Free Assessment: How does your sales & marketing measure up?

Get Started
Close

Free Assessment:

How does your sales & marketing measure up?
Take this free, 5-minute assessment and learn what you can start doing today to boost traffic, leads, and sales.
Get Started
Bob Ruffolo

By Bob Ruffolo

Sep 14, 2016

Topics:

Marketing Strategy
Marketing Strategy

What is a Core Product (And Should You Keep Its Profits?)

Bob Ruffolo

By Bob Ruffolo

Sep 14, 2016

What is a Core Product (And Should You Keep Its Profits?)

Unless you’re still in the planning stages of your startup, you already have a Core Product or maybe even multiple.

This is usually the catalyst in the development an organization and the idea that companies form around, but it’s also so much more than that in your Customer Value Optimization System.

What is a Core Product?

A Core Product is the most prominent product or service that you want your company to be known for. It’s generally what you want people to associate with your name and what people expect to get the most value out of when they buy from you.

Offering a Core Product to cold prospects is challenging and most businesses don’t grow very quickly with this approach. However, with the addition of a Lead Magnet and Tripwire Offer, selling it is going to be much easier!

At this point in your CVO funnel, you’ve already had two successful transactions with your buyer. Assuming you delivered value in your Lead Magnet and Tripwire, your customers actually want to learn more about your Core Product and anything else you offer.

Selling to satisfied customers is completely different than pitching cold prospects, and after seeing how much smoother the process is, you’ll never go back to the old ways of marketing again.

Your work isn’t finished yet, though. Now you need to make a critical decision that will impact the remainder of your CVO funnel...

Do I Keep My Profit or Reinvest in Customer Acquisition?

Remember, the underlying goal of the CVO funnel is to have the ability to outspend your competition on customer acquisition.

Using this strategy, you aren’t making a profit from your Lead Magnet and you probably aren’t making a profit from your Tripwire – but you can choose to make a profit from your Core Offer.

If you want to take the more aggressive approach and become unstoppable you will take everything you make from your Core Product and reinvest it into acquiring more customers.

In other words, you buy more traffic to send to your Lead Magnet to amplify the CVO process and gain as many new customers as possible.

Of course, you can also choose to reinvest that money elsewhere, such as:

The ability to outspend your competition in marketing is your most powerful weapon. Although there’s certainly nothing wrong with making a profit from your Core Product, it’s not as effective for immediate growth and long-term profit.

As Jeff Bezos says, “your competitor’s margin is an opportunity.” Your competitors are trying to make a profit from their Core Product, but you don’t have to keep a penny from your Core Product and you’ll still be more profitable in the end.

Some of the most successful companies in the world use the CVO funnel (or something similar) and don’t even make a tiny profit at this stage in the funnel. Choosing to do so leaves so much on the table that it’s simply not a smart business decision.

The real money (and profits) come from your Profit Maximizers and Return Path. We aren’t trying to make sales with the CVO funnel, we’re gaining customers and maximizing the value of each customer.

Think big picture. There’s exponentially more money to be made from happy, repeat customers than one-time transactions with cold prospects.

If you’ve over-delivered value in your Lead Magnet, Tripwire, and now Core Product – any upsell you offer becomes a no-brainer to your customer, and that’s exactly what the Profit Maximizer is.

Implementing Profit Maximizers

The content above was an excerpt of our new guide, "The Inbound Customer Value Optimization System (Using HubSpot). To learn about implementing profit maximizers and the rest of the Customer Value Optimization System, get your free copy of the full guide by filling out the form below.  

Free Assessment:

How does your sales & marketing measure up?
Take this free, 5-minute assessment and learn what you can start doing today to boost traffic, leads, and sales.

Related Articles

What Should a 2024 Content Marketing Strategy Include?

September 21, 2023
Mandy York Mandy York

HubSpot Pricing: Your Guide to Everything HubSpot Costs

August 24, 2023
Will Smith Will Smith

Why Trust Is the True Currency for All Business

August 9, 2023
Marcus Sheridan Marcus Sheridan

10 Marketing KPIs You Should Be Tracking

August 3, 2023
Carolyn Edgecomb Carolyn Edgecomb

How To Become a Better Business Coach

July 31, 2023
Allison Riggs Allison Riggs

Do You Need a New Website? Maybe Not

July 19, 2023
Vin Gaeta Vin Gaeta

How to Create a Content Map To Solve Your Marketing Guesswork

July 6, 2023
Brian Casey Brian Casey

Inbound Marketing vs. Content Marketing: What's the Difference? 

July 3, 2023
Brian Casey Brian Casey

How To Do a Competitive Analysis In 5-and-a-half Easy Steps

June 29, 2023
John Becker John Becker

Why Hiring a Coach is the Surest Way to Spur Business Growth

June 28, 2023
Bob Ruffolo Bob Ruffolo

Marketing Coach vs Agency: Why You Need a Coach for Real Success

June 26, 2023
John Becker John Becker

LinkedIn Could Become Your Most Powerful Distribution Channel

June 22, 2023
John Becker John Becker

Content Copycat: What To Do When Your Website Gets Copied

June 15, 2023
Christine Austin Christine Austin

My Best Sales Reps Haven’t Hit Their Quotas All Year: What Do I Do?

June 7, 2023
Marcus Sheridan Marcus Sheridan

7 Must-have Word-of-Mouth Marketing Strategies [Infographic]

May 8, 2023
Bob Ruffolo Bob Ruffolo

What Small Business Leaders Need To Know to Thrive During a Recession

April 19, 2023
Marcus Sheridan Marcus Sheridan

5 Keys to Marketing Your Business During a Recession

April 17, 2023
Bob Ruffolo Bob Ruffolo

Should Your Demand Gen Strategy Change in a Slumping Economy?

April 12, 2023
Bob Ruffolo Bob Ruffolo

Demand Generation vs. Lead Generation: What’s the Difference?

April 10, 2023
Kristen Harold Kristen Harold

How a Lack of Sales and Leadership Buy-in Is Killing Marketing Morale Worldwide

March 6, 2023
Marcus Sheridan Marcus Sheridan

Website Conversions in 2023 — STOP, START, KEEP

January 25, 2023
Vin Gaeta Vin Gaeta

Sales vs Marketing in 2023: What’s The Difference?

January 5, 2023
Marcus Sheridan Marcus Sheridan

How To Set Content Marketing Goals for Growth

December 29, 2022
Brian Casey Brian Casey

Should You Hire An Agency to Create Your Content?

December 12, 2022
Marcus Sheridan Marcus Sheridan

24 Essential Questions for Understanding Your Ideal Customer (+ Infographic)

December 1, 2022
Dia Vavruska Dia Vavruska