I am currently working on building out marketing for ProductionNet, an awesome tool for helping manufacturers. I wanted some frameworks to approach creating ads and improving our marketing funnel. Here are a few things I learned and what my next steps are.

My Key Takeaways for sales and marketing from Alex Hormozi’s “13 Years of No BS Business Advice in 79 Mins”

The 5 reasons prospects say no in sales:

• Specifics about the program
• Time-related issues
• Money-related concerns
• Decision maker-related (need approval from someone else)
• Avoiding the decision (fear of making a mistake)

Advertise more than you think necessary:

• People are unlikely to remember your message the first few times
• You get sick of your advertising long before customers even notice it
• Aim to remind people more than teach them
• Use the rule of 100: 100 minutes of content, 100 outreaches, or $100/day in ads

Focus on one channel, one avatar, and one product until $1M/year:

• Avoid spreading yourself too thin across multiple channels or products
• Get enough reps to perfect your offering before expanding
• Only consider a second channel after reaching about $1M/month

Always start by offering something for free:

• Gather testimonials and proof
• Lower stakes for you to gain experience
• Can convert free users to paid customers later

Prioritize proof over promises:

• Testimonials and results are more compelling than guarantees
• Aim for recent, visual, high-volume proof
• Capture the ‘pain’ in testimonials for higher conversion

Raise prices aggressively:

• Often leads to higher profits even with fewer customers
• Test significant price increases (e.g., doubling prices)
• Be prepared for more ‘nos’ but potentially higher overall revenue

Talk to customers regularly:

• Solve business problems by understanding customer needs
• Learn the language customers use to describe their problems
• Get feedback on potential changes or new features
• Spend more time with best customers, that’s where the most opportunity is
• Conversations with disappointed customers are useful for fixing a “leaky bucket”

Use ‘The CLOSER’ framework for sales calls:

• C: Clarify why they’re there
• L: Label the problem
• O: Overview past experiences (pain cycle)
• S: Sell the vacation (benefits, not features)
• E: Explain away concerns
• R: Reinforce the decision

Arm salespeople with content:

• Provide materials to overcome common objections, create at list for the sales team with content addressing specific concerns
• Allow content to do some of the selling, freeing up salespeople’s time
• Whenever you overcome a new objection, write a post or make a video about it so you have a self-service tool for future prospects

Use Sawdust

• Wood manufacturers found a way to turn “scraps” into layers of plywood or particle board, this transforms the process waste of creating other valuable products into something valueable with limited overhead
• There are lots of things businesses create that can be re-used or repurposed with limited additional investment
• Blog posts and ads require writing hooks, explaining problems etc. that our sales team can re-purpose in email outreach

What’s Next, Action Steps

Spend 100 minutes per day creating content for one customer avatar.

We’re going to be focused on one decision-maker: the COO of $100M-$1B discrete manufacturing companies in the USA. By targeting the COO, we engage directly with the person who can make things happen. They will be harder to reach, but one customer meeting with a COO is worth 25 with managers that don’t have the power to buy or drive us closer to a decision.

LinkedIn is our channel of choice, as that is the best chance to get in front of these leaders. Our approach includes two key tactics:

1. Image Ads: Bright scroll stopping visuals that tackle the core pain points COOs face, driving them to explore how ProductionNet can solve their problems.
2. Content Blog Posts: Consistent, value-driven content that addresses focus key pain points, while addressing time, cost, and “not now” objections. Over time, we’ll build trust and position ProductionNet as the go-to solution.

We will focus on these three pain points until we have 6 blog posts and 36 ads.

Content Blitz Focus: Three Core Pain Points

1. Missed Production Targets: COOs need consistent output. Production.net streamlines operations to hit every target, every time.
2. Lack of Visibility: Weekly feedback isn’t cutting it. Production.net offers real-time insights, eliminating costly surprises.
3. Effort Without Results: If the team’s working hard but not moving the needle, they’re focused on the wrong things. Production.net aligns efforts with what truly drives improvement.