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Dan Lok

From Brick And Mortar To Click And Order: How Your Business Can Shift To Online Operations

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Is your brick and mortar business struggling due to the current global crisis? You’re not alone, but the reason you’re struggling is not only because of pandemic-related business closures. If at all, COVID-19 only sped up what was already happening. The retail apocalypse was already well underway, before this global pandemic began.

Since 2018, 59% of the retail stores have closed down. Why is that? People’s buying behaviors have simply changed with the digital economy. Consumers are feeling more and more comfortable ordering things online. Before the boom of online retailers and e-commerce stores, consumers had to go to a brick and mortar shop and look at the product. They depended on the selection of shops in their city.

Today, however, information and the product don’t belong together as much. What does this mean? Consumers look for a product and then find a shop that provides it at the best price and value. That’s why brick and mortar shops have had to adapt and change their sales process.

But that’s not all. Suppliers have also changed their sales processes. Since it’s so easy now to set up an online store, many suppliers would rather sell their products on their own website than through a brick and mortar store. Suddenly, the manufacturers are cutting out the middle man.

In short, brick and mortar stores have fewer products to sell than before, and consumers don’t want to shop in a store as much anymore. Only shops that provide essentials, like supermarkets, still see frequent visits.

What can you do if your store falls into the ‘non-essential items’ category? Or, what if you cannot go online because your offer is only applicable in person? Examples of this include massage therapy or similar services you typically can’t buy online.

In this article, we’ll go over some tips on how to save your business during this crisis. What can you do to protect your business, income and livelihood?

Even if your business can only deliver services in person, make sure to read the whole article. Because in the end, you might get an understanding of what you can do to save your specific business, too.

brick and mortar store

The Biggest Changes Brick and Mortar Stores Need to Make if Shifting to Online Operations

If you want to shift your business from brick and mortar to click and order, there is more to it than building a website and having a shop-plugin. You see, many brick and mortar store owners make one common mistake. They see their website as only an online version of their real store. But online shopping doesn’t work like shopping offline. Consumers today don’t find stores online by accident or click through the pages for fun.

There are three steps to transform a struggling offline business into a thriving online business:

  1. Help people find you online.
  2. Adapt your product range to that of online shoppers’ behavior.
  3. Encourage the consumer to return to your online store.

If you follow those simple steps in order, you’ll have a very high chance of weathering the storm and thriving despite a global crisis. You might even come out stronger than before. Before we go there, let us give you advice on how to get the most out of this article: Read it with an empty cup.

As Dan Lok often says, two of the most dangerous statements in business are, I know that and, My business is different. It might feel like you already know some of the strategies we’ll discuss. Or, you think your business is different and you and your clients have a special relationship. Your way of doing business is different, right?

Are you ready for the unpleasant truth?

If these differences were enough, you wouldn’t be struggling right now. You only know it if you live it. Study the tips in this article carefully, and allow yourself to accept insights that are radically different from what you intended to do.

Woman online shopping on her laptop

From Brick and Mortar to E-Commerce Success: How to Get Consumers to Find Your Online Store

If you want people to find you online, you can do several things. One of the most essential things is experimental marketing. Why? Right now, there are countless online shops out there offering the same products as you. If you want to stand out, it’s crucial to become visible. You can use short-term and long-term strategies. Which one fits you best depends on your business.

If you want to use Facebook as an advertising platform, make sure to keep Facebook’s strict rules and regulations in mind. For products that are somewhat controversial, Facebook will often not allow you to advertise them. In this case, you can use either Google ads or create educational content.

As a next step, you can optimize this content for search engine visibility. Using this method to promote your business is called SEO marketing.

The Power of Niche Marketing Techniques

If you want to shift to online operations, you may need to become more of a niche business. The most effective marketing happens when you have a niche. Why? Because online shoppers already know what they’re looking for, specifically, do you understand? You see, if you are an offline brick and mortar store, people might like to walk through your shop. They can walk around the and discover different things they like.

Online, however, people look for a product with a purpose and an intention in mind. If you send them to your store with marketing, you also need them to have an intention. Imagine you were a customer yourself. Let’s say you saw an ad that says, Visit the ABC store now, we have all kinds of products.

Would you click it with a serious buying intention? Probably not. The ad isn’t specific enough, or niche enough. You were not looking for something specific, and the ad didn’t give you a clear picture of what is waiting for you.

But what if you were looking for a birthday gift? Imagine you see an ad that says: Trendy Gifts, the gift shop that has the greatest selection of birthday gifts available. How would you react now? This ad was targeting the niche of gift-giving, but the same is true for any kind of niche. In what niche could you specialize? Here are some examples of niche online stores that work:

  • Household products (brooms, cleaning supplies)
  • Athletic apparel
  • Electronics for gaming
  • Beauty products 

Those are just a few of many niche examples.

Why Niches Magically Attract More Customers

Why is having a niche essential? Consumers today want what they are looking for immediately. They neither have the attention span nor the patience to browse for too long. Having a broad range of products isn’t as much of an advantage anymore as it had been a few years ago. But where is the difference between the ads before? Didn’t it say we have the greatest selection of gifts available?

Yes, think about why it works: If you are looking for a specific thing, what good is a vast range of random products? If you are looking for a gift, it’s a hassle to browse through clothes, electronics, household items. But if you have a great selection available for a specific demand, it might be enticing again.

There is another advantage to a niche: You can tap into an existing demand. What’s the benefit? Did you ever have a product in your store that no one ever bought, even if you reduced the price? The reason was probably not the cost, but the fact that no one was looking for it.

If you only offer products a niche that people are interested in, chances are you can sell much more.

There is even more to niches – you can specialize even deeper. Let’s say you want to dive into the beauty niche. You can choose to specialize in organic skincare only. That’s a niche within a niche. You won’t offer all beauty products such as hair products, makeup, and skincare. Only organic skincare. Want to be even more specialized, and even more niche? You could only sell only skincare for the face.

Be careful not to specialize too much. Before choosing a niche, do proper research and make sure that you have a market with a demand waiting for you. Important: Just having a niche doesn’t create demand. Specializing in an existing need and pulling in that traffic is what niche marketing is all about.

Woman with piles of inventory behind her

How to Adapt Your Product Range for Online Success

If you take a look at successful e-commerce entrepreneurs, you will notice a trend. Most of them say, Start with a general store, find one winner and scale that one. This advice sounds simple, but it isn’t easy. That “winner” is a product that sells like the proverbial hotcakes. To find it, you need an intense research process. Also, you have pitfalls to avoid. Before we go into useful advice on how to adapt your product range let’s talk about those pitfalls. This advice might seem counter-intuitive. Especially if you had a brick and mortar store before, this is crucial for a future e-commerce success.

What are some pitfalls or warning signs that you might not be setting yourself up for online success?

E-Commerce Pitfall #1: You are Overly Attached to your Product

Most e-commerce beginners choose a product based on what they like. But you are not your customer. For e-commerce to work, the only thing that counts is data. Analyze the market, see what works and then invest in that product. You might see a product that doesn’t even make sense to you but sells 100 units a day. Then you see a product that looks like people will immediately buy – but they don’t. Be brave enough to drop a product that doesn’t return results as fast as possible. Yes, it might be disappointing to be wrong with your intuition, but this comes with experience. Just move on, fail fast, fail forward and win sooner.

E-Commerce Pitfall #2: You Don’t Research Enough

It’s not enough to have a deep understanding of the market need. What good is it if you can’t deliver what people order? That’s why it’s just as important to gather intel on your suppliers. Especially in e-commerce, where you can source products directly from manufacturers. Sourcing directly most likely costs you a fraction of what you are paying now. That’s why many e-commerce stores have a higher profit margin than a brick and mortar shop.

Yet, high margins don’t matter if you can’t sell anything. Here are some things you need to look out for:

  • Is the supplier reliable? Check testimonials, ratings, and comments. Give them a small order to test their product quality, and write them messages to test how responsive they are.
  • Is the supplier big enough? What is their stock size, how fast do they restock? How long have they been in business, how long have they been on the platform you use to buy from them?
  • How fast does the supplier ship? Consider this in the shipment times you give your customers. If you have a product that is in high demand and you get many sales, it pays to use a different approach. You can partner with a warehouse in the country you are targeting. Ship several of the high-demand units to it upfront. This way, when you get an order, you can ship the product quickly and improve customer experience. What is a highly in-demand product? A good rule of thumb is if you get 30 orders per product per day.
  • What quality do the supplier’s products have, and how do they deal with faulty units? (What’s the return policy, warranty conditions, repair times?)

E-Commerce Pitfall #3: You Don’t Know Your Metrics

How did you imagine going from offline to online? Some brick and mortar business owners think it just means putting their stock on a website. Those businesses will have an unpleasant awakening soon. E-commerce is a noisy marketplace, and similar online stores will fight you for customers, quite brutally.

Without proper online marketing, it’s highly unlikely to get online customers at all. Since everyone is marketing, you need to outmaneuver the competition. As Sun Tzu said: A battle is won before it is fought.

Sun Tzu also said, If you know yourself and your enemies, you don’t need to fear a hundred battles. If you know only yourself but nor enemies, for every victory, there will be a defeat. If you know neither yourself nor your enemy, you will lose every battle. This wisdom is true in e-commerce as well. If you know what your competition is doing, what they spend in marketing and their strategy, you can win

Important Metrics that can Make or Break your Business

One of the most important metrics for this is the CAC or customer acquisition cost. This metric tells you how much it costs you to acquire a customer. To lead customers from the first click to the sale can be quite expensive. Why? Because unlike offline, the online buying journey has more steps. These steps include:

Seeing an ad

Clicking it

Visiting the site

Looking at the product

Putting it in the cart

Going to checkout 

Buying

Even though you only pay for people seeing your ad and/or clicking it, without a sale, this investment is in vain. Their buying journey with you can end at any time, and then your ad was ineffective.

Let’s say you have a product that costs you $5 to source, including shipping, and you are selling it for $19.95. You now have a profit margin of $14.95.

This means you can spend theoretically spend $14.94 to acquire a customer and still make a profit, even if it’s small. Now take a look at the statistics of your campaign. Do your expenses shoot over your CAC? If yes, you are losing money, even if you sell a hundred products.

A Simple Way to Win the CAC War

This might be one of the most significant changes for brick and mortar store owners. Even selling thousands of products doesn’t mean you make any profit.

Make sure to have as high a maximum CAC as possible. Because if you can outspend your competition, you’ll win the war for customers.

For example, let’s say you have a maximum CAC of $100, and your competitor has a maximum CAC of $15

This means you can spend up to $85 more per customer in marketing. This way you will attract more traffic, and you can dominate your competition.

How do you get a higher CAC? Lower your cost for advertising. Now, we’re not saying to spend less on it. You see, some platforms reward you if you get a lot of engagement on your ads.

For example, on Facebook, if your ad gets shared, your cost to run it lowers. This is why the same ad can have a CAC of 15 or 100. Don’t try to do it yourself if you have no experience. It would be less expensive to hire an expert who knows what they are doing.

How to Adapt your Product Range the Right Way

Now that you know how to avoid some critical pitfalls let’s talk about how to find the right product. There are several strategies to do this. The first is to tap into an existing trend, the second is planning for the long run.

To use existing trends, watch social media ads closely. You might notice that certain product ads get thousands of likes in a few hours or days.

For example, if the ad runs for a few days and already has hundreds or thousands of likes, it went viral, which is good. To make sure, look for the product specifically and observe the reaction to other ads for it. If you see an overall high demand, it’s safer to invest in it.

There is never a guarantee that it will work, of course, but you can stack the deck in your favor. You can do this by being very cautious in testing. It might always be that a trend is only short-lived. Once you notice it, it might be declining already.

So don’t only look for one product at a time. The worst number in business is one.

Man giving his wife a present

How to Win Over the Online Consumer

Alright, you have chosen a niche, invested in marketing and are attracting clients. Now what? It’s very expensive to acquire new customers, but very cheap to upsell existing ones.

This means you want to figure out how to build strong relationships with your customers. What bonuses can you give them for staying loyal to you? How are you engaging them? If you make them feel validated and cherished, they will come back to you.

Think of your own buying behaviors online: Why are you coming back to individual sellers? Why do you never come back to others?

To engage customers to return, you can give them specific incentives such as:

  • A discount code for their next order
  • A discount or bonus if they refer a friend to your shop (perhaps their friend gets a discount as well)
  • Add an extra gift to their order for free, as a surprise
  • Ask them for their feedback on your store, and if you implement their feedback, let them know you followed their advice.
  • Include a personalized, handwritten thank you note in their order. This personal note will be appreciated when they open their package.

With strategies like the above, it’s easier to bring your brick and mortar store into the online world.

Image of a store's closed sign

What’s the Most Important Thing Brick and Mortar Store Owners Need Right Now?

With the information in this article, you may or may not have an idea what you can do to save your business and lifestyle as an  entrepreneur. But you likely have more questions:

Which suppliers can you trust? What trends will occur in a few months? Which online marketing strategy works best specifically for your business and your customers?

Of course, you can find this out, if you are willing to invest time and money in trial and error (which will teach you a lot, but take up a lot of your time and resources.) 

Perhaps you neither have time nor money to waste right now. That’s why Dan Lok put together a high-level advisory board. Its purpose is to help distinguished entrepreneurs to create generational wealth even in times of crisis.

Distinguished entrepreneurs are dragons. Dragons are visionaries, wise strategists, fearless leaders, and daring enterprisers. The dragons will either dominate an industry or shape an industry—they are the Kings or Queens of their industry. Dragons can rise above a global crisis, because they have what it takes to survive the crisis.

Do you see yourself as a future King in the online space? Then you’ll want to draw experience from people who already failed for you. You’ll want to avoid pitfalls so you can be more successful faster. Imagine how you can grow if you learn from people 10,20 or 100 times more successful than you are.

If being a dragon sounds like you, click here.

Please note: This a very exclusive group. Only 100 entrepreneurs are accepted, so act now before your seat is taken.

Why Cash Flow Is More Important Than Revenue

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Is your business struggling with cash flow in these uncertain times? This is the time when it’s especially important to understand why cash flow is more important than revenue.

As a business owner, it’s your responsibility to know about your business’ financials. If you don’t know it, who would? Even if you have financial advisors and experts on the team it’s best if you have an overview of what’s going on. Financials are the backbone of your business.

Understanding the differences between revenue and cash flow is even more vital in a crisis like now. Knowing the difference might save you from immense loss or even bankruptcy. If you completely outsourced all your financials so far, now is the time to learn about it and take it into your own hands.

Now is the time to make concrete and realistic plans. Positive thinking alone won’t get you out of a tight spot. Deal with the cold facts and develop a strategy accordingly.

Get yourself familiar with terms like cash flow, revenue, margin, and overhead and find out what your business has to focus on in these uncertain times. What’s important will depend on your business model – however for most businesses cash flow is the biggest issue right now.

Why is cash flow so important? How can you prepare your business to survive the crisis? And how can you allocate money fast? Those are some of the aspects we’ll discuss below.

What Exactly Is The Difference Between Cash Flow And Revenue?

The biggest difference is what the numbers tell us. Revenue tells us how much money your company made from sales. Whereas cash flow is much broader. It shows the total amount of money coming in and out. Cash flow also includes money coming in even if it’s not made from sales.

So while revenue shows the gross revenue coming in, cash flow shows the bigger picture. Revenue measures income, your cash flow measures your liquidity.

The thing is, revenue is usually calculated after you made a sale. It doesn’t take into account if you’ve already received the money. So maybe you made $10,000 on paper but you didn’t receive the money yet.

Cash flow is the actual money you have and it allows you to deal with short term financial demand. For example, you need cash flow to pay employees or vendors.

Revenue is more one dimensional. If you sell something for $100, then your revenue is $100. If you sell something for $1,000, then your revenue is $1,000. Simple as that.

Now cash flow also includes the money going out of your business. It shows you how much you have after all your regular expenses are paid. Cash flow allows you to make better predictions if you are breaking even, doing really good, or sliding into debt. So it’s way more important to keep an eye on your cash flow than on your revenue.

Why Cash Flow Is Even More Important In Times Of Recession

When the general economy struggles, cash flow becomes even more important. Do you know why are so many companies going out of business right now? – Because they lack cash. They might have all these accounts receivable but the money arrives on their account too late.

They need cash to pay their employees or even basic expenses like rent. If the cash doesn’t come in, they are gone.

Now, when the global economy struggles, here’s what happens. Almost all companies generate revenue. But it’s only on paper. The vendor of a supermarket might generate revenue from the last delivery.

The supermarket, however, couldn’t give them the cash yet. They made revenue from food delivery orders and are waiting for customers to pay. The customer ordered food with their credit card. They are an employee at a fashion company and didn’t get paid yet because their employer doesn’t have cash flow.

Do you see what’s happening here? It’s almost a vicious cycle. Only when the fashion company finally pays the employee the ball gets rolling. Then the employee can pay the supermarket and the supermarket can pay the vendor and the vendor finally has cash flow.

So, generating lots of revenue sounds great, but your business can’t survive until you are liquid. That’s why cash flow is more important than revenue.

How Can You Understand Your Cash Flow?

To run your business successfully or even weather the storm your business might be in right now, you need financial literacy. What exactly is that?

Financial literacy means you can understand your finances. If you look at financial statements then you know what’s going on in your business.

Many business owners make the mistake to completely outsource their financial affairs. They hire someone to do it. But really, if you don’t know how your company is doing financially how can you run it properly? How can you make wise investment decisions? That’s exactly why you need financial literacy.

When you look at your papers you need to understand which part is revenue and which cash flow. Only then will you know exactly how to react to it.

Now, every business is different and therefore has different cash flow behavior. Maybe your business has a stable stream of smaller sums. Or maybe you make huge sums but less frequently. It also depends on how large your expenses are.

Either way, nearly all cash flow behavior is disrupted in a crisis. You can expect to get paid slower but might be expected to pay faster. Your vendors will likely be less patient with you because they rely on your payment.

Your clients, on the other hand, might struggle and not pay you in time. It’s unfortunate but it can’t be helped. Instead of focusing on them, you need a game plan about what you’ll do if you need to pay faster than you get paid.

Know Your Data And Create A Plan

Now that you understand cash flow and have basic financial literacy, here is the next step. You want to get familiar with your data and make a plan.

It could be a 60 or 90-day plan, telling you the cash that will be required in the next period. After you have your plan, it’s time to get resourceful. An important thing to mind during this step: don’t manipulate your data to make yourself feel better.

Maybe you are facing the harsh truth that your numbers are in the red…or maybe you want to make some estimates which are too generous and not realistic, but would make you feel better…don’t do that. Be as honest with yourself as possible. Probably even better to be a tiny bit more pessimistic than you usual. Lying to yourself won’t get you out of tricky situations.

Most business owners will either underestimate or overestimate the cash flow they need. It’s hard to meet the exact number when you are making guesses and estimations. To be prepared for the worst, it’s better to overestimate than underestimate your cash flow needs.

Evaluate Your Resources

Now that you know your numbers, it’s time to look at your resources. Are you confident to make it through the next 60 or 90 days? Where can you get the money? Can you ask your bank? Is it readily borrowed?

Hope for the best but really prepare for the worst. Use the power of negative preparation and leave nothing to chance. Negative preparation means to ask yourself the questions: What do I not know? What am I not seeing? What’s the worst that could happen? These three questions will allow you to prepare for a worst-case scenario.

Again we want to stress, it’s important, to be honest with yourself about this. If you see no chance to increase the cash flow to your needs, what’s your backup plan? What do you do if something unexpected comes up?

Think about how you could possibly get more new (or repeated) customers in. That’s a good way to raise cash flow. Maybe you can tap into a new market? Maybe the crisis opened up a new opportunity for you?

How can you shorten the transaction length to get some cash flow earlier? Is it possible for clients to pay an amount upfront? Do you have private capital to invest in your business right now? Or could you find investors to support you? All of these are strategies to get you through when things are tight.

What To Include In Your Plan?

Besides cash flow, you also want to know your monthly gross margin. Now, what’s that? Your gross margin is basically telling you how much money you earn per sale minus the cost of getting your product sold.

For example, a digital agency might sell consulting for $2,500 but they also spend $300 on marketing. That means the gross margin for this product is $2,200.

If you had to adjust your strategy during coronavirus pandemic, then your margin might have changed too. For example, a restaurant that relies on a physical location has a certain margin. But now, they can only do delivery. The margin very likely has changed.

The next thing to think about is which expenses are absolutely necessary. What can be delayed and what can be cut completely? For example, you might still need your best employees to keep the business running. Their salary is a necessary expense you can’t delay. You’ll also need some form of marketing, to attract clients.

Delaying certain expenses gives you the opportunity to keep some cash flow for more urgent matters. What can you delay? Maybe there is a possibility to pay your rent a bit late? Are some higher-paid employees willing to take a temporary pay cut? Maybe even suspend their pay? Seek open communication with them about their current situation.

Should You Cut Your Marketing?

The marketing budget is usually the first thing you’d want to cut. It sounds like a good idea to keep your marketing budget so you have more cash flow right?

But remember, without marketing, you’ll have fewer clients which means flower cash flow. Marketing sometimes takes a while until the effects are noticeable. That’s why you think you can cut it for now. The potential risk is, however, that by the time the lockdowns are over you are left with no clients as you didn’t do any marketing.

Before you cut any expenses, do in-depth research and strategizing session. Even cutting the pay of employees can create long-lasting damage. It could destroy the team it took you years to build. Make decisions you feel comfortable with.

How To Increase Cash Flow

Now you know why cash flow is more important than revenue. But how can you generate more revenue during the downturn? Here are a few strategies.

Add A Strong Guarantee

First, you can increase your sales by giving better guarantees and warranties. This might sound counter-intuitive. Won’t your customers abuse your guarantee? If your product is good, then the opposite is true. Here’s why:

Most customers feel reluctant to buy because all the risk is on them. If there’s no guarantee the decision to buy is so much harder for them. If you offer a strong guarantee or warranty, you reverse the risk. All the risk is now on you.

But since your product is good and does what you promise it does, there’s nothing to worry about. Most people won’t use the guarantee if they are satisfied. So, for nearly all businesses a good guarantee (which has no loopholes) increases sales. But it doesn’t cost more to sell the same product with a guarantee. Hence, you have more cash flow.

Engage New Customers

Another great way to increase the cash flow is to actively look for new customers. What are some untapped markets you can branch out to? Maybe you’ve done a lot of local business and don’t have many online solutions? Now is the time to go online and build a customer base there.

Selling an online product is so great because you don’t have much overhead cost. For most, you don’t have to keep any stock – as the product is digital and not physical. The customer doesn’t have to wait for delivery but can get started right away. This is especially true for info products or online coachings.

Low overhead costs but increased sales result in more cash flow. Sometimes, what you sell only needs to be tweaked slightly so it can be sold online. It’s one of the best ways to increase cash flow during the lockdown.

Dare To Release Beta Products

Do you have any upcoming new products or services which aren’t fully finished? Instead of fleshing everything out to complete detail, it will pay off to release your product early.

Especially if what you created helps others to get through the downturn. For example, maybe you offer online coaching on how to take your business online. But the last two modules aren’t recorded yet. You’d want to release the program already and make sales as you finish it.

Most of your customers won’t mind or won’t even notice. By the time they get through the program, you’ll have everything set up for them.

Alternative Pricing Structures

If you need cash flow fast you might want to adjust your pricing structures. If customers aren’t able to pay the full price upfront, maybe they can pay half? Maybe even offer them a payment plan over the next three months – that way you get cash in every month.

Many businesses offer gift cards that allow them to generate cash now and take care of the fulfillment later. This is best marketed to customers who are already loyal and want to support your business during tough times.

You might be tempted to offer your product or service for cheaper for the sake of making cash flow faster. But often it’s not necessary. Just extending the payment period over a few more months helps. Fall back on payment plans before you start giving discounts.

Want More Money Habit Secrets?

You’d be surprised but most business owners don’t know much about the differences in revenue and cash flow. It’s easy to start a business but it’s a lot harder to maintain it – especially if an unexpected crisis hits.

You might have noticed that Dan Lok’s businesses have taken a very minor hit from this recession. He didn’t have to let go of any employees, he still has his marketing running and he released some new solutions in the last months.

How was he able to do that? The thing is, Dan Lok has seen five recessions during his time in business. So, he naturally adopted some money management habits that keep his business safe.

If you want to crisis-proof your cash flow and income, wouldn’t it be valuable to learn from his experience? Right now you can do so, with the Millionaire Money Habits Video Training. Right now you can get the training and save 50%. View all the details right here.

How Can Leaders Create A High Performance Team?

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Whether you lead your team at work or your own business, you probably wonder – what makes a good leader? No matter what you do, the question is always the same – how can a leader create a high-performance team? As your business grows, you notice you cannot do everything yourself and you need to start having a team of people around you. Many entrepreneurs have a problem with being control freaks. They want to control everything and are afraid to let others make decisions independently. But you must know  – delegating effectively can help you reach your goals faster. 

If you don't know your team's goal - you're not doing your job as a leader. Share on X

So, how to build a powerful team around you? This is a topic we could spend hours talking about. But let’s start here:  leadership, management, and human psychology – the key to success in business is in the right mix of these ingredients. 

It’s fine to do a lot more work when you just start a business. But, as it grows,  if you don’t have a team – your business will remain the same and won’t be able to scale. And if your team doesn’t work well together, you will face incompetent workers and inevitable losses. 

With that said, if you’re a business owner and trying to build a successful high-performance team, you must understand your people. First, have a conversation with them. Listen to why they want to be there – by your side. What are their goals? Aspirations? What drives them? Only when you know answers to these kinds of questions and get to know your team will you know how to manage them. 

A good leader will take the time and effort to do this. Communication is very important in all aspects of life, especially for leaders and entrepreneurs. 

Let Go of Control 

Hiring people with the same mindset will benefit everyone because those are the people who work together to reach the same goal – they have the same, shared, mission. With that said, finding the right people for your team is not easy. Usually, people come and go. Most organizations hire people who work set hours and quit if they are dissatisfied or unhappy. Many people work set hours, but do not really give their best to use that time efficiently. 

The worse thing is, some business owners only think about how much money they make, and they don’t care about their employees.  Sometimes they control everything – from money to sales. They hover over their employees, do not let them get creative, and do not give them the freedom to do their best. This is a part of the control freak mindset we mentioned earlier. The truth is – if you have this control freak mindset – you will only draw attention to low-performance employees. S

o, to start building a strong team, you must let go of the control. That’s the first and most important step. 

 Get Your Team Involved With Your Vision

To make people passionate about their work, you have to have one thing first – a compelling vision.   Your vision is your greatest asset.  And when it comes to leadership you cannot inspire anybody without a vision. 

Think about history, when someone wants to conquer a country, they must inspire people by sharing a clear vision of the conquest. The vision inspires commitment. You show them – this is what we’re going to do – and – this is what our victory is going to look like. 

Now, when you have a vision, you need to constantly share it with your team and remind them of it.  Getting them excited about the vision is one way to build their level of competency and efficiency.  Because people go through ups and downs… you have to keep reminding them of the vision and “selling” it to them over and over again. 

Here’s a video for you about why it is crucial for leaders to have a strong vision

Show Courage 

If you’re unsure about your vision, you better not share it. The only thing you want to share with your team at all times is unstoppable and unshakable confidence. 

But then again… leaders also develop cold feet. Sometimes things don’t go as planned and you might want to give up. Commitment to a vision takes courage as well as self-discipline. Make decisions and stick with them. Build a vision, and develop a strong mindset. Your mindset is the key to success. It’s what will keep you going even when you’re not entirely convinced or when things don’t work out in your favor. 

Inspire Commitment to Your Mission 

When you have a vision you’re secure in – constantly remind your team it. If you’re building a business because you want to be rich – that’s a wrong mission and there’s no vision there to get others excited about. Why would they want to help you get rich? You can’t create a high-performance team that way.  You need to have a mission that inspires people – beyond just your own self-gain. The reason being, if you focus on your own self-gain, it may inspire only one person – Yourself.  

The thing is, people want to belong to something bigger than themselves. They want to belong to some big vision and know that what they do is important to them. They want to know that you can and want to make a difference and they want to know that this difference will matter in the marketplace. So, think about it and write out your “Mission Statement.” If your team is behind this mission – you will have a high-performance team. 

Now, let’s talk about the most important part – maintaining your mission.

Establish A Culture-Driven Team

What makes up your culture is your value. Now that you’ve got your vision and mission, the third pillar of your team is the value of your company. What do you stand for? If you answer this question, you will be able to build a strong team culture. 

In our team – culture is the key. People don’t separate themselves into different departments. Everyone is very helpful and supportive of each other and we work together toward our common mission. Everyone has a task, but we work towards our goals together. 

We argue, learn, fight, and then get back to work the next day and it’s all forgotten. We may have our disagreements and different opinions, and we love that. Disagreement is where we grow and we cultivate different opinions. We lay down our different options and we find solutions together. We’re focused on growth and excellence. 

We are committed to our work and we do not believe in 9-5 schedule. People who are looking for 9 to 5 jobs are not a good fit for our organization. They would not fit the high-performance team we are. 

Avoid Self-Gain

If you’re a lifestyle entrepreneur, it’s going to be challenging to build a high-performance team.  A lot of people will say:  I want to work from home and I just want to make enough money by working from home.  or I can choose my working hours when I work from home. What kind of a team can you build with this type of “motivation.” 

Is this a proper vision? Mission? What kind of culture does this build? This is all about you and your needs, but where are your team-members? What kind of culture are you striving to cultivate? 

You need something big to attract talent. A self-centered mentality will not build a strong team.”... Share on X

Big Things Inspire Millions 

When Bill Gates said that he is going to put a personal computer in every household in North America, he presented an irresistible vision. With much determination from his high-performance team and himself as a leader, they achieved their vision. 

Now, think about Elon Musk – travel through space – that’s a big thing. The kind of thing that will inspire millions…Even though it’ll take them 5 to 10 years or 20 years to make it happen – that’s a big goal to look forward too and work for. Let’s say you’re not thinking that big.

But not everyone is Bill Gates. So how do you start something small, yet inspiring? What should you do as a leader? 

SurveyMonkey survey found that 87% consider access to health care to be a critical part of any job and 65% see opportunities for advancement as the key component of any good job. So, what can you offer to your employees? What are the things that are important to them that you can still offer? What is the big thing that they can have if they join your team that would inspire them to commit and devote themselves to your mission? 

Be Upfront With Employees 

Working for our team is intense. It involves long hours and hard work. We have high standards and we don’t tolerate poor performance. Bad performers just don’t last in our company.   We’re very upfront with that and we let them know what they’re getting themselves into right away. If they’re willing to accept that and if that’s what they want too – they thrive to excellency. Their talents expand and strengthen and our team outperforms itself consistently. 

With that said, it’s important to mention that only certain types of people thrive under pressure. They have high standards for themselves. These are the kinds of people that our team pays special attention to. We take time to get to know them…to find out what drives them…how they stay motivated and organized. When we know what drives our best performers, we know how to inspire and organize the rest of the team too. 

Make Your Team’s Dream Come True

When you know what you can do for your team and you help them make their dreams come true – you get loyalty. When you’re upfront with your team, they’ll trust you more.  Ask them about their personal and professional goals and talk to them about how you can make that come true. 

Think carefully about what positions are the right fit for whom on your team. If you know their goals and dreams, you must match them well to the positions they hold and the growth opportunities and possibilities of that position. Your mission and theirs must align, but their expectations and your realities must align as well for your team to be satisfied. Dream big, and manage expectations carefully.

You Are Who You Attract – Inspire More Than Being Driven

We always tell our team – there are no limits to how much they get paid. It’s much more about how much value each of us adds.  If you want to make $100,000 thousand income – find a way to add value and get there. It’s simple!

High performance people dictate their price. Share on X

So, if you can be a leader who’s inspiring and compelling, you won’t have any problem attracting talent. You will always have talented people who want to work with you. People will help each other and support each other on the way to the achievement of their mission. If the culture is right – disagreements will occur too. Conflict is a part of growth and a good team needs to know how to welcome opposing ideas and support each other in finding the best solution for all. 

That’s the culture that we’ve created because of what Dan Lok is. This is something he inspires in the team.  He welcomes differing opinions and ideas. We’re growth-oriented and we focus on excellence. 

You are who you attract. Look within yourself...if you attract bad people, you need to rethink your core values, your vision, and mission. Share on X

So, look at yourself…What are your standards? What and how do you perform best? 

Surround Yourself With Inspiring Mentors 

It’s more of a pull than push effect. Leaders with the high-performance team must know how to create energy and enthusiasm. If you do this well and you inspire people to commit, they will think about how to add more value. 

As a good high-performance leader, you need to keep your people inspired and remind them that they are on a mission. You must be a great communicator. Someone who understands people, their psychology, and who can get them talking about their struggles as well as their dreams. 

When you are a good leader and you manage to inspire others, you will attract amazing talent – talented people want to follow a good leader.

Good leaders, attract amazing talents – talented people will follow you wherever you go. Share on X

The most important part of your success as a leader is your ability to inspire others. If you can create a compelling vision that others want to be a part of, then you will attract talented people ready to commit and do anything to achieve their goals. This is easier if you surround yourself with people who inspire and drive you.

If you don’t have an inspiring advisory board, then you will not be able to sustain your enthusiasm and drive and it will carry over to your team. Find mentors and advisors who can provide you guidance and be a system of support for your growth. Surrounding yourself with the right guides who will inspire you is the key to your ability to inspire others.

These mentors can be people who helped you as you were building your career and your business, or they can be people in your industry that you find inspiring and want to learn from. It is never too late or too early to get good mentors and advisors. Research and reach out to people you want the support from.

Build An Advisory Group

No great leader did everything on their own. We hear often about how they inspired and motivated others to take action. But what we hear less is who helped them and inspired them to move forward.

The truth is, if you are serious about your growth and making your team into a high-performance team, then you need to challenge yourself to constantly improve and reinvent things. You have to be in the loop, informed and driven to always look for the next best thing, for the next best strategy, and the next thing that will make your team more powerful and more driven. People are inspired by innovations and transformations. It’s a part of our nature.

You have to find a group of people to share your business ideas and struggles with and allow them to take you to the next level. Dan Lok always says that one of the main elements for his immense success in business was that he always tried to be the “dumbest person in the room.” He sought out people who are better, whose businesses are at the next level from his, the ones whom he can learn from and grow with.

Now, you might have great friends and family, but to be truly successful you also need to be surrounded by people who are trying to achieve goals similar to your own. You need to seek out people without any other agenda but providing support to you and your business. Experts who know how to help you grow and build a successful team and expand.

If you do not know people like this already, find a group to join. If you are serious about growing and expanding your business until it becomes a global force,  click here to learn more about Dragon 100, Dan Lok’s exclusive advisory board for Distinguished Entrepreneurs. In Dragon 100™, members receive the proven systems, templates, and processes that will take them from $100,000 to $1 million … and then from $1 million to $10 million+ and beyond.

What You Need To Know Before Starting A Franchise

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Starting a franchise can be a good alternative to starting your own business. Given that most small businesses fail within their first 5 years, starting a franchise comes with a lot less risk. You don’t have to wonder whether or not your business will become successful when starting a franchise, because a well established franchise will already have a history of success. This means you can focus on running the operations of the business, instead of fighting to prevent it from going bankrupt.

However, not everyone is cut out to become a franchisee. Starting a franchise means owning a business that operates within certain boundaries and follows a set system. These guidelines restrict how much freedom and control you have in the business, and in certain cases, may actually harm how successful it will become. If you are the type of person that is more creative, wants to set their own prices or have a voice as to how things should be operated, starting a franchise may not be the best option. 

As with all things, there are pros and cons when it comes to starting a franchise or starting your own business. To increase the odds that you will succeed, you need to understand what type of environment allows you to thrive in business. If you’re thinking about starting a franchise, here’s what you need to know before you make a commitment.

Starting a Franchise Allows You To Reduce Your Risk Dramatically

For many business owners, the idea of starting a franchise is an attractive option. Statistics show that 50% of small businesses fail in the first 2 years, with 95% of them failing in their first 5 years. This means that 9/10 businesses will fail in their first 5 years of doing business. As a result, starting a business from scratch is very risky and prone to failure.

starting a franchise

This is why most entrepreneurs buy into a franchise and become franchisees. They are buying into an existing system that has a track record of success and is proven to work. And that is why it is so valuable. Because the franchise has already made it past those first few critical years, they’ve already established themselves as a company or brand with a proven reputation. There’s no need to guess whether or not the marketplace will be receptive to what you have to offer – the demand is already there.

On top of using an established company’s reputation as leverage, you’re also able to tap into the resources of the franchising company. Most franchisers have a team of highly trained experts that know what they’re doing and can offer you advice. If you’re new to the world of business or there are certain aspects of the business you’d rather not deal with, the franchise company has a team of people that will handle those tasks for you.

Starting A Franchise Means Buying Into A Proven System

Starting a franchise means buying into the systems that are in place and provided to you. Many entrepreneurs that become franchisers do so because they lack experience on how to operate the business. The offer of becoming a franchisee is enticing, because it allows them to bypass most of their shortcomings and get into what they love to do most – own a profitable business.

Another reason why starting a franchise is so beneficial, is because everything is already laid out for you. The franchise company has already made all the decisions for you ahead of time. These are decisions such as what prices to set your products at, how to run your marketing, and how to operate the business. All you need to do as a franchise business owner, is to follow the plan that’s already laid out for you.

starting a franchise

Of course, this means that if you are someone who prefers to have more control over the business, starting a franchise isn’t the best option. You’re better off starting a business from scratch and building it from the ground up.

The Pros and Cons Of Starting a Franchise vs. Starting Your Own Business 

For many business owners, the idea of starting a franchise is an attractive option. You dramatically reduce your failure rate, receive a proven system on how to run the business successfully and assistance to help you manage the operations. However, the benefits that make a franchise such an attractive choice are also some of it’s biggest downsides. Many franchises operate under a strict set of guidelines and regulations that do not give their franchisees any leeway. Business owners that want the freedom to run their business the way they want, will find these guidelines suffocating and difficult to follow.

If following rules and guidelines isn’t the type of environment that allows you to thrive, starting your own business is a much better choice. While you may not have access to all of the perks starting a franchise has, it provides you with complete control. This means you have the freedom to set your own prices, offer your own products and change things whenever you feel like it. It also provides you with the option to create your own franchise brand in the future, if your business becomes successful.

If you’re an entrepreneur who wants to minimize their risk, starting a franchise is a more attractive option. It means taking the role of an operator that focuses on executing a system that has been proven to work. However, if following a strict system isn’t what you resonate with, you’re better off starting your own business and being the business owner. Each side has its own pros and cons, which will affect how the business is run.

The Power and Influence Of A Reputable Franchise Brand

When you buy into a franchise and become a franchisee, you are immediately granted a lot of power and influence. A reputable franchise brand has a history of building their reputation and brand, and knows exactly who their audience is. By becoming a franchisee, it means you’re able to leverage the resources of the franchise company to your advantage.

starting a franchise

For example, a McDonald’s franchise requires a fee of a million dollars to get started. This is because McDonald’s is literally a money making machine. There’s never a shortage of customers, because it’s a franchise brand that’s well known across the entire world. In fact, it’s so popular that in almost any country you go to, you’re almost guaranteed to find a McDonald’s. 

The reason a McDonald’s franchise is so costly, is is because they possess the best system in the world when it comes to selling fast food. Buying into a McDonald’s franchise means buying their reputation, brand name, track record and using it for yourself. They may not serve the tastiest burgers in the world, but they do have some of the best marketing and business operations worldwide.

Starting A Franchise Is A Good Way To Quickly Get Started In Business

A franchise isn’t just a business to help you generate money – it’s a brand that has a number of loyal followers. Becoming a franchisee means tapping into all of the resources that brand or company has to offer. That means you can use their customers, their marketing, their discounts, their coupons and advertisements. And you get access to it all for a monthly royalty. In reality, hiring your own marketing team, running advertisements and coming up with creative marketing campaigns would cost you much more than what you’re paying for. 

This is why many entrepreneurs opt into starting a franchise. They understand that becoming a franchisee comes with many perks that they wouldn’t be able to leverage if they started their own business. Instead of waiting 2, 5 or even 10 years before the business picks up, they’re able to immediately tap into these resources and begin profiting as early as day one.

Starting a Franchise Can Come With Many Hidden Fees

Most franchise companies charge their franchisees a monthly royalty fee. This fee can either be a percentage of the profits on a monthly basis, or a flat fee. If you’re thinking about starting a franchise, you should take these fees into consideration as additional expenses.

For some entrepreneurs, the idea of paying a monthly fee is not worth the additional cost in their business. If they possess the skills and knowledge to run their own marketing campaigns and are aware of their market’s needs, there’s no reason for them to buy into a franchise. Most entrepreneurs that become franchisees do so because they want to reduce their risk and leverage the resources of the franchise company. They may not know how to run successful marketing campaigns to attract customers, or simply don’t want to deal with that side of the business. As a result, they don’t mind paying a monthly fee to have someone take care of all of that for them – which is why starting a franchise is an attractive option for them.

On top of a monthly royalty fee, some franchisers also require their franchisees to purchase certain goods or services from the franchiser or affiliated entities. This means that an entrepreneur who does not have a lot of starting capital, may quickly find themselves broke before they’ve even begun to generate profit from the business franchise.

starting a franchise

Be aware of all the terms and conditions outlined in the contract when starting a franchise. If you are an entrepreneur who does not possess a lot of business experience, you may find yourself being taken advantage or even exploited by the members of a larger, more powerful corporation. Read the fine print and ensure you understand all of your responsibilities before making a commitment.

A Franchise Is Not Guaranteed To Be Successful

Even though becoming a franchisee comes with many perks, it doesn’t mean you’re guaranteed to succeed. Contrary to what many people believe, even a wildly popular franchise like McDonald’s can fail. In fact, as a franchisee you could do everything by the book perfectly and still fail. This is because there are other variables that are outside of your control.

One of the main reasons why franchises fail is because of location. Just because a franchise is wildly successful in one city, does not necessarily mean it will generate the same results in another. The neighbourhood, the city, what their target audience is and the needs of the marketplace, are all factors you need to account for. 

For example, a Chinese take-out franchise may do extremely well in an Eastern country, but do very poorly in a Western one. This is because the needs of the marketplace are different. There may not be that many people that like eating Chinese food in that geographic region. Or maybe Westerners aren’t able to read the menu because it’s all in Chinese – which is a guideline you are forced to follow. All of these factors impact the number of customers you’ll get, which ultimately affect how much revenue you’ll generate.

starting a franchise

As with any sort of business opportunity out there, there will always be risks. This is why it’s important to do your research beforehand, and understand how things work before you go in. Don’t make the mistake of assuming a franchise is guaranteed to succeed, because it’s not. A franchise provides you with a proven system that you can leverage to operate your business. However, how successful you will ultimately become, depends on how well you can manage the business and account for the other variables that come into play.

Get Clear On Your Strengths, Weaknesses and Goals

If you’re struggling to decide between starting a franchise or starting your own business, analyze your own strengths and weaknesses. What kind of person are you? What type of environment allows you to thrive? When you are clear on what your strengths and weaknesses are, you’ll be much more likely to succeed. Even if the opportunity to own a McDonald’s franchise is presented to you, if you know that following rules and guidelines isn’t something you can tolerate, there’s no point buying into a franchise brand. Your heart isn’t in the business, which means you’ll start cutting corners and slacking off. And eventually, that’ll lead to your business failing.

Analyzing your own needs and desires is the first step when it comes to succeeding in business. Successful businesses know a business is only as successful as the person who is managing it, which is why billion dollar companies like Microsoft and Apple have competent CEO’s running the company. The founder may not have the skills to run the business, which is why they hire someone who is capable and possesses the skills to do so. Think about your business from the same perspective – whether it’s starting your own business or starting a franchise.

starting a franchise

As well, you will also want to think about how your decisions will impact the future. If you have hopes of one day starting a family and passing your business down to your children, starting your own business is the better option. Instead of forcing your children to follow a set structure and guidelines in place, you can provide them with the freedom to run the business the way they want to, in place of your leadership.

Get clear on your strengths, weaknesses and goals, and you’ll dramatically increase your success rate in any business venture.

Your Invitation To The World’s Most Exclusive Advisory Board For Distinguished Entrepreneurs

Starting a business vs. starting a franchise has their own pros and cons. If you’re an entrepreneur who has capital and doesn’t mind following a system, starting a franchise can be very beneficial. Becoming a franchisee allows you to leverage the brand name, reputation and business systems that are provided to you. You’ll dramatically reduce your risk of failure, and do very little management in terms of how to run the business. All the decisions on how to run the franchise will be provided to you by the franchising company. You just need to listen and execute whatever they tell you to do. 

However, if you’re the kind of person that doesn’t like being told what to do, you’re better off starting your own business from scratch. You won’t be able to leverage the resources and perks you would get by starting a franchise, but you will have control of the business. You can run it the way you want, set your own prices, and even take days off whenever you feel like it. If you do choose to become a business owner, be aware that the odds are against you.

This is why many entrepreneurs seek out coaches and mentors who have experience running a successful business. By tapping into the knowledge and experience of someone who’s been there and done it, they’re able to dramatically increase their chances of success and achieve results faster than if they did it alone. 

Dragon 100 is the world’s most exclusive advisory board for entrepreneurs committed to their business success. Members receive personal mentoring and private lessons from Sifu Dan himself on how they can add 6 or 7 figures to their business in as little as 12 months. Click here to learn more about becoming a Dragon 100 founder today.

7 Pricing Strategies To Make People Buy Your Products

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Every entrepreneur thinks about the best pricing strategies and asks  – How do I know what to charge for my product or service? It’s a common question. Many business owners are unsure of how to set their pricing. You want to get paid for your efforts, but will your pricing reflect both your value and your worth?

Pricing is a fickle thing. Done properly, it can be used as a marketing tool to attract the perfect client. Improper pricing could be setting you up for trouble such as not getting paid enough for your time, the kind of clients you don’t want, or no clients at all.    

So how do you know what to charge? What is the best way to leverage pricing to position your business? We have 7 pricing strategies to share that can help you decide how to best position your value and in turn, set your pricing model.

Are You Making These Common Pricing Strategy Mistakes?

So let’s say you want to be super competitive and make sure that you have the best deal in town. Then, you realize you overshot it and are not charging customers enough. Before you know it, you are too deep in debt from overhead to recover and end up going out of business. When your pricing is too low, you are not making a profit. Regardless of how many customers you get, if you are not covering your expenses and still making revenue your business will be short-lived. 

Now, on the flip side, say you know that you are sitting on gold. You know that you’re worth top dollar and you need everyone else to know it too. Unless you have the following, marketing, and positioning to support premium pricing, you are going to have a hard time convincing customers that they should pay top dollar for what you have to offer. 

If you enter the market charging far more than anyone else in the industry, you are not going to have any business. No customers for you means no revenue. Without enough steady flow of income, you will run into the same problems as undercharging. You need a healthy volume of business to have any hope of growing. 

So how do you avoid these two most common mistakes when deciding on how to charge? Here are some suggestions for pricing strategies that might work for you.

Pricing Strategy # 1: Price to Your Competition

Though most entrepreneurs never want to think of themselves as average in their industry, pricing relative to your competition can be a good place to start. A common way to determine average pricing is the literal numeric value. Take the top 3 companies in the industry and find the mathematical average. 

If you are in a commodity industry, you may want to consider slightly underselling your competition. This may be a successful pricing strategy for your particular niche. Just be aware that when you are pricing in direct relation to your competition, you are most likely always going to be fluctuating in reaction to either the marketplace or other companies. This defensive position in pricing could quickly lead to charging too little.

Pricing Strategy # 2: Breakeven 

This pricing strategy is most often used when first entering the market as a way of testing the waters. The idea is to charge at a point where you are just able to pay the bills. That’s right, just cover overhead costs with little to no profit. It’s also known as self-liquidating. You have to use caution with this one or you run the risk of going from breakeven to bankrupt. But why on earth would you want to charge at cost, without profit? Great question! 

The concept uses a low ticket offer to acquire customers and build a following. The profit, then,  comes from high ticket selling when you introduce an appealing secondary offer at a higher cost. Consider this a bonus marketing business tip in a sense. It’s a way to generate leads for a higher price point because the breakeven offer has already drawn them into your funnel.  

Pricing Strategy # 3: Price To Time

This is an extremely popular model, especially in the professional services industry. You may know it as ‘charging by the hour’. Some companies adopt this concept by billing a monthly retainer or charging at different time intervals. Either way, you are seeking compensation based on your time output. 

We observed that as the world shifts from a job economy to a skill economy, this model is becoming more and more outdated. It still has a place on certain occasions, but in general, charging based on results instead of time makes clients a lot happier and much more eager to pay you top dollar. 

For example, when you charge based on the time it benefits you to take longer to complete a project while a client is focused on getting the job done quickly. Shouldn’t you be rewarded for working efficiently? This strategy creates a conflict of interest. 

If you charge based on results you have the ability to deliver top performance in a timely fashion and still earn according to how much value you have brought to the customer. More on this in #7. 

No fee is too high for success and almost any fee is too high for failure. Share on X

Pricing Strategy # 4: Price To Cost Plus

Often found in construction, this method of charging is used by formulating a total price to complete a job, then adding a markup percentage. This strategy is useful in some cases, but once again, creates a conflict of interest. Spending more money drives up the job cost and results in a larger number for the markup percentage. In this respect, using a preferable material at a lower cost is not as profitable. We suggest aligning the focus of both parties on achieving efficient results.

Let’s say the project price is set at $1M. You as the service provider are expecting to receive $150K in payment. You might consider proposing that, if you can finish the project with equal or better quality at a cost of $850K, you would receive a 20 or 30 thousand dollar bonus. And a secondary bonus amount for finishing ahead of schedule. This way, everyone on the job is working toward the same goal – a time conscious, cost-effective, quality project.  You get to reap the benefits of bringing more value to your client.

Pricing Strategy # 5: Price To The Package

Creating packages is a well-known sales tip. It is about the perceived value your package offers a client rather than the actual cost to you. Combining products or services into a neat delivery system with a higher value than the price tag creates an irresistible offer.

But isn’t that called a discount? No. A discount is lowering the actual price. Instead of lowering the cost a customer pays, a package would increase the amount of benefit a customer receives. A good rule of thumb would be a 1 to 10 ratio of cost to benefit.  If you are charging $1K for a deal, then the value to the customer of each element separately should add up to about $10K. Now, this doesn’t mean it would actually have to cost you this much, but it should bring this much value to whoever buys it.

When forming packages, anticipating the future needs of your clients can be extremely helpful. If you are teaching a course that is easily performed on a particular software program, consider including the software they are most likely going to need or want. It’s more valuable to them to buy it all together at a flat rate than purchasing each item separately from different sources.  

Pricing Strategy # 6: Price To Positioning

Positioning is a pricing strategy that has everything to do with supply and demand. The shorter the supply, the more in demand that product is. If you have the only supply of the thing in demand or limit the supply, you can charge more for it. Dan Lok has only 6 hours a week available for consultations. He has 24 hours in a day, just like everyone else. Since no one can increase the supply of time, the price of his services goes up. 

This, of course, assumes valuable positioning, meaning that there is enough of a demand for the product or service you’re offering to warrant what you are charging. Limiting or controlling a supply does little good if there is no demand for it. No one will pay for something they don’t want.

Pricing Strategy # 7: Price To Value

This charging method is used frequently in high ticket selling because clients pay for premium results. 

The concept is simple. You price your services based on a percentage of the results you bring to your client. Whatever the amount of increased revenue you deliver to them as value, you get a percentage. You make them an additional $1M, you get a percentage of $1M. If you make them $10M, you get a percentage of $10M.

The focus of both parties is now aligned and everyone is working in the same direction. Clients don’t care how much time or effort you’ve put in, as long as it’s bringing them results. If you can get it done in a few hours a week, you don’t make any less because it’s not based on time. The faster and more efficiently you can do this, the happier your client is to pay you for it. 

The more value you bring, the more you earn. There are no caps, income ceilings, and no limit to how many times you can do this, over and over. You’re getting paid by what value you bring to their time.

How To Be Strategic With Pricing Strategies

Now you have 7 different suggestions on how to charge your customers and clients. They don’t each have to be used separately and independently of one another. You can be creative with the way you combine and adapt these pricing models. 

You may choose to combine price to time and price to value by charging a monthly retainer while still collecting a percentage on the value of each individual project. Perhaps you are more well known in your industry and want to leverage price to a position with a price to the package. The possibilities are endless. 

We suggest that you do give this some thought, though. It’s an important decision that has a big impact on your livelihood. Putting the wrong pricing method on even the best product or service can lower the value tremendously. Be sure that you take into account your industry, your specialization level, and your phase in the market cycle when determining what pricing model works best for you. 

Did you notice that some of the strategies we mentioned had a particular industry for which they were best suited? Did you know that there is actually an industry that is best suited for one of the pricing strategies? 

What You Need To Know About High Ticket Selling and Pricing Strategy # 7 

The price to value model is quite powerful. It highlights the worth of what you have to offer a client and sets the tone for a mutually beneficial relationship. If you combine that with a High Income Skill like High Ticket Sales, your earning potential is limitless. 

High Ticket Sales naturally lends itself to a results-based pricing strategy because that is exactly what you are trying to achieve – results. You are converting leads into clients and bringing additional revenue to your client with each sale. 

It would make sense then that your client would be happy to pay you a percentage of every conversion amount. If that happens to be a percent of a very large number, the better for you both. More revenue generated for your client and more commission for you is a win-win for everyone. 

This method of charging only works, of course, when there are actual results and conversions. So, where can you learn a skill that allows you to achieve valuable results? If you are already in the sales industry, how do you learn to improve your conversion rate?

How To Make Results-Based Pricing Work For You By Learning High Ticket Sales

There are many traditional sales tips and techniques that seem to have passed the test of time. In reality, many of these time-honored practices are actually repelling more customers than they are converting. Phrases and tactics that were once the industry standard now trigger consumer defenses.

If these methods are so appalling, why is anyone still using them? Well, no one has taught these salespeople any differently. It’s the equivalent of teaching technology from an outdated textbook. Unfortunately, the old book keeps getting handed down instead of updated. The information is simply not relevant anymore. 

“The Traditional Practice Of Sales As A Business Discipline Has Become At Best Ineffective, And In Many Cases Flat Out Obsolete.” - Forbes Share on X

You may be aware that Dan Lok offers a series of programs which teach High Income Skills. One of the most popular is the High-Ticket Closer™ Certification Program. It’s a 7-week intensive course on how to convert leads into sales by utilizing the position of value for the customer. But what you may not know is that Dan condensed this program into a 64 minute and 47 seconds lesson called The Perfect Closing Script and made it available to the public. 

You can now learn the value that the skill of closing holds for you, your client and their customer in a single afternoon. Gain a competitive edge in your industry by knowing which common sales mistakes to avoid. Learn what never to say on a sales call. Stop using a pricing strategy based on how many calls you made or a flat rate for each conversion. Learn how to make results-based pricing work for you by learning how to increase your value.

Discover How To Get Paid Based On The Value You Bring 

High Ticket Closing is a skill that directly lends itself to pricing based on value and results – not on time, cost, or what competitors are charging. It allows you to get rid of pay caps, sales quotas, and unqualified leads.  Stop selling with the sleazy stigma and have both your clients and customers thanking you for your work. 

Are you serious about getting paid top dollar for the value you can bring to a business? Are you ready to start getting more sales, closing deals in one call, and making more money in less time? Do you want to learn more about a skill that works with a results-based pricing strategy?

If you are done with sales-killing tactics and outdated training, find out how to generate higher revenue through more conversions. Discover how you can start increasing conversions and getting paid for your worth now by clicking here for The Perfect Closing Script.

The True Meaning Of Loyalty When Scaling Your Business

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What is the true meaning of loyalty? And how does it come into play when you are scaling your business?

Simply put, loyalty in business means that you put group interest and business interest ahead of self-interest. In any functioning team, loyalty to them has to be given, otherwise, the team is unlikely to succeed.

When you are scaling your business, it usually means that your team will face changes. Everybody has to work together as a team to successfully scale the business. There has to be mutual trust and understanding between the team members and the leaders alike.

No matter how high-performing a team is, loyalty has to come first. Team culture and team unity is of the utmost importance, especially when you are just starting out and slowly scaling your business.

How well can you trust your team members? How much can they trust you? Is everybody giving it their all? Do you expect too much or too few from the team members? All these factors are a sign of good leadership and very important for the meaning of loyalty.

How can you build a loyal team that will stay with you and your business when you scale? How can you make sure to lose as few people as possible?

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What Exactly Does Scaling Your Business Mean?

You might think scaling your business means to grow your business. But that’s not the meaning of scaling. To scale a business means to handle more customers, sales, and output without making too many sacrifices. You want everything to be cost-effective and reasonable.

When scaling your business is unsuccessful, you might lose employees or team members because their workload increased too much and they couldn’t handle it anymore. Or perhaps you can’t keep up with the increased demand and let your customers down.

Scaling done right means your business is growing and you can handle the growth well in all capacities. The meaning of loyalty is extremely important for scaling your business.

The meaning of loyalty has many undertones. It means to be faithful to a cause, a person, a value, a team, a brand, etc.

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What Exactly is the Meaning of Loyalty?

In a team, the word ‘loyalty’ has several connotations. The team members have to be loyal, and so does the leader. There has to be trust and loyalty between all team members. And finally, the leader and the team members are all loyal to a bigger cause.

Loyalty in the business sector can be best compared to Navy Seals. When Navy Seals go on a mission, they have to trust each other 100%. Their lives could depend on it.

Loyalty and trust become visible especially in situations where something is going wrong. Let’s assume you and your team going on a military mission. You send one of the teammates to scout and they tell you there are three enemies.

You trust your teammate, so you decide to take three team members with you to take down the enemy. But your scout was wrong, there are actually 10 enemies. Now, how you as the leader react in such a situation determines if this team will live on. You have two options.

You either tell them that somebody has to sacrifice themselves and pick a person to sacrifice. This, however, will destroy the trust of your teammates in you forever. Why? Because they are seeing that you put yourself before others. If you were to do that, that was the last mission this team ever went on. There won’t be any team anymore. The loyalty is gone.

But what if you pick the second option? Instead of sacrificing somebody, you come up with a plan. You can’t guarantee that all your Seals survive the mission but you show them that you want to get out of there together. You as the leader are in the front position and the teammates are behind you. That’s the meaning of loyalty in one of the most stressful situations.

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What is the Meaning of Loyalty in Business?

Now, in business, it’s usually not a question of life or death. But being a good leader is a serious thing in business. You are responsible for your team. If you make a wrong move and the business can’t go on then the income of the whole team is gone.

At the same time, each individual on the team also has a responsibility. They have to be loyal to you and your vision so the business can succeed. It only works if both sides are in.

When you want to scale your business, you need two things. A team that performs well and – more importantly – a team you can trust. The best skills in the world don’t mean anything if the basic culture isn’t there. You can’t build a high-performance team without culture.

Loyalty is earned. Earning loyalty from your team is the most selfish and most selfless thing to do at the same time. It’s selfish because you need them in order to scale, to make your business successful. It’s selfless because you allow them to be part of something bigger.

Core Values

Before you grow and scale your business – possibly even before you hire anyone – you want to know what your business stands for. What are your personal core values that you want to represent in your business?

First, you have to live those core values. If you don’t do it then you can’t expect it from your employees or team members. As a leader, you are an example.

Now, once you know and live your core values, you want to hire a few people who share the same values. It’s best to hire for attitude and train for skill. That means it’s okay to hire a person who isn’t that refined in their skill, yet. You can always mentor them and increase their skill. Hire them for their culture and values first because that can’t be trained. Your job isn’t to change people so they fit with your culture. It’s better to hire a bit slower but therefore hire the right people from the start.

When you are getting into the phase of scaling your business, it’s easy to think about everything else but team culture. The new processes and systems you have to implement, the meeting with an important partner or client…It all seems so much more important than core values and culture.

But, your core values are the foundation of your business. Everything else you do is built on top of that. So, it’s vital for your success, to stay true to those values.

Loyalty should definitely be one of your business’ core values. But why?

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Why is Loyalty Important for Scaling a Business?

Think about it like this. When your team isn’t loyal, it means they will leave the company pretty fast. If something better comes up they leave in the blink of an eye. That also means you have to hire and train new people all the time.

How effective will your scaling be if you have to train new people all the time? Not as effective as if it could be when members stay with you longer.

Most businesses lose money because too many employees leave the company. Especially if there is a certain period where the employee already resigned but has to stay for a few more weeks. That’s the phase where employees are unproductive. They already resigned anyway so why should they make any effort. But since their effort is low, you lose money. So on a surface level, the meaning of loyalty is also increased revenue.

If everybody is loyal and you can trust them with their work then you can focus on other things. You don’t have to look over their shoulder all the time. Instead, you face bigger challenges as a team and everybody does their part to help the business with scaling.

How to Hire the Right People

We briefly touched on this above. To create a loyal and trustworthy, high-performance team, you must first be loyal and trustworthy yourself. You have to embody your business’ core values.

Then, you hire people for attitude and mindset. Most business owners would make the mistake to hire employees who have great skills but don’t embody the core values of the business.

But really, in any winning business culture comes first and skill comes second. So how can you make sure you hire the right people from the beginning? The answer lies in your recruitment process.

Typical questions like “how much experience do you have?” don’t help anybody. The candidate could even lie about their experience, couldn’t they? There’s no way for you to know. So what can you do instead?

You have to ask questions that go deeper. Questions that give you indicators on how the person thinks. For example, a simple conversation about morning commute and traffic can tell you a lot. Is the person complaining about traffic but still arriving late for work? Then this is likely a person who doesn’t take ownership of their actions. Instead, they blame outside circumstances.

A different person might say yes traffic is horrible during rush hour that’s why I get to work half an hour earlier. This is a person who is focusing on solutions, instead of putting the blame on others. So, that’s the kind of person you’d want to have in your team.

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How to Know When to Let Go of Someone

Most people would think the meaning of loyalty is to keep a team member around, no matter what. It’s partially true. A loyal leader doesn’t let go of employees and teammates easily.

If a person on the team isn’t performing well, you should rather mentor and train them first. Give them a chance to get better and play their role for the team to their fullest potential.

However, there might be moments where you tried everything. You mentored them, gave them time and resources to grow, but it just wouldn’t work. In such a case, you as the leader have to put the group interest above the interest for an individual.

If a team member under-performs and won’t change, he or she is damaging the whole team. It’s never an easy decision but here the real meaning of loyalty is to let them go.

We understand it can be very painful to lose a team member. Especially if they go work for one of your competitors instead. Balancing the loyalty to an individual and the loyalty to the whole team is an act that’s not so easy to perform.

That’s exactly why your first job is to mentor your people to get them up to speed. How long should you mentor and train them before you decide if you have to let them go? That depends on your industry mostly. In some industries, you lose money after two weeks if a person isn’t performing. In other industries, you might have six months. It also depends on what kind of hit you can take.

The loyalty to your team has to also be balanced with the loyalty to your job. You can’t under-perform on a job to protect one single teammate. That’s why leadership isn’t easy. You are constantly balancing things.

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Your Role as a Leader

What’s the real meaning of loyalty for you as the leader? We think by now you’ve grasped the idea – it’s a balancing act. You have to be loyal to the whole team, to the individuals, and to your mission. You are the one who is calling the shots and who has to notice if something is imbalanced.

As the leader, you lead by example. You can’t ask your team to do better than you do. They look to you for guidance and mentorship. Let’s look back to our Navy Seal example. What did the great leader do? He was in the front row, protecting the team who is behind him. Bad leaders use their team as a shield. Great leaders guide them.

Your actions can enhance the team culture or destroy it. You have to care about the well-being of the team but still deliver great work. Who is responsible for guiding them? You are. At the same time trust them that you don’t have to watch every step they take. You put trust in your team but if anything goes wrong, it’s on you. A false sense of loyalty could do more harm than good.

When you are able to balance the different aspects of loyalty, your team will pick it up and follow your example. They see you are a person of integrity and walk the talk. This creates a team culture that you can build on as you scale your business.

How to Enhance Loyalty

As you know by now, a basic level of loyalty has to exist from the beginning. You hire people who already have the right culture to fit with your core values. You also understand your role as a leader to lead by example and increase loyalty that way.

Still, there are some tools and techniques you can use to increase the loyalty of your team. The first and most important thing is, that everyone one the team has to understand why they are doing what they are doing. For a team to work, every member has to have meaning in what they are doing. If they have no idea why they do certain tasks then it will be hard for them to find any meaning in it.

Here’s another tool to increase the meaning of loyalty in your team. Know the goals of your team members and align those goals with the goals of your business. This allows all teammates to support the team even more. It’s a win-win situation.

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Want to Scale Your Business to 6-7 Figures and Beyond?

In times like these, your team is more dependent on you than ever before. Maybe your business is seeing some decline in sales and cash-flow. Perhaps you even had to lay off some team members, so the business could survive.

Especially in times like these, it could save you and your team if you look into ways to scale your business. Start now, so your business can steadily pick up and gain momentum. This way, you can charge ahead as soon as the lockdowns are over.

Dan Lok scaled his business from zero to eight-figures, online only. Interestingly enough, he did so by doing the opposite of what most online coaches would do. He built up his online presence, created irresistible offers, and focused on providing real value.

Since he scaled his business with a system in place, all team members stayed with him. Their loyalty and effort had a huge role in his success. Never underestimate the meaning of loyalty when you scale. Nobody can run an 8-figure business alone. Create your winning team in the beginning and take them with you on your mission.

Right now you can learn all the insider secrets and techniques from Dan Lok in his High-Ticket Influencer Program. He will show you exactly what he did to build his eight-figure empire in eight months. This could be the key for your business to do well in the upcoming crisis. Learn more about the High-Ticket Influencer Program here.

I hope you enjoy reading this blog post.

Schedule an add a zero session™ with our team to see how you can use our time-tested strategies and systems to scale your business now.

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