A Legendary Marketer's Advice for Fractional CTOs

Hey there,

The late, great copywriting legend Gary Halbert once posed this question to a group of would-be entrepreneurs:

"If you and I both owned a hamburger stand and we were in a contest to see who could sell the most hamburgers, what advantages would you most like to have on your side?"

The audience shouted out answers ranging from superior meat quality to lower prices to a prime location by the highway.

But Halbert shook his head. "The only advantage I want is a starving crowd."

His point? You can have the best product, service, or skills in the world. But if you're not putting them in front of a ravenous market, you're setting yourself up for an uphill battle.

Now, you might be thinking, "But Lior, I'm a fractional CTO, not a fast food vendor!" And you're right. But the principle still applies.

The single biggest factor in your success will be how well you identify and serve a "starving crowd" - a group of clients with an urgent, acute pain point that you're uniquely equipped to solve.

This might be a specific industry that's reeling from a major data breach and needs to shore up their security yesterday. 

It might be a cohort of companies that just raised a round of funding and are under intense pressure to scale their tech. 

Or it might be a business model that's being disrupted by new regulations and needs to pivot quickly to stay compliant.

Whatever it is, the key is that the demand is already there, bubbling under the surface. 

Your job is to zero in on it, agitate it, and present yourself as the perfect solution.

How do you find your starving crowd? Start by looking at your existing wins:

• What do your best clients have in common? 

• What events or circumstances drove them to seek you out? 

• Where were they congregating (online or off) when they found you?

Then, go hang out in those watering holes. 

Listen to the conversations. 

Note the recurring themes, trigger phrases, and points of friction. Build your "problem awareness" so you can spot the hungry markets a mile away.

Then craft your messaging and your offer to speak directly to those burning needs. Show up as the oasis in their desert, the light at the end of their tunnel. Be so attuned to their problem that your solution feels like a no-brainer.

Do this, and you won't have to hustle for clients. They'll come to you. 

Because when you've got a "starving crowd," even an average burger will get them lining up around the block.

What does your "starving crowd" look like these days? What clues are they giving you about what they really want? 

Here's to finding - and satisfying - your hungriest buyers.

Lior

Lior Weinstein
Founder & Head Coach, CTOx