2 builders who never spoke to each other
Win the person the whole group asks for advice
Coaches, clinicians and other trusted advisers decide for everyone who consults them, so aim the first push at them rather than at end users. Approaching them for professional feedback rather than a sale is what gets the product into their hands.
The method
- 01
Work the gatekeepers at those events rather than only the end users, because a coach or organiser decides for a whole group.
- 02
Approach those gatekeepers by giving the product away and asking for professional feedback, not by selling to them
What it returned
- 3,250
Jeff Johnson stood on the infield at meets talking to high school coaches and sold 3,250 pairs in ten months
Fifty free licences went to speech-language pathologists positioned as a request for expert feedback; they gave detailed notes he implemented, then began recommending it to clients
Sources
- How Jeff Johnson sold Nike's first shoesHarry Dry · Marketing Examples · Employee Number One - Jeff Johnson · undated
- The Audience Shortcut: How the Right People Paying Attention Changes EverythingNathan Barry · nathanbarry.com · My First Success with the Audience Shortcut · 2025-07-01
the second source
Three plays a week, for the phase you are in
No roundup of links, no news. Three tactics more than one builder arrived at separately, with the numbers each one returned and the disagreements left in.
More in sales
- Charge for it before it exists6 unconnected
- Book the buyer calls before you write any code6 unconnected
- Package more of what you own into sellable slots6 unconnected
- Interview customers when sales stall, not buy traffic5 unconnected
- Borrow credibility from the customers you have5 unconnected
- Keep a named list of dream accounts and work it5 unconnected