tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3782524545865091288.post1494727164390012781..comments2023-10-30T00:50:12.472-07:00Comments on MAGIC WITHOUT CARDS: "First, and foremost, Holdem Poker is a game of Big Cards" ~Mike CaroBen Mackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05759180467125362965noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3782524545865091288.post-35705042671489545962010-03-16T09:16:18.363-07:002010-03-16T09:16:18.363-07:00How to Bet on Research
I want to start with the t...How to Bet on Research<br /><br />I want to start with the three most important takeaways of this article:<br /><br />1. A confused mind won’t buy.<br />2. Customer offers must be easy to understand.<br />3. Repetition works.<br /><br />Let’s begin…<br /><br />Sales Offer = Customer Proposition. <br /><br />Business is a proposal made to a customer that is accepted and delivered. Sustainable businesses make irresistible offers that are accepted again and again and again, at a premium price, to customers who become irrationally loyal.<br /><br />The best way to learn how to make an irresistible offer that is accepted again and again and again (at a premium price) to customers who are irrationally loyal is to model and swipe the successful sales systems you see around you. (PLEASE NOTE: Plagiarizing is NOT swiping, it’s stealing. That aside, swiping is key to entrepreneurial success in Direct Response marketing.)<br /><br />In poker, there are only two ways to make more money: make more money with every pot you win, and put less money in the hands you don’t win. Simply put… Make more money when you make money, and invest less in losing propositions.<br /><br />Avoiding Losing Propositions<br /><br />Making an unclear customer proposition is like wearing sales repellant. Confusion leads to inaction, which kills sales. If there is one lesson I want to you take from this article, it is that a confused mind won’t buy. (I should know! One place I have great room for growth is making my ideas simple. )<br /><br />In 1996 we asked 200 Baskin Robbins customers how interested they would be in buying a $1.99 Ice Cream Sundae with Warm Cookies, which included two-scoops of ice cream of your choice with two freshly baked chocolate chip cookies, whipped-cream, hot fudge or caramel, peanuts and a cherry on top. Slightly more than average said they wanted to buy our $1.99 warm cookie ice cream sundae. However, after tasting this product, over 90% said they wanted to buy another $1.99 Ice Cream Sundae with Warm Cookies. The taste-testing research house said that our test product had the highest taste satisfaction rating they had ever seen in their 23 year history of taste-testing products.<br /><br />I thought, “Ice Cream plus Warm Cookies, what’s not to love?” I championed the new product. I proposed a sampling campaign, figuring that if we got folks to try one, they’d want to buy more.<br /><br />RESULTS => Twenty Baskin Robbins’ franchise owners invested $12,500 in the equipment to bake cookies in their stores. After our 30-day market test, the new product was deemed a flop.<br /><br />LESSON=> Beware of confusion. There was something confusing about our product description.<br /><br />We never overcame the intial communication challenge that out of those who had never actually tasted the warm cookie sundae - only slightly more than average said they wanted to buy one! I figured that the smell of cookies baking would fix that. <br /><br />What happened was… The test flopped harder than any product test in about seven years. Bummer. Ben looked baaaad. I lost trust from my client and a score of franchisees lost money following my bad advice.<br /><br />My biggest lesson learned… Nobody ever lost money underestimating the laziness of the American mind. If we can’t immediately grasp the proposition, we won’t buy. If there is one lesson I want to you take from this article, it is that a confused mind won’t buy.<br /><br />If there is a second lesson I want to you take from this article, it is that surveying your customers is never as accurate as testing what they actually do in a buying environment. <br /><br />Part II => For advanced marketers only! http://authorsbusinessplan.blogspot.com/2010/03/how-to-bet-on-research.htmlBen Mackhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05759180467125362965noreply@blogger.com