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Rod Aparicio

Get one tip, question, or belief-challenge that just might change the way you market, to help your customers buy. A *daily* email for b2b founders on improving your business —without the bullshit.

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A language you don't need.

Even when you're highly specialized in what you do, the way you do it, and in the people you serve (your market), you don't need to talk highly technically most of the times. Because, at the end of it all, your customers are not looking for what solution will be specifically implemented —they're not the experts after all. What they're looking for is how you can help them, as in what's in it for them. Help them get a clear big picture of what they're really wanting. Help them gain altitude....

When you have prospects trying to figure out whether or not buying from you, the main thing that will make you stand out is how you see your market. Here's a simple way to start. The rest of players see [the category] this way: your view of what goes on with the others. I (or we, if it's REALLY more than you) see it like this: how you do —not how you'd want it to be in a future, but how you do things NOW. Putting this in the simplest terms you can, will give you a strength on how you say it,...

Your price is the representation of your brand. One of the touchpoints your business has that is the simpler to understand is price. If you can't articulate what's the relationship between your price and the value your customers seek, that's a sign. A sign for you to work on making that relationship a no-brainer in terms of understanding. If you can't command an uncommon price, you have a me-too (common) offering.

What do you see yourself still talking and interested in in 10 years from now? How many of the current things you do/research/write/publish/work on are in that spectrum? Think it'd be worth going on one of them deep enough to experiment and build new offerings/products/services? That's a quick way to see if what you're working on is aligned with what you see in a (not-so-distant?) future. 10 years can pass quickly. And 10 years can also be long enough to figure out if what you're currently...

Next time you're on a sales conversation with a prospect, ask them this: "It's a year from now. We're having coffee together and you're happy. What has happened in your business in that year for you to be happy?" [Now you don't say a word. Embrace silence. Bite your tongue if you need to. :)] This question will push them to think. And you need to give them space to do that. If you talk, you take it away from them. When they talk, they'll give you A TON of valuable information to start seeing...

It's a year from now. We're having coffee together and you're happy. What has happened in your business in that year for you to be happy? I'd love to know. :)

That's the tricky question that pushes you to start thinking on how you'll convince them. What can you say that will make them want you SO BAD, that it's only logical to go with it? Well, it's definitely not logic. And has to do the opposite to convincing. What if you stop from going full-speed? Breath. Stop. Think on their words. Why We Hire Why? It actually has nothing to do with you. It's about them talking to you. If they're in that conversation, it's them who saw something to talk with...

Today's daily is this one by Blair Enns: Ideological Resonance. TL;DR: it's about your perspective and how your insights make you stand out from your competitors. That's originality, authenticity, and finding your tribe. What's your view of the world, how you do what you do and approach your market to serve?

Digging deeper into more sources and resources of that McKinsey study re: how your best chances at improving your profit rest more on changing how you price than looking for higher volumes or cost efficiency, I ran into this graph presented (and visiting a more updated version of that report in 2016) by Tim Williams, pricing specialist. You can check out his full presentation (40 min —you'll find this explanation within the first minute) on this here. The trend to see. On the first study...

The one thing that can drive a higher impact in your business is your price. From all things, increasing your price (and charging differently) can improve the way your business does. There's this McKinsey study from 20 years ago —yeah, that far back— where they show that a 1% increase in the price, would generate 8% increase in operating profits. Way larger of an increase if you'd get to improve your costs in the same 1%. Yet, the question remains in: what are you doing to price different —if...