Let's See What Happens If…

On my mini-project to sell the first batch of a new product beyond my current client community, I’m trying all sorts of things.  I’m partly inspired by the words I remember from Brian Thomas at a direct marketing seminar in the mid-90s; “always be testing”.  It was a cute antidote to the sales mantra, ‘always be closing’.

When I wasn’t getting as much joy as I expected from my cold emails, and when one specific objection I considered irrelevant cropped up more than twice, I forensically assessed what I could change and began to test out alternatives.

Then I had a slight wobble.  What if I test a ‘wrong’ approach with someone that would have bought?  Am I best off sticking with the decent results I know I should get regardless?  Fortunately, my moment of doubt was fleeting.  As long as my overall performance stats were not worse than the line I anticipated, then such testing would, I believe, make my eventual results better.

And the proof came from getting said better results at the same time I came across words from Derek Sivers, founder of the first internet music distributor CD Baby.  He cites several successes, where independent artists have made a living off the back of his platform, even going on to get signed by a major label and becoming global #1 superstars.

His experience is that people that fret over what is the right way to go about things, delaying actions because they’re searching for the single ‘perfect’ way ahead, are less successful than people that don’t mind making mistakes.  He feels they ask themselves “let’s see what happens if…” and give something a whirl.