strategy

How “Inversion Thinking” Will Revolutionize Your Business ( + Make You Millions)

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Tell me where I’m going to go to die and I won’t go there.” – Charlie Munger

Not to be morbid, but this is a real thing. By thinking about where you don’t want to go, you’ll identify the problems that will get you where you don’t want to go.  What Charlie is getting at here is something called “Inverse Thinking,” and it can dramatically change your business.

During the most recent War Room Intensive, “Leverage, Exit, Grow, & Scale,” Roland Frasier broke this down to a handful of members and how to implement it into their business right away. What’s more, he provided some all too familiar examples of how Inverse Thinking has paved paths of ultimate success, and when a lack of it has led to quite the downfall. 

(NOTE: Roland’s Leverage, Exit, Grow, & Scale Intensive was such a hit, we’ve added THREE more of these intimate workshops in 2019. We have a few spots left for qualified business owners in August, September, & December. Let us know if you’re interested and the links above have additional information on each.)

No Revenue? No Problem?

Roland guided us through a journey where Inverse Thinking would have saved a ton of money, and most importantly a ton of time, inside his direct mail company. The business was going through a rough patch–revenue was down and the team was out of ideas. 

The two largest areas of costs for direct mail is obviously printing & postage. Therefore, to cut costs, the team decided to stop mailing for a period of time.

It actually worked, sort of.  But not really. 

Initially, costs fell and revenue was generated due to all the millions of pieces of mail already in circulation. But eventually, that dried up and they were performing worse than before the production shift. 

These things can happen, even in this extreme example But could have been prevented by incorporating the practice of Inverse Thinking…

The image above is from the slide deck used throughout this intensive and as an illustration for this specific example. 

Roland’s direct mail team could have utilized this three question series to avoid this problem by starting in reverse. 

Instead of creating an immediate solution to fix the problem, they learned to start with preventive solutions first. It’s vital to not only stop the slow bleed, but assure the system is stitched up so it won’t happen again. 

(NOTE: the full clip in the video above expands on 3 more examples and additional information on how to incorporate this type of practice into your systems.)

Eyjafjallajokull + 7 Figures

No, that’s not a typo.

This is the name of a volcano that erupted about 10 years ago, shutting down all travel for two weeks. Coincidentally, Roland happened to be vacationing Italy at the time. 

With no way to return home, Roland goes on to explain how Inverse Thinking turned a disaster into a fantastic success story. 

Instead of standing pat and waiting weeks for the next flight out, he decided to find a way to try a product launch.

Due to ample experience in the market, Roland’s previous assumptions were it would require to either have a product or build a list by investing a hefty sum of money into it. 

Instead of running either of those notions, he ended up earning $1,265,000 on a $1,250 investment…  

By spending a few full days pressing into every scenario launching a product could be effective, Roland was able to 1012X the investment selling a product called “Mainstreet Marketing Machine.” 

It’s amazing what you can accomplish if you just have the time to do it.

One Core Idea

These two examples show both ends of the spectrum. But they illuminate one core idea:

In every decision, identify what the opposite of what you want is in every situation and work backwards from there. 

The practice of Inversion Thinking will change your business, your personal life, and even make you a few extra bucks along the way (or millions). 

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Reverse Engineering Uber’s Disruptive Model for You to Copy & Use

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One of the most overused terms across all industries is being a “disruptor.” So many already successful companies continually set their sights on this: 

  • “How can we disrupt the market?” 
  • “We need a disruptive idea to really put us back on coarse this year.”

The reason it’s so prevalent in the business today is because the uber successful companies (pun intended) transformed an already mature market and profited in such a way they’ve become the model home of the landscape we’re in. 

 At my most recent War Room Intensive, “Leverage, Grow, Buy & Sell,” we discussed just how brands like Uber & Airbnb did just that and how you can do it too. We’ve shared the full session on this in the video above. 

(NOTE: need some insight or even just interested in attending Roland’s Leverage, Exit, Growth, & Scale Intensive? When they aren’t 100% filled with War Room members, we sometimes offer them to qualified business owners. In fact, we have a handful of seats left for the next two coming up.)

Regardless of the “disruptive” principals Uber established, it still falls under one of the 14 business models every business I’ve come across does. 

You wouldn’t think that “Landlord/Tenant” applies to Uber, but it does. The landlord owns the car in this example, and the tenant is both Uber (for putting the passenger there) and the passenger. 

What’s interesting is when you start mixing and matching these business models with different pricing models, you can get really creative. Here’s how Uber did it:

There’s about 14 basic pricing models to use. Uber’s primary business model was “Broker: Connect Drivers with Passengers” and their primary pricing model is “Volume.” Uber charges a 15-30% broker fee for connecting drivers with passengers. 

As for the secondary models, Uber’s business model here is “Landlord/Tenant: Drivers Rent Car Space” and “Tiered Based on the Type of Car Requested.” Connect that with Uber’s secondary pricing model, “Volume: Distance & Miles.” and “Time of Day Premium (surge fees. Everyone’s favorite.) 

Uber’s third model was rolled out when they created an Affiliate Program to pay out Referral Fees to New Customers,” and did the same for new drivers. 

While it sounds like Uber was disruptive, they simply did something unique in a mature market. You can take these business & pricing models and mix & match them for your business, the same as Uber did to become so “disruptive.” 

(NOTE: the full clip in the video above also details how Airbnb did this too and even more insight into how you can effectively disrupt like these two companies did in their industries.)

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Applying the 6 Levels of Awareness to Your Prospects

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Most marketers are aware of Eugene Schwartz’s book, Breakthrough Advertising, which is, in my opinion, the best marketing book ever written. Schwartz describes the 5 levels of awareness, a  game changing concept that can really make the difference. I’m going to show you how we’ve applied it to marketing.

Prospective customers go through all of these stages (as outlined by Schwartz):

1) UNAWARE: In this stage, customers have no knowledge of the problem nor do they perceive a solution

2) PROBLEM: When a prospect senses they have a problem but are unaware of the solution

3) SOLUTION: They are aware of their problem, are aware solutions exist, but aren’t sure which solution is right for them

4) PRODUCT: Prospect knows about your product but they’re not sure if it’s right for them

5) MOST AWARE: Prospects know about your product and just need a reason to buy now

But I’ve taken the liberty of adding a sixth level of awareness—hopefully Eugene would approve of my expansion.

6) DISENGAGED: Prospect was aware, but has since become apathetic and disinterested.

 

Disengaged may describe most of the people who are currently subscribed to your email list but haven’t purchased much, if anything from you.

In this stage, the prospect neither loves nor hates you. They have just grown disinterested. The vast majority of the people who are associated with your brand don’t love or hate you, they are apathetic about you; they are disengaged.

What prospects need at this stage is romance, they need you to woo them, and they need a reason to connect with your brand at a personal level.

How can we produce content that will map to this specific stage?

One powerful way to engage a disengaged customer is to tell them your origin story. Why did you start your business in the first place? Are you carrying on a family legacy? What did you envision when you started your business? What challenges were you facing or did you face as a result of starting it?

You could also make fun of yourself in a public forum: make them laugh. Publish blooper videos that will show them the human side of your brand. Entertainment is a powerful and effective way to draw in an apathetic customer.

When you get started on your content planning to get people engaged, a great resource is Trello.

You can create a board for each level of awareness, as shown above. I recommend that you create one of these. Take an inventory of your existing content to see where you are lacking and allow that to inform the kind of content that you need to be producing moving forward.

Be in the habit of asking yourself—how can we produce content that will map to each stage of awareness?

Your marketing efforts will be more likely to succeed, leaving you with loyal, fully-devoted brand ambassadors.

If you thought this was interesting, we have MUCH more for you…

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Seven Creative Cost Cutting Tactics to Implement in Your Business Right Away

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We all want the “big sale.” I’m talking about the one you have to call all your manufacturer, distributors, all of your employees; you know, that order.

As a business owner, it’s one of the best feelings in the world. But something I don’t see talked about enough, is how that sale often cripples businesses. Often times beyond repair. 

In this clip, I share seven creative cost-cutting tactics to implement in your business now and never lose traction on a substantial order.

Of course, It’s important that you already have your financial house in order. Be sure you’re looking at your financials and have your customer acquisition costs, costs of goods sold, etc. all lined out and understood across the board FIRST. 

Then the fun stuff starts. You’ll want to get creative in reducing the amount of capital required run your business and look at what can now be dedicated to your inventory. 

Inventory financing programs – also known as warehouse Lines

Factor receivables for inventory you’ve sold and apply that to the inventory you’re buying

Inventory financing direct from the manufacturer  – I.E. a plan set up to pay the manufacturer a third when you place the order, a third when it lands, and a third when it sells.

Container financing programs – If you’re shipping containers from oversees, or even domestically, there are companies that will finance the container to receive it.

Private money investors 

Sell leads to others who don’t compete with you (one of my favorites!) – get in front of the sale to increase revenue even before you target a customer by selling the lead to a non-competing company. 

Fulfill it on a drop-ship basis – an inventory company holds the product for you and ships it directly to the customer as soon as you receive payment for the order.

Inventory consignment – these types of companies will manufacture inventory and provide it in your warehouse. They own the inventory as collateral in an agreement, but you won’t pay for the product until it ships.    

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