Every business need something that brings in a constant flow of financial traffic. For most businesses this is a relatively inexpensive item that has a high demand. Let us look at the auto industry for an example. A Lamborghini, for instance, would not serve in this manner.
A Lamborghini is a big-ticket item, which while bringing in a far sum of profit, does not carry with it a great demand. A Camry, on the other hand, has great demand and is a much smaller ticket item in regard to a Lamborghini. A Camry will bring in the foot traffic, which can lead to other sales and eventually a higher profit margin.
Not quite convinced? Let's take another example, one that is perhaps a bit more applicable. Let us take an internet business that sells "How To" products. Now, this business may be really good at creating intensive and exemplarily video series, but each series has ten DVDs and costs $100 to the consumer. If that is all the business does, they are going to have a hard time succeeding, especially in times when the economy is down. However, there is still hope for this business. All that would have to do is to create smaller video series or reports that would cost the consumer less than $30. This would bring in the foot traffic as well as build up their reputation for good products. That is what is meant by a low-ticket item being the "bread and butter" of your business. It is nothing too fancy, but it fulfills a need and keeps you from going hungry!
The following paragraphs are meant to guide you along the path to developing your own "bread and butter" low-ticket items. The advice and guidance given here is not an end all. It is meant only to be a springboard to get you moving in the right direction.
Some things will be more useful and applicable to your own personal situation, while others may not be. Please, feel free to take what you can use and leave the rest for another time. Creating and sustaining a business is an ongoing growth process. It will take time to get it all together. Do not feel that you have to implement all the ideas and concepts at once. Do not feel overwhelmed, there will always be more to learn! Before we get started, I want to provide you with a more precise definition of a low-ticket item. This definition will be the one used throughout the report unless otherwise specified.
A low-ticket item is any product or service that is rendered to the consumer for less than $100. Of course, the price can vary from literally cents all the way up to $99.99. I would add a caveat here, however. When you are working in a down market, I would change the maximum amount to around $75. In a slow economy less is more, quite literally. Therefore, it is very important that you are remaining aware of nature of the market to which you are selling.
