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Business fundamentals sound so boring. What about the magic bullets? Isn’t there One Right Way, a fast step I can take to success?

Maybe.

But the magic bullet, should it indeed turn out to be the right thing to apply, is based on business fundamentals. Most of the time, however, the magic bullet is simply a piece of business mythology.

Clarity Takes You Back To Business Fundamentals

Everyone--and that means you--needs just two things to make money.

One: Traffic

Two: Conversion.

That’s it.

And every magic bullet you see is actually only a single element of either of these two things. It’s either a piece of traffic, or a piece of conversion.

keys lock open door unlock business fundamentals marketing marketers how to reach affiliate marketers

Photo by Dids from Pexels

As you continue on your business journey, start looking through this lens. This thing that’s being marketed to you, shouted at you about, shoved in your face: what is it? Really?

Is it a piece of traffic?

Or a piece of conversion?

I assure you, despite the loud and persistent marketing, it is not “everything”. It is certainly not a ‘business in a box’.

Business fundamentals involve being willing to look at and understand basic math.

This is not calculus. It is simple addition and subtraction.

Yet in my experience over the past decade selling online, most people are unwilling to do this basic math.

Basic math is the language of marketers. To be recognized by one as one, you must speak this language. If you refuse to do so, you sound like an inept newbie to them and they will not interact with you.

If you have ever tried reaching out to affiliate marketers, and been surprised at their lack of response, now you know why.

Business Fundamentals Are The Key To Opening Doors To Affiliate Marketers

Learn the language of marketing and business. Learn to speak it. Doing so will open many doors for you that are closed right now.

Traffic…

...and Conversion.

How many leads do you need to bring in to get one sale?

The answer to this question--even if it is only a good estimate--is the kind of idea you must know to get the attention of serious marketers. You bumbling in, exclaiming about how great your product is, achieves nothing. They’ve heard all that before. They don’t care about your product. They care about how many leads it takes to get to a sale.

That will get their attention. You being able to say, with some justification, that it takes “X number of visitors to achieve a sale” is a key that will unlock many doors.

Of course there is more to this, but I have given you the starting point.

>> To have a strategy session with Jason to learn more about what marketers are really listening for, and how to get their attention, book a paid call here <<

The Danger of the Two Sales is a straightforward but not well-known marketing and sales problem that kills many new businesses.

Here's what happens to produce it:

Someone has a brainwave and makes a new product or service.

You see this all the time in the Software-as-a-Service world...but you'll also see it in products, such as a condiment.

Then the creator goes out and tries to sell the thing, and discovers nobody wants it.

"Why don't they understand how great this is?" they shout. After all, it's clear as day to them why people need whatever it is.

But the public, the target market, other people... everyone else just doesn't get it.

The now-frustrated creator gives up.

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Image by Steve Buissinne from Pixabay

Understanding What Causes The Danger Of The Two Sales

What happened here?

The new business owner, fired up with the enthusiasm for their innovative idea, has dangerously bypassed the first problem in sales and marketing...

...identifying a problem people admit they'll pay to have solved.

This is the first of The Two Sales. You must make this first sale, and it is best if that sale is implicitly understood by your prospective customer before you begin talking to them.

In other words, the first sale is that your prospect admits there is a serious problem to be solved: one that they will pay money to fix.

If you haven't achieved this, you run a great risk of having your "solution" sound unnecessary or, even worse, nonsense. You'll ever make a sale in this situation.

The second of The Two Sales is that YOU are the best provider of solutions for this problem.

Can you see how if you blindly try to rush past the first of The Two Sales, that your target market agrees there's an issue here worth solving in the first place, your prospect will blink at you in confusion when you try to show off "your baby"?

Making Use Of The Two Sales

You might be astonished how often this situation comes up. If you keep the Danger of the Two Sales in mind as you begin, though, you'll be able to make use of it.

As a for-instance, I pre-qualify prospective clients for people who already believe that a metrics-based approach is good. For them to already be demonstrating they value numbers because they're collecting their own data—and aren't afraid of math.

So many newbie business owners are afraid of a little math.

When I do talk to someone about our services, I know they're already on board with doing some math...that they speak the language of marketing and operations results. I do not have to risk falling into the situation of trying to sell someone who just isn't into numbers and probably never will be. What a frustrating experience that would be!

Do you see how this directs your marketing?

Your marketing is best deployed in filtering in those people who already believe as you do. Then you can talk to those who qualify—those you've made The First Sale to—further about the details of your amazing solution.

Of course there are situations where a new problem and a new solution are very real. But you'll still have to deal with The Two Sales: before you'll ever make a sale you'll have to educate and convince someone, or get them to agree, that there is a serious problem in this area. Then you can move on to you being the best solution provider.

Many, many businesses have died an early death because their founders did not understand The Danger of the Two Sales. I encourage you to not be one of those founders.

>> Jason Kanigan is a business strategist and conversion expert. To book a session to speak with Jason, click here. <<