Authority, Scarcity and Closing Hard - Part II

9 Marketing Lessons from the Swim Instructor

Here's a short list of things the swimming instructor does right. See the last post for background on this discussion.

1. He develops scarcity around his product. It's tough to sign up. You have to go through a scheduler who says he's booked through 2006, and then you have to "weasel" your way in through those you know in the program already.

2. His advertising is word of mouth. When coupled with the scarcity angle, it makes him highly sought after. If you can sustain a business with word of mouth (or word of link) advertising, then you know your product or service is good.

3. He delivers on a guarantee. We didn't pay until we saw results.

4. He's a self-promoter. Tom wasn't afraid to tell those in attendance that he's good at what he does and is highly experienced.

5. He brags, but he backs it up. You can say you're the best if you are.

6. He meets needs and makes it clear to the buyer that he's doing just that.

7. He drops names and numbers as testimonials (75,000 taught; Columbia University)

8. He constantly works new leads and encourages customers to "refer" new business to him. It doesn't seem like he's doing it, but he is. It's somewhat subtle.

9. He makes it seem like he's doing you a favor by letting you into his program. (UC Berkeley, USC, Stanford, Harvard and the other Ivy Leagues are experts at this.)

If you emulate Tom and deliver on your promises, promote your product aggressively, and close new business hard, you'll rack up profits quickly.

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