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The Scientific Method To Solving For Product-

Market-Fit And Pocketing Your First Few Million In 3
Years or Less
Written By Nick Kozmin from Salesprocess.io - https://salesprocess.io/quiz

“Entrepreneurs fail not because they can’t build products, identify markets, market their
products, or price their products properly, but because they conduct these activities in the
wrong order and run out of money before they get traction.”

The Value Of The Business and The North Star

The purpose of running the business experiments is to identify and validate a profitable
business unit case and a resulting model that duplicates that profitable unit case as quickly as
possible.

The equity value of the business (# of shares * share price) = Enterprise Value + Cash - Debt.

The Enterprise Value can be determined either by using the DCF method (discounted future
cash flow method - net present value of the unlevered free cash flow + terminal value), or it can
be found by dividing the EBITDA by an accepted industry EBITDA multiple.
Both methods cut to the same case - the profitability of the business, and the ability of the
business to spit out free, unlevered cash flow in the future - in other words, turning cash or
other assets into free cash flow streams greater than the value of the assets used to create
these cash flows.

The job of the entrepreneur is to put cash or non-cash assets to work to produce free cash
flows. If the entrepreneur can do this, then value is created. If the entrepreneur cannot do this,
value is destroyed and the assets used are best placed in someone else’s hands.

The Scientific Method explained in this training focuses on creating a profitable and cash-
producing unit case in the quickest, most capital-efficient and time-efficient way possible.

I used this method to pocket my first few million after tax and build an asset valued in the mid 8
figures in my mid-20s; and it only took a few years. I did this without co-founders, raising money
or taking on any debt.

Customers of Salesprocess.io have achieved similar and better results than me using this
method.

My core concept is that entrepreneurs fail not because they can’t build products, identify
markets, market their products, or price their products properly, but because they conduct these
activities in the wrong order and run out of money before they get traction.
Defining The Problem and Variables
The Business Equation
Salesprocess.io and our clients have been successful by looking at business through this lens:

The business is a function of the following variables.

Business (N,T, P, M, A).

Where N is the Niche - A specific group of people who have a specific problem and who are in
specific circumstances.

Where T is the Transformation/Claim - The promise made to the niche.

Where P is the Price - The price that the niche is willing to pay to have the promise fulfilled, or
the transformation realized.

Where M is the Mechanism - The mechanism used to deliver the promise or transformation.

Where A is the Access Channel - The traffic and conversion mechanism used to get the
mechanism in the hands of the niche - also known as “distribution channel” in some texts.

An (N, T, P) solution makes up the market - meaning there are a group of people who desire a
particular transformation and have the money to act on that desire.

An (N, T, P, M) solution validates a contribution-before-marketing value (helpful reference:

https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/knowledge/accounting/contribution-margin-
overview/) - meaning the mechanism delivers the transformation and the resulting contribution
value (price - cost of goods sold) are revealed.

An (N, T, P, M, A) solution validates a contribution after marketing value (helpful reference:

https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/knowledge/accounting/contribution-margin-after-
marketing-cmam/) - meaning cost to market and sell the mechanism via an access channel is
less than the contribution created from the mechanism.

Relationships Between Variables and Solving Order

The relationships between the variables reveal the order in which they need to be solved.

The reason why most entrepreneurs fail is not because they are unable to find niches,
create mechanisms, price products properly, or market, but because they are doing
these activities in the wrong order and they run out of money before the unit case is
solved.
Solving for the variables in the correct order will result in a profitable unit case (contribution after
marketing) as fast as possible with minimum resource waste.

The relationships between the variables are defined by this method as follows:

Relationships Between Business Variables

- N
- T (N)
- P (T) -> P ( T( N)) -> P (T, N)
- M (P) -> M (P (T, N)) -> M (P, T, N)
- A (M) -> A (M (P, T ,N) -> A (P, T, N, M)

The niche is independent of all other variables.

The transformation is dependent on the niche, but independent of the price, the mechanism and
access channel.

The price is dependent on the transformation, and therefore also dependent on the niche, but
independent of the mechanism and the access channel.

The mechanism is dependent on the price, and therefore also dependent on the niche and
transformation, but independent of the access channel.

The access channel is dependent on the mechanism, and therefore also dependent on the
price, transformation, and niche.

Notice that because of the dependencies, the solving order is revealed:

The niche is solved for first, then the transformation, then the price, then the mechanism
and contribution, then the access channel.

What else can we infer?

The relationships above illustrate the importance of answering the “who are you helping?”
question before anything else in the business is determined - meaning solving for a mechanism
and access channel before solving for exactly who you are helping won’t work and will result in
time and resource waste.

The price the market is willing to pay for the transformation is completely independent of the
mechanism used to deliver the transformation (this is a key point that most entrepreneurs don’t
fully understand) - in other words:

“The customer doesn’t care if the cat is black or white, he cares that it catches mice. In
fact, he doesn’t even care if there is a cat involved at all”.
The technology used in the mechanism is bound by the price the customer is willing to pay for
the solution - you wouldn’t use a rocketship to transport your kids to school - taxpayers won’t
allow for that :)

The access channel is dependent on the mechanism and the resulting contribution value -
meaning the contribution before marketing determines what access channel can be used - you
wouldn’t use a $100k + direct sales team to sell fruits on the side of the street.

General Steps

Market Identification and Validation (N, T, P) - Solving for the niche, transformation and price.

Mechanism Validation (M) - Solving for the mechanism used to deliver the transformation and
the resulting contribution.

Access Channel Validation (A) - Solving for the traffic-conversion mechanism combination
that results in a profitable unit case - contribution after marketing.

The market is validated when a specific person has agreed to pay money for a specific
transformation. The mechanism doesn’t even have to exist at this point.

The mechanism is validated when the promise is delivered and a positive contribution is
realized - meaning the thing actually makes money.

The access channel is validated when the contribution-after-marketing value is determined to

sustain a profitable business - meaning you can spend $1 and make more than $1 back
(hopefully $4, or $5).

Consider the following scenarios:

Scenario 1 - Jim, a bright engineer, assumes there is a particular problem in the market for a
specific group of persons; he tells his friends and family about his idea, and they cheer him on :)

Consequently, he invests 5 months into building a product.

Upon completion of the build, he starts “marketing” and trying to sell the product.

He spends 2-6 months trying to get his first 10 customers... but his message and offer are not
resonating with anyone and his revenue is nil or close to it.

He tries giving the product away for free to “collect data”. A few people bite and “pity buy”.
He makes iterations and starts to “see” a revenue uptick.

1-2 years later the business is only at $2k MRR.

He decides to fold up shop and try something else.

In total, Jim spent 2 years and lost $50k of his savings.

Scenario 2 - Sarah, another bright engineer understands the market validation phase better
than Jim, so before she starts building anything, she maps out her niche hypotheses, and
approaches the market using the discovery and report method (taught by Salesprocess.io).

She learns about her niche’s problems and ranks them based on relative urgency.

She then proposes to solve the niche’s most urgent problem, but before she builds anything she
demands that the niche pays her a fee of $10k to solve it. (Sarah is one badass lady btw)

She uses a mock-up to prove to the prospect that she has the skills and intent to solve the
problem. (This Mock-Up Method is taught by Salesprocess.io)

The prospect happily pays the fee since the pain of the problem is so acute, and Sarah gets to
work building the mechanism promised in her mock-up.

Sarah takes 2 months to build and deliver the solution to the customer - she aims to become
the BEST AND ONLY OPTION for the niche.

Consequently, the customer is happy with the results and decides to sign a 1 year contract with
Sarah worth $50k.

Sarah validates the gross contribution number to be $40k ($50k - COGS) and collects her first
case study.

She approaches a similar business in the same niche with a similar problem and presents her
first case study.

The similar business happily signs a $50k deal and Sarah netted another $40k in contribution.

Sarah approaches investors with her 2 back-to-back case studies that net positive contribution.

The investors immediately give her money to duplicate what she already did with her first two
customers.

Sarah hires a sales team to do outbound prospecting and determines the contribution after
marketing number to be $35k per year.
Within the first year she hits $50k MRR and validated a contribution-after-marketing margin of
70%.

She learns paid traffic from Salesprocess.io and within the second year she hits $100k MRR.

Sarah’s new business is valued at $10M by private equity investors who need to deploy their
capital. Sarah sells half of her business and pockets $5M in 2 years :) Yay.

In scenario 1, Jim makes the fatal mistake of building the mechanism before validating the
market - he receives a positive response from friends and family, but doesn’t receive payment
from a customer (fatal error). Since this error was made and not corrected immediately, Jim
ended up wasting 2 years of his life and lost $50k, plus the opportunity cost. At the end of the 2
years, he may or may not have realized the error. There is a good chance that he will try his
method again and potentially waste another 2 years and more money :( (I actually made this
error, but corrected it. Jim = Nick)

In scenario 2, Sarah does not start building the mechanism until she is sure there is a market
willing to pay to get the problem solved. She uses the discovery method to determine the most
urgent problem, the mock-up method to validate a price and transformation, then builds an MVP
(mechanism) to validate the gross contribution using the Engineering Method taught by
Salesprocess.io.

Only after she validates the unit case and contribution in 2 independent environments, does she
validate her first access channel - outbound prospecting and inside sales.

Once she validates the contribution after marketing, she approaches investors who happily pay
her to duplicate what she is doing.

She then uses more scalable marketing tactics to scale up and create life-changing wealth in a
relatively short period of time.

If money is raised before a profitable unit case is determined, the entrepreneur risks entering
the “death spiral” - scaling a machine that loses money at the unit level. This machine eats up
cash and drives the business into the ground. It could also place the founders at risk of jail time
or litigation - See Elizabeth Holmes

Also notice that in Sarah’s example, the case studies serve as the pillars of the “marketing” -
she uses her first case study to get her second, then her first second to get the next 10. This
simple relationship between marketing and case studies illustrates the relationship between
marketing and product results/transformation - in other words, without any case studies or
legitimate customer results, marketing won’t work.
Also notice that Sarah aimed to be the BEST OR ONLY OPTION for solving the urgent problem
for the respective niche. She did this because she understood the relationship between profits
and competition.

Also notice that in Sarah’s example, she waits to strap on paid advertising before the
contribution is validated. Paid advertising is expensive and time-consuming to test. It only
makes sense to test the paid traffic channel once the contribution is validated and there are
cash reserves in the bank account to handle “choppy waters”.

Experiment Permutations
Sarah’s example above describes a perfect situation, however, in reality there are often
iterations and permutations the entrepreneur tries before a valid N, T, P, M, A solution is
realized.

Let’s consider some of these permutations and use variables to keep organized:

Experiment Variables
- Variable 1: Niche = N1, N2, ...
- Variable 2: Transformation/Claim = T1, T2, ...
- Variable 3: Price = P1, P2, ...
- Variable 4: Mechanism = M1, M2, ...
- Variable 5: Access = A1, A2, ...

Experiment Permutations:

Varying Access Channel

N1, T1, P1, M1, A1 -> N1, T1, P1, M1, A2
Example:
You have a SaaS product that produces a gross contribution of $10k and you are using
conferences and outside sales to sell it, however, the cost to acquire a customer using the
conference method is $12k, so the unit economics don’t work.

Before you vary the price and the mechanism, you experiment with Facebook Ads and Inside
sales (another access channel). You realize that you can create leads on Facebook for $100
and an inside salesperson can close 1/20 which makes the cost to acquire a customer only $5k.
The new access channel creates positive contribution after marketing and you are back in
business. This new access channel also allows you to scale much faster since you are not
bound by the number of conferences per year.

In this example, the niche, transformation, price, and mechanism are defined and contribution is
created, however the access channel is not yielding a positive contribution-after-marketing value
- meaning the cost to acquire a customer is more than the gross contribution and the business
starts losing money.
The access channel is swapped out for a more efficient one, and the unit economics start to
work again.

Varying Transformation
N1, T1, P1, M1, A1 -> N1, T2, P2, M2, A2
Example:
You are selling portfolio management software to financial advisors and claiming that you can
make them “20% more efficient in 30 days”, however, after speaking to customers, you realize
that they have a more urgent problem - new business generation and they are not a whole lot
concerned with saving 5 hours per month on portfolio management. You change your claim or
transformation to “we can help you bring in 10 new qualified leads per month”.

The advisor immediately perks up and wants to pay you money for this transformation - lots
more than before. You change your price, and you invent a mechanism that delivers this
transformation. Once you validate that the mechanism works and contribution is created, you
solve for the access channel and contribution-after-marketing value.

In this example, the niche is held constant, but the transformation is varied as a result of
determining a more urgent and acute problem. Due to the dependencies of the transformation,
the price, the mechanism, and access channel are changed to produce positive yield.

Varying Price
N1, T1, P1, M1, A1 -> N1, T1, P2, M2, A2
Example:
You have a b2b SaaS solution and your current price is $5k, but you realize, after doing an ROI
justification and niche analysis that your market is willing to pay at least $50k to get the problem
solved.

You increase your price to $50k. This $50k price requires you to improve the mechanism such
that you can deliver the transformation with more certainty and become the best or only option
for the respective niche. Once the contribution is validated at the $50k price point, you change
access channel to outbound prospecting + inside sales since you have much more contribution
to “play with”.

In this example the niche and transformation are held constant, but the price changes as a
result of market insights. Because of the price change, the mechanism changes to deliver on
the promise. Since the price and mechanism combination produce a new contribution value,
new access channels open up as options.

Varying Mechanism
N1, T1, P1, M1, A1 -> N1, T1, P1, M2, A2
Example:
A legal consultant is helping law firms increase their profitability with a service and consulting
offer, however this mechanism of delivering the transformation doesn’t scale and the
contribution is not as high as he wants - he’s capping out at only $200k per year and his wife is
complaining about not going on 3 vacations a year :(

He decides that he’s going to deliver the transformation via an online program and software
(new mechanism). He builds the new mechanism and validates that the contribution is greater
than that of the service. He then changes the access channel as a result of the new contribution
value - starts marketing with Facebook ads and Inside sales and scales the business to $2M
per year in 12 months.

In this example, the niche, transformation and the prices are held constant, however, technology
that was not previously available to him, which is now available, has made it possible for him to
deliver the transformation using a new, more efficient and scalable mechanism (online programs
and software).

As a result of using a new mechanism, the gross contribution value has changed as well as the
scalability of the solution which makes it easier to validate a new paid traffic channel.

Varying Niche
N1, T1, P1, M1, A1 -> N2, T2, P2, M2, A2
Example:
Sally, a geophysicist builds a SaaS tool targeting geophysicists that helps track oil and gas
trucks using topological satellite images.

She gets a few paying customers via her friends and family network, but, the geophysicists
consider the tool a nice-to-have and not a need-to-have. The price she was charging to the
geophysicists was low and there wasn’t much contribution created.

However, one day, a hedge fund analyst comes through her funnel and buys at full price without
any hesitation. According to him (the hedge fund guy), this information helps him better predict
market movements since he can correlate the truck data with the price of oil.

Sally recognizes that the value created for the analyst was greater than that of the geophysicist,
so she pivots her niche. She comes up with a new transformation or claim - Use truck data to
predict the price of oil. She tests a new price - 5X what she was charging the geophysicists. The
hedge fund analysts sign up without any hesitation. She tweaks her mechanism to deliver on
the promise she made to the analysts, and solves for contribution. The contribution is 7X
greater than that of the geophysicists. With this new contribution value, she solves for an
access channel (outbound prospecting and inside sales - using the Salesprocess.io method).
She’s now well on her way to $1M ARR with a 90% contribution margin and a 30% EBITDA
value and a Porsche 911.
In this example, Sally pivots her niche after encountering what is called a “fringe case” - an
unintended instance in which someone on the fringe of the niche receives value from the
solution. In the situation above, the fringe case proved to be more profitable than the original
niche for Sally, so it made sense for Sally to pivot her niche, and as a result, the transformation,
the price, the mechanism, and the access channel changed.

Timing, Budget, Skills Needed, Level Of Difficulty

Market and Niche Identification and Validation

With the proper techniques, it should take you no more than 2 months to identify a market - you
could do it in a matter of weeks using the methods taught in this training.

Not much money is not needed during this phase since nothing is being built. You are in
research mode - your only expenses are personal expenses, opportunity costs, and mockup
costs.

The skills needed in this phase include outbound prospecting skills, sales and interview skills,
design skills, listening skills, problem solving skills, and research skills.

When using the proper techniques this step can be completed without much difficulty.

2-8 iterations of the market, transformation, and price combination are usually needed to
arrive at a solution that uncovers a thirsty and valuable market.

Emotional challenges often reveal themselves in this stage: In some cases, the entrepreneur
has invested years and sometimes millions of dollars into mechanism development, then
realizes after going through market validation method that the product and the thesis don’t align
to a market need, which means that the time, money, and energy expended are sunk. This is
difficult to accept and often leads to founder depression.

However, the depression is often short-lived since smart founders recognize that by going
through market validation method properly and cutting losses as quickly as possible, saves
them years of time and millions of dollars. Often the technology breakthroughs made when
solving for the wrong combination can be applied to helping the new niche, so not all costs are
sunk :)

The Report Method: How To Validate A Niche (Customers Only - https://salesprocess.io/quiz)

can be found here.

The The Mock Up Method: How To Validate A Transformation and Price (Customers Only -
https://salesprocess.io/quiz) can be found here.
Mechanism Validation
The mechanism validation starts once the hypotheses are stated and the market is validated.

It could take you 1 month - years to validate your mechanism and resulting contribution value.

The time and money required to validate the mechanism depends on the complexity of the
problem you are solving and amount of capital needed to solve it:

For example, if you are building a rocket ship, it could take you 4 years and a few hundred
million to validate the mechanism.

If you are building a simple SaaS tool, it could take you only 2-4 months and only $2k to validate
the mechanism - if of course you are a developer.

The skills needed in this phase include: engineering skills, design skills, experimental and data
analytics skills, and general business skills.

The more skills you have in-house, the faster, easier, and cheaper it will be to validate the
mechanism.

Engineering Methods: How To Solve For Your Mechanism (Customers Only -

https://salesprocess.io/quiz) can be found here.

Access Channel Validation

The access channel is validated once the mechanism and contribution value are validated.

It could take you 1-2 months to validate the access channel (traffic channel and conversion
channel) using the techniques taught by Salesprocess.io.

This phase requires marketing and sales skills, data analytics skills, and some courage - a good
marketer can validate the access channel in a matter of days and with only a few thousand
dollars in ad spend or a few cold emails.

2-8 iterations are often required to find the appropriate access channel that leads to a positive
contribution after marketing value.

Access Channel validation techniques are covered in the Salesprocess.io documents.

The Niche Explained

A niche is an ultra-specific group of people in specific circumstances with a specific problem.

These circumstances can include: role, vertical, cash or credit deployment abilities, current
metrics, activities and tools, and desired outcome.
A niche is used to identify people and to answer these questions:
“Who is your customer?”
“What is their current and desired state?”
“What are the problems preventing them from getting to the desired state?”
“How much money do they have available to achieve the transformation?”

If you can answer these questions, you have the necessary information to identify a
transformation and price.

Benefits of Starting With a Niche

Zero Competition = Profits

Consider this Reference:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVV26yRjwq0

One of the points made by Peter Theil in his book, “Zero To One”, was that profits are a function
of X, Y - where X is the value created in the market and Y is the % of X captured - in other
words, the business or entrepreneur creates X amount of value and captures Y% of it. Where X
and Y are independent variables.

Building upon Peter’s insight, we can propose that X (the value created) is a function of the
transformation provided to the niche and Y is a function of the mechanism efficiency and the
competitors in the market.

Profits= AX∗BY −where X is the value created (transformation value)∧Y is the% captured of X

Where A∧B are constants defined by the particular market .

Y =e(1−C)−where e is themechanism efficiency (%)∧C isthe market share owned by the competitors (%)

We can rewrite this expression:

Profits= AX∗Be (1−C)

By exploring the limits of Profits, we can determine that Profit is maximized by being a
monopoly in the market - the best or only option - when relative market share owned by a
competitor approaches 0 (C → 0) - this is exactly what Peter suggests in his book.

We can also determine that Profit reaches a maximum when mechanism efficiency approaches
1 or 100% (e → 1 ¿ - meaning maximum profits are realized if you can capture 100% of the
value created.
We can also see that when X → ∞ (the value created approaches infinity), Profit approaches
infinity.

Peter uses this lens to explain why Google’s market cap value is greater than the sum of all
Airline market cap values.

The value of the search engine is extremely high (X is high), the efficiency of the search engine
is extremely high (e is high since Google uses a network to deliver the value), and there are
almost no competitors in the market (C is low - the competitors make up less than 20% of the
market), therefore Google collects monopoly profits and the Market cap is over $800B.

This lens is also used to explain why almost all airlines don’t make any money over the long
term - the value is extremely high (X is high - as determined by revenue collected by
customers), the mechanism efficiency is low (e is low) and there are many competitors (C is
high) in the market.

When you are creating your solution, you want to become the best or only option in the market.

The time and energy needed to build the best and only option for a specific group of people or
small segment is achievable by a startup if the niche is small and the competitive landscape is
bare.

A startup cannot afford to validate a mechanism that is the best or only option for multiple
niches simultaneously.

Getting to your first 1000 customers requires that you get to your first 10 customers, then 100,
then 500, etc.. It’s much easier to get your first 10 if you are focused on one niche with zero
competition than it is focussing on multiple niches simultaneously.
Competitors understand that if they are going to compete with you, they want a chance of
winning. The likelihood of them winning is low if they are competing with someone who’s sole
focus is delivering the transformation to a specific niche. They will jump in to compete with you if
you validated a business model profitable enough to warrant abandoning their current niche,
however, at that point, you will have a lead.

When you offer better performance for a specific niche (X value is higher), you can charge a
higher price than a competitor who offers lower performance.

Better Mechanisms - Better Products and Solutions - Better Case Studies

By only focusing on one person and one transformation, engineering efforts are more likely to
create niche-specific mechanisms that deliver the transformation better than competitors -
higher performance, and better value. Ways to improve efficiency of the mechanism are found,
which create higher contribution and higher margins.

Higher Market-Message Resonance, Higher Return On Marketing

The resonance of the marketing is a function of your transformation/claim, evidence that the
claim is true (case studies), and specificity.

With the best niche-specific case studies, your marketing message will achieve higher
resonance than competitor messages with worse case studies. This will lower CPL (cost per
lead), CAC (cost to acquire a customer) and increase ROI on marketing.

Higher Converting Sales Process

Learnings from previous sales are recycled and used to refine the current sales process. Sales
reps’ conversion rates increase when they are only selling to one niche - they can converge to
just over 40%.

Your marketing funnel effectivity is improved over time as you are using the bottom of the funnel
data to improve the mid-funnel content and top of funnel strategy.

All aspects of the funnel “tighten up” and the unit economics improve over time.

Effective Targeting
When you are focused on a specific vertical, problem, age group, role, etc.. targeting becomes
accurate.

You can mine data/scrape data from social platforms and you can use the targeting features
inside the ad products to create extremely specific audiences.

You can also use a strategy called “linking” or “mushrooming” - where you use the current
momentum from the names and logos you are collecting to attract others who recognize the
names and logos. This creates a chain reaction and “mushroom effect” that improves
conversion rate.
Market-message resonance is dependant on audience quality. When you “niche down”, you
have a higher likelihood of finding an audience that will respond to a specific message than if
you didn't “niche down”.

Conclusive Experiments
Not all niche, transformation, price, mechanism, access combinations will bear fruit. Multiple
experiments in quick succession are needed to determine a combination that creates the
highest yield.

Without organizing your experiments into N, T, P, M, A permutations, you are less likely to
conclude an experiment with acceptable certainty. More data is needed to validate a large
audience than is needed to validate a small audience. This results in false negatives and longer-
than-necessary experiment timelines.

Discipline Required
Commiting to one niche at a time requires discipline.

Founders often find it difficult to be laser-focused on one niche.

It is common for founders to change their niche before they conclude their experiment. This can
result in a false negative.

False positives can occur by running one experiment, once - the scientific method requires that
the experiment results be duplicated in independent environments back-to-back-to-back, etc..

When do you expand niches?

When you exhaust your current niche and you hit a point of diminishing returns with your
marketing spend - the rate of new customers entering the market is equal to the rate of new
customers being absorbed by businesses - steady state.
At this point, the incremental increase in marketing and sales spending has little to no effect on
the sales of the particular offer.

When this happens, don’t jump to a totally different niche, you stay as close as possible to your
original niche and change your angle of attack by 10 degrees to open up a new green field. This
will allow you to recycle learnings and development work and leverage your previous track
record in the new niche.
Example: Facebook started at Harvard and achieved a 60% market share in 10 days, then they
jumped to other Ivy league schools. Only after they completely dominated the market and
experienced saturation, did they expand into other markets. Their expansion was always in an
adjacent field.

The Components Of A Niche

Location - The physical or virtual location of the person.
Vertical/Industry - The industry in which the person is operating.
Role - The role or title the with which the person identifies.
Size/Income Level - Number of employees or revenue amount.
Current State - Current tools, metrics, and activities.
Desired State - Desired metrics and outcomes.
Problems - Hurdles or blockages preventing the person from achieving the desired state.
Niche Examples
- VP sales (Role) at IT companies (Vertical) over $5M (Income) in USA (Location).
Current Metric - CPA > $10k, but desires CPA < $5k. Paid traffic channel is not working.
Outbound prospecting demo booking rates < 1% (problems).
- CEO of bootstrapped SaaS companies between $10k-$500k per month In Free Trade
Countries. Current MRR < $40k, Desired MRR > $100k, Problem = unable to duplicate
unit case with paid traffic and inside sales team.
- Director Of Talent Acquisition at Construction Company >$30M, location = us, current
employee hiring quality is less than acceptable, too expensive desire situation = bring
on high-quality candidates for the right price, problem = unable to locate and attract
high-quality candidates.

The exact steps and tactics used to determine your niche hypotheses are covered in the niche
validation method.

The niche hypotheses can be organized in this document: The Foundational Spreadsheet

The niche and transformation can be visualized using this diagram.

The niche can be found using this document: (Salesprocess.io Customers Only)The Report
Method: Determining A Valuable Niche

Transformation Explained

The Island Example

Consider a man stranded on a deserted island (Island 1). Island 1 is small, there is no food, no
clean drinking water, and no shelter or shade.

Imagine that there is a second Island 5 miles from Island one. On Island 2, there is the man’s
family, a house, food for everyone, clean drinking water, his parents, and his friends waiting to
welcome him back. The man on Island 1 desperately wants to get to Island 2. The desire is
clear and there is strong motivation to make the transformation.

Let’s pretend that a salesperson comes to Island 1 and offers the stranded man a boat to Island
2.

Think about this for a minute. Does the stranded man care about the specific type of wood from
which the boat was made, or how many seats it has, or how much leather was used in the
seating area?

No, the man on Island 1 only cares that the boat will successfully get him to Island 2. The man
will be willing to pay any amount to solve his problem and achieve the transformation (Island 1
to Island 2).
The example above illustrates a transformation - the stranded man doesn’t care at all if it’s a
boat that delivers the transformation - it could be a rocket ship, it could be a wormhole, it could
be a magic pill that gets him to Island 2. He doesn’t care - in other words, the
vehicle/mechanism used to achieve the transformation doesn’t matter to the stranded man. He’s
looking for the path of least resistance - the cheapest, fastest, easiest vehicle to achieve the
transformation.

When you are building your solution, you are looking for the best or only way to help your
customer travel from Island 1 to Island 2.

The state 1 to state 2 change is called the transformation. This can also be thought of as the
promise or claim.

Transformation Components
State 1 - The current situation (Island 1)
State 2 - The desired situation (Island 2)
Timeframe - The time in which the transformation happens (3 days)

The job of the entrepreneur is to provide a transformation at a price that the market is willing to
pay using a mechanism that creates contribution.

Transformation and Promise Examples:

- CPA from $10k+ to less than $5k in 3 months.
- $10k MRR to $100k MRR in 12 months.
- Hire the best talent in the industry for 1/x the price in 2 months or less.

The exact steps and method to determine the transformation, price, and product hypotheses
can be found here: (Salesprocess.io Customers Only) Mock-Up Method: Determining
Transformation and Price

Price Explained
The price is the amount of money the customer is willing to pay for the transformation.

It is a function of the value created (value of the transformation), the amount of certainty the
customer can attribute to the outcome that the transformation, the competitors in the market
offering the same transformation, and the ability to afford the solution.

P (Transformation, Certainty, Competitors, Ability To Afford Solution)

Example:
John creates a solution for construction companies over $10M in annual sales that if
implemented correctly can save them at least 40 hours per month in administrative time. His
customers agree that each hour of administrative time is valued at $40. The value created from
his solution per month can be determined to be $1,600 ($40*40). The yearly value created from
his solution is approximated to be $19,200. However, this assumes that the client has a 100%
probability of realizing this value. John ran an analysis using his customer data and concluded
that only 80% of the clients are realizing the 40 hour per month savings. He then assigns a
probability value of 80% to the outcome for new customers and calculates a yearly expected
value of $15,360 (80%*$19,200). He then prices his product at 1/10th the expected value -
$1,536 per year. The customer agrees with John’s assumptions and buys without thinking.

In the example above, the metric John affected (administrative time) was translated to real
dollars using customer-accepted assumptions.

The outcome’s probability value was found using real, historical customer data.

The outcome value and the respective probability was used to determine an expected value.

The price was then chosen to be 1/10th the expected value.

Charging 1/10th the expected value makes the buying decision a “no-brainer”.

It is difficult to find anything else that yields a 10X return.

The price is also affected by the competitors in the market.

Example:
Using the example above - John’s product creates $15,360 in expected value and he is pricing
it at $1,536, however, imagine Mary, a competitor enters the market with a new technology that
allows her to offer the same transformation with the same 80% certainty value as John for only
$800 per year. The customer choses Mary’s solution over John’s since the expected values are
the same, but the price to achieve the outcome values are different and the ROI is 2x when
Mary’s solution is compared to John’s.

However, if Mary’s track record and customer results are worse than John’s - pretend that Mary
can only offer 25% certainty, then her expected value is only $4,800 (25%*19,200), then the
customer is likely to go with John’s more expensive solution since the ROI is greater than
Mary’s.

This example illustrates the relationship between price, expected value and competition. Notice
that the customer just cares about the expected value.

The expected value can increase over time with continuous improvement of the mechanism.
Example:
Mike chooses financial advisors as the niche and a transformation/promise of - “add an extra 7
high-net-worth clients per year.” He calculates that the gross contribution per year of a client for
a financial advisor is $20k. The outcome value is then determined to be $140k per year (not too
shabby). However, Mike doesn’t have a product yet and hasn’t yet validated his mechanism -
this means that the probability of Mike actually pulling off the transformation is relatively low.
Mike approaches a few beta customers with the transformation and the beta customers assign
a 10% probability that Mike will actually pull of the transformation. The expected value of the
transformation is determined to be $14k (10%*140k). Mike charges $5k to pilot the solution with
his first beta customer. This transaction makes sense to the beta since $5k < $14k and the beta
customer achieved a 2x ROI. After working on his solution for a year, Mike delivers the
transformation and the probability of the outcome (7 clients per year) increases. Mike
approaches another customer who is willing to assign a 25% probability to the outcome that
Mike will pull of the transformation, making the expected value $35k. Mike pushes his prices up
to $10k per year. This price increase continues as the certainty value increases.

The example above shows how prices can increase as the solution improves and the track
record gets stronger.

With each new case study, Mike is increasing the certainty value or the probability of the
outcome happening, which increases the expected value, which increases the price. The price
will continue to increase until a competitor offers the same expected value for a cheaper price.

Methods on determining price can be found here. (Customers Only)

Mechanism Explained
The mechanism is the vehicle used to deliver the transformation - remember the man on Island
1 doesn’t care if it’s a rocket ship, a boat or magic beans that get him to Island 2.

In other words the vehicle used to achieve the transformation (mechanism) is independent of
the transformation.

In order to create a profitable unit case or create contribution, the mechanism needs to be
efficient - which means the cost to create the mechanism is less than the price you are
charging.

Below are a few examples of technologies used in mechanisms and their relative efficiency
values:

SaaS or Software
The marginal cost of a SaaS product is extremely low - meaning if the jobs to be done are
carried out by a computer and software, the cost to deliver the transformation to one customer,
could be similar to the cost to deliver the transformation to 5,000 customers.
Networks
Networks are incredibly efficient and they also have a unique attribute that makes them more
valuable to each customer for every new customer who joins.

Networks are hard to start, but they are extremely valuable to the customer and the owner once
they gain momentum.

Examples
Customer Groups
Data Platforms
Multi-Sided Platforms and Marketplaces

Founders who create networks, often start out with a SaaS offer - their product first aims to
solve one problem for one person. Once there is a large customer base, they transition to a
network that makes the customer experience even better.

Adding network effects to your business can significantly increase the durability, efficiency and
value.

Leveraging People
Standardizing a process or job and training others will unlock efficiency.

This method of efficiency is as old as the ancient Egyptians - when the Egyptians wanted their
buildings made, they coordinated large groups of people towards a common goal with training
and processes.

Examples
Training smart people to become consultants and leverage a process.
Training service providers to perform a series of “jobs to be done” that delivers the
transformation.

This requires that the founder be versed at writing instruction manuals and standardizing
processes.

Information Products and Training

The marginal cost to deliver an online training program is relatively low compared to the cost to
deliver the training in person or live.

Instead of providing the consulting service in person or over the phone, the consultant can
deliver the information via online videos, templates, and training programs.

This mechanism is more effective for delivering the transformation than in-person since the
customers can rewatch videos and use phone calls for Q and A.
Examples
Online video training
Workbooks and instruction manuals
Support mechanisms like Facebook groups or Slack Groups
Coaching and Support Staff

Creating training products and coaching products will require you to be versed in training and
presenting.

Engineering methods for solving for mechanism and contribution value can be found here.

Access Channels Explained

The access channel can be broken down into two components (traffic and conversion
mechanism).

The traffic channel is the way you get eyeballs to the page and generate leads, and the
conversion mechanism is the way you turn leads into customers.

Traffic Channels Examples

- Social Paid Ads - FB, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, GDN
- Social Organic - FB, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn
- Organic Content - Blog Syndication and SEO
- Channel Partners - Other people who own the audience
- Outbound Prospecting - Cold calling, cold emailing, cold social
- Search Ads - Google Search and Ad Network
- Organic In-Person - Conferences and Networking

Conversion Mechanism Examples

- Automated Funnels - sales pages, order forms, upsell pages
- Inside Sales - Salespeople selling over the phone
- Outside Sales - Salespeople selling in person
- Resellers

Examples Of Combinations
- Paid ads + inside sales
- Paid ads + automated funnel
- Outbound prospecting + inside sales
- Outbound prospecting + outside sales
- Channel partner + automated funnel
- Channel partner + inside sales
- Organic In-Person + Outside Sales
- Search + Automated Funnel
 - Organic Content + Automated Funnel

Below are some explanations of the access channels.

Outbound Prospecting + Inside Sales Funnel

Figure 1: Outbound Prospecting + Inside Sales Funnel Schematic

Figure 1 depicts the outbound prospecting funnel. This funnel can be used to validate a new
market or it can be used to scale an existing offer (when the gross contribution allows for it).
In this funnel, an SDR (sales development representative) will mine contact data and personally
reach out to at least 500 contacts per month via cold email, cold LinkedIn messaging, and cold
calling.

The positive reply rate (the contact expressing interest) should be at least 3%. In some cases,
when there is an extremely high market-message resonance, the lead rate can climb up to 15%
+.

The SDR then qualifies the lead with a discovery call (80-90% of the outbound leads will show
up for a discovery call).

Once the discovery call is completed, the SDR books the qualified lead on the calendar with a
sales person (or Account Executive or Closer).

The demo-discovery rate will be between 10-40%. This rate depends on the quality of your
leads, which is dependent on the initial messaging (the less personalized and specific the
messaging is at the cold-email level, the lower the quality of the lead will be and the less likely
the lead will be qualified).

The sales person will then demo the prospect and close the deal.

A 20%-50% close rate is standard with a properly trained rep.

The retargeting loops in this funnel “pick up the slack” or “mop up the crap” and increase the
efficiency of the entire funnel.

Retargeting is achieved using advertising channels (Google Display Network and Facebook
Network) and email marketing nurturing (autoresponder software like Active Campaign).

The effectivity of the outbound prospecting channel is heavily dependent on the gross
contribution of the offer. The figure below compares the yield (ROI) against the gross
contribution.

These calculations were found using THE BUSINESS UNIT CASE MODEL.

Figure 2 - Yield Vs. Gross Contribution Using Outbound Prospecting + Inside Sales
Variable Case 1 Case 2 Case 3
SDR Monthly Salary 3,500.00 3,500.00 3,500.00
Contacts Hit Per SDR Per Month 500.00 500.00 500.00
Cost Per Contact Hit By SDR 7.00 7.00 7.00
Lead Rate 3% 3% 3%
Cost Per Lead $233.33 $233.33 $233.33
Demo/Lead 30% 30% 30%
Cost Per Demo $777.78 $777.78 $777.78
Demo Show Up Rate 90% 90% 90%
Demo Close Rate 20% 20% 20%
CPA $4,320.99 $4,320.99 $4,320.99
Sales Rep Commission (% of Gross
Contribution) 15% 15% 15%
CPA (Conversion) 1,500.00 750.00 7,500.00
CPA (Total) 5,820.99 5,070.99 11,820.99
Gross Contribution $10,000 $5,000 $50,000
Gross Contribution in 7 Days (if paid
monthly) $833 $417 $4,167
ROI (Revenue) 71.79% -1.40% 322.98%
ROI (Cash) -85.68% -91.78% -64.75%
Payback Period (months) 6.99 12.17 2.84

Notice gross contribution affects the yield of the outbound funnel - in case 1, the gross
contribution is $10,000 and yield is 71.79%, however in case 2, when gross contribution is only
$5,000, yield is negative, which means that the business will break. In case 3, the gross
contribution is $50,000 and the yield is 322.98%.

This shows that the outbound prospecting channel is extremely effective for high-ticket offers
with high high-gross-contribution values, but not effective for lower-ticket, lower-gross
contribution offers.

Based on our experience - The outbound prospecting + inside sales funnel will work (meaning
yield > 0) as long as the gross contribution is greater than $6,000.

The SDR monthly salary is assumed to be $3,500 since this is the price you can pay to get
someone junior to send 500 personalized emails per month.

A 3% lead rate is assumed. This is the rate at which a contact indicates interest. This lead rate
is conversative and is achievable with a properly trained SDR and messaging that includes a
desired transformation.

A 30% demo-lead rate (number of people who book demos/number of people who express
interest) is assumed.

People who indicate interest via outbound prospecting are more likely to book demos than
people who indicate interest via a mass-marketing channel like Facebook advertising.
A 90% demo-show-up rate is assumed. Based on our experience, the outbound demo-show-up
rate is greater than the inbound demo-show-up rate since there is a discovery conducted
between the lead and demo booking event.

A 20% close rate is assumed. This is achievable by a properly trained sales team.

Figure 3 and 4 demonstrate top of funnel metrics.

Figure 3 - Example of SDR Output, Open Rates, and Reply Rates

Notice that the open rates are greater than 25%, and the overall reply rate is greater than 13%.
This is achieved by using extremely effective niche-specific messaging.

Figure 4 - Example of SDR Output (Salesprocess.io)

Figure 4 shows an example of an SDR’s monthly output. Notice that 800 leads were contacted,
2,722 emails were sent (approx 3 emails per contact over a span of 1 month), 381 replies were
received (approx. 14%) and 64 demos were scheduled (8%).

Figure 5 - Show Up Rate and Close Rate Vs. Rep - Timeframe Held Constant

Figure 5 depicts the close rate for 3 reps selling the same offer over 1 month. Notice that the
show-up rate is approximately 50% (this overall show up rate is a blend of outbound, inbound,
and organic leads - inbound leads contribute to a lower show up rate). Notice that the close rate
is approximately 27% when averaged across 3 reps.
Paid Traffic + Inside Sales Funnel

Figure 1 - Paid Traffic Funnel Schematic

Figure 1 depicts the paid traffic inside sales funnel. This funnel is used to scale companies
extremely quickly.
Notice that the paid traffic channels (Facebook, Youtube, LinkedIn) route to an opt-in page - a
page that generates leads.

Once the lead is captured, the lead enters a nurture sequence.

These nurture steps include: video sales letters (long-form-video-content), written content,
automated email follow ups, personal follow ups from sales people, and retargeting ads using
the GDN and Facebook network.

The purpose of this nurture content is to turn leads into qualified opportunities (AKA - sales
qualified leads - leads who have the problem you are solving, have the money, and the buying
authority).

The lead/qualified opportunity rate should be at least 5%. This is achieved using the nurture
content.

The qualified lead is then pitched by a salesperson and closed. This closing rate should be at
least 20%.

Figure 2 shows an example of the Facebook advertising platform dashboard.

Figure 2 - Facebook Advertising Dashboard - Paid Traffic Funnel Example

Notice that $239k was spent, 74,987 clicks were produced with a click-through rate of 0.67%
and average CPC of $3.19, 11,906 leads were created (16% opt-in rate), 1,643 appointments
were scheduled (14% appointment/lead rate).

Figure 3 shows the cash accumulated from the Facebook channel (this cash collected, not
revenue).

Figure 3 - Revenue realized from Facebook channel over 12 months

Notice that $2.3M was realized in one year from the Facebook ad spends (10x yield).

Figure 4 - Visual Representation of a paid-traffic marketing funnel

Figure 4 shows a visual representation of a paid traffic inside sales funnel. This was produced
using Facebook Analytics.

Notice that the demo-lead conversion rate can be determined by dividing the demo-thank-you
step by the SaaS VSL step (opt-in/lead).
The yield of the paid-traffic-inside sales model is dependent on CPM and the gross contribution
of the offer.

Figure 5 compares yield against contribution values when CPM is held constant at $26.

Figure 5 - Yield Vs. Gross Contribution Using Paid Traffic + Inside Sales Access
Channel With CPM Held Constant at $26

Variable Case 1 Case 2 Case 3

CPM $26 $26 $26
CTR 0.78% 0.78% 0.78%
CPC $3 $3 $3
Opt-In Rate 10% 10% 10%
Cost Per Lead $33 $33 $33
Demo/Lead 16% 16% 16%
Cost Per Demo $208 $208 $208
Demo Show Up Rate 60% 60% 60%
Demo Close Rate 20% 20% 20%
CPA (Ads) 1,736.11 1,736.11 1,736.11
Sales Rep Commission (% of
Gross Contribution) 15% 15% 15%
CPA (Conversion) 1,500.00 300.00 7,500.00
CPA (Total) 3,236.11 2,036.11 9,236.11
Gross Contribution $10,000 $2,000 $50,000
GC Monthly (If Applicable) $833 $167 $4,167
ROI (Revenue) 209.01% -1.77% 441.35%
ROI (Cash 30 Days) -74.25% -91.81% -54.89%
Payback Period (months) 3.88 12.22 2.22

Notice that in case 1, when the gross contribution is $10k, the yield is 209%, but in case 2 when
the gross contribution is only $2k, yield -1.77% (business breaks).

In case 3, when the gross contribution is $50k, the yield is 441.35% (extremely profitable).

The CPM (cost per 1000 impressions) varies with platform and competitors in the market - since
the advertising platforms operate as auctions.

The following figures compare CPM against channel when the market and transformation are
held constant.
Figure 6 - CPM On LinkedIn

Figure 7 - CPM Price On Facebook

Figure 8 - CPM Price Cold Traffic Youtube

Figure 9 - CPM Price On Google Display Network (GDN)

Figure 6, 7, 8, and 9 depict CPM across different networks for similar audiences. Notice that
LinkedIn and Youtube have higher CPM compared to Facebook and the GDN (lowest).

This makes LinkedIn and Youtube great for cold traffic targeting and Facebook and GDN great
for retargeting - since you can “smother and mop up” audiences for cheap.

The ad platforms operate as auctions. This means that CPM is a function of competitors in the
market - meaning the more people marketing to your audience, the higher the CPM.

CPMs will rise over time when the demand of advertisers outpaces the supply of inventory.
Figure 10 shows the CPM over time for a Facebook Audience.

Figure 10 - CPM Against Time - Adset and Ad Constant

Notice that the CPM increases and click-through rate decreases over time as more competitors
enter the market.

A way to combat the rising cost of CPMs is to write advertisement with claims unfamiliar to the
market or increase the gross contribution of the offer by increasing the price or increasing the
mechanism efficiency.

The CPM can dramatically impact the yield of the paid traffic funnel. Figure 11 shows the impact
of the CPM on the yield when the gross contribution is held constant.

Figure 11 - Yield Vs. CPM Using Paid Traffic + Inside Sales Access Channel

Variable Case 1 Case 2 Case 3

CPM $20 $100 $3
CTR 0.78% 0.78% 0.78%
CPC $3 $13 $0
Opt-In Rate 10% 10% 10%
Cost Per Lead $26 $128 $4
Demo/Lead 16% 16% 16%
Cost Per Demo $160 $801 $24
Demo Show Up Rate 60% 60% 60%
Demo Close Rate 20% 20% 20%
CPA (Ads) 1,335.47 6,677.35 200.32
Sales Rep Commission
(% of Gross
Contribution) 15% 15% 15%
CPA (Conversion) 750.00 750.00 750.00
CPA (Total) 2,085.47 7,427.35 950.32
Gross Contribution $5,000 $5,000 $5,000
GC Monthly (If
Applicable) $417 $417 $417
ROI (Revenue) 139.75% -32.68% 426.14%
ROI (Cash 30 Days) -80.02% -94.39% -56.16%
Payback Period
(months) 5.01 17.83 2.28

Notice that case 1 (CPM = $20) yields 139.75% return while case 2 (CPM = $100) yields -
32.68% return and case 3 (CPM = $3) yields 426.14%.

If the CPM of the channel suddenly spikes ( Christmas time and businesses dump their money
into Facebook ads to reduce earnings), the yield will decrease.

A way to combat this end-of-year spike is to shut down ads during November and December
and focus on nurturing and organic channels while everyone else is burning money. Then in
January, pick back up and start buying when CPMs decrease.

The Effects Of Mid-Funnel Content On The Efficiency Of The Sales

Funnels

Mid-funnel content affects the overall yield of your funnel.

This type of content can be in the form of blog articles or video sales letters hosted on your
blog-index page, Youtube videos hosted on your Youtube page, videos or articles hosted on
LinkedIn etc..

Figure 1 compares channels against lead conversion events (“Booked Demo” and “Completed
Quiz”) over a 7 day period for one of Salesprocess.io’s funnels.
Figure 1 - Channel Vs. Lead Event Over 7 Days “

Notice that the direct channel (people organically visiting the site) is yielding more than the
Facebook and Instagram channel (paid channels).

This is due to viewers consuming some sort of content, then directly typing the URL into their
browser and signing up as a lead.

Organic content effecticity is difficult to track, however, when the content is hosted on the
company website and proper tracking tools are used, a correlation between the probability of
the viewer becoming a qualified lead and the content page title consumed can be calculated.

The figures below provide an example of this.

Figure 2 - Correlations Between Content views and Lead (“Booked Demo”) Event
Notice that some content pieces are more influential than others (in that they contributed more
to a qualified lead event): People who watch the “Filled Up Calendars” piece of content are 7x
more likely to book a demo.

People who read the “lethal sales script” article are only 7% more likely to book a demo. People
who visit “The Holy Grail” video are actually 16% less likely to book a demo.

Notice that this method of correlating content to mid-funnel events is extremely useful when
determining the effectiveness of the content.

Figure 3 depicts an example of the conversion rates of Organic YouTube content.

Figure 3 - Example Of YouTube Referral Traffic

Notice that the questionnaire conversion rate (lead rate) is approximately 3% from YouTube
content.

Content is extremely powerful, especially when combined with scalable traffic sources like paid
traffic, however, the content creation process is time-consuming.

Creating high-quality content is taught by Salesprocess.io.

Channel Partners + Inside Sales Funnel

Figure 1: Channel Partner + Inside Sales Funnel Schematic

In this funnel, eyeballs or traffic is originated from 3rd party channels who control an existing
audience.
Channel traffic is turned into leads, and leads are nurtured and turned into qualified opps, then
customers.

Examples:
A thought leader posts ones of your articles or video sales letters.
A complimentary offer co-markets to their audience with an educational webinar.
You pay Kim K $50k to mention you in a Instagram story.

The yield of the channel partner funnel is dependant on the cost to produce and syndicate the
content, the views the content recieves, and the contribution of the offer, and the lead
conversion rate.

First, let’s compare the yield against the gross contribution of the offer when cost to produce
and syndicate content and views are held constant.

In the example below, the cost to produce and syndicate content is assumed to be $500 (this is
pretty cheap. Most influencers will want more than $500 to post. In the consumer market, the
going rate for an influencer is approx. $1k per 100,000 followers)

The views on each piece of content is assumed to 1000 - a conservative estimate in a startup
environment when the audience is small (linkedin connections, Facebook friends, groups). The
view count can of course change if the audience grows or if a channel partner promotes your
content. The lead conversion rate is assumed to be 3% (this is typical if the claim within the
piece of content aligns with the channel’s audience).

Figure 5 - Yield Vs. Gross Contribution - Content Marketing + Inside Sales (Constant
Cost To Produce Content)
Variable Case 1 Case 2 Value
Cost To Produce And
Syndicate Content 500.00 500.00 500.00
Views 1,000.00 1,000.00 1,000.00
Lead Rate 3% 3% 3%
Leads 30.00 30.00 30.00
Cost Per Lead $16.67 $16.67 $16.67
Lead/Demo 16% 16% 16%
Cost Per Demo $104.17 $104.17 $104.17
Demo Show Up Rate 65% 65% 65%
Demo Close Rate 25% 25% 25%
CPA 641.03 641.03 641.03
Sales Rep Commission (%
of Gross Contribution) 15% 15% 15%
CPA (Conversion) 1,500.00 150.00 112.50
CPA (Total) 2,141.03 791.03 753.53
Gross Contribution $10,000 $1,000 $750
GC Monthly (If
Applicable) $833 $83 $63
ROI (Revenue) 367.07% 26.42% -0.47%
ROI (Cash) 38.92% 10.53% 8.29%
Payback Period (months) 2.57 9.49 12.06

Notice with a small view count (1,000), the model breaks when the gross contribution dips below
$750, however, it is extremely profitable if the contribution is over $2k.

This means that if you only have access to a small audience, sell something with a high
contribution value.

Figure 6 compares yield against audience sizes when cost to produce and syndicate content
and gross contribution are held constant.

Figure 6 - Yield Vs. Audience Size (Constant Cost To Produce and Syndicate Content,
Constant Contribution)

Variable Case 1 Case 2 Case 3

Cost To Produce and
Syndicate Content 500.00 500.00 500.00
Views 30,000.00 20,000.00 3,000.00
Lead Rate 3% 3% 3%
Leads 900.00 600.00 90.00
Cost Per Lead $0.56 $0.83 $5.56
Lead/Demo 16% 16% 16%
Cost Per Demo $3.47 $5.21 $34.72
Demo Show Up Rate 65% 65% 65%
Demo Close Rate 25% 25% 25%
CPA 21.37 32.05 213.68
Sales Rep Commission (% of
Gross Contribution) 15% 15% 15%
CPA (Conversion) 75.00 75.00 75.00
CPA (Total) 96.37 107.05 288.68
Gross Contribution $500 $500 $500
GC Monthly (If Applicable) $42 $42 $42
ROI (Revenue) 418.85% 367.07% 73.21%
ROI (Cash) 43.24% 38.92% 14.43%
Payback Period (months) 2.31 2.57 6.93

Notice that the larger the audience, the higher the yield (this is pretty intuitive).

This model works extremely well even for low contribution offers.

This explains why so many “Instagrammers” and “Youtubers” focus so heavily on building their
audiences, then push out low ticket offers like “merch” and low-ticket-ecommerce items and
make a killing.

Let’s compare yield against cost to produce and syndicate content with a high-gross-
contribution offer.

In the example below, the gross contribution is held constant at $50k (high-ticket offer) and the
cost to produce and syndicate content is varied.

Figure 7: Yield Vs. Cost To Produce and Syndicate Content - Channel Marketing +
Inside Sales ($50k Gross Contribution - High Ticket)

Variable Case 1 Case 2 Case 3

Cost To Produce And
Syndicate Content 5,000.00 10,000.00 33,000.00
Views 1,000.00 1,000.00 1,000.00
Lead Rate 3% 3% 3%
Leads 30.00 30.00 30.00
Cost Per Lead $166.67 $333.33 $1,100.00
Lead/Demo 16% 16% 16%
Cost Per Demo $1,041.67 $2,083.33 $6,875.00
Demo Show Up Rate 65% 65% 65%
Demo Close Rate 25% 25% 25%
CPA 6,410.26 12,820.51 42,307.69
Sales Rep Commission
(% of Gross Contribution) 15% 15% 15%
CPA (Conversion) 7,500.00 7,500.00 7,500.00
CPA (Total) 13,910.26 20,320.51 49,807.69
Gross Contribution $50,000 $50,000 $50,000
GC Monthly (If
Applicable) $4,167 $4,167 $4,167
ROI (Revenue) 259.45% 146.06% 0.39%
ROI (Cash) 29.95% 20.50% 8.37%
Payback Period (months) 3.34 4.88 11.95

Notice that with a high contribution offer, an extremely high cost to produce and syndicate
content can be tolerated even if the audience size is low.

This means, that it could be worth it to pay a channel a bunch of money up front to push your
marketing if your contribution is high.

Channel Partners + Automated Funnel

Figure 1: Channel Partner + Automated Funnel Schematic

In this funnel, traffic is generated by syndicating content through a 3rd party channel or “piggy-
backing” off other people’s audiences. This traffic is then turned into leads using a lead capture
page.

The leads are nurtured by video sales letters, webinars and mid-funnel content, then directed to
“tripwire” sales page, where they are converted into customers. A tripwire is a small purchase or
free trial (small commitment).

The prospect, now a customer is upsold with additional higher-ticket offers via additional sales
pages and retargeting loops, and sometimes inside sales teams. These additional offers can be
referred to as “backend offers”.

The yield of this funnel is dependent on:

- The tripwire conversion rate and respective contribution value
- The upsell conversion rates and respective contribution values
- The audience size
- The audience quality, which can be inferred by the lead/view rate, which is ultimately
determined by the resonance between the claim and the interests of the audience.

Let’s compare yield against upsell contribution values, specifically the “backend” upsell, when all
other variables are held constant.

In this model, we will assume that:

Cost to produce and syndicate content = $10,000 (the cost to pay off a channel partner for a
push),

the audience size = 20,000 (pretty standard in the real world for b2b audience),

the lead rate (the rate at which a viewer raises hand and expresses interest via an opt-in page)
= 2% (could be better, however, this is a lower limit),

the tripwire conversion rate = 10% (this is pretty high, but definitely achievable with a high-
converting video sales letter and lethal mid-funnel content),

the tripwire contribution value = $47 (an ebook or a simple resource),

the upsell 1 conversion rate = 10% (pretty standard for a $1k upsell if the upsell video is well
done),

the contribution for upsell 1 = $1,000 (an online program or a yearly license to a software, or a
consultation fee),
the upsell 2 conversion rate = 5% (this is the lower limit with an inside sales team and
aggressive nurture campaign).

Figure 1: Yield Vs. Backend Contribution Values - All other variables are held constant.

Variable Value Value Value

Cost To Produce And Syndicate Content 10,000.00 10,000.00 10,000.00
Views 20,000.00 20,000.00 20,000.00
Lead Rate 2% 2% 2%
Leads 400 400 400
Cost Per Lead $25 $25 $25
Lead/Trip Wire 10% 10% 10%
Cost Per Tripwire Sign Up $250 $250 $250
Tripwire Gross Contribution $47 $47 $47
Upsell 1 Conversion Rate 10% 10% 10%
Upsell 1 Gross Contribution $1,000.00 $1,000.00 $1,000.00
Upsell 2 Conversion Rate 5% 5% 5%
Upsell 2 Gross Contribution $10,000 $2,000 $30,000
Expectation Value Of Customer $647 $247 $1,647

ROI (Revenue) 158.80% -1.20% 558.80%

ROI (Cash) 158.80% -1.20% 558.80%

Notice when the backend contribution value dips below $2,000, yield is negative.

This simple model illustrates the importance of having a “high-ticket” or “high-margin” or “profit
center” within the funnel. Without a higher-ticket offer tacked onto a lower-ticket tripwire offer,
exciting funnel yield is difficult to achieve.

Most entrepreneurs struggle to identify the importance of a high-ticket profit center; in some
cases these entrepreneurs “break even” with their tripwire funnel, but don’t capture exciting
surplus with higher-ticket offers. The result is that they don’t accumulate capital at a rate that is
anywhere near as exciting as it could be.

On the other hand, savvy entrepreneurs who start with a high-ticket profit center offer and “work
their way downstream” achieve meaningful surplus - meaning, they make big margins with a
high ticket offer first, then use this type of funnel to acquire a massive amount of customers for
“free” with affiliates, channels, and paid traffic.
Russell Brunson from Clickfunnels did this beautifully: He sold a high-margin mastermind group
($25k price point, now $50k), a mid-ticket info course and software (Clickfunnels -$1k-$3k), and
a $9 ebook and softcover (Expert Secrets and Dotcom Secrets) he used as a tripwire.

He assembled an army of affiliates/channel partners and spent a fortune on paid traffic.

He was able to “liquidate” his traffic costs with the ebook and course sales, acquire customers
for his monthly recurring software for “free”, and pocket profits on the backend with his
mastermind.

Clickfunnels is the fastest-growing-non-vc-backed software company ever - he broke $100M

ARR in a few years without any funding and while pocketing profits. Not too shabby.

Let’s compare yield against audience size when all other variables are held constant.

In the example below, we will assume that:

The cost to produce and syndicate the content = $10,000,

lead rate = 2%,

tripwire conversion rate = 10%,

tripwire contribution = $47 (small ebook or training),

upsell 1 conversion rate and contribution value = 10% and $1,000 (program or software sale)
respectively,

upsell 2 conversion rate and contribution value = 5% and $5,000 (extra support or consulting
package) respectively.

Yield Vs. Audience Size - All other variables held constant

Variable Channel 1 Channel 2 Channel 3

Cost To Produce And Syndicate Content 10,000.00 10,000.00 10,000.00
Views 12,000.00 20,000.00 100,000.00
Lead Rate 2% 2% 2%
Leads 240 400 2000
Cost Per Lead $42 $25 $5
Lead/Trip Wire 10% 10% 10%
Cost Per Tripwire Sign Up $417 $250 $50
Tripwire Gross Contribution $47 $47 $47
Upsell 1 Conversion Rate 10% 10% 10%
Upsell 1 Gross Contribution $1,000.00 $1,000.00 $1,000.00
Upsell 2 Conversion Rate 5% 5% 5%
Upsell 2 Gross Contribution $5,000 $5,000 $5,000
Expectation Value Of Customer $397 $397 $397

ROI (Revenue) -4.72% 58.80% 694.00%

ROI (Cash) -4.72% 58.80% 694.00%

Notice that this model “breaks” when the views are less than 12,000, it’s profitable when the
views >12,000 and it’s wildly profitable when the views are in the 6 figures.

Using the audience size, we can hypothesize a CPL (cost per lead), which we can compare to
that of a paid traffic funnel and determine if the channel agreement is worth pursuing.

For Example: Notice that in case 2, CPL = $25 and in case 3, CPL = $5. Let’s pretend that we
are able to buy leads for the same offer on Facebook for $12. In this case, it doesn’t make
sense to go with channel partner 2, but it does make sense to go with channel partner 3.

When you are evaluating channels, it pays to be prudent - start with a small test if possible,
evaluate the CPL and overall conversion rate, then scale up with larger buys.

Let’s compare yield against lead conversion rate when all other variables are held constant.

Yield Vs. Lead Conversion Rate - All Other Variables Held Constant
Variable Value Value Value
Cost To Produce And Syndicate Content 10,000.00 10,000.00 10,000.00
Views 20,000.00 20,000.00 20,000.00
Lead Rate 2% 1% 5%
Leads 400 200 1000
Cost Per Lead $25 $50 $10
Lead/Trip Wire 10% 10% 10%
Cost Per Tripwire Sign Up $250 $500 $100
Tripwire Gross Contribution $47 $47 $47
Upsell 1 Conversion Rate 10% 10% 10%
Upsell 1 Gross Contribution $1,000.00 $1,000.00 $1,000.00
Upsell 2 Conversion Rate 5% 5% 5%
Upsell 2 Gross Contribution $5,000 $5,000 $5,000
Expectation Value Of Customer $397 $397 $397

ROI (Revenue) 58.80% -20.60% 297.00%

ROI (Cash) 58.80% -20.60% 297.00%

Notice that a small change in the lead conversion rate makes a huge impact on the overall yield
of the funnel (the margin of error is only 1% :|).

This illustrates the effect of quality of the audience on the yield - meaning the audience
responds to the claim being presented to them.

If there is an opportunity to pitch an audience that has a high likelihood of resonating with your
claim (high-quality), you can justify paying a premium since the overall conversion rate will be
higher than a low-quality audience.

You can pay channels in the form of an up-front fee or you can pay them as an affiliate in where
you give them a % of the revenue generated from traffic originated by them.

The affiliate model works well when you can show the channel partner clear funnel metrics. If
you don’t have clear metrics, affiliates will be less likely to engage in revenue splits and be more
likely to engage in up-front fee models.

Paid Traffic Automated Funnel

Figure 1: Paid Traffic Automated Funnel Schematic

The paid traffic + automated funnel’s backend economics are very similar to the channel +
automated funnel mentioned earlier.

The traffic source used is the only difference - instead of channel partners originating traffic,
paid sources like Facebook, LinkedIn and Youtube ads are used.

Just like the paid traffic + sales funnel, the yield is dependant on the:
- CPM

The CPM determines the lead price.

And just like the channel + automated funnel, the yield is dependant on:
- The conversion rate and contribution value of the tripwire, and upsell offers.

Let’s compare yield against CPM when all other variables are held constant.

In the model below, the CTR (click-through-rate) is assumed to be 0.70% (this is a lower limit on
Facebook),

the opt-in rate is assumed to be 15% (a lower limit when using paid traffic),

the tripwire/sale conversion rate is assumed to be 8% (a great benchmark to shoot for),

the gross contribution of the tripwire is assumed to be $49 (a simple ebook or resource),

the upsell 1 conversion rate and contribution value are assumed to be 10% and $500
respectively (an online program or software license),

and the upsell 2 conversion rate and contribution value are assumed to be 5% and $3,000
respectively (a consulting fee or extra support).

Figure 1: Yield Vs. CPM - All other variables held constant.

Variable Case 1 Case 2 Case 3

CPM $5 $10 $21
CTR 0.70% 0.70% 0.70%
CPC $1 $1 $3
Opt-In Rate 15% 15% 15%
Cost Per Lead $5 $10 $20
Tripwire Sale/Lead 8% 8% 8%
Cost Per Tripwire Sign Up $60 $119 $250
Tripwire Gross Contribution $49 $49 $49
Upsell 1 Conversion Rate 10% 10% 10%
Upsell 1 Gross Contribution $500.00 $500.00 $500.00
Upsell 2 Conversion Rate 5% 5% 5%
Upsell 2 Gross Contribution $3,000 $3,000 $3,000
Expectation Value Of Customer $249 $249 $249

ROI (Revenue) 318.32% 109.16% -0.40%

ROI (Cash) 318.32% 109.16% -0.40%

Notice that in this model, the funnel breaks when the CPM crosses $21.

This illustrates the delicate nature of these types of funnels - one day it’s pumping along and
yielding a healthy 300% return, the next it starts losing money because CPM shoots up.

This type of funnel is best suited for those who are expert copywriters and media buyers. They
can be extremely profitable, but the amount of time and energy spent iterating, testing, and
monitoring is immense and the level of expertise necessary to make one of these hum is high.

The channel + automated funnel is MUCH more forgiving, so we suggest that our clients start
with that one, then graduate to this funnel once the economics and copy are proven.