What The !@#$ is a… Single Point of Entry?
When you were a kid (for me that was last week) and you played board games, do you remember the “GO” or “start here” position? ie. Monopoly, CandyLand, etc.
You knew exactly what to do, “start here”, roll the dice and make your move. Your business operates very much the same way although you may not realize it.
Imagine your business spread out like a game board complete with players, products, money, and dice. Now invite your customers over to play. You all sit down, figure out who gets to be the shoe, thimble, dog and race car. Then what happens? Where does everyone start? How do they play the game?
Here’s a great example:
Dan Kennedy, Magnetic Marketer Extraordinaire. Did’ja ever notice his “Most Incredible Free Gift Ever” that he gives away to EVERYONE? ($700-some dollars worth of valuable information – yours for the taking and a 90 trial to his amazing newsletter) The offer is so irresistible no one thinks about not taking it. And therein lies the secret and holy grail of marketing. The secret is his “single point of
entry”, aka. the “most incredible free gift ever. ” You
see, once you’re into his lair of products and services you
are completely and helplessly HOOKED! It’s almost like a
shot gun blast catapulting you into Dan’s Land. You WANT to
learn more, you WANT to purchase everything he offers…
all because he strategically lured you in with his free
gift. (and because his material is just that !@#$ good!)
When we study marketing we’re traditionally taught about
the “marketing funnel.” The mouth of the funnel usually has
several inexpensive products and services you offer. The
narrower the funnel becomes the more expensive the products
become. The idea is to get everyone flowing down through
the funnel.
The “Single point of entry” approach is simply the
opposite. Begin wooing your market with one single item –
one place to start. An item so exciting and valuable the
prospect is clawing at the door trying to get in and see
what else you’ve got. (Reminds me of waiting in line
outside to get in and purchase a Wii before Christmas!)
Does that make sense? A single, simple, VALUABLE piece of
information to lure prospects into your business. One
starting point. No question, no doubt, and easy to “give
out.”
Another example:
GOOGLE! When I’m doing research I position my hands
over the keyboard… pause for a moment and think of
relevant keywords for my search. My starting point is
always the same: google.com. There’s no frilly foo-foo’s
or fluff on the Google home page… just a simple text
field to enter my keywords. aka. the single point of
entry.
Now it’s YOUR turn – Action Step:
* What/where is YOUR single point of entry?
* Is it a no-brainer that is perfectly tailored to your
prospective market?
* An easy “hand-out” to give to EVERYBODY?
It doesn’t have to be highly complex or profound – just do
it! Take action and DO IT NOW! 🙂
Donna Payne is the Chief Web Goddess of The Web Coach.net a web development, coaching and marketing firm, and is known as the gal to call when you’re feeling overwhelmed. Learn Money & Time Saving Techniques that everyone should know when working with a web designer or building a website yourself. Download your FREE “Quick-Start Web workbook” and accompanying MP3 at http://thewebcoach.net “Know PAYNE – Know GAIN!”