I considered many titles for this post. “Build This Before Anything Else!” or “Where Did All of Those Cars Come From?” or “What I Learned From A Cosmetic Surgeon’s First Week In Business.” Many titles, only ONE ASSET to discuss:
Demand.
You want to deliberately build DEMAND for your product, service, expertise before you build anything else.
In Psycho-Cybernetics, Dr. Maltz describes the experience he had during his first week as a Cosmetic Surgeon. He had a phone and an empty calendar. FINALLY… the phone rang. And — with the painstaking restraint ONLY someone who’s been at the helm of a launch can appreciate — he audibly flipped through the pages of his empty calendar and alerted the caller that he could SQUEEZE her in on such and such a day.
Perceived demand.
I’ve known new B2C businesses who have rented cars to fill their parking lot during the first week of a new opening. Why? Because an empty parking lot is scary… suspicious even… to potential clients.
Perceived Demand.
Now, I admire Maltz greatly… and perceived demand has its place. BUT, can I just say that we’re taking it a bit too far these days? IMHO, we’re beginning to accept perceived or falsified demand for true demand. Much the way we’re accepting looking thin in a picture due to some fancy phone app in leu of actually getting to the gym! lol…
My CLEAR preference is true, authentic, albeit engineered demand: An actual waiting list, even. Everything changes when you have a REAL waiting list of clients. People who are WAITING for their chance to work with you. Reminding you, even, of the fact that they’re waiting. This didn’t happen in my business until some time in 2011, I believe, but it didn’t take me long to figure out the POWER in that level of demand!
I see far too many business owners putting the cart before the horse so to speak…. Creating a product or service or offer and spending ALL of their time polishing it FIRST. That’s backwards. Generate DEMAND for something and THEN build it.
“Build it and they will come”
makes for a memorable movie line
but a VERY POOR business mindset.
“Let them come and then I’ll build it.”
is the far more profitable way to go.
I’ll always choose the latter.
Now, here are three ideas you can use — starting today — to start engineer (real) demand for your business.
- TEASE out information about an upcoming launch or product. Ask people to register for the early release date. I used this exact strategy way back when and SOLD OUT in about 18 hours from opening this new (not cheap) program. The link above was JUST the way to sign up… I’d been teasing information via social media, via my email list, etc.
- Deliberately limit availability. Put others on a waiting list and tell them when you’ll “open doors” again.
- Consider a sale that has very limited shelf life… and put others on a waiting list — that you’ll “educate” and nurture via a drip campaign — until the next time you offer something similar.
What ideas to you have? Which have you used?
