Page 71 - The Bootstrapper Bible

ChangeThis These companies prey on eager bootstrappers who have neat ideas and a few extra dollars. They take your dollars, do very little, and leave you broke and disillusioned. For too many bootstrappers, sales is an afterthought. Itʼs the thing you do that allows you to do what you really want to do. Big mistake. In fact, sales is the reason for your business to exist. If you canʼt sell what you make, you canʼt help anyone, influence anyone, or make anyoneʼs life easier, better, or more convenient. If you canʼt sell what you make, you canʼt pay yourself. Youʼre finished. Here are charts showing where the monetary value is added at every step along the way for three different products: A PAIR OF SNEAKERS (BASED ON $80 SELLING PRICE) Materials: .........................................$1 Assembly labor: ...............................$3 Shipping: .........................................$1 Price to retailer: ................................$40 (manufacturer keeps $35 for sales and marketing) Price to consumer: ............................$80 (retailer keeps $40 for selling the shoes to you) No doubt that the person in Scarsdale who sells the sneakers has a whopping advantage over the person in China who sews them. LIFE INSURANCE (SHARE OF FIRST TWO YEARS’ WORTH OF PREMIUMS, ASSUME $400 A YEAR) Amount invested by company to pay your heirs when you die: ................. $300 Kept by company for marketing and overhead: ........................................ $100 Kept by salesperson for selling it: ............................................................ $400 Itʼs the salespeople who profit from life insurance. Thatʼs why there are so many of them! | iss. 6.01 | i | U | X | + | h 71/103 f