Why the Scattergun Approach in Business Might be Your Secret Weapon
Is hyper-targeting overrated?
If you don't know what a scatter gun is, it's usually something like a rifle, or more specifically, a long barreled gun that fires a large number of small metal bullets at one time - a shotgun.
A friend had a scattergun approach when asking women for dates when we were both a lot younger.
He wouldn't especially target a specific woman he found attractive.
Instead he'd ask pretty much everyone in the bar if he could get a date with them.
He was reasonably successful too.
Got more dates than me for sure.
And he met his wife that way too, even though they didn't get together for sometime afterwards.
But here’s the thing…
In business the 'scattergun approach' is generally frowned upon.
The thinking is that if you fire your shots too wide and too many, you'll never actually target the things you should be focusing on.
An example would be coaching clients.
You should really be targeting the right sort of person you want to work with.
For example some coaches won't work with people who are just getting started and haven't yet made any money from their business, or who don't have a defined start-up plan.
The same could be said of a business owner who doesn't have a defined customer, or niche, sub-niche (or even sub-sub niche!)
You have to know precisely who your target audience is, what you're offering to them and how you're going to do that.
I’ve read multiple articles along the lines of…
“The scattergun approach to online business is over, now it's time for hyper-precision!”
And to be honest… I'm not so sure!
They're great phrases and buzz-words for sure.
And I totally agree you should know where you're going with your business.
But what's so wrong with a scattergun approach to acquiring customers?
I'm pretty bloody sure the average $30,000 Rolex watch buyer isn't just a rich guy with a yacht, right?
Or a high-flying exec with a Porsche.
Thinking about a past acquaintance who was a 'customer service rep', he spent seven years saving up to buy a Rolex, so he could tick-off a big life goal of his.
Now, imagine someone who could easily drop $30,000 on a Rolex Daytona this afternoon but probably never will.
Why?
Maybe they haven’t worn a watch in 20 years, dislike Rolexes, and know it would just get scratched and beat-up while mucking about in the garden.
Even though their income and business might put them squarely in Rolex’s target market, their lifestyle and interests just don’t match up with owning a luxury watch.
Chances are you are also bang in the middle of some target market demographic for a product or service that you wouldn't dream of buying in a million years.
I buy mid-priced, non designer label denim jeans because that's what I wear most days. I don’t spend more than £40 on a pair of jeans and I drive a car that is five years old.
But we also have art, sculpture, books and video/photography equipment in the house worth tens of thousands because that's what we're collectively into.
It’s about what floats your boat!
You may be madly into designer handbags or rare breed dogs but drive a 15 year old car.
Or you may drive a Mercedes Maybach and choose to live in a caravan.
My point is, while it's good to try and identify your perfect customer (and I do) you also have to realize that as humans, we're a weird bunch.
You simply don't know who's going to be into your products and services.
Which is why the scattergun approach is SO necessary in lots of businesses.
Particularly the info-product business.
Because in this business you can take multiple shots and only one or two of them need to hit for you to make money.
I read something once about a guy who tested multiple offers - potential products - by ONLY creating a sales page with a 'Buy Now' button.
Except the button didn't work (purposely).
He would mail out the offer to paid traffic.
And he would then track how many people had clicked the 'Buy Now' button.
(I should say the button was at the very end stage of the cart, so the 'buyer' had already put in their card details so fully intended to buy when they clicked it)
And if more than 5% of people who visited the sales page clicked the fake buy button he would go on to create the offer.
Because he knew the demand was there.
And he does this for multiple offers - again the scattergun approach.
So he might buy traffic for five different products, all with buy buttons that don't work, and see which ones were viable, discarding the rest.
Shoot in the air and see how many pheasants drop.
It's certainly a different approach!
I've written before about how some of my info-products flop.
I don't necessarily lose money on them because I create them myself and my expenses are very small, but still some of them don't perform as I'd expect or hoped for.
And that's fine.
Yet many wannabe info-product sellers get REALLY depressed when a product bombs, and quit.
That's crazy.
Imagine a football player quitting because he missed a goal?
It's fine to miss now and again.
BUT that's why the scattergun approach works, and why you should certainly incorporate it into part of your business.
Because you can collect on the hits.
Follow them up and build on them.
Failure is still terrifying to many people.
And let's be honest, it's not pleasant.
But neither is getting a headache, banging your knee on a chair or getting cramp in your leg.
Yet we deal with these things every day without getting depressed and staying in bed.
Do lots of things in your business and expect some to fail.
At least you tried them.
You DID it.
You took action.
Shoot your gun everywhere and follow the hits, not the misses.
Because if you never even load your scattergun, you’re DEFINITELY not going to bag a pheasant, right?
That’s it for this week,
Jack.