Markus Frind and Plenty of Fish - A Case Study in Effective Sales and Marketing Strategy
Markus Frind and Plenty of Fish - A Case Study in Effective Sales and Marketing Strategy
It's a great story that forced me to think of more ways to serve more people. It also forced me to rethink the way I market and sell my services. Here are a few takeaways from the article.
So many successful businesses start small with little or no cash invested. The founders pour their time into creating something useful and work diligently until the foundation of their service is laid. The interesting thing about Frind is that starting Plenty of Fish was relatively easy because of the amount of time he spent working with code earlier in his career.
Once the foundation is laid, businesses flourish because of a systematic approach to marketing and sales. Frind found his revenue stream through online ads and worked his system hard. In six months he went from making $5 a month in ad sales to making more than $3,300 a month.
Keeping it simple and low-cost is a sure way to increase margins. As businesses grow it is tempting to hire more staff, increase investments in IT, and spend on frivolous toys. Frind has added very little to his company since the start and his margins continue to increase. Sure, it's fun to impress your friends, but sometimes you need to pass on the jets and bling.
Take a look at the article, check out Plenty of Fish, and see if it inspires you to think a little differently about why you are in business and how to make your systems work for you.
Markus Frind and Plenty of Fish A Case Study in Effective Sales and Marketing Strategy - To learn more about this author, visit Bill Tamminga's Website.
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A couple weeks ago, I read one of the most compelling articles on a growing business that I have read in years. In his article entitled, "And the Money Comes Rolling In", Inc. Magazine writer Max Chafkin talks about Markus Frind's strategies for growing his personal dating website, Plenty Of Fish. Frind's idea was to build a basic user-content-driven website and pay for it with ads. He started from scratch and built out a minimalist site by anyone's standards (look at it now and there still isn't anything too impressive - distorted personal pictures and a heart favicon). But the idea resonated with thousands of people who were paying for a dating service and looking for a free alternative. He is now clearing $5 million a year after taxes. He has a handful of staff members and a nice, but mostly unfurnished, office in Vancouver.
It's a great story that forced me to think of more ways to serve more people. It also forced me to rethink the way I market and sell my services. Here are a few takeaways from the article.
So many successful businesses start small with little or no cash invested. The founders pour their time into creating something useful and work diligently until the foundation of their service is laid. The interesting thing about Frind is that starting Plenty of Fish was relatively easy because of the amount of time he spent working with code earlier in his career.
Once the foundation is laid, businesses flourish because of a systematic approach to marketing and sales. Frind found his revenue stream through online ads and worked his system hard. In six months he went from making $5 a month in ad sales to making more than $3,300 a month.
Keeping it simple and low-cost is a sure way to increase margins. As businesses grow it is tempting to hire more staff, increase investments in IT, and spend on frivolous toys. Frind has added very little to his company since the start and his margins continue to increase. Sure, it's fun to impress your friends, but sometimes you need to pass on the jets and bling.
Take a look at the article, check out Plenty of Fish, and see if it inspires you to think a little differently about why you are in business and how to make your systems work for you.
Markus Frind and Plenty of Fish A Case Study in Effective Sales and Marketing Strategy - To learn more about this author, visit Bill Tamminga's Website.
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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