Lessons learned from selling a business (part 3)

Friday Copy Over Coffee Friday Copy Over Coffee ☕ These photos are probably the most awkward thing I do each week. Maybe. Dear subscriber, In my last 2 emails I talked about copy lessons I've learned from helping a family friend sell a small ecommerce company. I want to expand on this point from the first email. If you ever want to sell your business (or really succeed in general) you need to figure out at least ONE channel that will generate new customers, predictably. Getting the economics to work on that channel are kinda secondary but obviously extremely important. You might read that and say, "What the hell is Derek talking about? If it's super expensive to get a new customer, nothing else matters." When I say economics, I basically just mean this: - Say it costs $60 in ad spend to get a customer. - It costs you $30 to make the product and ship it (COGS). - That means you need at least a $90 lifetime value (LTV). (I'm simplifying a lot and ignoring other operational costs but you get the point.) If your average order value (AOV) for that new customer is $60, you've got some work to do. You're $30 in the hole. But... the reason I say the economics are kinda secondary when it comes to Customer Acquisition, and what a business buyer is looking for... is because the new customer acquisition part is the hardest part. The easier part for any buyer is going to be boosting AOV and LTV. This is why companies that have ZERO revenue, but a lot of users, sell for astronomical prices. The hard part is finding new customers predictably = sustainable growth. So what I'm really saying, again, is that copywriters (and small business owners) who "live" in the new customer acquisition portion of the business are going to be the most valuable, long-term. Anyway, that's the way I see it. Have a great weekend! Okay Ad SummerSalt.com is running ads like this via Facebook. Sometimes people just want to buy the thing. They want to shop. We don't have to tease, or provide value up front in our ads. We just need to get them to click over so they can shop our store. There are only a couple things worth pointing out here. 1. Social proof -- "best-selling" and "fan favorite" 2. A little curiosity: "limited edition twist". 3. Season (topical): Spring is here - this implies "new". 4. Attractive woman in a bathing suit: yes, it draws attention. I found this in the Facebook Ad Library. I normally use [Adbeat]( or [SEMrush]( to find ads and do competitive research. How to Make Great Tasting Pandemic Coffee - Support your local roasters by buying a good bag of beans with a roast date on it. General advice that's not a rule: coffee typically tastes better if consumed within 5-10 days of its roast date. - Buy a grinder and grind the beans yourself right before you brew a cup. It only takes a few seconds. - Brew your coffee with a Chemex or Aeropress. Kuerig's suck at making coffee and they suck for the environment. - Water matters: You're not going to believe me until you try it - good filtered water will make your coffee taste better (and it might save your life). - Temperature matters too. I brew most cups at ~183 degrees. I use Ovalware's Pour Over Kettle. - Derek Johanson Sent to: {EMAIL} [Unsubscribe]( CopyHour.com, 340 S LEMON AVE, 5007, WALNUT, CA 91789, USA