AirBnB and companies: how to become a unicorn business?

A company that falls into the category of « unicorns » is a start-up whose current value exceeds 1 billion US dollars or more. Lists of these companies are available in Fortune Magazine and TechCrunch, to name just a few. As of August 2018, there were 266 unicorns with a total value of 861 billion US$. Currently, over 90% of these companies are in the United States and China. They all have one common element: they collect and maximize the use of their clients' and users' data. But how does one become a unicorn company?

AirBnb, WeWork, AntFinancial (Alibaba), Stripe, etc. All these companies leverage the DATA they have accumulated as much as possible. Today, AirBnB is worth 12 times more than the largest hotel chain in the world! Yet, in 2011, AirBnB was practically worthless.

Why do these companies all use this strategy? Because there is NO better way to make more money than through profitable advertising and data.

So, how does one become a unicorn company?

No matter your field, you have clients, prospects, and generally, traffic on your website. You need to establish a process and strategy that will use this data to convert as many of those people into clients or to increase consumption among your current clients.

The good news? It’s much easier than you think. The important thing is to set up this system as quickly as possible. First, the sooner this system is implemented, the sooner you can increase your sales and your closing rate. Second, the larger a company is, the more complicated implementing a system will be.

Now, in practical terms, what are the steps to achieve this?

1. Use a CRM (Customer Relationship Manager)

A CRM is the most important tool for your company. It will help you collect your clients' information and centralize all the data in the right place. We have several articles on the subject available on our blog. If you want to quickly see how a CRM works, click here.

Your CRM can then be used to pass your clients' information to your automated marketing software, also known as martech.

2. Implement a martech strategy

Have you ever gone to Amazon to look at shoes with the probable intention of buying some? What happened next? You see shoes everywhere, on Facebook, Instagram, on Météomedia… in short, you are bombarded. You even receive emails with comparative guides. It’s all automated! Plus, over time, Amazon will adapt and present you with different content based on your engagement with its ads.

In your opinion, why does Amazon do this?

For the simple reason that it is highly profitable. And you know what? It’s not actually complicated to set up! You can learn more about the topic by clicking here.

3. Conversion and upsell strategy

This strategy must be systematically implemented for each of your products and services. As mentioned in my Facebook post, here is a concrete example in the roofing field:

When you meet a client, you ask them for the relevant information to make your quote, but a bit more (it takes 5 minutes):

• Their job?

• Did they have in mind to carry out other renovations on their house in the future?

• Do they have a LinkedIn account?

Next, you can take photos of the exterior of their home… and note what you see on a scale of 1 to 5:

• Gutters

• Landscaping

• Paved driveway

• Windows

• Siding

• Chimney

• Air conditioning

• Etc.

Now, what do you gain from having this information? Imagine you had 1000 clients in the last 5 years and you noted everything well in your CRM… Finally, you decide to offer an exterior siding service to your clients. What do you do? Here are the steps:

1. You filter in your CRM all the clients who had siding to redo and those who mentioned they might want to redo it.

2. You send an email to those clients to try to book a meeting. You offer $300 to anyone who refers you.

3. You send an email to other clients solely with the goal of getting referrals.

4. You analyze those who opened the email but did not respond to your offer. You can call them or not, follow up by email or not.

Normally, 3% of people who open an email are buyers for almost 100% of the services offered. So, out of 1000 emails, you could gather 30 quotes.

In the construction field, a 33% closing rate is a good ratio. Therefore, you could directly secure 10 contracts using just this method.

An exterior siding job usually costs between $10,000 and $30,000.

Imagine, between $100,000 and $300,000 in value solely with 1 « 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮 » strategy.

To do this, you need a CRM!

Imagine the possibilities of data in your business

I have just demonstrated a single example for the construction field, but in reality, this applies to all fields: aesthetics, construction, medical, human resources, retail, restaurants… everywhere!

If you would like to have concrete ideas of what can be done for your business, schedule an appointment with us for a free consultation!

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