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Boom! What's goin' on everyone? It's Steve Larsen, and this is Sales Funnel Radio.
Today I'm gonna tell you guys, and try and convince you that you should never hire a marketer.
I've spent the last four years learning from the most brilliant marketers today, and now I've left my nine-to-five to take the plunge, and build my million-dollar business.
The real question is, "How will I do it without VC funding or debt, completely from scratch?" This podcast is here to give you the answer.
Join me and follow along, as I learn, apply, and share marketing strategies to grow my online business - using only today's best internet sales funnels.
My name is Steve Larsen, and welcome to Sales Funnel Radio.
What's up, guys? I'm excited for this episode, I've been thinking about this quite a bit here.
Recently, I had a guy reach out to me, it was over on.. I don't remember who..
I have tried to find it on my phone, actually, but he reached out, (and this has happened many times), and I just wanted to address it, because it seems to be something that happens often.
The guy reached out, and he said, "Hey, I appreciate what you're doing, I watch the show..." First of all, thanks for watching the show, and he said, "I watch the show, and I was just wondering, could I give you, maybe, 20, 30% of my business to come in and be the marketer for it?"
And when I see that, I cringe for many reasons.
#1: That's not an attractive opportunity for me at all, 'cause it means I'm gonna be the guy making it rain, and getting paid only 20% for what I bring in - so that's NOT a deal...
Why would I be attracted by that? I'm not going to be, right?
It's kind of like when people come up to me, and they say things like, "Hey, Stephen, look, I've got this great idea, will you do it? Will you come in, you build the funnel, I'll give you 50% of it."
And I'm like, "Why don't I just do the whole idea on my own, and keep 100%?" You know what I mean?
An idea itself is not an asset. Ideas are not assets. Ideas are not value, right?
So, if you just have an idea, and you try and go bring somebody in like that, that's not attractive. They might as well just go and do it on their own.
So, number one, that's the first, like, "Ewww!" That I had when I saw it. I was like, "That's not a deal to me."
But the second thing that I notice is, 'cause this question actually comes to very frequently: "Stephen, will you take 20, 30% of my company, Stephen, can I give you 50% of my company? Stephen, will you do that?"
And what's funny, what's interesting about this topic, is that there's a fundamental issue that is actually going on when somebody asks that question. You should never ask that question - EVER - especially for the role of marketing.
One of my early one-on-one mentors said, that if you think about a business as a car:
Finance - is the guy sitting over in the passenger seat, planning how far you can get with what gas you've got? He's the guy on the side going, "This is what we can do. This is what we can project." Finance, very future focused. This is gonna be the future.
Supply chain - they're the ones hanging out the window. They're the ones who are testing to see how much gas is left in the actual tank? They're the ones seeing when the next gas station is coming up? How far can we actually get based on resources? Where do we get the next resources?
The supply chain is very past focused, "This is what we've needed in the past."
The marketer - is in the actual driver's seat. They're the ones goin', "You know what - let's go over there. I think that there's gold over there! Let's go that way." Marketers are the ones that drive the entire company.
I'm gonna get a lot of pushback when I say that, but it's very, very true. There's no cash... your business is dead! What brings in cash? Marketing!
Money is the byproduct of marketing.
When I see somebody come out, and they say things to me, like, "Hey Stephen, would you please be the marketer of my company?"
What that says to me, that is an individual who has been solely married to the fact that they think that their product is what gives them money. It is not! The product is not.
Now that might be the exchange of what actually pulls the money to you, but that's not how sales are done!
When I see somebody ask that kind of question, I know that there's a fundamental misunderstanding of what actually is causing the cash to come in.
It is not about the product. That is not what's actually bringing in cash.
So when somebody comes in, and they something like, "Hey, would you come and be the marketer?" That tells me they have no idea why their product is selling. They have no clue why they're actually being successful, or not successful.
They have no idea what levers are really going on inside the company... where if they just turn this lever, and push away that one, money would start coming in a little bit more, right?
I know when I consult for companies, I know that there are always, ALWAYS three or four levers that I could just go turn, and money is the result of it.
And it's mostly because us entrepreneurs, we get so focused on being the technician... we get so focused on, "Hey, I got a sweet product. This product right here is incredible, this product's amazing." And you're like, "Yeah, you're right, that's true, you know what, you're right, that's true. Not many of you have done that." But it's not the reason somebody goes and purchases, right?
Very few people will ever go buy something just because it's brand new and never been done, right? That's important, that's attractive, that's sexy... But the reason people buy has everything to do with the actual sales message, and the ability to tell stories.
When somebody comes to me and says, "Stephen, take a percentage of my company to be the marketer." What it's telling me, is that they actually have no idea what stories are selling. They have no idea why they're actually bringing in cash on their own. And it's scary. That's a freaky place to be in - and I understand it.
So, number one, "What do you do if you're in that kind of scenario right now?”
For the individual who reached out and asked that question, (which, first of all, "Thank you very much, I'm honored, but the answer's, No") - I've got a few things here...
If you're ...
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