Internet Profit Pyramid Scheme
Uh-oh. Internet pyramid scheme? Sounds sketchy.
Trust me, it’s not what you think.
In fact, this Internet pyramid scheme is all about the untapped Profit Pyramid in your business.
But first, let me tell you a little story about how it works.
My friend Jay and I met online back in 2003. We were both strength coaches during the day and were working on our online fitness businesses at night.
We had mutual friends, and if I remember correctly, Jay emailed me one time and told me to check out his website.
From there, we started bonding over Seinfeld jokes and Pearl Jam songs. Eventually, Jay became one of my best friends (he remains one of the nine contacts in my Blackberry – no one else knows my number).
But where Jay and I differed was in his love of Pearl Jam. He’s gone to dozens of PJ concerts, has all their albums, and even has Pearl Jam album artwork tattooed on his body.
He’s an I5SDC.
A what now?
An I5SDC.
I5SDC stands for: Irrational 5% SlamDunk Customer
Those exist in every business, occupying the TOP of the Profit Pyramid.
This means that no matter how many customers you have in your business, there are 5% that want to give you more money. They want more products. They are Irrational in their spending habits with you.
Here’s another example of an I5SDC.
One of my other friends is a BMW fan. He has an X5. But not just any X5. It’s an M version. Officially, he owns an X5 M.
And for a while, he had the ONLY one of these in his state, and it cost him a LOT of money (then again, I don’t own a car, so any amount of money spent on a car is a lot. But he spent over $100K for this thing.)
It’s irrational. He didn’t need to. But more importantly, he makes up the 5% of the profit pyramid…the place where you’ll get MAXIMUM profit from a small number of customers.
If you have 100 customers, that means you have 5 that are probably willing to give you a LOT of money for a special product that is higher-priced and provides some sort of unique access to you or customized version of your product.
If you don’t believe me, no worries. I have an uncanny example for you.
There’s a business in the financial newsletter space that sells a $12,500 lifetime membership to everything they produce.
They have 400,000 total customers.
Guess how many people have upgraded to the $12,500 offer?
That’s right.
20,000.
Exactly 5%.
This means you really need to get thinking about what you can provide your I5SDC.
What extra, unique value can you put in an offer to them?
Here’s what I mean by SlamDunk Customer…this is a phrase I learned from Dan Kennedy last month.
He explained that in every business you can determine a profile of your most profitable customer. There are specific psychographic and demographic attributes of the SDC.
And once you know these, you can communicate with them in a different, meaningful way that will get them up to the top of your profit pyramid.
But for today, the biggest thing that I want you to understand is that there’s a portion of your customers that can consume faster and greater than you can ever produce.
And of those customers, there is a portion that is willing to pay high prices – giving you high profit margins – for specific experiences, and often for closer access to you.
I know, I know, it’s hard to believe that someone would want to pay money to hang around you, but 5% of your customers do.
Irrational, indeed.
Profitable, for sure.
Don’t let this pyramid scheme go to waste.
Identify how you can serve your 5% that want – no, need – more content from you and access to you.
They want more of you because you connect with them and make them feel better. You solve their problems. They appreciate you for caring. They love you for making a difference in their lives.
So don’t stop at just one product and an upsell.
Don’t think that you’ve solved all of their problems with just your basic info.
Don’t stop. Keep pushing. Serve the top of your pyramid. Connect with your I5SDC.
It will make a big difference to everyone,
Craig Ballantyne
“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel” – Maya Angelou