The 4-Hour Workweek, Expanded and Update - Timothy Ferriss [65]
It Should Cost the Customer $50–200.
The bulk of companies set prices in the midrange, and that is where the most competition is. Pricing low is shortsighted, because someone else is always willing to sacrifice more profit margin and drive you both bankrupt. Besides perceived value, there are three main benefits to creating a premium, high-end image and charging more than the competition.
Higher pricing means that we can sell fewer units—and thus manage fewer customers—and fulfill our dreamlines. It’s faster.
Higher pricing attracts lower-maintenance customers (better credit, fewer complaints/questions, fewer returns, etc.). It’s less headache. This is HUGE.
Higher pricing also creates higher profit margins. It’s safer.
I personally aim for an 8–10x markup, which means a $100 product can’t cost me more than $10–12.50.27 If I had used the commonly recommended 5 x markup with BrainQUICKEN, it would have gone bankrupt within 6 months due to a dishonest supplier and late magazine. The profit margin saved it, and within 12 months it was generating up to $80,000 per month.
High has its limits, however. If the per-unit price is above a certain point, prospects need to speak to someone on the phone before they are comfortable enough to make the purchase. This is contraindicated on our low-information diet.
I have found that a price range of $50–200 per sale provides the most profit for the least customer service hassle. Price high and then justify.
It Should Take No More Than 3 to 4 Weeks to Manufacture.
This is critically important for keeping costs low and adapting to sales demand without stockpiling product in advance. I will not pursue any product that takes more than three to four weeks to manufacture, and I recommend aiming for one to two weeks from order placement to shippable product.
How do you know how long something takes to manufacture?
Contact contract manufacturers who specialize in the type of products you’re considering: http://www.thomasnet.com/. Call a related manufacturer (e.g., toilet bowls) if you need a referral to a related manufacturer you cannot find (e.g., toilet cleaning solutions). Still no luck? Google different synonyms for your product in combination with “organization” and “association” to contact the appropriate industry organizations. Ask them for referrals to contract manufacturers and for the names of their trade magazines, which often contain advertisements for contract manufacturers and related service providers we’ll need for your virtual architecture later. Request pricing from the contract manufacturers to ensure the proper markup is possible. Determine the per-unit costs of production for 100, 500, 1,000, and 5,000 units.
It Should Be Fully Explainable in a Good Online FAQ.
Here is where I really screwed up in my product choice with Brain-QUICKEN.
Even though ingestibles have enabled my NR life, I would not wish them on anyone. Why not? You get 1,000 questions from every customer: Can I eat bananas with your product? Will it make me fart during dinner? On and on, ad nauseam. Choose a product that you can fully explain in a good online FAQ. If not, the task of travelling and otherwise forgetting about work becomes very difficult or you end up spending a fortune on call center operators.
Understanding these criteria, a question remains: “How does one obtain a good muse product that satisfies them?” There are three options we’ll cover in ascending order of recommendation.
Option One: Resell a Product
Purchasing an existing product at wholesale and reselling it is the easiest route but also the least profitable. It is the fastest to set up but the fastest to die off due to price