The word ‘innovation’ has been abused, confused and overused. The common belief is that innovation is invention. Wrong! Innovation is not only a new or improved product or service. In fact, the biggest ROI on innovation is not from new products at all. In this blog series, we will investigate a variety of innovative solutions that net big results. The purpose is to get you thinking about how your business can think more creatively and focus on innovation for your competitive edge.

Financial innovation is about new and novel ways of making money.


In today’s on-line economy the price of entry is FREE. That single 4-letter word has more power to change behaviour than any other sales or marketing tool. So how do you make money when the expectation is open source and open sharing? Look at your internal financial structure for innovative opportunities. You may be able to change your customers’ purchase behaviour to turn a profit.

Welcome to the concept of the Tele-conference series. These new offerings are a wonderful opportunity to listen to a series of interviews with interesting and sometimes ‘famous’ people talk about their expertise. Highly targeted and list-based direct marketing attracts just the right audience. They share their insights on anything from sales and marketing, relationships, abundance, social entrepreneurship and how to live a conscious life. Anything and everything you ever wanted to know for FREE!

The set up in time for tele-conferences is huge but the payoff is even bigger. It works like this. An individual invites other ‘like-minded’ business folks (with a prerequisite number of opted-in subscribers) to partake in an series of interviews for a multi-event tele-summit. Once assembled and recorded the invitation goes out to ALL of the participants’ subscribers. This shared promotional effort can net 10s of thousands of impressions.

Most of which are trusted followers and are motivated by the FREE content so will sign up for the tele-summit.

Depending on the participation, these tele-summits can often run over several days or weeks. So if you opt-in to listen for FREE, chances are you’ll miss a few. But that’s okay. If you can’t make the initial online interview than the recordings are available for up to 24 hours after. For FREE!

Still not good enough? With your busy schedule and the shift to on-demand programming, you have the opportunity to purchase the entire series for a limited time at a special price of only $97. If the content is good and relevant than you won’t want to miss a thing. Chaching!

This is the ultimate FREE sampling program with a twist. Sampling has been marketing’s highest conversion incentive especially in the packaged goods industry. You try the product and there’s a high chance that you will purchase. The web has taken it to the next level. You don’t get a taste. You get the whole enchilada. Not just once but twice.

It’s like reading an entire book in the bookstore and then buying it anyway. Like eating an entire pie at the grocery store with no expectation to drop a dime. Who would have thought that a financial innovation could come from giving everything away for free?

What can you give away for free? Something that entices your prospects to taste the brilliance of your offering while know that they have the option to purchase for future reference. How have you filled your sales funnel with FREE innovative offerings?