“If you really want to do something, you’ll find a way. If you don’t, you’ll find an excuse.”

– Jim Rohn

You wrote one book and you’re so excited about it. All that time and energy writing and producing the book. Sales are slower than you expected. You realize you have only one product to sell. It’s a “yes/no” thought process in your potential buyers’ mind. Not great odds, are they?

Now what? You’ve emotionally slipped into a world of limitations – limited financial resources, limited enthusiasm, limited knowledge, limited flexibility, a low risk tolerance, and limiting beliefs about choices you have. 

There are many solutions which can catapult you to heights beyond your wildest imagination. Below are tried, tested, risk-free, proven examples beyond only one product that forced yes/no decisions! These ideas – (plural!) – are choices, choosing a STARTING point. Choices instantly change your buyers’ decision making process from “yes/no” to “which of these choices is our STARTING POINT?”

Product Sheet aka One-Sheet, aka Sales Sheet 

This is a marketing not a sales tool, with product descriptions and no pricing. It has 3 to 6 of your related products on it. Only one product already exists – your book, for instance. Other products are derived from your book content, as different delivery formats online or offline, digital or tangible. Additional products can be a related tips booklet, audio recording, card deck, jigsaw puzzle, or something else. The products are  sold in bulk or a licensing transaction – renting your product’s use in exchange for payment. You only produce any product beyond the book once you’ve got an interested, well-vetted decision maker. Produce as few as one copy of the product as a sample for that prospective buyer. No inventory or risk!.

Informational Interviews

Another great no-risk strategy is requesting a short meeting with a potential decision maker in an ideal company or association. You want their opinion and feedback about products you’re considering offering. Assure them this isn’t a sales meeting. You are researching to see if what you’re creating appeals to the decision makers’ industry. That level of market research helps develop appealing products and delivery formats. Asking their opinion provides input. You may also find they want to be your client. This can lessen Anxiety about selling since it’s not your primary intention. 

Marketing Survey

This is a variation of one-on-one Informational Interviews. Your intention in both is requesting feedback on what appeals to potential clients, without  selling. The Product Sheet lets people know the products you’re offering. The same question is “Which of these products do you see as a good starting point for your organization?” You might hear a question or comment you never considered. “Can you provide a Large Print version? Or “What about languages besides English?” You can create the same or similar questions you asked the decision makers during the in-person Informational Interview in less time than many one-on-one appointments.

Free Webinar

Present a live or pre-recorded webinar, or Facebook or LinkedIn Live as an educational session on your expertise. Announce companion products you’ve developed beyond your book as facts about your company’s activities in the past year not as a sales pitch. Offering your audience a free downloadable bonus on your website in exchange for their email address shows your products, leading to purchasing and/or telling a colleague.

License Your Content

Indicate that your information products in any delivery format can be licensed from you (rented to use – in  exchange for payment.) Your products, whether downloadable or tangible, are perfect in promotional campaigns by a company or an association, or educational purposes. You always own those products even when  licensing their use to other entities. 

Each example creates risk-free ways to research what formats appeal to buyers and which formats are of even greater interest than what you’ve got. That helps strategically extend your product line and reach while helping more people, and making more Money. 

© 2024, Paulette Ensign – All Rights Reserved

Paulette Ensign The Tips Products Strategist

Paulette is the Founder and The Tips Content Strategist at Tips Products International (the parent company of the wholly-owned subsidiary, Tips Products Publishing Agency.) Paulette has over forty years’ experience with small and mid-size business owners, corporations, and professional associations in numerous industries, worldwide. She and her team look forward to traveling part of your journey with you and serving you as she happily and proudly continues to defy getting old while getting older.