KEY POINTS:
Have you got 11 seconds to learn a simple principle? A principle that will radically change the way you do things?
You do, don't you?
Ok, tick, tick, tick ... here's the principle.
It's called ... um ... the 70 per cent Principle.
So what's the 70 per cent Principle?
It's the principle that says if a job is worth doing, it's worth doing 70 per cent right. You can always come back to do the 20 per cent later.
Yes, read it again, and no, the math isn't wrong.
If you're going to build a website, a 70 per cent effort is fine.
If you're going to do a presentation, a 70 per cent effort is fine.
If you're going to bake a cake, for that matter ... do you need all the ingredients? The perfect cake? With all the perfect ingredients? Or the cake with "70 per cent" of the ingredients?
The "perfect" wording on a website? Or the "70 per cent perfect" wording on the website?
And no, this isn't a case for mediocrity. No one is telling you to do crappy stuff. No one's saying that you need to keep your project unfinished.
But in the quest for perfection, most of us never start.
The 70 per cent Principle is about getting your best effort out and into the hands of your clients. That you don't need to start off with a 100 per cent kaboom-wow start.
So let me tell you about our "who pushed me?" start in 2002. That's when we started Psychotactics, with a 16-page booklet.
We called it the Brain Audit. Those 16 pages we cheekily sold for $20 or thereabouts.
And you know what? We weren't trying to keep it down to 16 pages, but we certainly weren't trying to pad the contents of the book either.
The 16 pages of information was all we knew at the time. And yes, we could have made it 100 per cent perfect, but decided to put our 70 per cent effort out anyway. Did I say, "put it out"? I meant, I got "pushed".
You see, I wasn't keen to sell the Brain Audit. I wanted to get the e-book just right. But I was forced into putting it on the market.
I was forced into putting it on a sales page, by another marketer who promised to promote the book to his audience.
And he never did promote the book. I reminded him. Gently. Then I became a bit of a nag. But that promotion never happened. What did happen was that the Brain Audit began to sell.
And as it turned out, I was able to add the next 20 per cent, and the next 20 per cent, and the next 20 per cent.
And yes, the math still adds up. Because all along, that so-called "incomplete" product was selling. And when you think about it, which product or service of yours is ever complete?
As your knowledge grows, as your customers ask more questions, as you apply the concepts in different ways, your product or service gets better.
And today the Brain Audit is a comprehensive document that not only helps you understand how the customer thinks, but is also the basis for being a member of 5000bc (the membership section of Psychotactics); for doing any of our courses like the copywriting course or the product-creation course.
What started out as a "who pushed me?" product now helps us get thousands of customers. And helps us grow our business considerably from year to year.
Kinda like the iPod, you see. When the iPod first came out, it was just 10GB (yeah, pathetic 10 gigs). Then it went up to 30GB. And hey, we got video too. Then whoopty-doo, it was 60GB. And up it keeps going, both in capacity, features and ease of use.
Where's the market for the perfect iPod? There's no market for the perfect product or service. The product or service that your customers want, is the product or service you have now.
That 70 per cent perfect product or service will do fine for your customer.
How can I be so sure? Could this article have been at least 30 per cent better? Couldn't I have found more examples? More case studies? Put in more details, perhaps? Tweaked my words just so to make it richer, more vibrant?
Sure I could. But you've got the point, right? If a job is worth doing, it's worth doing 70 per cent right. You can always fix the 20 per cent later.
Sean D'Souza is chief executive of Psychotactics and is an international author and trainer.
www.psychotactics.com
