The Hardest Niche To Sell To
Don't play the game on hard mode
A note to my marketing friends:
Want to make more money and sell your stuff easier?
Stop selling to internet marketers.
In my experience — unless you’re an elite Donald Trump level marketer… or you’re selling a “new business opportunity”...
Selling to other internet marketers is the hardest path to take.
Here’s why:
The bulk of internet marketers are beginners who dream of making millions.
They read the Russell Brunson. The Gary Halbert. The Dan Kennedy. The Eugene Schwartz.
If they’re reallyyy serious, maybe even some James Clear Atomic Habits lol.
The difference is internet marketers have a voracious appetite for more and “new”.
Even after inhaling new info, they are immediately hungry for that new new.
(Ask me how I know…)
They’re a sophisticated market that expects a lot for a little, and they want it FAST.
I guess you can say this applies to a lot of markets. As humans we all want the best results with the least risk in the shortest time.
But internet marketers are unique because of their appetite for NEW.
If you look at an older industry like Real Estate, sure there are new things that come around here and there. But the process of buying and selling homes has largely been the same for many years.
There's no new funnel every 2 weeks.
So… what’s the point of sharing this?
I see a lot of marketers struggling to sell their stuff.
This post is the reason why.
If you're selling to other marketers, you're playing the game on HARD MODE.
You’ll be expected to produce new stuff all the time, even if new doesn’t benefit the customer. And if your target customer knows as much or more than you, there’s no reason to buy from you.
Make sense?
The easier path is to apply your skills to an old or emerging industry who isn’t skilled in what you do. Ideally an industry you have an interest or experience in.
Hormozi did this by helping personal trainers and gyms.
I did this when I applied my sales and marketing skills to help early-stage SaaS companies.
I have a client who helps service pros create their own franchise/licensing programs.
Another who’s a tax specialist that works with folks making $200k+ a year.
As Dan Kennedy once said when asked about his favorite clients:
“I like slow learners with deep pockets.”
Lol, always gives me a chuckle.
Anyway… I know this post is about marketers. But it could apply to any industry where you're finding it hard to sell and feel pressure of having to create "new" stuff so often.
Hope this helps.
Your compadre,
Sean “don’t play on hard mode” Anthony
I like this post. And it makes good sense on one level. Where I am a bit conflicted with it is if catering to (and selling to) a type of business / niche (that is outside of the internet marketing or direct marketing space) they are not necessarily buyers of that kind of marketing. They tend to be more uncomfortable with it (in my experience) and don't see the value of it. So their is more education required before a sale can be made.
I guess the answer is to put much more emphasis on the results / transformations will deliver the client. But they still want to have a high level understanding of the steps that will be implemented to get them the end result (so they believe that it will work for them). Then it's back to the higher probability of them saying that's not the type of marketing they do.
Does that make sense? Or am I overthinking it? It's just that from my (limited) experience trying to do, say, DR style emails for traditional type businesses - they don't like it and don't buy into it.
Banging post this one hits.
I found that talking to small business owners they don’t have much of a clue yet because it’s so early on.
So when you start talking about stuff you’ve read in the Russell Brunson and Gary Halbert books their minds go blank.
Which means an ideal person to sell a marketing service to.
So simple but so effective.
Thanks Sean