Mel,
When the Dilbert cube faded in my review mirror for the last time, I had to replace my income FAST.
My plan was simple:
Land 2-3 consulting clients on retainer and buy myself the breathing room to start building my information business.
And so I started making the rounds, decked out in the brand new suit that Laura and the clerk at Nordstrom swore looked fantastic.
One of my first meetings was with the president of a company that sold large industrial equipment.
Now these days I'm pretty good at the whole "jazz improvisation" side of consulting. I can sit just about any business owner down in the hotseat, poke and prod, and within 5 minutes I've found the festering, gangrenous wound in his business.
But as a newly minted consultant my skills weren't that finely tuned yet.
So I danced and jived, throwing everything I could think of at him, looking for the crack that would let me get my fingers under the edges of his business.
This went on for a couple of hours, and I wasn't making much progress.
Then it hit me. I had it—the ONE final question that would sell this guy on hiring me.
Today I call this the "magic gumball" question, and it's one of the most valuable questions any consultant can have in their arsenal.
It goes like this:
"Mr. Business Owner, if I had a magic gumball machine, and all you had to do was put in enough quarters and out pops a customer... How much money would you put in before it wasn't worth it anymore?"
That stopped him cold. He'd never thought about it before.
You'll find that MOST business owners don't have a ready answer to this question.
I watched abacus beads slide back and forth behind his eyes.
On one hand, a customer in his biz was easily worth hundreds of thousands—even millions. On the other, locking up a new contract usually meant multiple plane tickets to wine and dine a whole committee of C-level suits.
Finally, he ventured a guess. "I'd say about $50,000."
"I can get you customers for $15,000."
SOLD.
The right question cuts straight to the bone—it's more powerful than any advice you can possibly give.
Right now in Mastermind Club we're having a conversation about this.
Because questions—specifically the RIGHT question—are the heart of item #6 in the "Planet Perry Manifesto."
For years Mastermind Club members have asked me to lay out the core tenants that set Planet Perry apart from 99% of the kool-aid sipping biz opp cults that litter the Internet.
So for the next couple of months, I'm doing just that in the Mastermind Club newsletter.
The 12 principles in the Manifesto are the foundation of everything I teach.
They're BIG ideas—blades in your "Swiss army knife" that'll unlock your trickiest business problems while your competition is still fumbling for the latest social media "hack."
The December newsletter spells out Manifesto items #4-8. I'm putting the finishing touches on the final draft right now, and then it's off to the printer.
Should hit your mailbox right around Christmas.
Not a Mastermind Club member?
Join the conversation here.
Carpe Diem,
Perry Marshall
***NOTE: This email address isn't monitored! If you need help, please email:
 | Free Video
We manage our emails with Infusion. This Guide and Video explain my secret marketing sauce. |
No comments:
Post a Comment