January 2020
I stare at the revenue amount on my computer screen. Nothing.
Months into reselling AirPods, and I still no sales.
I’m doing everything right, I think.
I researched the competitors, positioning, and marketing channels
I created a catchy name and logo
I designed the website and wrote detailed product descriptions
I opened up my TikTok account. 4 posts and 0 followers.
Instagram. 5 posts, 2 followers.
YouTube. 5 posts, 12 followers.
This is so dumb. I think.
I spent months planning and followed what the pros said but still got no results.
I didn’t know this then, but I made a very common mistake that kills small businesses.
This mistake is not spending enough time selling.
I spent months making the website, the design, the product descriptions, and only weeks on marketing.
This is the fluff and fake “work” that doesn’t involve marketing and getting sales.
Selling, on the other hand, is the most important action for small businesses.
Nobody knows who you are, and you don't yet know what to sell or how to sell it.
But, selling helps you learn those things.
What selling does for your business
You will know what to sell. You will know which product and marketing angle gets results.
You will know how to sell it. You will understand what marketing channels and strategies work.
You will get valuable feedback. Customers will tell you what to improve for your product and give real validation if they would buy.
That’s why prioritizing selling is the best decision you can make.
Mark Ford, a serial entrepreneur, writes: “Invest most of your time, energy, and attention to the selling process.
The ratio of time, creativity, and money spent on selling as opposed to other aspects of business should be something like 80/20, with 80 percent of it going toward selling and only 20 percent toward everything else.”
Selling isn’t glamorous.
But selling should be the number one focus of your business.
The number that matters for selling: Critical Mass of Qualified Customers.
The main goal you should work toward is a critical mass of qualified customers (CMQC).
Your critical mass of qualified customers is the number (usually ranging from 10 to 1,000+ depending on your business model) of qualified customers (high-value buyers).
It’s usually the minimum number of customers you need to be profitable and sustain growth without having to invest more resources.
To achieve this goal, you need to sell.
You will have to try different marketing channels, products, or content. When you do this, you figure out what works so you can leverage it.
Constantly selling helps you develop a repeatable selling process, so you can later focus on the product and other parts of your business.
Ok. Getting qualified customers fast is good. But, how do you do that?
This is where the lean strategy (creating value with less resources) and MVPs (minimum viable products) are used.
Your minimum viable product is the cheap and most basic version of the product.
It solves one niche problem and helps you see if people will actually buy your product without wasting a lot of resources and time.
(For more on creating your MVP check out this article)
You can take this lean and efficient approach to other parts of your business.
Create a simple website and logo. Write basic product descriptions and GET RIGHT INTO SELLING.
Then, with feedback you get, improve your product and marketing.
Only after you get to your critical mass of qualified customers, refine the product, website, and design.
Sell and then improve your product. Not the other way around.
- Warren
PS: I’m not saying you should make a terrible product and then sell it.
Some businesses, such as cars manufacturers or restaurants need a great product before they start to sell.
But your main priority should be to create a basic product, sell, and then improve your product from the feedback you get.