As a marketer, you’re always looking for ways to grow. Instead of starting from scratch, it’s often easier to look at the customers you already have and figure out how you can expand those relationships.
For example, if you’re selling e-commerce products, you can think about what kind of upsells you can add to increase your average cart value.
The people who have bought from you already are your hot traffic. People who are your fans are going to continue to buy from you over time, because they like who you are, they like your product and they like what you stand for. Think about what you can do to expand that relationship.
For me, my main business is services-based so I have to think about, “Who are we doing well for?” Every quarter, we send out an NPS (Net Promoter Score) survey to our current clients just to see what they think.
If they rate us a 9 or a 10, that means they’re promoters, people who like our product and service and are going to vouch for it to other people. That’s where we think, “How can we expand this? How can we take advantage of this?”
We’re going to ask them for a testimonial. We’re going to ask them who else would be a good fit for us to work with. We’re going to ask for referrals.
At the same time, we’re going to come to these satisfied customers with additional value add.
That’s exactly what I did last week in San Francisco. I came into the meetings prepared, saying, “Hey, you guys are missing out on this. Your competitors are doing this and they’re doing it better than you are.” So then they’re ready to expand the account, because they trust us and like the value add that we’ve provided so far. They’re willing to take the relationship further.
Especially with a services-based business, you have to think about how long you can keep each relationship going, how you can continue to add value over time.
It doesn’t necessarily have to be you upselling. It could be you introducing them to other services with other people or products as well. You might or might not receive a commission off of that, but it doesn’t matter – you’re just thinking about how you can continue to help.
It’s all about helping others first and then you can figure out how to expand. At the end of the day, it really goes both ways.
Instead of worrying about acquiring more customers all the time, think about what you can do for the loyal customers you already have.
It actually costs more to acquire a customer versus expanding a current customer since a faithful customer will have a higher ROI and a higher lifetime value.
If you think about it, it’s like any relationship. The people who have been with me throughout my life, those who I have nurtured a relationship with over the years—those are are the people that I trust, that I’d reach out to if I was in trouble. You want to nurture relationships with your customers and think about what you can do to maximize those relationships.
At the end of the day, no matter what kind of business you’re in, it’s about caring. If you can just care, it’s going to be a lot easier for you. It’s going to be a more enjoyable journey. So make it easy, genuinely care about the people you’re doing business with, and go from there.
Hey everyone, today I share the mic with Daniel DiPiazza, founder of Rich20Something, a platform that provides the tools and mindset to radically improve your career and life in the 21st century.
Listen as Daniel discusses how his experiences led him to write the book Rich20Something, how Instagram was a huge contributing factor for his success, why he focuses on ROT (return on your 20s), and how he earns most of his revenue from his courses.
01:55 – Rich20 is focused on the return on your 20s
02:15 – The focus is for those in the 10-year period of age 20 – 30
02:35 – If you invest your time in your business, health and mindset during this critical period, you are going to get big rewards in your 30s and beyond that
03:13 – Daniel graduated school early and was faced with two options: more school or go corporate
03:35 – Both things did not appeal to him so he worked at different jobs and found that he had to go through many different resources to figure out what he wanted to do with his time
03:57 – Rich20 was the culmination of what he found out during this period and how to get where he needs to go
04:11 – The company just hit 7 figures in revenue
04:18 – The different components in generating income: creating products, services and courses that teach career-based skills and digital merchandising for influencers
05:24 – Most of the revenue is being driven from the courses
06:07 – Courses sell because they have a relatively low barrier in customer acquisition but to stay in the business, you have to be competitive
06:37 – Daniel is interested in the competitive and the media side of the business
07:09 – Look at the industries that are underserved and you can get a foothold doing online courses in those industries
07:50 – Only 2% are getting through the online courses
08:30 – Daniel says it is less about the content and more about the modality
08:58 – Daniel’s company had to adjust and reposition several times to keep pace with the changing market
09:35 – The company has 250 thousand followers on Instagram
09:45 – Instagram is like 2/3 love and 1/3 hate
10:13 – Daniel caught on the wave where people were just coming to Instagram and was able to find people who would buy his courses
10:53 – The money he earned went to influencers who would talk about his courses
11:11 – Instagram helped their business grow
11:43 – The other side is the perception of the viewer thinking that all they do are fun, leisurely activities when they are actually working really hard
12:17 – Sometimes it can get exhausting because there is a strain being connected to thousands of people and commenting and answering messages
13:04 – Watch the trends in Instagram and post unique content
13:47 – The original videos Daniel post are made using Final Cut Pro
13:59 – He does his own quotes
14:21 – Ride on the trends like live streaming
15:19 – Eric interviewed Nathan Chan in a previous episode and he said his secret was page shouts and Crowd Fire
15:49 – Daniel thinks page shouts are great and are one of the ways they grew the account
16:11 – Within the first year, they hit 100 thousand followers because they had a funnel, invested in it, and it organically grew after that
16:41 – If you don’t have a lot of money to invest, you have to have really unique content because you will be the only source that people will go to
17:14 – Eric has two podcasts: one where he has about a hundred thousand downloads a month and the one with Neil which has about 570 thousand downloads a month where they get two people to talk about marketing for just 5 minutes
18:03 – Jim Kwik has a mini-podcast that he does for just 10-15 minutes
18:27 – Eric says look for your unique spin if you want to make your own podcast
19:36 – To funnel people in Instagram, Daniel posted links to free opt-ins
20:10 – They made landing pages in Click Funnels for the links
20:19 – All are linked to auto-responders
20:30 – The mini-course has lessons and videos and an ability to see the best performing blog posts and lessons
21:26 – After the seven-day free trial, they offer a seven-day sales sequence
22:05 – Personally, Daniel created a lot of content last year: a book with 278 pages, blog posts, and music
23:02 – This year is spent on repurposing, editing, and rearranging of content in order to promote the content
23:52 – His book Rich20Something is half autobiographical and half strategic
24:48 – It frames what worked in their business and in Daniel’s life
25:12 – It shows the highs and lows of Daniel’s journey
25:38 – What’s one book that you’d recommend to everyone? – Untethered Soul by Michael Singer
26:33 – Connect with Daniel at any social media platform by searching @rich20something
26:45 – End of today’s episode
3 Key Points:
Invest in building your channel or create your own unique content.
Look for an area that is not yet saturated and be the main source of information there.
Offer a free trial to show credibility and build trust and then do a sales pitch.
Hey everyone, in today’s episode, I share the mic with Sol Orwell, the founder of Examine.com.
Listen as Sol shares how going from fat to fit led him to create a 7-figure nutrition business, how he built that business off of his Reddit followers, how Examine.com generates 100% of their revenue with just 3 products and why his quest for independence is the guiding principle to how he runs his companies.
01:20 – Sol is an immigrant who was born in Pakistan and has lived in Saudi Arabia, Japan, and USA—he is currently residing in Canada
01:49 – While in high school, Sol stumbled into virtual currency and MMO sales because of online gaming
02:14 – Sol also gained experience in domain names and local searches
02:53 – Examine.com was created because Sol gained weight and he wanted to analyze nutritional supplements
03:20 – Sol wants to make an impact on the world and share what he knows
04:03 – Examine.com’s focus today is how to generate consistent revenue and build their brand
04:20 – They are planning to have a product out this year
04:35 – Examine.com has been featured on many different media outlets
05:16 – The domain name is an asset and spending on it is a worthwhile risk
05:26 – When the site reached 10,000 visitors a day, Sol asked customers what they wanted and he responded
06:06 – Sol was able to build a subscription service and he connected with organizations that specialized in fitness and exercise
06:23 – Sol met his co-founders at Reddit and realized that people were always asking questions, but were not using the search function
07:04 – People were getting tired of answering the same questions and this is what caused Sol to build Examine.com
07:24 – Sol’s co-founder was 2013 Moderator of the Year
07:55 – Sol and his team announced in Reddit that they were building a site and people started linking to it
08:08 – Since they were already part of the Reddit community for a long time, people knew who they were and trusted them
09:37 – Content generation should NOT be the focus—it should be updating your own content and networking and building relationships
10:17 – It was easier to get people to link to them because of their strong community
10:57 – They are always pre-promoting
11:18 – What’s one big struggle you had in growing Examine.com? – People were cynical of who they were so they had to prove they were an authority
12:18 – Sol and his partner didn’t want the site to be about them, so they went with a generic brand
12:54 – Examine.com has researchers, editors/reviewers, copy editors and those who send the e-mails
13:26 – They do not work on rigid time schedules
14:03 – Examine.com also has doctors that they can consult
14:32 – How did you go about finding contractors? – Look for other people who are already doing the work, but who are unknown to others
15:13 – Sol looked for people who already have a site or a blog and are doing the research, but who may not necessarily have an audience
15:22 – Since they have already built their brand, people want to be associated with them
16:00 – Why the decision to start to move away from Examine.com? – I got into Examine.com because I needed to lose weight, but I am not the expert
16:57 – It has always been about finding the best people and providing them an opportunity
17:08 – Sol was able to move on from the projects because he has found people who are better than him
17:32 – When they were starting Sol’s partner, Kurtis, focused on the research while Sol did everything else
18:04 – Kamal is running Examine.com and he only met Sol after two years working on the site
18:38 – Sol pays others more than he pays himself and they become the face of the company
19:02 – Kamal is the face of the company and gets exposure everywhere
19:41 – Sol is currently working on speaking engagements, writing, and finding out ways to make an impact
20:12 – Sol wants to intercept social enterprise with entrepreneurship
21:19 – Sol wants to make a big impact and share the value of giving rather than the “me” approach
21:35 – For his speaking engagements, Sol talks about entrepreneurship
22:11 – In Mastermind Talks, you know who you are meeting with and the conversation is always about getting value
22:45 – There are also private invite-only events where you get to spend days with interesting people
23:31 – Doors open when you are more focused on meeting people rather than thinking about monetizing
24:15 – Eric got connected with Sol because of a conference that was recommended by Noah
24:40 – What’s one big change you made in the last year that’s impacted you or the business in a big way? – Sol uses a productivity journal and this helps him know what needs to be done the following week
Hey everyone, today we have a very special show featuring three of my friends from high school: Andrew Tsai, Jonathan Hong, and Mike Zhang, co-founders of The Drip Club, a trusted online e-liquid and vape shop. Andrew is the VP of Sales, Mike is the CEO and Jonathan is the VP of Products.
On today’s show we’ll be talking about how The Drip Club began as an online subscription service, similar to BirchBox, and evolved into a consumer products company, what they did to get to a quarter million Instagram followers without paid advertising (which they can’t do because of the industry they’re in), and how they scaled the effectiveness of working as a team with a divide-and-conquer strategy.
[3:28] – They want to model themselves after Red Bull.
[04:54] – They try to add value and provide the best products and the best service, and take the personal approach. They share insights and best practices that will help their customers be successful.
[6:34] – They ask what is not moving and take it back at no charge and give equivalent credits.
[06:57] – They want to make whatever is on the shelf is moving. They set a high bar. They help with planning for holidays in retail. They have account representatives reach out to the shops and give tips and free products.
[8:25] – Their focus is to help customers to sell products.
[9:08] – Social media has helped to build their brand. Especially Instagram. They grew the business over 1,000% from 2014 to 2015.
[10:14] – Today they have a quarter million Instagram followers. They are unique because they can’t do paid advertising.
[11:25] – They wanted to share great content as a lifestyle brand on Instagram. They focuses on sourcing great products to give away and build a following. They also transferred those followers onto Facebook and built an email list.
[12:30] – As the channel grew they spent less and less, they began with expensive products that people may want, but not want to pay for. They also got free product, so it cost them time. It was probably in the 5 or 6 figures in retail value of products.
[14:36] – People have a desire to share about a good product. Social influence points by sharing something of value. Influencer placements have been organic by creating great products.
[16:34] – Joint goodwill created by a collaboration with a popular DJ and building relationships with people in the industry. They are always seeking out influencers to build relationships with and collaborate with. Win win situation.
[17:56] – They have been observing from the beginning and have found the best influencers from building their reputation over time. They also started early on and grew with a lot of people. Find good people to interact with because you never know how big their influence will get.
[20:07] – Struggles faced from working with friends. Relationships are about communications. They had no ego struggles and were very blunt about their ideas and thought processes. Communication can be a challenge, but they feel they have mastered it. Communication and trust.
[22:22] – They would all hang out, then Andrew and Jonathan kind of disappeared. Mike noticed they were working all the time. For Mike, it was rewarding having a third party perspective. He knew a lot about the value of time. Being effective and not just efficient.
[24:25] – How to scale the effectiveness of working as a team with a divide and conquer strategy.
[26:27] – Get started as soon as possible and listen to your instincts
[27:15] – Productivity hack, mindfulness or meditation incorporated into each day to avoid overwhelm and help to focus
