lincoln, Nebraska and saw the owners business card and it still stands out in my mind. The front only had the name of the store and phone number (before emails). On the back it said this, "I hope I die in my sleep like my grandfather and not like the people screaming in the back seat of his car".

At first I was like... WTF?? But all these years later it must have been a great card for me to remember it about 25 years later. lol Funny thing is, this card made him a sale. In 2012 we were up in Lincoln and we stopped in because I remembered the place. My wife bought 3 necklaces from the guy.
 
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Andy Black

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We've sold a dozen landing pages in the past year - without a landing page to sell them from.

Just found that amusing...
 

RobD88

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(drops mic)

Maybe a stupid question as your post seems more about the philosophy of stop procrastinating and just do it already but...what if your business or business idea is a website (say through shopify or volusion) selling something in particular that lends itself to that medium? Wouldn't that constitute needing a website?
 

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