Dream 100

Yesterday, I was browsing the r/entrepreneur Subreddit.

A successful business owner shared his secret sauce there.

He was successful in two very different industries.

Once with a web agency, and the other time with a bakery.

Here's what I found interesting:

In both cases, the same strategy was part of his success.

Chet Holmes had coined it "Dream 100".

Let's take a closer look at it, so that you and I can use it to our benefit in the future:

What are the Dream 100?

The Dream 100 strategy says that I create a list of my top 100 (or even more) customers or multipliers in my particular market when starting.

Then I start working on the participants of my list systematically to turn them into clients (or partners).

The Dream 100 list is my central point of focus for this.

I first came across it in Chet Holmes' book "The Ultimate Sales Machine."

Gino Wickman also recommends the strategy in his brilliant book "Traction."

And finally, Russell Brunson has adopted the concept as the core of his multi-million-dollar marketing empire.

How does the Dream 100 Strategy help me?

In short, it helps me to get focus and priority in my marketing and sales approach.

For all of us who know that marketing can be a fuzzy thing, the promise of focus and prioritization sounds like a gift from heaven.

Where does this combination of focus and prioritization come from?

Clarity:

By putting my top 100 dream customers or partners in a list, I create a finite pool.

So I clearly define my arena instead of having it broad and vague.

Thus, every day I come into my marketing quarry, I see where I have to work on.

That creates clarity.

Prioritization:

Not all things are equal.

Never have been and never will.

So when doing marketing and sales, I do myself a great favor if I prioritize things top down by importance.

That's nothing else than following the 80/20 principle.

And how CAN I work top down by importance?

Right!

By looking at my Dream 100 list.

Consistency:

Being consistent is one of the biggest success secrets.

Just like the woodpecker that will only make a hole when it continuously pecks the same spot, you and I need to peck the same spot, too.

That's why follow-ups are so important in client acquisition. It can take up to 8 follow-ups to turn a lead into a customer.

The challenge, of course, is HOW to be consistent.

Here's where our Dream 100 list comes in handy again.

It's short, finite, AND in writing, so I can always return to it.

That's a great starting point for being consistent.

Big win!

How do I create the Dream 100?

In case you are now bought into the "Dream 100" concept as much as I am, the next question, of course, is...

HOW do I get this list?

Luckily, the approach is simple in principle:

Step 1: I think about who my Dream 100 are.

Either it's a group of customers or a group of multipliers.

It depends on my business model.

If I have a recurring customer business with few high-ticket customers. Then my Dream 100 includes these customers.

If, on the other hand, I have many small end customers, who are all in contact with multipliers, then these multipliers are my Dream 100. These could be resellers, for example.

Step 2: I develop the list

This is the labor-intensive part.

I collect all the participants of my Dream 100 with all relevant data.

The beautiful thing about it: I only have to put in the major effort once.

The list doesn't change quickly.

Sure, some new dream clients or partners come in and others drop out.

But those are worries for tomorrow because the core of the list remains pleasingly stable.

Step 3: I work the list systematically

Once my Dream 100 list is in place, I begin to contact the participants.

I don't do this erratically and sporadically, but systematically.

WHAT plan I use depends on the individual case.

It could be a digital sales funnel where I start with email marketing.

For high-ticket customers, it might be a more personal type of approach.

But my message today is not which funnel you should use in detail.

It's that you and I recognize the Dream 100 as a cornerstone of success.

So whenever you or I approach a business endeavor in the future, let's remember the Dream 100 and make that list.

Then work it step by step and be happy ever after! (kind of)

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