TMM #007: Darts & Arrows

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Alright men, hope this finds you well and hoping some of you have hopped on the Morning Alignment train.

Many of you messaged me a picture of your morning alignment doc, sent me your goals and principles, etc which I’m super grateful for. (would love to see more)

Nearly everyone had a money/income/wealth/revenue goal, if not multiple, in the goal section of the doc — so let’s talk money.

Market Fit

I’ve built a 7-figure company 4 different times now.

Once in agency, once in consulting, once in mastermind, and once in real estate.

Not to mention, the dozen or so advisory clients that I’ve helped scale into the 7 & 8-figures that are in a number of different spaces.

It comes down to one thing.

Not one thing ONLY, but one thing that must be true — think “do not pass GO if this is not true.”

It comes down to nailing your X-Market Fit.

And this is at 2 different levels: Product-Market Fit and Message-Market Fit

• Product-Market Fit = Do you have a market? Do they have a problem? Do they want to solve that problem? Are they willing to pay to have that problem solved (and for how much)? Do you have a solution (product or service) to this problem? If you answer yes to all of these then you will have product-market fit.
  

• Message-Market Fit = How do you communicate your value prop and your solution’s message to the market? If you have product-market fit, but aren’t getting traction in your sales or marketing then you do not have message-market fit. Your messaging isn’t landing.

The reason these questions are so important to get right is because it will determine ALL decisions in your business growth and client retention.

Let’s talk about Darts vs Arrows.

Ever shot a bow down range at a target?

Or, ever thrown darts at a dartboard in a bar?

They’re basically the same “game” at a high level (get object —> to target), but all of the variables in the game make it different.

The size of the target, the length the object must go to hit the target, the stance you take, and the actual object you throw or fling toward the target are all different.

How good would you be at archery if you had to throw a 4-inch dart 50 yards down range? Not very.

Or, What if you had to stand 7 feet from a dartboard and use an arrow out of a compact bow? You’d destroy the dartboard.

We wouldn’t do that, yet most people treat their business just like this.

We’re all playing the same game in business, but we all have to make strategic decisions about our business that are determined by our product-market fit and message-market fit.

Unless you’re a pioneer in a new market (I’ve done this twice), then most of you have product-market fit. If you have direct competitors then the market has proven that the product fits with the market.

So, that means your focus is on the message.

Practical Exercise to Nail Message-Market Fit

Talk to people, ask them a lot of questions, and sell them nothing.

That’s going to be your recipe.

Here is what I have done in every business I’ve owned:

• Build a list of 50 ideal clients

• Do extremely personalized outreach to this individual with a posture of humility. Say…
  
  “Hey John - a bit random but looking to pay you for 15 min of your time. In short, I have nothing to sell… yet (that’s where you come in). I’m an expert at ________ and know I can help the ______ space, but I’m not 100% confident on the HOW. I’m operating out of a lot of assumptions.
  
  I’ll pay for an hour of your time (and only take 15 minutes) if I can put a few of my assumptions in front of you and have you shoot holes in it.
  
  Could you stomach that?”

• Get 15 of those 50 people into that call.

• Ask a ton of questions, test your messaging, and test your offer

• Record or take notes

• Every 3 conversations ask yourself, “what was the common thread in that call and what was the common negative feedback?”

• Then iterate the messaging

• Then talk to the next 3

• Wash, rinse, repeat

If you do this, the market will tell you exactly what and how to sell them.

And the bonus… you’ll probably have 5 of those 15 tell you, “hey when you do go to market with this, let’s talk. I’d be interested in being a customer.”

Say “thanks” and resist the urge to sell them 🙂 

You now have message-market fit.

In conclusion

Sell something that the market wants you to sell to them, exactly how they want to be sold. Don’t make decisions on assumptions, make decisions on fit confirmations.

Then go make that money.

Grateful you’re here.

To your pursuit of Margin,
Joey Gilkey