It’s time to make it rain!
Hey there Rainmaker, let’s make that title a reality. Let’s talk about how to “make it rain” — how to generate instant cash flow in an established business…
If you OWN the business, this has huge value. Every month you have bills to pay, payroll to meet, and other expenses to cover. Plus you want to make sure that you’re not slaving away all day for nothing — a quick hit of cash and profits can be just what it takes to make sure you get paid (well), too, for the value you’ve created in your business.
And so, if you own a business, you’re definitely going to want to make sure you’ve got those ears perked up.
But this is also one of my CONSULTING SECRET WEAPONS… And this applies whether you fashion yourself a business or marketing consultant, a copywriter, or something else. (I first used it as an employee — though I always saw myself as a consultant of sorts, even when I had a full-time gig.)
Because clients are always apprehensive about getting ROI on their investment in outside help, this serves as a nice quick way to diffuse that tension and let clients know I do really know how to make them a lot of money.
This is the simplest of all simple ways to make a lot of money — fast — in an established business…
Before we get down to nitty-gritty, I want to lay out a few parameters. This is why I keep saying “established” business. This is why, today, I’m primarily only accepting new clients who are already making at least $5 million per year. Because in that setting, this can be applied almost universally to create very large windfalls, fast…
— FIRST, the client has to have a significant number of past buyers (customers, clients), and both the ability and permission to reach out to them directly. This is very important. This secret to instant cash flow infusions is all about making an offer to your past buyers.
— SECOND, the client has to have a high-end offer that’s appealing to at least a significant subset of their past and current customers. If the client’s average unit of sale is $100, I’m looking for an additional offer they can make for at least $1,000. If their average unit of sale is $1,000, I’m looking for a $10,000 offer. I want a high-revenue, high-profit offer that delivers extraordinary value to the subset of customers interested in a deeper level of service from the client.
Are you starting to get a clue of what we’re going to do here?
This is the really simple thing that very few businesses do regularly and systematically, that can generate instant cash flow and profits…
All you have to do is reach out to those past buyers, and make the offer.
Let me give you a rough script or outline for your sales pitch…
Dear Jane Customer,
I’m writing for two reasons today.
FIRST, I’m writing because I want to tell you how much we appreciate your business. Sincerely and truly, from the bottom of my heart, I want to let you know that I appreciate you. Without you, our business wouldn’t exist, and everyone here would have to find another way to make our livelihoods. And so I want to say thank you.
SECOND, I would like to make you a simple offer, with no risk and no obligation on your part for taking me up on it.
You see, we work hard to deliver incredible value when you buy Product X from us, as you did a few months back. And for maybe 80% of our customers, that’s all they ever want and need.
However, there is a small subset of our customers that have XYZ need or challenge that goes above and beyond what Product X can address fully. That’s why we created Product Y. It’s meant to help you address XYZ need or challenge in a much more comprehensive way — but ONLY if it’s a fit for you.
Here are all the ways this goes above and beyond, in meeting your needs or challenges…
— Reason why #1…
— Reason why #2…
— Reason why #3…
— Etc…
Now, because this product is much more comprehensive, it does require a larger investment. I assure you though, if when you bought Product X, you got 10X your investment back in value, with Product Y we’ve doubled down to deliver you 20X value.
Not only that, we’re so confident in this product that when you buy it, you have 12 full months to evaluate it, at our risk.
If you decide for any reason that it is not right for you, let us know — you’ll get a prompt and courteous full refund of your investment.
We couldn’t afford to stand behind this product so generously if we weren’t confident it could deliver.
So how much is your investment in Product Y? $#,###.
I understand that doesn’t make sense for all our customers.
But if you’re serious about addressing XYZ need or challenge, you can be confident it’s a smart, no obligation investment in getting the solution you need.
If you find yourself in the select group of our customers where this makes sense for you and your situation, I’d like to be of service. Please email me at [email protected] or call at ###-###-#### and we can get started.
I’m also happy to answer any questions about how this is appropriate for your situation.
Sincerely,
[SIGNATURE]
There’s a lot of really generic language in there, but you get the point…
Simply reach out to the past customers, acknowledge and thank them for their business, and offer a bigger, deeper, wider, more comprehensive, less-effort, or somehow otherwise more advantageous solution to meeting their needs or overcoming their challenges. Give them a plethora (yeah, that’s right, a plethora) of reasons why this higher-cost product is worth it, assuming they’re a fit. And then make it as easy as you can for them to say “yes.”
The first time I did this, it was to up-sell an IT training video catalog subscription to folks who’d bought one or more individual training titles.
We mailed about 2,000 1-page letters (even simpler than the above — you don’t have to use that as an exact template). Within a month, it’d generated over $15,000 in fast cash flow, on a very high margin product with almost no incremental cost of sale. I estimated the three-year value, based on the proven 85% renewal rate, at around $40,000.
And that was relatively poorly executed.
My latest big winner for a client is succeeding on much the same principle. It’s making a back-end offer to his existing customers, offering a product that’s more like 50-100X what they spent initially. It’s been doing six-figures a month for the last couple months.
Sure, it’s a full promotion (24 pages of tightly-formatted print, over an hour-long VSL when that officially goes “live”). But the revenue that’s been generated to date is primarily because he’s going to existing customers and offering them a much bigger solution.
There’s some art and science to maximizing this approach, but the most important takeaway should be “just do it”…
If you want to get sophisticated, you should put together a system where you’re making this offer on a monthly basis.
You can target a certain segment of your audience for a more active marketing program.
You can vary the offers, and test different products or services.
You can make it responsive to certain customer behavior, such as subscription renewal.
You can make the offer for a one-time product, or a continuity or membership program.
The list goes on…
But the key is to just try something.
It’s a regular pattern in nearly every business, in nearly every industry. Given the opportunities to spend more, a small subset of your customers will spend 10X, 100X, 1,000X what everyone else will. The whole key is making that higher level of service available to them, so they can avail themselves of the offers.
And every time you do it, it represents the opportunity for instant cash flow — cash flow that’s usually easier to get and more profitable than from nearly any other source in your business.
Yours for bigger breakthroughs,
Roy Furr
The Rainmaker, Breakthrough Marketing Secrets
