| |
|
|
Why You Should Sell Something Before it Exists
by Mark Silver
Published on this site: July 3rd, 2006 - See more
articles from this month
One of the members of The Business Oasis was struggling with getting
her first book written. We gave her all kinds of helpful support around
it, ('it really helped!' she told us). And then came the suggestion with
the biggest 'fear' factor:
"Why don't you pre-sell your book to your customers before you're
finished?"
I don't know if you've noticed, but there seems to be an awfully loooooooong
lag time between thinking of a new offer, creating the offer, and then
finally having it in your grateful customers' hands. Most major corporations
take, on average, 18 months to think of a new product and get it out into
the marketplace.
But it takes most small business owners between 30 and 40 years. Well,
okay, not really. But it can sure seem that way. How long have you had
that great idea for a CD or a book, or some other product that would be
perfect to meet your customer's needs? And, realistically, how long would
the actual work take to create it?
When I was writing my book, it took me four months of dithering before
I finally got down to work. Four months after that, the book was written.
And, pre-selling it part-way through that second four months took away
all the dithering time. And I still pinch myself sometimes: I was able
to get so much of what has helped me into my book, and now I hear every
day, from people all over the world, how much it's helped them, too.
Pre-selling your product is about commitment.
Your product is always primarily for your customer, to support them- because
if it doesn't support them, you won't get supported either (I mean no
one will buy it).
Preselling means that you are making a commitment to them, not just to
yourself. Making a commitment to yourself to finish a product is about
you. Making a commitment to your customer to finish something that will
help them is about being in service.
Of course it's scary to pre-sell. Any time we make a commitment like this
it means giving up some piece of ourselves to take part in a larger wholeness.
Life is about finding the sincerity to face that fear, and surrendering
into a larger reality, the larger connection, again and again.
It's kinda funny to think about it, but pre-selling is a spiritual practice
in surrender and connection.
Plus, the cash flow is nice, too. People are happy to buy at a pre-launch
price. And especially if you put in late nights on deadline. Somebody
has got to pay for those take-out dinners while you're working. ;)
At what point do you pre-sell? And what happens if you miss your deadline-
will your customers storm your castle with pitchforks and torches?
Keys to Pre-Selling
- Open shop one month out.
I've found that for me, and many, many other people, getting a sloppy
rough draft of something is relatively easy to do. You can sketch out
ideas, mind-map, get the whole product conceived of. It's getting it
into a final, polished, ready-for-sale form where the stagnation sets
in.
I pre-sell products one month before their release date. This ensures
that I'll spend a month getting it really done. When you receive your
first order, and you realize that Mr. John Q Somebody is now waiting
for your product, suddenly there is a zip in your step, and the cleaning
up and polishing happens a lot more readily.
- What if you miss your deadline?
It happened to me. I was all ready to release my book, and my editors
told me, in no uncertain terms, 'There is no WAY you are releasing this
book. It needs more work." I just told those who had pre-bought
what happened, and I received the nicest responses. I kept people up-to-date
on my progress every couple of weeks until I finished. And I happily
continued pre-selling until it was done.
- When not to pre-sell.
Never. When you sell a service, it's always sold in advance of the
start time, right? For a class or a project the agreement to buy has
to happen before the start time, because you won't be taking checks
in the middle of your presentation.
Your customers, and the world, are waiting for your contribution. Stop
trying to make a commitment to yourself alone, and make a sincere commitment
to the people you are wanting to help- and pre-sell.
Mark Silver is the author of Unveiling the Heart of Your Business:
How Money, Marketing and Sales can Deepen Your Heart, Heal the World,
and Still Add to Your Bottom Line. He has helped hundreds of small business
owners around the globe succeed in business without losing their hearts. Get three free
chapters of the book online: http://www.heartofbusiness.com
|
|
