by Quick one for ya this week…
Here’s another valuable question to ask yourself about your business:
What if you deliberately sold LESS of your products or services next year?
Now, that’s not a question your average ‘BIGGER! FASTER! MORE!’ biz-bro will be asking…
“Less?!? Who the hell wants less?
We’ve got Lambos to pay for over here! We’re too busy CRUSHING stuff to think about ‘less’.”
And no, I haven’t gone mad, abandoning all marketing common sense in a giddy festive frenzy of counter-intuitive thinking…
It’s actually a genuine question I discussed with a couple of entrepreneurs the other day.
Because here’s the thing:
There may be advantages to selling less…
It’s not true for everyone, but that’s kinda why it’s worth thinking about, especially at this time of year.
Side note:
‘What ifs’ are the best kinds of beautiful questions for entrepreneurs and businesses who want to sell unique.
They’re questions that lead to follow-up questions, which make them powerful questions (ok I’ll stop saying ‘questions’ now).
So, if you set out to sell LESS in 2019, what might be the benefits?
You could save on advertising costs, for a start. Maybe on customer support, if you’re in the product game…
You could use the time saved developing new lines or services, which might lead to more income in future, replacing the sales you ‘forfeited’…
But what about other benefits, the kind that don’t just appear on a balance sheet?
Well, you could better serve your ideal customers or clients, spending more time giving them what they want…
…which would lead to better referrals, as well as testimonials and case studies.
If you’re a freelancer or consultant, you could spend less time working with and administrating unsuitable prospects…
You could even reposition your service as more valuable, more exclusive and more desirable by working with fewer clients – and charge more too, if you believe you’re worth it.
Again, I realise there’s a lotta ‘could’s and ‘might’s here. Everyone’s business is different, so there are no guarantees.
But the most exciting outcome might just be this:
When you sell to fewer people, your work has a bigger impact on your customers’ lives.
Again, not everyone’s #1 goal in life. But if it does appeal, it’s worth taking steps towards that outcome in 2019.
I heard Seth Godin on The Copywriter Club podcast the other day, discussing his ‘Category of One’ idea.
He talked about eliminating the vast majority of people you could serve, focusing instead on the 1% you really want to serve – and what a difference that would make to your biz (and life).
I recommend checking out the whole episode – it’s a goldmine of marketing insights – but my lightbulb moment was when Seth said:
I think that for most of us, we succeed when we obsess about the smallest viable audience.
Because if you eliminate, off the bat, 99% of all the things you could do… you say: ‘not allowed, just these people’ – you’re going to treat them differently.
You’re going to learn different skills. You’re going to stand differently. You’re not going to walk away when it gets tough, because you’ve got nowhere to go…
By obsessing about the smallest viable audience, what ends up happening is you succeed.”
So, how could YOU succeed by obsessing about your smallest viable audience?
Would you consider selling less, to have a greater impact on people?
Hit up the comments below with a question you’ll be asking of your biz in the new year. I’d love to know what you’ve got planned for 2019.
