There are two ways to start a business.

Method #1 is the method chosen by nearly all online marketers, and it goes like this:

You have a great idea. A terrific idea. The idea of the century.

Or just a good idea.

In any case, you think about it. You do some research. You talk to your friends and see what they think.

And then you go for it.

You execute the idea, make the product or service, and wait for people to buy.

Except that they don’t. No, it’s not your marketing – your marketing is fine.

No one is buying because you are just one more bit of noise in a very noisy world.

You’re just one more person trying to sell something.

And they don’t have time for you.

It’s nothing personal. It’s reality.

Then there is method #2:

You have a great idea. You do some research, talk to your friends and so forth.

You decide to go for it.

But you don’t start with making the product or service.

Instead you focus on finding the audience and building a list.

You build a list of a few hundred people interested in this exact thing.

Then you build your product, and you tell your list.

And your list pays attention to you.

You are no longer an interruption in their day.

They asked you to email them.

And they buy.

You can even use this list to tweak your product, validate your product, presell your product… do you see how powerful this is?

Here are two examples of putting this method into action, courtesy of Video Fruit.

Case Study #1: 250 subscribers and a $10,000 product launch.

John buys a WordPress theme from Michael Hyatt. John realizes the theme is difficult for new users, and people could use help with it.

So John creates an email list around this theme, and then creates a course on how to use the theme.

He got 250 people who were interested in getting help with Michael’s theme, and sold $10,000 worth of the product.

From the time he thought of the idea to the time his product launch ended was 30 days.

The product itself was sold for 7 days.

Imagine if you got the same results and repeated this every month.

Case Study #2: 2,000 subscribers and a $325,000 product launch in 90 days.

Katherine wanted to create a journal that boosted productivity. So she built a list around the topic of journaling for productivity, and created and sold her journal. From start to finish it took her 90 days.

She launched on Kickstarter but used her list to jumpstart the campaign. Thanks to her list, her campaign received $40,000 in 4 days from her list, and the campaign took off from there.

She succeeded because she didn’t try to get everyone on Kickstarter to buy her product. Instead, she focused on her email list, and once she got them to buy, everything else fell into place.

Building your audience first, and then creating the product to sell to them has tremendous advantages.

Plus it’s just plain easier than building the product first, and then trying to find an audience.

Here’s what to do:

• Choose your niche – something profitable with lots of interested people, like health and wellness or self-improvement or business.
• Choose your sub-niche – the small niche within a niche that you can be the master of, making you the sub-niche ‘leader’ if you will.
• Create an offer they crave – this will be your lead magnet to attract people to sign up. NOTE: Sometimes it can be as simple as an announcement list that will tell them when the solution to their problem is available.
• Cultivate relationships with your audience. Keep your readers interested by continuing the conversation you’ve already started.
• Cultivate real relationships with your peers, so you might gain access to their audiences later.
• Validate your idea or offer with your subscribers, to make sure you’re on the right track. Ask for feedback and make any adjustments you see fit.
• [Optional: Do a pilot run selling a very limited number of copies at a discount, to get feedback and further refine your product.]
• Launch when you have enough subscribers to make it count. The actual number will depend on your topic and niche. You saw from one of the case studies above that it can be done with just 250 subscribers if the topic is narrow enough.

Does this all sound somewhat backwards to you? We’ve been conditioned to think we should make the product first and then find the customers.

But if you do it the other way around, you’ll know in advance if you’re on the right track.

And when you do launch, you’ll be making sales from Day 1, which is far better than launching, then scrambling to get traffic, and finally realizing you’ve wasted your time.

The next time you have a great idea, give this technique a shot.

There is no reason in the world why you can’t have your own $5,000-$10,000 launch in 30 days if you follow this plan.

If you have the same offer with the same amount of traffic but you double conversions, then you’ve just doubled your sales and profits, too. Here are 3 methods to do just that.

1: What’s in a Name? Everything

You pour your heart and soul into a blogpost, article – even an entire book – and nothing happens.

No one reads it. No one comments. No one shares it on social media. No one buys your book.

Yet the content is excellent, it’s well-written and it’s entertaining.

People SHOULD be reading it.

So how do you fix it?

9 times out of 10 it’s as simple as changing the title.

That’s right – relaunch with another title and see if you don’t do a whole lot better.

I know of one fellow (retired now) who spent his career finding under-appreciated books, buying the rights and retitling and rereleasing them.

He made a fortune doing this before the Internet blew up.

So go back and find your content that didn’t do as well as it should. Polish it off, do any necessary updating, and most of all give it a new title that is irresistible.

You just might have a new best seller on your hands.

2: Stop pushing your customers

BUY THIS! DO THAT! DO IT NOW!

“This is the greatest so-in-so ever and you will fall in LOVE with it, even though you don’t even know what the heck it is yet…”

Let’s face it – in the name of brevity and enthusiasm we tend to tell our customers what they should be doing and how they should be doing it.

We have their best interests at heart – don’t’ they see that?

Actually, no they don’t.

Imagine someone standing on the other side of the room from you.

They’re screaming at you that you should do what they say.

What’s your reaction?

My reaction isn’t fit to print, so I won’t.

Now imagine that same person smiles at you across the room, walks over, extends their hand and introduces themselves.

Next they start talking about this problem they have. That’s funny, it’s the same problem you have. And they sound just like you. They even have the same thoughts about the problem, the same worries and fears that you have.

How do you feel? Like you just met a kindred spirit perhaps?

They invite you to walk with them, and without even thinking, you are right there with them, side by side, going for a short walk.

By the end of the walk, they’ve shown you how they solved their problem. You’re elated. There is a solution! You ask if you can buy the solution and they graciously sell it to you.

What just happened?

Instead of feeling like someone was trying to command you to buy something, you voluntarily bought it because you wanted it.

All because they came over to where you were, talked to you in your own words and then walked with you to the solution.

That’s how truly great sales work. You don’t shout from the rooftops or across the room.

Instead, you go to where they are. You feel what they’re feeling, say what they’re thinking, and become a kindred spirit. Then you gently guide them to where you want them to go.

Use this technique in all of your sales materials and I guarantee your conversions will at least double, if not triple.

3: $40,000 a Month via Phone

Why do you suppose you see so many $10 products, and so few $10,000 products?

It seems like it would be harder to sell a $10,000 product.

But what’s easier – selling 1,000 $10 products, or just ONE $10,000 product?

Odds are, it’s going to be much easier to sell one big product than 1,000 small ones.

John Chow opted to sell the big products and it paid off big time. In just 2 years, he grew his blog from $0 in revenue to more than $40,000 per MONTH.

To do this, he worked a whopping 2 hours per day.

And he didn’t even do his own selling. Instead, he licensed a phone team to sell big ticket items for him.

If you want to sell big ticket products, I would highly suggest hiring or licensing a professional phone team. They’re going to be able to convert prospects at a much higher rate than you can through online marketing.

Offer a free product that totally ROCKS to get the prospect’s information.

Work on building that relationship and let your phone team do the rest.

And in two years? If you follow in John’s footsteps, maybe you can be making $40,000 a month as well.

These are three very different methods that all have the same end goal – to increase your conversions on everything you sell. Use them wisely and the sky is the limit!

How many people sitting in coach on an airplane wish they were in first class? Odds are, most if not all of them.

First class flyers get fancy lounges in the airport, preferential boarding, comfortable and roomy seats, their own special first class flight attendants, real food and drinks, blankets, pillows… just about whatever they want within reason.

The first time I flew first class, it was on a complimentary upgrade for having made me miss my connection due to an airline delay. (Those were the days when airlines thought of you as a valued customer instead of cattle.)

I was shocked at how well they treated the first class passengers, even bringing hot moist towels so we could wash our hands, free drinks, completely edible food, a soft pillow… I never wanted the flight to end.

And I was hooked, too. Who wants to go back to coach after flying first class? Not me!

Which makes me think – what if we offered our best customers a complimentary upgrade?

Think of it this way: You’ve got prospects, you’ve got customers, and then you’ve got SPECIAL customers who spend lots of money with you.

So what do you do?

You create special perks just for these customers.

For example, maybe you give them:

• Their own member’s area full of fun and useful stuff
• Discounts on all of your products
• First dibs on new products – they get to buy your new stuff before anyone else
• Discounts you’ve negotiated on other people’s products
• Special videos you made just for them
• Insider’s info on your niche
• And whatever else you can think of that they would love

There are two different routes to take in creating your preferred customer program.

Either you charge customers to be a preferred customer. This might be an annual fee that gets them in the door and gives them all the perks of being a preferred customer

Or perhaps they have to EARN preferred status through the purchases they make from you.

For example, you could require they make a certain number of purchases or they spend a certain amount of money with you in a time frame you choose.

In the first case, anyone can become a preferred customer. In the second case, as long as they continue to make the necessary number of purchases, they get to retain their status.

So why would you bother to create a preferred customer program?

Your preferred customers feel special. They get better treatment and get fussed over and pampered, and who doesn’t like that?

Your preferred customers will become your best advocates on social media. One happy preferred customer has the power to tell many, many others.

Your preferred customers will look to YOU, first. Whether it’s to buy something, get advice or whatever, you will be the person they turn to in your niche – which is exactly what you want.

You will set yourself apart from everyone else in your niche. When you offer the premier preferred customer program everyone talks about, you become an instant authority in your niche, which helps to bring in even more customers.

Your preferred customers will sell products for you, as well as preferred memberships. Simply by doing what’s natural – bragging about the great deals and treatment they get – you will likely get new customers coming to you through social media with no extra effort on your part.

You’ll get feedback to grow bigger, better and faster – a team of your best customers who will give you feedback on how to improve your products, as well as telling you what they would like to see next.

Any way you slice it, a preferred customer program is a great thing for both your customers and your bottom line.