Duct Tape Marketing Is Not Marketing

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It's easier to "duct tape" build your product through repeated mini-launches, than try to make it perfect out of the gate, cause that just doesn't happen...

What's going on everyone? This is Steve Larsen, and you are listening to Sales Funnel Radio.

Welcome to Sales Funnel Radio, where you'll learn marketing strategies to grow your online business using today's best internet sales funnels. And now, here's your host, Steve Larsen.

What's going on everyone? Hey, gosh I'm so sorry, I feel like I've been very sparse on my podcasting lately. Gosh, I'm so sorry. But there's a reason for that, and it is because we just bought a house. Super stoked, guys. My wife and I and my family have been living in apartments for five and a half years, our whole marriage.

And guess what enabled us to actually get the down payments and all that stuff, and put a good amount down, and all that stuff.

And have that cash available to do all that stuff?

You're just one funnel away. Right? I mean that's what Russel says all the time, right? But it's so true though.

But I was thinking about how cool it is. I was looking at the process that I have been going through to be able to generate cash needed to both run the business and hire people and pay them, and have enough cash to keep doing all the cool stuff we want to.

Do vacations, pay off debts, get a house, things like that.

And it's so funny, because what would happen is, so when I build a sweet funnel, right, and you guys have heard of that before, it's the MLM funnel I have, it auto-recruits people in to people's downlines. It's really cool. One of a kind. I don't know anyone else who does that. But what I did though, is I created follow-up funnels, basically. And it's kind of cool.

If you guys went to the Funnel Hacking Live presentation, we were trying to figure out what to call this whole category of funnels, after someone's already been brought into your world. Because you're not down with them. You know, you've got this customer that's come in, they're somebody who's come in, and they've agreed to do something with you, right?

Whether it's to download something and get something free, or they've paid, or whatever it is. But you're not done with them.

And so many times I have, you know a lot of people hire me to do different coaching and consulting with them, one hour sessions, half hour sessions, whatever it is. Just had another one last Saturday. It was really fun. But so many times we throw ourselves into architecting these really really awesome front-end funnels.

These sales processes that get people into our world and get them going.

But oftentime, we kind of just leave it there, right? We totally leave it there. There's nothing else that we do. We actually step way, way, back and we go, "Okay, I'm no longer going to do any kind of ... " It's almost like we just totally close the relationship, and 90% of the time I've noticed that that's what happens. So as soon as you get your first funnel built, guys, please, know that there are more things you can do with them.

Who is most likely to buy from you? It's people who've already bought from you. So you've already paid to acquire the customer, you've already got someone there. It's really really easy to just go and offer them something else.

And so the only reason I'm bringing this up is because I had this MLM funnel. It's done quite, quite well, for those of you guys who are certified partners, people like myself, who really like to build funnels, know that you can go, try and sell $10,000 funnels like I do.

You can do all this stuff, or you can just make one really cool funnel and sell a cheap version of it a whole bunch of times, which is another thing that I've done and it's been really really cool.

That single funnel has made alone, just the sales off one location. I sell on multiple locations, so not including the upsales, not including multiple locations, just in one spot, has made like 19 grand. You know in the last six months. And it's been awesome. No ad spend, nothing else.

Then you go put in all the other upsales that people buy with it, right, all the follow-up sequences, all the things that I do with people afterwards. And it really adds up. It's pretty awesome.

And now I got cash flow to go get affiliates for click funnels.

And please, please, please do not think that I'm bragging here, I just wanted you guys to know what's been happening. And why I've been a little bit recluse lately. I've been all over the place. There's been so many things happening. Oh my gosh, I have some crazy stories for you guys, but anyway.

I told you last podcast I knew what this one was going to be about, and it's the fact that we are in a house. And I'm super excited. We're actually moving this weekend. The papers just finished going through today, we got everything all set together, and it's awesome.

It's not a mansion by any means, but it's not tiny either. It's a great sized home, and we're really really excited about it. And it's totally because of funnels. And if you would have, remember, I have a marketing degree. But I don't do any of the things that I learned in my marketing degree.

And I make way more money doing all these other things I've learned on the side through Russel and through click funnels and through DotCom Secrets and tons of other gurus.

I love Jeff Walker's stuff. I love Pat Flynn. Huge fan of tons of guys, and I've studied deeply, drank deeply, from the marketplace. And I told you how I realized, "Oh my gosh, I've gotten to this place, and I'm here at this place, but where I'm trying to go now, what I've learned in the past, is not enough."

And I'm not trying to continue on what I talked about last podcast, but it's just been really neat to be a little bit introspective, and look backwards and go, "Wow, cool." You know?

I wonder if I can pay this house off in like a year. I think I can. And I'm really stoked. That's not my new goal, whatever, you guys know my goal. For 30 grand a month passive income.

And I think one of my plans to get that, I guess I might as well account a little bit here, one of my plans to get the 30 grand a month has dropped off a little bit, but has been replaced by another even cooler one. So I'm just really in the middle of fulfilling and building out the things that I know will get me there.

Now that I've proven it, proven it not only to the market but to myself, and all these other things that I'm going to keep running in the direction. Really excited to do so, but anyway.

Super exciting, and that's what it really is. I mean, if any of you guys follow me on Facebook, or whatever, you've seen my posts that I've put up there. I'm not much of a blogger by hand, you know, but I put up a few, basically blog posts, almost, on Facebook recently.

And I was talking about the incredible struggle and how it's kind of sanctifying. It really is. Not many people are entrepreneurs or business people or in general, whatever it is in life, don't reach their goal because they go through something called the dip.

And this is from Seth Goden, from a book called "The Dip." And he goes through and he starts talking about, anytime you pursue anything, you're going to hit this period right at the gate, where there's a lot of progress, and you're excited, and you're learning, right?

There's a lot of progress quickly off the bat. And it gets you pumped, you know like, "Ah yeah, woo."

And let's say that there's skiing. I'm a huge skier. I really like skiing. I was skiing by the time I was five years old.

My dad was going to be an Olympic skier, and he ended up hurting his knee from jumping off too many cliffs. And he wasn't. But anyways, I was skier, right, and let's say I'm skiing and I'm getting good, right off the bat. Because there's just some abilities you kind of get naturally. And you're like okay, "I can just go down the hill and kind of turn a little bit here and there." And there's excitement.

So what do you do?

You go out and you buy all this stuff. And you go out and you start getting all these things. "I'm going to go get the best poles. I'm going to go get the best skis. I'm going to go get a season pass. Woo, super awesome."

And pretty soon, you get to this point where it's almost a plateau. You're not really progressing anymore. Right? You're not. You don't really progress any farther. All that happens is, you're kind of stagnant.

Your progress in general stops...

And you go through what's called the dip...

Which is this huge next piece of learning curve, but it was harder than the first one. There's not as much excitement. You have to actually like it. And then you get to a point after so much growth, there's another plateau. And then you go through another dip, and another plateau, and another dip, and it's this cycle that you go through.

And Seth said you can easily see and measure the success of a person by the number of dips that they have sustained and gone through. Which is a very very powerful thought, to think of it like that.

So I was thinking about this project. Guys, there's been a lot of people who reach out and they're like, "Why isn't this working? Why's this working?" Do you know that the MLM funnel officially, actually took me eight months to build?

That's crazy. Most people don't know that. I built that product and thought it was complete failure. No one was buying it. No one bought it. I had to relaunch it basically a couple of times. I had to figure out how to sell it.

Because I've talked about the difference, selling is not marketing...

Marketing is not the product...

Products are not the offer...

They're all different. Those are all separate aspects. And I used to think they were all very very similar or almost totally the same thing. Especially with product and offer, I thought that was the same thing. The product is the offer. No, that's not true at all. Well, sales is marketing. Yeah, that's not true at all. You know what I mean?

But it took me forever to get that thing in a position where it could sell. And I would tweak it and then more people would buy it. But then I'd start getting all these questions back and all these things where people were like, "Ah, I wish it could do this, I wish it could do this, I wish it could do this."

That's called duct tape marketing, okay?

I'm throwing all sorts of stuff at you guys right now, just because my mind is racing and I'm super excited about all this cool stuff, but if you've ever heard of, you know like rear view mirrors? In cars. Those used to not be there. But what dealerships started noticing, was as cars would leave the lot, people would literally take a roll of duct tape, and duct tape a mirror onto their windshield, effectively creating a rear view mirror.

And that's where the expression "duct tape marketing" comes from, is these marketers, where they said, "you know, I'm going to stop guessing what people want, and instead, I'm going to just observe what they do with my product after I give it to them. Okay, they're changing this, they're changing this. Okay that's really interesting."

And pretty soon, you no longer have to actually come up with anything on your own...

Does that make sense? When you really get into a place where people love your product, and you've made it the best you can, you actually will be able to watch what people are doing with your product after they buy it. Or when they run into it. Watch reactions, that's what's important. Don't watch your product, don't fall in love with it.

Know that it's imperfect, always...

And you go, "Wow, okay, enough people are asking for this. I must need to create that. I must need to produce it." And I've been doing it to my MLM product, on purpose, ever since I made it. I officially finished that product like two years ago, okay? And then it wasn't only, when I actually figured out how to sell it, like six months ago, that it actually made money.

Then I started making more tweaks and there were follow-up funnels, and that really boosted the income. Right?

And then I went back and I was like, "Okay, now here's the next batch of questions I've been getting collectively over and over again. Okay, now I know what to make." And now I know it's at a place where it's kind of done. And what I'm working on is the next follow-up funnel, it's the next thing in the sequence that pairs with it. So whatever the product it is, think of that.

Get that product in front of people and do duct tape marketing. You know?

Anyway, super powerful concept, guys. And anyway, just super excited. I just thought I'd throw that out there and I'm excited for all the cool things I keep seeing from you guys. I will continue to podcast. Someone asked me if I was done. No, I'm not done at all. But I will continue to podcast and tell you guys some of the cool things that we're doing around here.

But just think of the concept of duct tape marketing and follow-up funnels, and after awhile you guys truly, it's pretty awesome, if you make something that's of real value, the market will always tell you what you need to make. And if you're making nothing, it will tell you what you need to make, because you haven't made anything. Meaning, you'll have no money. Does that make sense?

Just start marking stuff, and whatever sticks, run with it. Know that you're not the one filling your own wallet, so why would you care what you personally are making? You know what I mean? As long as it's not crap, as long as it's not something that could be harmful to others or whatever, it doesn't matter.

You don't have to be passionate about your own product...

I'm not particularly passionate about MLM. But I am about funnels, and I do like MLM. Does that make sense?

And it's not like, I don't wake up every morning going like, "Oh, MLM." You know, but some people are, and that's great.

And my skill, my talent, was able to help that industry and it's a legitimate amazing product. And I mean there's been over like 150 purchases, with no ads, just in the last little bit.

And it's really really exciting to see that...

So when I think about that, know that you don't need to fall in love with your own product, just know you have to solve legitimate problems for people who have money, who are both willing and able.

Next, do duct tape marketing. See how they're doing. See what they're doing with your product afterward, which, number three, helps you come up with your follow-up funnel.

Anyways, that's all I was going to say. Super excited for the house. Getting ready to move in here. I'll get the next podcast out to you guys as soon as I can, it's just been pretty busy, so. There are so many pieces of paperwork to sign when you're buying a house. Oh my gosh.

But anyway. Whole lot of fun, and anyways, guys we have our next FAD event coming up in about two months here and super exciting. Collectively, we've had more people tell us that that was a life-changing event than any other event. Even the Funnel Hacking Live events.

So if you ever get a chance to come out to the FAD event, you totally should.

But anyways guys, I will talk to you later. Bye.

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