Episode 15 : Marketplace Research

Welcome to the Unstoppable Profit Podcast. This podcast will give you all the tools to grow your business and live life on your terms. Millionaire agents and entrepreneurs think and act differently than others. This podcast will give you a simple, proven three step blueprint to grow your business. Over the past 31 years of research in your industry, Mike Stromso has created a unique philosophy called the three people process and promotion. This outside the box thinking and guidance provides agency entrepreneurs just like you the knowledge and tools you can quickly implement to explode your agency business. He has been there, done that, and he's still doing it. Wherever you are today, if you're starting with nothing or are well on your way to the success you desire, with the right people, processes and promotions in place, you will be unstoppable. And now I'd like to introduce your host, Mike Stromso.

Greetings everybody. Welcome to episode 15 of the Unstoppable Profit podcast. This is Mike Strompso coming to you live from the Living Agency Laboratory. And today we're going to be talking about becoming a marketplace researcher. You know, lots of people, including the people that come to our million dollar sales producer boot camps and in many other realms, they want to get started on a niche, they want to get started on their promotional aspect of the three Ps. As a friendly reminder today, if you haven't written this down so you can see it, please write this down. People, processes and promotion, in that order. You've got to have excellent people on your team. You've got to have world class processes and systems operating within your business foundation and then you promote the heck out of it. So they all want to get started on promoting the heck out of their business to help them grow. I get that. Okay, so a lot of people, they want to get jump, they want to jump into a niche and I said, tell me what kind of research you've done on the niche.

That's exactly what I get. Silence. You've got to do the research. You've got to understand the conversation that's going on in the mind of your marketplace. It's critical. You cannot penetrate a marketplace until you understand what they think about, what they talk about, what wakes them up in the middle of the night and all that kind of stuff. And I'm going to take you into some more examples in just a minute. However, it's critical. So let me liken it. I've been doing a lot of study lately. I always do a lot of study, but one of my studies is currently a book that I'm studying for the second time. And yes, I go back and study things two and three times because every time I study it again, I learn more, I see it in a different light and I'm not the same person that I was the first time I studied it. So the guy that I'm studying, one of the guys I'm studying right now, he keeps talking about dating analogies. So since I've been hearing that a lot lately, I'll give you a dating analogy. For this particular example. Think back or imagine the times when you were dating and maybe you currently are now. Good for you. So when you were going to go look out, look for somebody who you wanted to go out on a date with, what kind of person were you looking for? Were there certain characteristics that you wanted in that person?

Certain kind of personality, certain kind of hobbies that you wanted them to have? Things that you liked about them, things you didn't like about them? See, this is all the same kind of thought process when you're thinking about marketplace research. Okay, so one of the things that we have, you know, you have to understand who your ideal client is. Alright? So if you're going to penetrate a niche, one of our platinum coaching clients is currently working on the landscaper niche in their state. Okay? So one of the things that we've helped them with is to identify who their ideal client is. It's one of the first things we need to do. So we have a list that includes a lot of things about people and what an ideal client might look like. Our encouragement is list the top 7 to 10 characteristics of your ideal client. Now this could be personal or commercial, insurance or group benefits. It does not matter.

What kind of business is it, what industry is it? We just talked about a landscaper, right? Do you want to deal with landscapers who are new in business or do you only want to deal with people that have been in business, say three years? Do you want to have a certain number of employees, maybe five to 50 employees? You don't want the big ones because you're up against the bigger houses. You don't want the smaller ones. You want there to be enough meat in the prospect so that you can generate some premium. What's your geography? Are you going to do this statewide? You only do it within 50 miles of your office. Is it the kind of industry that you need that face to face dialogue in order to close so that would limit your geography? Do you want people who are coachable? I mean there's a lot of people that, in my view of Our industry, after more than three decades, they're tired of people that won't cooperate. So yes, you need people that are coachable. Do you want people that are a partnership or do you want the one sole owner, one on one? You have to think about that kind of stuff. Do you want them to be within a certain age demographic? So there's people out there that we've dealt with recently who are targeting women owned businesses and that's fine, but that's another thing that you can think about. Do they have to be college educated? What are they good at? What do they like to do outside of work? I mean, you know, I wanted to pursue so badly the bicycling industry for so many years. What I found is there's a bicycle manufacturer named Trek who dominates that industry because they're one of the largest manufacturers in the US and they dominate the domestic side of manufacturing and they have their own insurance program. So it just wasn't a good fit for me. There wasn't enough numbers. Alright? So you have to understand these things, alright? You're looking at certain profitability levels, all of that comes into play. So you've got to list the things that make up your ideal client. All right? So get out a blank piece of paper, get out a blank whiteboard, whatever that means to you, and start listing the characteristics of your ideal client. And you've got to stick to your guns 80% of the time. Remember the Pareto principle that we were talking out, talking about on a recent podcast? The Pareto principle or the 8020 rule is always in effect and you can use that as a mindset or a thought process. Stick to your guns 80% of the time. Course there's going to be times when there's an exception. You know, a relative of a very influential person in a niche might have gone into the industry and kind of started on their own. Therefore they're a new business. But if they're that much of an influencer in your industry, in that industry, of course you're going to want to insure them and get them into your family circle. So you know, you're the one that can make this exceptions on anything. But you know, be aware of what you're doing, alright? So most importantly, identify your marketplace, understand who the ideal client is, what they look like, what their characteristics are and where do they live, where do they work, where do they hang out, can you go hang out with them and all of that kind of stuff. So you got to identify the characteristics of your ideal client. Probably.

One of the Greatest analogies that I've heard in my evolution about this exact thing. Thing. One of my mentors decided that he was, you know, after many, many years of success and creating some substantial wealth, he decided he's going to get married. And so before he set out to find the woman of his dreams, he sat down with a blank white pad, or yellow pad, I don't know what color it was, and he just began to write out, he began to brainstorm and exactly what this woman looked like. All of her characteristics, from the color of her skin to how her skin felt to the color of her hair, how her hair felt to the perfumes she wore, to the clothes that she wore, to what her professional desires and her big goals. I mean, all of it. What happened was 42 pages later, he had documented exactly what this woman was about. And guess what happened? He found her.

She became reality. Because he had in his mind and had written down, don't think it, ink it, exactly what the characteristics of his ideal woman was for that particular situation. Same thought process and the ideal client document who the ideal client is that you're looking to pursue, and you are immediately ready to get started. The second thing with regard to becoming a marketplace researcher is you got to do your research. So once you identify who your ideal client is, you got to get ready to do your research. Now, we have a form that we use in our unstoppable profit producer programs that helps people.

Ask great pointed questions within a marketplace after they've identified people and they've been able to get next to them. So the thing that you want to do is just identify people in that particular marketplace. It could be an existing client, it could be a friend, it could be a family member, it could be somebody that you know from a trade association. You could have met them at an event. Does not matter. Okay, so connect with them. And we'll go back to our landscaper example for just a minute. This particular member has probably 5 to 10 good clients in that niche in their existing book of business. So they decided they like that niche, they like to hang around it. They've got a lot of good prospects in their local marketplace, and it's the one. And they got good carrier partners for that niche, so it's the one they want to pursue. So what they did is they got next to a couple of people in that niche who were close associations, and they went out and they either took them to lunch, took them to breakfast, had coffee with them, they could have even created a dinner gathering. It does not matter. Whatever it takes to make this happen. But they just started hanging out with them and they went to build relationship. I just did a video on this recently again, and I can't emphasize this enough. You've got to create an experience in which they're comfortable. You've got to elicit the feelings that are in their mind and their hearts about the industry to understand more about them and who they are. That equals the connectedness. So E which is experience +f which is feeling equals C which is connectedness. Once you have that connectedness, then and only then can you begin to build relationship. Relationship plus trust. So R plus T equals, equals money follows trust. Mft. It's really that simple. Okay? So they created this connectedness and started learning about the marketplace and began to build those relationships and ultimately started gaining the trust and now they're ready to dominate the marketplace. So some of the great pointed questions that you can ask any marketplace in which you're trying to penetrate is, you know, hey, I was thinking about you the other day and there's got to be things going on in your particular industry that might keep you up at night or that you're constantly thinking about or concerned about. What might some of those things be?

And at that point you got to shut up, alright? Those are the things that you want to create a solution for. It's really that simple. What are they mad at? What makes them angry about their industry?

You know, they probably love what they do 80 to 90% of the time. If you were to ask me one thing, that is my consternation, if you will, for lack of a better term. It's the first P. I mean, that is the only thing that distracts me in today's, you know, endeavor of what I'm doing. Okay, so what are they mad at? What makes them angry? Is it their competition? You need to know that you want to bring the solution. What threatens their life or their well being or what do they fear? Everybody's got a little bit of fear going on. Okay? What do they wish they had more of? Everybody's got that little greed going on. Remember, everybody's playing their favorite radio station, wiifm. What's in it for me? They've got that greed factor going on, so understand what that is, right? By the way, again, we have these all written down for you. What do they dream about? What are they excited about? What do they hope for?

So give them some examples. Tell me about the best place you ever went on a vacation as an example. That's what everybody dreams about. I've Got a bucket list dream happening this year. I'm excited about it. I can't stop thinking about it.

Who markets anything to this group and how do they do it? That tells you how to get in their door and how to maybe get around the gatekeeper. But you got to find out who that is and keep in mind all of these things that I'm throwing out. You want to do it from a conversational aspect. You don't want to just, you know, go right for the jugular. It's like, you know, back to the dating analogy for a minute, right? You know, if I remember, when I first dated my wife, I dropped her off at her house and I wasn't sure what was going to be next.

All as I got that night was a good hug. I didn't get to the kiss, but it is what it is, right? But you know, you can't go right for that, right? You've got to work yourself to that point. All right, so what do they read? What kind of material do they take? Do they take industry trade magazines? What kind of literature do they look at, if at all? Can you be the one who.

You know, goes to one of their safety meetings and runs a safety meeting for them early in the morning?

And what do they know about what you do? What do they know about insurance? What don't they know about insurance? Have you asked them that question? If you had a magic wand, say to them, say, look and take the pen out of your pocket. It's really simple. I do it all the time. I take the pin out of my pocket and I say, pretend this is a magic wand. If I could wave a magic wand today and cure all of the things that you don't like about your insurance program, can you tell me what those would be? And you got to shut up and let them talk. And when they start talking, those are the things that you need to work on first.

What's unique about their language? Every industry's got their own unique language. Can you walk the walk and talk the talk.

Of your marketplace and everything associated with it? Who are the vendors in the marketplace who caters to that industry as well? You know, I suggest that any industry that you want to penetrate as a great marketplace research mechanism, trade shows or associated groups like that are just a great place to go and just hang around. Just go there with the intent of not doing anything but hanging around and listening to and talking to people and asking great pointed questions. You will learn so much. And remember, go with the intent of giving. Go with the intent of Giving, never taking. Give first, and everything will come to you afterwards. Okay. Do you by chance have any affinity in this group? And what I mean by affinity is, take an example. Let's say that I, the insurance agent, my dad was a plumber. Okay? And so when my dad was a plumber, I was growing up, I'd always go out with him on Saturdays on appointments, and he'd be working under the sink, and I'd be standing there handing them tools. And, you know, I did this so much. I got to learn the trade and I got to know the language and the conversation or whatever. My own story is the restaurant business. I started working at my dad's restaurant when I was 12, and I ran my own restaurant for three years. That's my affinity. Do you have affinity to any type of industry out there? And most importantly. Well, lastly, and very importantly, I should say, who are the VIPs in this group? Who are the complete center of influencers for this group? This could be an entree to marketing to the group. So you got to understand all of these things. So, quick recap. Who is your ideal client? Name all the characteristics of the ideal client. Next, get close to some people within the industry that you have a bit of a relationship with or create a relationship with those people and figure out what's going on in their minds. Enter the conversation that's going on in their minds through asking them great pointed questions and then shutting up. And lastly, now that you've done your research, how are you going to deliver the message to them? You've got to understand, and this is back to the three M's. We're going to have a podcast coming up on the three M's in the near future. The three M's are marketplace, message and media. That is how you complete a. That is how you create a complete program to reach a particular marketplace. And all you got to do is keep pounding it. All right, so some examples of how you would reach a marketplace. And you know how I feel about this. If we've been able to dialogue at any point, if you want to reach 100% of the marketplace, you've got to use 100% of the ways. I'll say it again, critically important. If you want to reach 100% of the marketplace, you've got to use 100% of the ways. It's one of the hardest things that we're ever going to do. The one word that will change the game for you. It's really. It's simple to say, not easy to do it's called automation.

It's automation. If you will automate 80% of your delivery, it will change your world. And the other 20%. What are you doing? You're getting on the phone and connecting with people. Remember, experience plus feeling equals the connectedness. Relationship plus trust equals money follows trust. That's when you get to the money. Got it? Now, now that you can talk the talk and walk the walk, what this means for you, your ROI will increase because your marketing message will get opened, read and acted upon because you understand the conversation that's already going on in their minds. You're one of them. You are a duck. You walk like a duck, you talk like a duck. They are a duck. You're a duck. You're just like them. And friends, it's really that simple. What this means for you also is you are going to dominate a business. You become the trusted resource within that industry. And once you get to the tipping point, and I picked that up from a game changing, life changing book of mine from Malcolm Gladwell called the Tipping Point and you can still find it out there. The tipping point of any industry is 17%. Once you can penetrate an industry up to 17%, you are well on your way. It's going to start tipping down in your favor because they're all going to be talking about you. You're going to be known as the resource that everybody wants to turn to, that everybody needs to turn to. In addition to that, I had the extreme honor spending time with a new insurance company partner recently and we weren't really looking but we've decided that we needed that partnership because we are going to dominate niches and they do program business and program business is where crazy money starts. Alright, so what this means for you is when you get into these niches and you learned how to do niches, how to.

Do the marketplace research and define your ideal client and all of that that we just talked about over the last 19 minutes. Friends, you are going to be well on your way to not only making crazy money, but growing your business, creating wealth and having more freedom to live life on your own terms. That's all we want for you if you will just take the steps. Remember, three times five times 50 equals 753 small steps every single day, times five days a week. Giving yourself a couple days off to re juice and refresh and rejuvenate 50 weeks a year. Giving yourself a couple weeks off to refresh and rejuvenate equals 750 new steps in just the first 12 months. You can do this, but you've got to focus. Follow one course until success. You can do it. You can do it starting today. You can do it starting right now. If there's anything more that we can do for you, just go to be unstoppable boot camp.com beunstoppablebootcamp.com that'll get you set up with our latest training and that we personally guarantee will change your life. You don't believe me? Take a look at some of the videos on that site and hear how other people's lives, just like you, have been changed. Until the next time. We can't wait to support you and help you more. This is Mike Strompso live from the Living Agency Laboratory. We'll talk to you next time. Go out there and make a difference. Be unstoppable and leave no regrets. Talk to you soon. Thank you for listening. If you would like to listen to more episodes or share this podcast with someone you care about, please visit www.unstoppableprofitpodcast.com now go out and make a difference. Be unstoppable and leave no regrets.