Successful businesses apply CRO Thinking, whether they know it or not – Answer five Revenue Strategy questions to know it.
History is full of people who were in the right place at the right time and did something about it – they became successful and maybe changed the world.
Here are some names from the last 100 years who many would say, were in the right place at the right time and then they worked hard.
- Lana Turner
- Richard Starkey aka Ringo Starr
- Bill Gates
- Steve Jobs
- Oprah Winfrey
- Mark Zuckerberg
- Audie Murphy
- Mr. T
In addition to working hard, most of them were lifetime learners. They learned from parents, peers, books, and any source that would help them to keep their dream alive and growing.
For every movie star or Steve Jobs, there are hundreds of thousands of other entrepreneurs who were blessed to be in the right place at the right time.
Sometimes it is accidental and their hobby takes off when a YouTube goes viral. More often they are good at something no one else in their town is doing and the world beats a path to their door. That something could be software, repair services, teaching others to build boats or skydive. The opportunities for creating a business are unlimited and we have all heard or read about these wonderful people who turn passion and interest, into a business and personal success.
For everyone that was in the right place, at the right time, and a life-time learner, that succeeded, there are hundreds who did not succeed or even survive.
The ones that we honor for their success somehow correctly applied the right CRO Thinking at the right time and just kept getting it right. Even if they can’t quote you “Revenue Science™” chapter and verse, they still got it right and kept getting it right.
For all those others that may have been in the right place at the right time, but didn’t get a great start or after a great start didn’t know what the next step was to keep it going. The fix is to remember and answer the five Revenue Strategy questions.
When you ask and answer these questions, they point you to the next steps. The more you review and clarify your answers, the clearer both what you need to do and how you need to do it gets.
These are those five questions:
- What is our brand promise?
- What’s the customer “problem” that we solve that no one else solves?
- What niche/s do or will we dominate?
- Who is our ideal customer?
- Which are our key offers for dominating the niche?
These are not complex questions. Often, we overthink these, so maybe wine and cheese are required for the planning session.
1. The Brand Promise is your promise to your customers, staff, and partners regarding what they can expect from you 100% of the time. It often comes from your mission, vision, values, etc.
2. The customer problem you solve is the power from these questions. To succeed your business must be developed and deployed for the good of your customer. You are in business to solve a problem for them and the problem has meaning much greater than the tactical details of what you do. The problem aligns with your worthy intention or higher purpose. The higher purpose is about more than just you making money. Disney is not just an amusement park, they are the happiest place on earth, (their higher purpose).
3. Once you know the customer problem, then decide the niche where you will solve that problem. The niche has the problem, they are compelled to solve it and are very willing to pay for the problem to be solved.
4. Your ideal customer is the human being who is experiencing the problem and wants that experience to change. They are eager to get it changed, willing to pay, and have the ability or power to make the change happen.
5. Your key offers are those things you can specifically take to ideal buyers in the market, show them exactly how you will solve their problem, get them to contract with you for the solution, that you then deliver for fair compensation.
If you are in the right place at the right time ask these five questions to create a repeatable path to keep you in the right place at the right time, getting that fair compensation for years to come.
If you are NOT in the right place at the right time, ask these five questions. You will either learn there is no opportunity here or you will see the path to get to the right place at the right time and then keep you there.
Either way, ask and answer the Revenue Strategy questions – your future depends on it.