Issue 010: The Secret to Effortless Sales and Smarter Pricing 💰
We also share how to use swear words to sell more, using the Pareto principle to increase revenue and an action plan to 10x business and career by doing less.
November 20, 2024 | #010 | Free Version
Hi friends and happy Wednesday!
Welcome to Startup Blitz, a weekly newsletter full of timeless ideas and insights you can use in your online business.
This week, we discuss –
🙋 How to ask for things and get enthusiastic yes
🎓 How to use swear words to sell more
🚀 How to use Pareto principle to set your price and increase revenue
📥 An action plan to 10x your business growth by doing less
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How to Ask for Things and Get Enthusiastic Yes 🙋
Asking for something can be uncomfortable. So uncomfortable, in fact, that many of us would rather suffer in silence, or try to do everything ourselves. 😓
But we can’t succeed alone. We need others’ support.
Whether you’re trying to:
- Close a sale
- Get a bigger raise
- Secure funding
- Inspire people to follow you
…or even something simple, like rescheduling a meeting—you need an enthusiastic yes.
The ability to ask for and get enthusiastic yes is a valuable life skill. And guess what? You don’t need to be born with charisma to acquire it.💡
So, why do people say no?
Because they don’t see what’s in it for them.
People don’t care for your needs. They are more interested in having their needs met than yours.
But when you’re asking for something, you’re often focused on how it benefits you. You are not thinking of the other people.
♻️ You need to flip the script. The best strategy I have seen for this comes from Wes Kao:
- Write out your ask
- Highlight everything that benefits you (🔴)
- Highlight everything that benefits them (🟢)
- Now, rewrite it so that 90% of your ask focuses on how it benefits them
It’s that simple: Show them the benefit. Give them a reason to say yes.
Try this the next time you’re asking for something, and let me know how it works.
🎓 Scientific Research: Swear Words in Review Improve Reader's Attitude Towards the Products
Encourage your customers to add some swear words to their reviews.
It might sound offensive, but readers find them more helpful than reviews with no swear words. It also improves their attitude towards the product.
🔬 Researchers ran four experiments and found that:
– Reviews with swear words are perceived as more helpful
– When a swear word qualifies a desirable product feature (e.g., “This dishwasher is damn quiet!”), readers’ attitudes toward the product improve
– Uncensored or mild euphemistic swears (e.g., “darn”) work better than censored ones (e.g., “d*mn”)
🧠 Why?
– Swear word conveys the strength of the reviewer’s feelings
– Breaking a taboo, even mildly, adds an air of truthfulness to the review
📦 Swearing works best in highly positive reviews. So if some customers write negative reviews with swear words, it won’t greatly decrease readers’ attitudes toward your product.
✋ Careful: More than three swear words in a single review can dilute the positive effect.
Use the Pareto Principle to Set Your Price and Increase Revenue 🚀
You’ve likely heard of the Pareto principle: Economists and statisticians have found that 80% of results come from just 20% of inputs.
This is often true for business revenue too. If you look at your revenue distribution, you will see that around 80% of your revenue usually comes from 20% of your customers.
💡 You can leverage this principle to structure your product pricing and boost revenue.
Imagine you have 1,000 SaaS users paying $10/year. That means you get $10,000 in annual recurring revenue (ARR).
Now, introduce a higher-tier plan at $40/year. Most users (80%) will stick with the $10 plan. You will get $8,000/month from them. However, 20% will upgrade to the $40 plan. This will generate an additional $6,000.
By creating a second package, your ARR jumps by 60% to $14,000. 🚀
This isn’t just theory—it works. Companies like Mailchimp and Hubspot use this structure to maximize revenue.
Mailchimp follows a structure of x, 4x, 16x. Hubspot uses x, 16x, 64x.
📈 Create yearly pricing tiers in 4x increments and see what happens. This small change can lead to significant increase in your revenue.
📖 Free Action Plan: Achieve 10x Growth by Doing Less
Picture this scenario: You want to increase your profit by 20%. How would you do it? Maybe you’d call a few extra prospects, increase your ad spend, or work overtime.The options seem endless. 🤔
Now, let’s raise the stakes. Imagine aiming for a 10x increase in profit. How many things could you realistically do to achieve that? Probably just two or three things.
Most people don’t aim for 10x growth. They settle for incremental growth. They go for a small promotion or a modest profit increase.
With a 2x goal, you’re faced with countless possible strategies. The sheer number of options creates decision paralysis. It’s difficult to know where to focus your energy. 😩
So people end up working harder and faster at the same things they’ve always done.
On the other hand, 10x goals are simpler, easier, and more practical. Why? Because only a few strategies can potentially deliver such massive results. This clarity makes your goal more effective and actionable.
🔥 A 10x goal is so audacious that you can’t achieve it by simply working harder. Instead, you’re forced to do something revolutionary: focus on less.
80% of your results come from just 20% of your efforts. To achieve 10x growth, you need to ruthlessly zero in on that high-impact 20%.
Eliminate everything else that’s holding you back. By cutting out the noise, you can concentrate on what truly matters and deliver the biggest returns. ❌
“But I’m comfortable with 2x growth,” you might think.
But here’s the truth: Aiming for 10x is often the most reliable path to 2x. An extraordinary goal will force you to prioritise. You’ll have to drop low-impact tasks and focus on what moves the needle. It also gives you more room for error.
As Norman Vincent Peale famously said, “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.” 🌙✨
📥 If you’re ready to transform your business & career, download this 10x growth action plan!
Interesting Articles We've Read This Week
😎 You don’t need to build a personal brand. Here’s what to do instead.
🤖 Seven frameworks you can use to build the next billion-dollar AI company
🔍 How to figure out what people want and what to build
✍️ Learn how to describe your product in a simple and attractive way
💸 The most destructive pricing model
Thanks for reading, until next week!
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