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Chronic Marketer by Brad Gosse – Review by Jason Kanigan

Chronic Marketer by Brad GosseChronic Marketer by Brad Gosse is foremost the personal story of how this internet marketer built his business.

Nothing beats a "How To" that's a real life story. Too many internet marketers' books are theoretical, how things 'should' work: Brad's shares how things actually worked for him.

Your path may not be the one he took. You may even be turned off by his path. That's no problem--if you don't like Brad or his story, you're free to leave.

In fact, he makes a point of saying it's OK to anger more than 50% of your audience if you are an online marketer...because it's the vocal, loyal minority you want...not the bland, uncaring majority.

Four Key Takeaways from Chronic Marketer by Brad Gosse

Brad Gosse and I, it turns out, agree on many things. Chronic Marketer is a book for IM newbies and they need this information. Here are four critical points we agree upon:

Get out there and DO to learn

To develop true expertise, you need to try, fail, and learn--not just read it in a book or hear it on a webinar. Test--even if you're only investing a few dollars--to discover what works and what doesn't for you.

Stay away from Chamber of Commerce and local networking events

Successful business owners are not out at networking events. They are in their offices, making decisions. Local networking events are filled with broke business owners trying to sell (badly) to everyone else...they cannot buy from you.

You can scale your content, but you can't scale yourself

Brad talks about the Freelancer-Producer-Director progression. These are important phases and distinctions, and if all you've done is be stuck in the Freelancer phase for years, it's time to take a different point of view and direction in your business.

Train people on how to deal with you

Letting people walk all over you is not okay. As I share in my Sales On Fire training, you can teach people how to work with you by using a strong Up Front Contract. This lets them know what behavior is acceptable and what isn't. And as Brad points out, it's perfectly fine to fire customers when they're out of line.

Video Review of Chronic Marketer by Brad Gosse

Here's a quick video run-through of my review.

Chronic Marketer is available on Amazon.

>> Jason Kanigan is a business development expert. Want to work with Jason? Click here to apply. Don't miss the latest post here at salestactics.org--subscribe by email or Follow us on Twitter! <<

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How To Choose a Product [Business Newbie Guide Part 1]

How to choose a productHow to choose a product or service to offer is often the most daunting question for newbies to business.

This straightforward-sounding issue leads to more newbies giving up than any other. After months of paralyzing indecision and 'analysis paralysis', alongside the resulting failure to make an income stream, you have no choice but to return to a job.

If you are in the situation of recently becoming self-employed but don't know how to choose a product or service for your business, these instructions are for you.

How To Choose a Product or Service for Your New Business

Here's a quick video I made about what we're about to discuss:


 
Get your list of potential topics ready. I'll be back soon with the next set of instructions in this series.

I am constantly contacted by people who are not yet in a position to be helped by me. They don't have a business. No product or service, no processes, no branding, no marketing...nothing for me to work with. So that's why I'm writing this Business Newbie Guide series...to give you the How To instructions to create a business I can make a significant positive impact on with you.

The typical newbie mistake is to run around asking everyone they encounter, "What's working? What's selling for you now?" The hope is the people they talk to are a little bit ahead of them, and have some secret they don't yet possess. This is wrong.

First, the question is incomplete. Second, the question leads you into a crowded market. What's wrong with these concerns? Without the addition of, "and what's broken/what's wrong/what's the worst thing about it?" you won't be able to stand out if you enter that marketplace. And even if you do head into it, that market is already full of competitors--who are far better at delivering this product or service than you are. Beginning with everyone else at a huge head start is a bad idea.

Step One of How To Choose a Product

When figuring out how to choose a product, you must think differently. Do not chase the herd. Chasing the herd will only lead you into a crowded market filled with landmines, snares and hungry predators much larger and more savvy than you. Instead, begin with this:

"What do I like to talk about all day?"

Write down this question and as many answers as you can come up with over the next 48 hours.

Take your time.

Take a walk and think about it.

Don't rush.

When you chase the herd, you rush. And that leads you into bad decisions. Does it sound good to base your business, and therefore your chances of success, on a rush decision about what the herd is doing?

If I was coaching you, I would like to see at least four or five answers on that sheet of paper two days from now. Six or seven if you can manage it.

These topics must be things you enjoy. Not subjects you think other people want to know about. We're talking about YOU. Your emotions. Not how you think about it, but how you feel about it.

Note this distinction. You are going to be, if the business takes off, talking about this topic with other people for many years. Can you see why picking a core that excites you is the perfect place to start?

The Life Secret Within How To Choose a Product or Service

"But what if nobody wants to buy what I'm excited about?" you ask. Yes, this is the fear of the newbie. Let me point out that the process of how to choose a product or service for your fledgling business doesn't stop here. We're going to do more with these potential core subjects. But this is the place to start.

I'm about to share a 'secret' of life, so pay attention:

How you FEEL about what you do is more important than anything else.

Yes. The emotions you experience as you live produce your reality. Now they are like wind: they come and they go. But as they pass, they affect your thinking.

If you are all doom and gloom because you don't feel good about your business, will you take action? Will you do the daily behaviors necessary for success? Of course not: you'll huddle in your bedroom.

And if you feel happy about what you're offering the world, what then? Will you bravely take the next step? Naturally.

So picking a topic that you love talking about automatically makes you enthusiastic about your business.

Ah ha!

Are you starting to get the picture?

Topics you list may be general or specific. A list of possible topics might include:

> airplanes
> fly fishing
> skin care to help people with psoriasis
> dogs (or a specific breed of dog)
> cooking
> network security in Fortune 500 companies
> real estate.

We're not done. Nowhere near. But this is the very first and most important step of how to choose a product--deliberately select a core subject for you business that you enjoy talking about all day. Click here for Part Two.

>> Want Jason's help with your business? Click Here. Questions? Comment below to let us know! And to make sure you receive the next post in this series, Subscribe to SalesTactics.org by email or Follow us on Twitter. <<

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What Product Should I Make?

what product should I makeWhat product should I make? I'm frequently asked this question, whether privately, on forums, or expert platforms. Those asking usually but not always have some technical expertise. They can make something. But they're just not sure what.

Know why they have this problem? They're not close enough to their target market.

They're thinking too much about themselves.

What needs to be created is not in them. It's in their target market. And to find out what that is, you have to get real close and listen to what that niche is saying.

Guessing is not okay.

Creating a better mousetrap is not okay.

Do not work in isolation.

Do not rush out and make a product as fast as you can because you feel you must.

Take some time.

Go speak with your target customers. Hear what they have to say. Yes, this will slow your time to market; however, you will end up with a product people actually want rather than a dud.

Don't Ask Yourself 'What Product Should I Make?'

My first "product" was a 30-minute phone sales training call. It was later expanded into a 3-hour conversation and a membership site format. Now it's a four-figure program with two supporting membership sites.

I did not run out and create it as soon as I began interacting with the marketplace in the fall of 2011. Instead, I first interacted with that audience for three full months. I answered forum questions that demonstrated I knew my topic.

In fact, one of the big issues was how to package what I knew into a bite-sized format! Operations management, coypwriting and sales training were all competency areas, and I did not know which one would take off. If I had pushed out a product as soon as possible in 2011, it very likely would have been off the mark. What actually happened is by January 2012 I was recognized as an expert in the sales training field by this marketplace, and there was pent-up demand for something from me.

By simply casually reviewing the interactions I had had with my customer base over the past three months, it was simple to pick out two facts: only one other phone sales trainer was selling his services there, and nobody else was talking about the consultative approach. There was a need for someone to teach a straightforward, friendly, ethical way to start great sales conversations by phone.

If I had not spent the time interacting with my marketplace beforehand, I would have gone off the trail and created something nobody wanted. Talking with my target market allowed me to niche down. It gave me the boundaries to package part of what I knew into something they wanted. It also let them "try before you buy"--they got to see my expertise before having to make the decision about whether to invest in it or not.

Rush in and you'll get neither of these vital results.

How You Can Answer 'What Product Should I Make?'

Now the good news is you don't have to spend three months working with your target niche before coming up with something profitable. I had copywriting work during those months that allowed me to take my time. But you may only have a few weeks, and that's all right. You just need to talk to people. Not try to sell them anything. Just talk to them.

In my last post, I discussed how you can conduct information interviews with decision makers in your chosen niche. In these interviews, you will learn what key problems they have and how critical it is for your potential customers to get them solved. Just call, say you're doing some research, and set up a time for a 15-to-20-minute interview. You'll be amazed how easy these are to get, and how informative they are. You may find you were headed down the wrong path and a much more profitable idea was hidden from view.

When one decision maker in a niche tells you about a problem, you can be sure many decision makers in that niche are experiencing the same issue.

When two or more decision makers in a niche share the same difficulty with you, especially when using the same wording, you have a winner.

Then you have a strong answer to 'What product should I make?' and can go create the solution.

But hear it from your target market first.

Other Sources of Answers to 'What Product Should I Make?'

A couple other really good sources of problems your market is experiencing are:

Magazines.com

Go to magazines.com and see if there are magazines for your niche.

If there is even one title for your topic, you know there is a market.

Now read the headlines. What are they talking about? What problems are they highlighting, that they're using as hooks to encourage readers to open to Page Whatever to find the solution for?

Amazon/Kindle Reviews

Head over to Amazon and search for books in your niche. Now look at the reviews. Read them. You'll run across things like "I bought this book because..." and "It really helped me to...". These sentences tell you exactly what was going on in your target customer's head. A bunch of customers are saying the same thing? Great! Now can you fix that problem?

Maybe you should buy the book, if there are several reviews discussing a problem and solution you can have an effect on.

But nothing takes the place of genuine conversations with real members of your target market. Don't chicken out. You could be missing a fortune in exchange for a simple task if you do.

ADVANCED PRICING IDEA: look for problems the size of which lets you set a price at 5-10% of that value...and also allows you to hit your monthly revenue target with a reasonable number of sales.

If you're interested in a framework or roadmap that builds a business for you around what I've been sharing here, check out Jeff Steinmann's How To Quit Working.

>> Jason Kanigan is a business development expert. Did this information help you? Please Like or Share to let others know! And if you have a question about "What Product Should I Make?", comment below! <<