Mike J Midgley Blog

Closest To Cash

Written by Mike Midgley | Mar 31, 2020 6:30:00 PM

CTC = Closest To Cash

I want to discuss an often overlooked area called CTC - Closest To Cash.

Take a moment to think about how your business is performing.

You’re likely in one of these scenarios:

  1. Desperate for Sales: You’re behind your targets.
  2. On Target: Your performance is steady.
  3. Crushing It: You’re exceeding your goals.

While there are many nuances in between, these three categories summarize your position regarding sales.

Common Uses Of The CTC Strategy

I frequently observe businesses implementing the CTC strategy when they’re struggling with sales.

When targets are missed, they often resort to quick promotions to drive business.

While this can be effective, it should be a consistent strategy rather than a last resort.

Having an active CTC offer at all times, whether you're on target or exceeding it, a smart way to continually attract new business and maintain cash flow.

The DFS CTC Strategy

In the UK, we have a furniture retailer called DFS, known for always having sales.

This approach is not unique to them; many modern retailers, like Oak Furnitureland and car supermarkets, adopt similar strategies, constantly running promotions on various products.

A common joke is, “Why does DFS always have a sale?”

The answer: They always do, but they change the range of products on sale.

DFS cleverly promotes discounts on different product lines, ensuring that when a particular piece of furniture nears the end of its life cycle, it gets a sale, sometimes for just four weeks.

How To Adopt The CTC Strategy In Your Business

To implement a CTC strategy in your own business, follow these steps:

  1. Identify Your Offerings: Look at your business’s channels, brands, or product ranges. For example, if you have three channels, aim for four products across those channels.

  2. Plan Your Offers: In Quarter One, run a CTC promotion for a specific sub-sector of products. Change it up in Quarter Two with a different offering, and repeat the process in subsequent quarters.

  3. Define and Understand: Have a clear definition of your products and services and how they fit into each channel.

The critical aspect here is to ensure you have a clear definition

and understanding about your products and services, and how they fall into each deliverable channel.

Our REAL CTC Strategy Explained

So in our business, the three-channel real examples I’m going to provide are

  1. Force & Friction Community
  2. 6teen30 Digital HubSpot GTM RevOps Firm
  3. Mikes NXD Navigator programs

CTC in the Force & Friction Community

The community membership is free, it’s designed to bring people into our content and to help them and provide high-value upfront.

Periodically, we will offer

  • Free acess to a mastermind group for members for a limited time
  • Or A free consultation with every new upgrade course taken

CTC in the HubSpot GTM RevOps Agency

In our HubSpot Agency, we wouldn’t say “Our HubSpot retainers have X money off”, however, we will promote incentives that provide additional value such as,

  • An upgraded strategy pack
  • or some extra GTM Motions
  • or some try before you buy project agency work.

CTC in NXD Navigator 

I would promote extra value benefit through

  • Include some agency deliverables as an added value service,
  • Upgrade them to include our premium board navigator program
  • Provide associated and valuable services that would typically be chargeable such as financial forecasting without additional cost.

CTC Recap

When considering closest to cash, think about how you can put a rotating offer on throughout the year allowing you to keep a bottom of a funnel, lower ticket, or even maybe a free trial into a paid service, which is running all the time.

Don’t wait until you’re behind the target, or if you’re on target or ahead of target, get those closest to cash offers in play, get them running, get them rotating.

Make sure your sales team and your customer services team are aware of the promotion and then put them into your marketing funnels and your paid ads.

Existing Clients should benefit too; some may have bought product X, but not product Y.

Go and offer them a cross-sell, that’s another excellent opportunity around CTC.

I’d love to hear from you and take your views around:

  • Are you running CTCs, closest to cash deals periodically?
  • Are you just running them when you’re behind the target or getting started with a range,
  • Or is this a structure that you’re already using?

Please leave a comment below with your feedback or any questions you have.



 
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