Water into Wine No Water Into 3 times more potent than gasoline.
This article shows how I was thoroughly laughed at by my friends when I told them cars would run on water... but guess who's laughing now.
Author: Phillip Skinner Introducing Paul Myers
Hi, folks! Let's start by... "Counting to Ten" Something of a personal milestone for me. It was 10 years ago today that I registered TalkBiz.com and changed the name of the newsletter to what it is now. I'm really not sure if it feels more like 2 years or 20. I started banging out some reminiscences and significant events online over that time, and it got to be way too long even for me, and it still wasn't anything like useful. So, I deleted it. Maybe when I don't have more practical stuff to do. ;) It's been an interesting ride, so far. Let's see what the next 10 years bring. I hope your next 10 years online are at least as good to you as the past 10 have been to me. "So, What Have You Got?"
TalkBiz News Monday, January 28, 2008 -----===(*)===----- One of the things I was reminded of this year was just how much we each have to work with. A lot of us don't really see the true extent of our possibilities and resources, which inspired me to do some of the writing I did this year. The first piece in that vein was a short report called, "The Fortune at Your Fingertips." If you haven't read it yet, you can grab a copy here: http://www.talkbizhq.com/power The response to that one was a bit surprising at first. When I looked at it as a whole, it became obvious why: It dealt with things that were useful to anyone, at any level of business. People at different levels just got different things from it. For new folks, it was the process for recognizing and cataloguing their resources, which lead to a lot of pleasant surprises. For more experienced folks, it was the systematic approach to spotting and developing the opportunities available in those resources. That's a clue for you product developers. You want to stay focused on your main purpose and theme, but it's often quite useful to present it from multiple perspectives. It's fine to give people concrete processes. That's a necessary service. If you really want to help them, you should also show them how to see things through your product that you might not even see yourself. Get people's imaginations involved in a systematic way, and they'll find much more value in the experience. That goes for you consultants, too. Maybe even more than the "how to" folks. Entrepreneurs are, by nature, opportunity focused. They're uniquely oriented to seeing possibility and potential. Helping them do that in a focused and practical way is one of the best gifts you can give them. The money you'll both make from it doesn't hurt, either. "What Price For Success?"
One of the ways I keep track of what folks really want to learn is watching discussion forums. There's a lot of nonsense going on in even the best of them, but there's also a lot of really good questions. One came up this weekend at the Warrior Forum. It can basically be summed up as, "What's up with the crazy prices in this market, and how do I price my product?" There was some other stuff in there, but this is the useful part for our purposes. The usual responses to "How do I pick a price" follow the lines of: -> Look at what other people charge for similar products in your market.
-> Test pricing to see what level gets you either the most sales or the highest visitor value.
-> Figure out how much you want to make, how many sales you believe you can generate, and what price you need to charge to reach that goal. The last one is a bit odd, but it will work. The first two are standards. And there's at least one additional, more scientific system that involves the first two and some math. They all leave out a very important question. One that can literally make or break your business. Fortunately for my muse, that factor relates directly to the other part of the question. "What's with the crazy prices in this market?" To steal a line from the dirt peddlers, it's all about... "Location, location, location." .... This part of the answer will help you with a lot more than your pricing of any one product. It will help you define your current place in your market, and help you plan where you want to move to. Along with how to get there. And how to know if you're at risk of getting bug-stomped by anyone who does know this stuff. Funny how this stuff all fits together when you look at it, eh? .... The wide range of prices one sees, and why they happen, are a function of market self-selection. This is pretty simple to map out. All you need to do is step back and look at who's selling what to whom for how much. It's a natural part of the information economy, especially at this stage of the game. There are tiers developing within the market. Not to mention tears, among those who don't get this. It may well be the biggest reason for the frustration felt by folks who know they should be selling more and can't figure out why they're not. .... Here's the current situation... We have people with nothing useful to say, charging $97 to prove it to us. We know why they do that. We have other folks literally giving away stuff that can make people fortunes. But why would they do that? It comes down to their goals and business models, mostly. It also links back to how deeply the information involved affects their business. Let's make that last part a bit less obtuse, shall we? ;) For example, an SEO guy might give out SEO basics, to prove his experience, and to develop his market. If he finds a cool conversion technique, he might give that out for free, where someone specializing in that field might charge top banana for it. That "throw-away" tip generates good will, shows that he's not just a one trick pony, and costs him nothing. It's not part of his "inventory." .... It gets weirder as the market matures. More experienced people jump in, with better systems, and expand their knowledge beyond previous norms. Those people can give away a lot more than less experienced folks and still have enough in reserve to charge the big bucks. By giving that earlier stuff away, they're providing their prospects with what they need to know to earn the money to pay for those higher priced products. They're investing in loyalty. They could easily wipe out the lower end of their competition. And some of them will. .... With all of this going on, you see different transaction pools developing. This is where this stuff starts to make sense. At one end, you have newbies selling stuff that only other newbies would buy. (What we in the trade call "crap.") At the other end, highly experienced people selling only to other highly experienced or successful people. In the middle are folks with various degrees of skill and knowledge selling to those with less skill and knowledge than their current stock. That's the basic framework. Obvious, yes? It gets usefuller soon. Really. .... There are a small number of people and companies whose product lines are developed to help people at all stages of the game. They're marketed to increase in value and price as their prospects/customers become more savvy and sophisticated. That's called "walking them up the ladder." Each prospect in a given market segment fits at only one of these levels at a time. There are ranges within which each level will tend to price things. The lower the level, the lower the pricing range. These ranges are loosely enforced by the people in their respective markets. That enforcement is based on perspective and perception. For example, people at the higher end of the scale will often assume that prices below their "floor" aren't worth their time. This is because they believe that no-one with the experience to teach them anything useful would sell for less than that "floor" price. People at the lower end of the experience scale will tend to assume that higher priced products are beyond their skill level, and would thus be unusable by them. As often as not, they're both right. It's a useful filtering system, as long as you're aware of the limits of the thing. This is where it ties back into the first question about how to set pricing. I told you I'd get there. .... Before you do any of the other things that are usually mentioned in response to that question, you need to know what level of the market you fit into, and what level your prospects see themselves at. Those are the most important factors in setting your prices. If you see yourself as selling to newbies, you want to keep the information clear and simple and the products inexpensive. If your product gives them too much at once, they'll be confused by it and it will fail them. Yes, Virginia, it is possible to give too much value. .... If you see yourself as offering information that delivers what the higher end of the market wants, you'll start your pricing process in that range. All you need to do is look around at what they already buy. Don't worry if you're unknown. As long as you can deliver, you're qualified. Don't believe that? Look at the number of people who come "from nowhere" and release a first product for $500 or more. If you really know your stuff, it should be easy enough to prove it. .... You do the same whatever level you decide you're at. And that's really all it is, assuming you have the skills - a decision. You know those people who tell you that you have to spend years, pay your dues, etc? Ignore them. If you've got the goods, go for whatever level you want. If you're wrong, you'll get slapped back into place quick enough. And, no matter what anyone says, as long as you don't lie to people, it's not terminal. By the way, you can be very advanced and want to sell to newbies. That can be a sound strategy. Everyone sells to people at or below their skill and experience level. The danger arises when you try to sell above it. That's when you get slapped. .... Regardless of the level you choose, you may need to make some adjustments to your product. If it's too advanced for your market, trim it down. Make two or more products out of it and sell them separately. If it's got killer info, but seems to lack impact, get out your copy of the "Thud Report" and add some kick to the thing. If you don't have the "Thud Report" yet, get it. It's at http://www.TheThudReport.com By the time you're done with your adjustments, you should have an idea of your price range. Alternatively, you may choose the price range and make the product fit within it, with always at least a bit more value than your competition in that same range. Gotta secure that spot, folks. Remember those people giving away the killer info for free. If they're not in your market yet, they will be soon enough. You want to get there before they do. Otherwise, you're "What's for dinner." .... There's another group we haven't mentioned. They're the folks whose information is "different" than the mainstream. It doesn't quite fit the usual material in their market, but it provides very real and practical value. Often that value reaches everyone, at any level of the business. They can sell great stuff for cheap, and then turn around the next week and sell tiny reports for mondo prices and get great testimonials for their efforts. Those people are in a different playground, and can pretty much do whatever they want. They're the wild cards in the game. There are wild cards in every market. If you don't fit that label right now (and the vast majority of people don't), learn to be one. Find at least one aspect of your market or niche where you can deliver things that no-one else is touching. If this isn't natural for you, don't be surprised. It isn't a "normal" way of doing things. But it can be very useful for breaking up the range limitations people might associate with you. And it will keep you fresh. Jokers are seldom bored. Or boring. .... Make no mistake: None of those levels of the market are inherently superior to any other. There are only levels that are safer. And that only becomes a relevant question when there's a big dog in the yard that really _deserves_ to be the Big Dog. Even then, it's only an issue if MondoMutt wants to go for the whole market and plays the "free basics" or "tiered product line" games. It's relatively easy to deal with Captain Canine, but you need to know that's who you're dealing with. You need to be able to recognise him or her before you're Purina Light. .... Big Dog or no, you need to recognize your market level. Look at those different groups. Which one are you in as a consumer? As a merchant? What do you buy, and at what prices? Same questions for what you sell. Is that where you want to be? Either way, you may need to make some adjustments to your advertising, your products and pricing, and your overall positioning. The clearer you are on this, the better you'll do and the less work it will take you to do it. .... Is your business at risk from the more experienced people in your market? If so, what do you need to do to minimize that risk and move up the ladder? If you're really a wild card you can get away with selling ace products for deuce prices. (But you probably don't produce deuce products, so the reverse isn't likely true.) If you're not really a wild card (and most people aren't, even if they believe they are), then you can't do that. You need to understand your positioning and adjust to it. Or do what it takes to change it. If you want to change your market position, you need to first know what it really is. There's your map. Have fun. Paul URLs from this issue: "The Fortune At Your Fingertips" http://www.talkbizhq.com/power "The Thud Report" http://www.TheThudReport.com Also: The subscriber special on "The Idea Spot" is still available. To get the book at the reduced rate, without the audios, just go to http://www.theideaspot.com and see if it fits what you need. If so, click on the phone number at the bottom of the page for the "secret discount." -----===(*)===----- Find this useful? Click Here To Buy me a beer!
TalkBiz, Inc 651 E 24th St Erie, PA 16503 Copyright 2007 TalkBiz, Inc. -----===(*)===----- "100% of the shots you don't take don't go in." - Wayne Gretzky
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