A brand will sell itself if you build it from the inside out.

As the old business adage goes, “Sell a product that can sell itself.” Talk about an infallible business plan!

If it’s that simple, then as private money lenders, we have the easiest business-in-a-box, done-for-you blueprint in the world. After all, we offer money as our product.

Although the saying sounds catchy and seems simple enough on paper, we know the hard truth: When cultivating and sustaining a thriving business in this hypercompetitive industry, you need something a bit more strategic than a “money will sell itself” business plan.

Create a brand that can sell itself (inside and out!)

Putting together a bulletproof business blueprint requires two foundational challenges. The first is crafting an identity. Crafting your identity is called brand building. Nothing is more fundamental and foundational to your business plan than that. Establishing an identity allows you to differentiate in an industry that craves something different and unique. Your brand needs to resonate with people both inside and outside your company.

The second foundational challenge is building your brand from the inside out. Many businesses start and end with a focus on their external brand only, which often comes across as inauthentic, disingenuous, and hollow. Much like a personal identity, your brand must start on the inside. An identity must resonate soundly internally before you can successfully focus on the external. Without an internal focus, your external brand will crumble as soon as it is put to the test by any relationships you try to create.

With all that being said, let’s examine three cornerstones of any ordinary business plan:

• Your vision (why)
• Your audience (who)
• Your product/service (what)

Branding your vision (why)

Your internal vision is your culture. We all understand the importance of a strong company culture grounded in a strong internal vision: It will manifest itself externally to your clients. One of the most important characteristics of a strong internal brand is a culture of competition. When you have a team of winning-hungry employees with positive and competitive mindsets striving for excellence, the inevitable adversity that attempts to disrupt your success won’t be enough to overcome the resilience of a competitive spirit.

Once your internal brand is properly established and everyone on the team is going after the same goal, it is simple to sell that to your clients externally. Your external brand simply ìsellsî to the client the why your company is living and breathing every day. Additionally, create important x-factors that align your internal culture and your external purpose. One example of that is emphasizing broker advocacy in your brand. Brokers play a crucial intermediary role that accelerates your brand growth.

Think about your external vision for your company. Is that your focus internally as well? For example, if you want your clients to be smart investors, are you creating a company dynamic that focuses on the success of your employees to be smart investors as well? Is there a culture of competition that drives everyone to the same unifying goal? If you have brokers that work with you, do you view and treat them as if they are your employees and include them in your company culture?

Branding your audience (who)

Once your “why” is established, look at your target audience. Developing it also starts internally.

Most businesses focus on the external client first, and all their metrics and measurements focus on the happiness and satisfaction of the client. They forget about their most important client: their employees. Your internal target audience is your employees.

A strong internal brand will lead to higher employee morale, an impenetrable culture, and a perfect balance between sales and customer service. If you want motivated employees who care about the metrics as much as the managers do, then create a competitive and comprehensive pay structure in which employees determine their paycheck (as much as your bottom line can allow). This puts control in their hands. They have full ownership and accountability of their success.

Your external target audience is your clients. Once you prioritize your employees, their exuberance and motivation will extend to your clients. Measurements like customer satisfaction surveys, Net Promoter Scores (NPS), and market share will improve. Your market share will increase because of the focus on your competitive advantages, all while pushing your overall vision further along.

Focus on finding employees and clients who want to be in it for the long haul rather than those who just want to win today. Keep your employees happy, and your employees will keep your clients happy.

Ask yourself: Do you have key performance indicators set up internally? Make it easy for the clients to give you money by executing an excellent experience. A client will forgive a lot, except for being ignored. Do you have an NPS score that you are tracking externally?

Branding your product/service (what)

Let’s talk about the product itself and how to market it alongside your brand.

Your attention must start with internal brand building because it creates free and passive leads for your product – the best lead flow possible!

When your employees do such a great job that your clients pay you back with referrals and word-of-mouth, that is more precious than the most expensive marketing money can buy. This has been referred to as the “golden ratio” in business: If you get more free clients than the number of clients you lose, your business always has a growth ratio and will always scale on its own. Client retention keeps the ratio working in your favor because it keeps your clientele in-house. After that, any external marketing expenditure just supplements your growth rather than being the main driver.

Going back to our original point: As private money lenders, we can’t just sell money on its own. It needs to be marketed around our brand to be effective. Is your brand offering clients the cheapest money, the fastest money, or the best money?

The brand is the differentiator. This means you are marketing to your niches, or specialties. There are riches in niches. When you hyperfixate your marketing on a niche product and a niche audience, you will produce leads that are much more likely to convert to deal flow. As a result, you will also largely mitigate the disasters of opportunity cost. Opportunity cost occurs when resources are lost because of an uneven distribution of resources toward prospects or leads that didn’t convert into a deal. Focusing on your core strengths while minimizing opportunity cost is a formula for long-term growth and success.

Would your employees buy your product? Would they promote your product outside of work? Most important, is your employee a good representation of your product? Positive answers to these questions put your company in a position where a brand is selling itself through free and passive marketing. This will also ensure your company is always scaling no matter what uncontrollable variables may hit the market.

The infallible business plan

A brand is your blueprint. It is your identity. Most important, the internal must dictate the external. Keep in mind:

• Focus on your internal culture to drive and promote your external mission statement.
• Measure your employee’s happiness – they will impact your clients’ happiness.
• A focus on internal culture and employee happiness will create additional lead flow and deal flow, which becomes a strong supplement to traditional, external marketing.

Master all these nuances when building out a bulletproof business plan, and you’ve got yourself a winning brand!