Build it, and they will come?
I guarantee they won’t.
I can’t count the people who have gone broke building a product or a service nobody asked for. They create it in their own little vacuum. They spend all this money getting it ready to launch. And it lays flat.
So if you want to create demand for a product, start here: don’t create anything until someone wants to buy it. Then sell the benefit, handle the objections before they show up, and connect your product to the result people actually dream about.
My funny little theme for my whole career has been this: I don’t move without money. Unless somebody’s going to buy it, why create it?
Don’t Build It Until Someone Asks for It
Before you create anything, run a focus group.
You have an idea. Your only job at this stage is to find out if people want it. Not your friends telling you it’s great. Real buyers telling you they’d pay.
Here’s how I have those conversations. My name’s Loral. I’m a money expert. How could I help you with money?
Or I get specific. About three years ago, I was thinking about a generational wealth product. So I asked. And people said Yes, yes, yes. I want the legacy product. I want to understand generational wealth.
Then we built it. Not before.
That’s the whole principle. Solve a problem that’s out there, pre-sell the solution, and you’re going to make money.
In The Millionaire Maker, I walk through the Leonard family. Mike and his sons built custom dune buggies in the garage as a hobby. When we turned it into a Cash Machine, the very first move was to pre-sell the first buggy at a $20,000 price point. A buyer’s money funds the build. That’s how you stem startup costs. That’s how you know the market is real.
“Unless somebody’s going to buy it, why create it?”
Sell the Benefit, Not the Feature
Once you know there’s a market, watch how you talk about the product.
Most people lead with features. It’s this size. It does this. It does this. It does this.
Nobody cares.
People buy benefits. What problem does it solve? It’ll help with back pain. It’s going to help with headaches. It’ll get you out of debt. It’ll replace your paycheck.
Features describe the product. Benefits describe the buyer’s life after the product. Focus more on benefits than features, and you’ll win big.
In Cash Machine for Life, I put it this way: sell their reality. Show the customers where they are and where they can get to. Take away their pain and bring them comfort. The feature list belongs on the spec sheet, not in the pitch.
“Features describe the product. Benefits describe the buyer’s life after it.”
Expect “I’ve Tried That Before”
You’ll get so tired of hearing it.
I’ve tried that before. It doesn’t work. I had a coach; it didn’t work. I bought a program; it didn’t work. People call my office and say it every week.
Those are misconceptions, and you have to outperform them. Since 2020, it’s gotten worse. When the world shut down, where did everybody go? To the internet. I call it the bathroom wall. Everybody’s an expert now, and they post all sorts of interesting stuff.
So you have to come to the market more creatively and more emotionally than the noise.
First, bring evidence. When someone tells me a product reduces pain or creates a millionaire, the first thing I look for is proof. Has the person behind this ever done it before? Your buyer asks the same question, so answer it before they ask.
Second, find the pain in their words, not yours. We run surveys and polls through every channel we have. What do you want? How do you want it? What problem can we help you solve? Then we use their exact words in the marketing.
I teach this in Cash Machine for Life as “think their thoughts.” Rosa, who bought a window-washing business, talked to customers before she sold a thing. She learned why they wanted their windows washed, when they decided to buy, and how they felt after the crew left. That language became her sales copy.
Third, pre-think the objections and build the answers into your packaging. When people say “I can’t afford it,” I say you can afford anything. You have to make the money to have it. I don’t make that up on the spot. I’ve heard the objection a thousand times, so I have an answer ready.
“Use their words in the marketing, not yours.”
Let the Market Rewrite Your Product
Here’s the part most people skip. The focus group doesn’t end when you start building.
My Yes! Energy book is the best example. I told Reid Tracy, the head of Hay House, “I want to be a Hay House author.” The problem? I write about money, and that’s not what they publish. So we brainstormed. He said, ” Talk about that ‘say yes and figure out how’ thing, because you do have to have Yes! Energy to become a millionaire.
So I got a bunch of pre-sale people interested. We created a formula for staying in Yes! Energy for a lifetime. Then I sent chapters out to the focus group.
They said, ” That’s not what we’re talking about.
So I listened. I deleted a bunch. I added a bunch. The book became a bestseller in the United States, Canada, and Australia, and all over Asia.
It wasn’t a bestseller because my first draft was brilliant. It was a bestseller because I gave people what they wanted.
“It was a bestseller because I gave people what they wanted.”
Connect to the Dream, Then Test the Sale
The last piece is the copy. You want to connect your product to their dream.
They have a problem. You connect to the result.
Think about the big infomercial successes. P90X. The South Beach Diet. Why did they sell? They showed the bodies people said they wanted, before-and-after pictures. Real results. The viewer sees the possibility that this can actually work for them, and that cuts straight through the doubt and the “I’ve tried that before.”
Here’s homework I give all my students. Stop turning infomercials off. Watch one from start to finish and study the structure. It’s 30 minutes. Count:
- How often do they ask for the sale?
- How often do they show you the dream?
- How often do they tell you the result?
- How often do they tell you the problem you’ll have if you don’t buy?
I know some of you are saying, I don’t want to be that person. I can’t be that infomercial. It’s what sells. It’s the number one way products get sold in the world.
Then test the sale. For X dollars, you get this. On a payment plan, you get this. Buy here, and you get some gifts. Try different offers and watch which one moves. That’s how you find out what the market values, instead of guessing.
“Watch the infomercials instead of shutting them off.”
Build Your Sales Muscles
All of this takes what I call sales muscles. Most people have them; they’re just tense.
Get the tension out. If your product is really good, you want to serve people. You want them to buy. Hiding the offer doesn’t protect anyone. It just keeps the solution away from the person with the problem.
So give an offer and let them buy.
Start Today
Here’s your week:
- Run a focus group. Ten conversations. “I’m thinking about creating ___. Would you buy it?” Write down every word they use.
- Pre-sell one. Before you spend a dollar building, collect a deposit or a pre-order. No money, no build.
- Rewrite your copy as benefits. Take your feature list and answer “so what?” for each line until you hit the result in their life.
- List your top three objections. Write the answer to each one and put it into your packaging, your sales page, and your script.
- Watch one infomercial. Count the asks, the dreams, the results, and the warnings. Then compare it to your own offer.
If you want help figuring out whether your skills already hold a product people will buy, take the Financial Personality Quiz, or come work on your offer live at the Millionaire Intensive.
Go to AskLoral.com. Ask a question, make a request.
