Consensus Conversion Rate
Today I attended a salon that offered a fresh take on conversion rate.
There are two kinds of conversion rates: screening conversion rate and consensus conversion rate.
Screening conversion rate is what we usually mean—the classic funnel model. We break down user journeys into steps (e.g., landing page → sign-up → purchase), each with its own drop-off rate. Multiply those rates, and you get the final conversion rate. Say it’s 1%. The standard response? Optimize every step—lift each by 10% or more—and the overall rate may double or more.
Consensus conversion rate works differently. At every touchpoint, the goal isn’t just to move users forward—it’s to align with them on a shared idea. That idea must be framed from their perspective, not ours. When users genuinely internalize it—“Yes, this matters to me”—it shapes not just their next click, but their long-term purchasing behavior.
These two models aren’t contradictory. They’re complementary—and when optimized together, their effects compound.
The Prerequisite for “Right” Imitation
We often say: “When launching a new product, pixel-perfect copying is one of the best strategies.” But there’s a critical prerequisite people overlook: who you copy.
Copy the wrong model—even flawlessly—and you’ll replicate failure. So how do you pick the right one? One of the most reliable ways is to consult true domain experts: people who’ve seen dozens of cases, run real experiments, and can help you identify which success is actually relevant to your context—not just impressive on paper.
Finding Niches Inside Massive Markets
I shared this with a job candidate during an interview: When choosing what market to enter, the strongest strategy is to pick a massive market first—and then carve out a meaningful niche within it. Don’t start with a narrow market and try to subdivide further.
Why? Because in a huge market, even a tightly defined niche remains sizable—your ceiling stays high. In a tiny market, subdivision shrinks it further—until it becomes marginal, unsustainable, and low-ceilinged.
Overlooked Hidden Costs
Recently, while speaking with one of our franchise partners, I pointed out a serious blind spot.
Many franchisees try to minimize early-stage risk by cutting corners: buying cheap phones, avoiding hiring, delaying tool investments. On the surface, costs go down. But efficiency plummets—and so does return on effort.
Two hidden costs are routinely ignored: time cost and management cost.
Time cost is about opportunity windows—especially for newly validated models. If you don’t act fast, entry gets harder, competition stiffens, and leverage fades.
Management cost is even subtler. Take “free” hiring: no salary budget spent upfront, yes—but recruitment quality and speed collapse. You finally hire someone, only to realize they’re misaligned. Letting them go feels wasteful; keeping them drains energy and output. That indecision—“Do I keep or cut?”—is where management cost spikes silently.
Paying People and Designing Systems
In startups, nearly all people-related challenges boil down to two things: how you pay, and how you structure systems.
Paying includes everyone tied to the venture—employees, co-founders, suppliers, distributors. It’s not just about fairness; it’s about balancing interests so deeply that people choose alignment. Salary, profit-sharing, revenue splits—all tools to make “we win together” feel real.
Systems are the guardrails. My view: a good system protects contributors—both materially and psychologically—while quietly removing those who underperform or undermine. Its purpose isn’t control for control’s sake. It’s to reduce friction, prevent entropy, and keep the team focused outward—not inward.
Example: When a top performer quits, the root cause is almost always one of two failures—pay wasn’t right, or the system failed them. Either they weren’t compensated enough—or they weren’t heard, recognized, or empowered.
How to Build Self-Motivation
Two levers work reliably: cultivating learned triumph, and strengthening responsibility.
Learned triumph builds confidence. If you need to sustain effort over time, belief in your ability to succeed is non-negotiable. Practice it: start with tasks you know you can win at—or break daunting goals into micro-wins. Each small victory reinforces the neural pathway: “I can do this.”
Responsibility fuels motivation even more powerfully. Think of new parents: no matter how exhausted, they rise instantly when their baby cries hungry—no debate, no delay. That’s responsibility in action. The deeper your sense of ownership over an outcome, the stronger your drive to see it through.
Your Own Ideas Feel Truest—But Are They?
Human cognition has a quirk: ideas we believe originate inside our own minds feel inherently more credible. “This is my thought”—and therefore, trustworthy.
But “internal” doesn’t mean “independent.” Our thoughts are shaped constantly—by environment, by others’ words, by mood, by fatigue.
So sometimes, what feels like our idea is really just borrowed, reframed, or unconsciously absorbed.
For sales teams, this is vital: Don’t tell prospects what they should need. Help them realize they need it—on their own terms. That realization sticks. Persuasion doesn’t.