The Karate Model of Marketing

Before embarking on my workshop tour in June I attended the System Internet Seminar in Chicago. I spoke there as well, but also attended some great presentations and made many valuable connections. 

One presentation will change my business and my life. 

Sean d'Sousa's Presentation on "The Theory of Consumption in Business" was the most powerful (and practical) presentation I've ever witnessed in my career. Instead of the usual warmed over ideas, presented in a lackluster format, Sean delivered a wake-up call that will change my business dramatically. 

Sean's two main premises were: 1. You first have to get your clients and customers to consume what you've already sold them. 2. You need to offer new services in progressively more complex stages if you are going to truly serve them. 

As a result of this presentation I am already working on the design and development of my "Marketing Tracks." Let me give you a very quick preview. 

1. More Clients Track. This is the free subscriber level. I've already offered this for years. Anyone can join by signing up with their name and email address.  

2. The Fast Track. This will be my new foundational product - The Fast Track to More Clients. This lays the groundwork for marketing success. By August I'll have the home study version based on my Live Workshops. 

3. The Action Track. This includes more advanced marketing materials, including the InfoGuru Manual and Web Site ToolKit. Ultimately this will include more products and services, including online software and live workshops. 

4. The Mastery Track. This is for those who want a very high level of success in their businesses. It will include in-depth coaching programs designed to accelerate the ability to grow your business. 

5. The Certification Track. This is for those who want to be licensed to use my materials and be coached at an even higher level to be Action Plan Marketing Coaches. This program is already in place (yes, I got ahead of myself!) and there are now 36 coaches working around the world. 

My goal is to roll out this new business model completely by mid September. It will include a newly designed web site and many new ways to use Action Plan Marketing as a resource to grow your business. 

As I put things in place, I'll keep you posted, but in this eZine let me get a little more into Sean's ideas. One of the brilliant parts of his presentation was demonstrating the parallels in various systems we are already familiar with. 

For me, the best one is the martial art of Karate.  

When you start as a Karate student you start with a white belt. Everyone starts there. You then progress to different colored belts - yellow, green, brown and then black. And the black belt has ten stages (1st Dan to 10th Dan).  

When you go to join a Karate School, the instructor doesn't ask you, "Which color belt would you like? Green is very fashionable these days!" No, you get a white belt that indicates you're a beginner. And as you progress in your skills and pass certain tests, you earn the next colored belt. 

Sean realized that it would make a lot of sense to offer the same kind of levels with business services as well. Before a client or customer can buy the second or third-level programs or workshops, they needed to buy (and consume) the first level program or workshop. 

This approach has many advantages.

- First, it increases the chances that your clients will actually get results. Too many people buy advanced programs and are unable to implement them because they haven't yet mastered the basics. 

- Second, it enables you as a professional service provider to work with clients at increasingly complex and interesting levels. It's more involving and rewarding to work with black belts than it is with white belts. 

- Third, the higher, more advanced levels are ultimately made available to fewer people, but at a higher price. Subsequently you end up earning more by working with a smaller number of people.

I don't know about you, but by restructuring my business this way, I'll accomplish my primary marketing objective more effectively: More independent professionals who are able to consistently attract more clients and grow their businesses. 

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The More Clients Bottom Line: Ask yourself if you can adopt Sean's model to your own business. Can you offer basic, intermediate and advanced programs at increasing levels of complexity and value? 

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How have you structured your business model? Please share on the More Clients Blog.

Comments

[Audrey]

Hi Robert,

Are you referring to Sean D'Souza from Psychotactics?
http://www.psychotactics.com/
(I think you will have to check your spelling, it is D'Souza)

I get his weekly newsletter and the articles are always good.

Audrey.

[Kristen Russell]

Robert,

Good stuff. I have several lines of business in my firm and this wouldn't work at all for two of them but is PERFECT for the third.

I have already laid out the White Belt, Yellow Belt, Green Belt, Brown Belt and Black Belt packages for this line, and hope to finish a final marketing piece for a prospect to whom I present on MOnday.

Any objection to me using these exact package names? I love the Karate analogy and think a lot of prospects will be able to relate to it.

Thanks!

[Bea Tsola]

I couldn't agree with this article more. I've found myself asking the same questions because the market demands of your products or services and it is very easy to want to throw everything at them with little thought of the process. I will certainly think this through even as i evaluate my own business and see how i can progress my services

[Jane Noel]

I've been reading Sean d'Sousa's Psycotactics newsletter for a few years now. He has a fantastic way of explaining marketing concepts in plain English. It's interesting to hear how his presentation made a difference to someone with as much marketing know-how as you!

[joan Bell]

Hi Robert,

Once again you have offered us a new insight and model that we can actually use now and it makes perfect sense to me.

Even though it is not rocket science it is often only a distinction, an awareness and a bit of vision that can help us move to another level.I like it!

Thanks Robert,
Joan Bell

[Alyson B. Stanfield]

Thanks for sharing this with us, Robert. I am going to pore over it and see how I can apply it. And I look forward to seeing you put it into action.

[Kammy Thurman]

Hmmm,

I can see how this approach would work for a consultant, but I'm trying to picture how it would work for a photography professional -- other than offering different levels of image packages, which is already the industry standard.

[Pamela Slim]

Robert, one of the things that I love the most about you is that you are constantly learning and growing in your own field. Your excitement and enthusiasm for this model jumps off the page -- I can FEEL how it got your brain buzzing.

And practically, it makes perfect sense! As a former intense martial artist, I can attest that there ain't any skipping over the basics. People would come to class the first day and say "when can I do a back flip?" I would smile and say "let's start with doing 100 pushups and situps a day." They soon learned that there was a lot of depth to even beginner moves. And I knew that in order to do a fancy move like a backflip safely and at the right time, they needed lots and lots of hours practicing the basics.

The more advanced I got in my own training, the more I didn't want to learn the more difficult moves until I was ready, since I realized that with more power came more responsibility (and more likelihood of getting smacked down on the floor by someone wanting to prove himself against an advanced student).

I have loved to watch your business grow, and I can't wait for the relaunch in September.

Good work!

-Pam

[Debbie]

Robert,

While I like the idea of structuring a business into levels, it's certainly not a new or radical idea.

I think the challenge is, rather, getting people to actually use your products, no matter what level they may be at.

So how do you plan to do that part?

In your new business structure, how will you deal with those people who already have some marketing knowledge, and who do not need to start at the beginner's level?

Take as an analogy, if you will, a karate student with a blue belt who is looking for a new teacher. You can't put him back in the white belt beginners' class but how will you know that he, too, is actually consuming your products - and how will you know what products to offer him in the first place?

Debbie

[Linda Spaanbroek]

Robert, Thank you for this weeks very clear and insidefull article. It made me realize I need to fill some stages. In my business I now have my free eZine and my workhops, without anything in between or after the workshops. Might this be because I missed relevant info since I went from your stage 0 tot 3 in one jump? ;-) All kidding aside, I've work(ed) thru your Info Guru Manual and Website Toolkit and am very happy about the results I've booked so far. With the information from this article I can take it a step further.