Sell It Before You Make It
May 11th, 2010 by July Ono
One of the most common mistakes that entrepreneurs make is creating something that no one wants to buy. I’ll use the example of an author. You’ve written a book. You get it self-published. You have a thousand books in your garage and it’s only now that you start selling.
The problem with this model is: how do you know if anyone wants to buy the book. You’ve spent time and money on a business venture with no guarantee of a return. One of my mentors, T. Harv Eker, of Peak Potentials Training explained the art and science of the pre-sale.
First, you have an idea for a book. You create the outline and chapter summaries.
Second, you begin your sales and promotion now before you create it.
Third, you take pre-sale orders.
Fourth, you collect the money in advance of delivery.
Fifth, when you have the money to cover your initial costs, you place the publishing order.
The sales, marketing and promotion of this book will take about 6 to 12 months. The more time spent in promotion the better because you can collect more pre-sale orders. There is a limit to a customer’s patience which you can mitigate through continuous communication as to the progress of the book.
If you fail to produce enough sales to cover the cost of publishing, then the answer is pretty obvious. You need better marketing. And if this still does not produce results, it’s because no one wants the product. The book is a vanity project.
The principle of the pre-sale can be used in any business. Builders and Developers use pre-sales to sell real estate that hasn’t been built yet. In property management, I use the pre-sale technique to get tenants to pay their deposit now for placement 2, 3, 4, 5 months down the road.
The technique for getting the money up front is dependant on your ability to create a compelling need for the product and/or a lucrative discount or both.
