Is 100x Really Possible Or Is That A Pipe Dream?

Some years ago, I attended a Discovery Day following a clever marketing strategy that literally changed my life and started me on a journey which has not only revolutionised the way I think, but the way in which I now handle business as a whole.

The marketing was brilliant, the follow up exceptional, but I was hesitating to open my wallet and pay for the offering, hesitant because I thought surely, what was being offered could not be true.

The marketing however did its job, and, after gentle persuasion, I paid with my credit card and went along.

The presenter was Chris Cardell. Love him or hate him, he said something on that first day that I have never forgotten and which drives my business today.

He said:

“There are people out there that will be willing to pay you 10 times what you charge at the moment”.

Wow, I had started with a product 10 years earlier at £150. It did not sell particularly well; some of my customers suggested I increase the price. So, I did, to £250. After a year, one of my distributors said I was too cheap and that I should increase further. We agreed on £500 and the following year we moved it to £600 when it finally started selling.

Problem was, I was broke; I was £50k in debt, had just tried to sell my company for £1 after 3 months of negotiating a deal with the buyer, who had tried to screw me, and I subsequently pulled out. Broke and I was paying for this seminar on a credit card. There was someone telling me that I could charge 10 times what I was charging. All I had to do was find the right market and the right way to sell.

Well, truth is we’ve gone way past that. My business now has an average product sale price at the 10x mark that he first spoke about, and we have product ranges pushing the 50x mark.

I’m now looking at ways to explore the 100x figure.

Is the product the same? I hear you say.

Well no, not exactly, it’s way superior and packaged completely differently, but had I not been told about the 10x, I would never have thought about packaging differently in the first place.

The key to the growth was expertise and market position. Getting all the balls in line to position yourself as the expert and deliver consistently on your promise.

 Growth has not been an overnight success, it’s taken the best part of 8 years to get to where we are now, and a couple of misplaced employee positions unfortunately slowed things up, but finally we are there and the 50x sale has been realised, not once, but multiple times.

 So yes, it is possible. You just need to think creatively, you need to think way outside of the box. And hell, if I can do it with products then anyone can.

 Most people will self-sabotage what I’m saying here by affirming that in their marketplace there is too much competition and they will never be able to 10x anything.

 Mmm, what BS, don’t listen to the staff that will say this. I did that for too long and instead of driving forward with my beliefs with my marketing strategies, my sales team deep discounted to make the sale. Agggh, I feel your pain.

 When finally, I was released from that negative influence and did the marketing the way I wanted to in the voice that I wanted, not only did sales come flooding in, but I also increased prices by 10% on what I was told were already far too high.

 So –

  • What are you doing to increase your profitability?
  • What are you doing to 10x your products?
  • Can you package items in such a way as to achieve a 10x price point?
  • And how can you package them to achieve a 100x price point?
  • Think about it.

 I mean really think about it seriously,

What is your bestselling item?

  • Now think what would you need to do and how would you need to package the item in such a way as to attract a purchaser for 10x?
  • Then think about the marketing story, how and what are you going to do/be prepared to do for a prospect who is willing to, and interested in, paying the 10x figure?
  • What differentiates your product from all of your competitors?
  • Why should a prospect buy from you as opposed to your competitor for essentially what they could consider to be the same thing?
  • And, once you have put out that new price point, are you willing to stand by it and defend it to the hilt?

If yes, then what the hell are you waiting for? Pull your finger out and get on with it!

But know this: you’ll need to turn more people away as ‘not suitable’ than ever before, you’ll be moving out of the bulk commodities sales category and into the bespoke buyer group – less trades but all of a much higher calibre.

If you thought it’s hard selling to people at a higher price point, then you are wrong. It’s not. In fact, it’s a pleasure; they know what they want and are not going to compromise. You absolutely need to deliver on the promise.

So, would you rather

  • Sell 1000 of a thing for £1?
  • Or 1 at £1000?

Provided that you have looked after your margins, the 1 at £1000 is far easier to manage than the 1000 at £1, but you will need nerves of steel and you will have to be willing to let a lot of prospects go.

Interestingly, one of the first questions I now ask a prospect is: what’s your budget?

If they refuse to give me a budget, then I politely decline to do any further business with them.

If the budget is too low, I simply tell them that it would be a waste of their time to continue to discuss their wants, as I have nothing to sell them at that price and point out that the budget indicated would only be suitable for gadgets and toys, not professional equipment and advice. I then send them a rather frank email suggesting that they don’t waste their money on gadgets and gimmicks, unless of course they are only looking for gadgets and toys.

Blunt, I know, but it’s amazing how many people react positively to this kind of treatment; basically, on the whole, they don’t know what they don’t know until you point it out to them.

So, what’s your excuse going to be when we meet up and I ask the question what have you done to 10x your business?

PS

Just in case you thought I was full of shite, check it out; the industry standard for one of the kind of products that I sell is between £300-500. But my customers are delighted to pay on average £3-5K for one of my products.

When grouped in another way and sold as a different package of products, a small percentage would be willing to buy for as much as 60x the industry average £30k and getting a positive life changing business opportunity.

Interestingly, we are now getting enquiries and requests from prospects wanting to pay up to £50k for a complete service; that would hit the 100x mark.

Proving not only my story, but what I was told all that time ago.

The decision now for me, is do I want this extra work load whilst I can achieve a 100x mark? The profitability would not be what it is on the 10x mark; the highest profitability for my industry is in the lower numbers.

And you need to remember that old phrase, “Profit is sanity, turnover is vanity”.

So please, think seriously, what could you do to get a £100 x price tag on a product or group of products?

And then put it into action.

You may even surprise yourself!

I hope you do.

The big key to achieving a 10x or 100x price point is to remove yourself and your offerings from that of a commodity. As soon as your prospect thinks they can get what you’re offering down the road, you’ve lost them. Believe me, I know all too well, there’s no such thing as a loyal customer.

Once they’ve sucked me dry of advice, they think they know better and are off to the competitor to buy cheap. Hell, it hurts when you have helped change their lives, but I guess that’s why you need to charge what you  have helped change their lives, but I guess that’s why you need to charge what you need to change; if you give it away for free in the hope of loyalty, you’ll feel raped.

So, what’s the secret sauce in what you are offering?

If you don’t know what the special differentiator is, then you’ll never achieve the 10x figure, let alone a 100x mark.

PPS

By thinking creatively, I’ve now also found a way to draw a percentage of those customers not willing to pay the 10x mark price and yet still achieve profitability at the required percentage to make it a viable business in its own right. Thinking differently is the key.

If you’re thinking of your products as a commodity, it’ll never happen, you need to change your mind set from commodity to experience.