selling products or services. Then the only real question you've got to ask is, can you buy customers for less than they'll spend over their lifetimes of buying? As soon as you start to see your business as a total marketing entity, not a production, service, or retail entity, you'll understand why the price you pay for customers is your biggest expense. Here is something even more powerful. What if you could buy them for less than your profits on your first sale, and what if that first sale came within days of the commencement of your marketing campaign? It's around this time in the learning cycle that people start getting really excited. And it's only the beginning, because when we start getting customers to keep coming back and spending more per visit, that's when real wealth starts accumulating. Wallet Share versus Market Share Chasing market share in today's business world is a guaranteed formula for chasing your tail. If buying customers is your biggest expense, then continually buying new customers (buying market share) is the most expensive way to do business. Market share, or a focus on new customers, comes with an assumption that you're in the business of buying products or services and selling them to customers. If, however, you move to the idea of buying customers, then your whole ballpark changes. You're no longer chasing market share, you're chasing wallet share. The issue becomes how much, how many, and for how long can you sell to each customer you buy. In this world of business, where customer loyalty is everything, you've got to know that if you've already spent the money to buy a customer, then it makes total sense to make sure you get a full return on that customer (your investment). Chasing wallet share is as simple as remembering that you've got a loyal customer base, so what else can you sell to your customers? 21