It might be helpful if you read my previous post about Simon Cowell titled, "Simon Cowell – Love him or hate him…"
During a 60 Minutes TV interview, Simon was asked if he created American Idol in order to gain celebrity status. In other words was Simon’s goal to become famous.
Simon answered that he didn’t really care about being a celebrity. He created American Idol simply to sell records for his record company – Sony BMG. Stop and think about this strategy for a minute. By having a singing competition on TV, he would be able to sign great singers before they made it big. This would allow him to lock in guaranteed future stars for less money. He would also have exclusive rights to their songs throughout the entire American Idol process.
Simon’s business plan was so powerful that he has sold over 100,000,000 records in the last 4 or 5 years. Every time an American Idol artist sells a song or record, Simon’s record company makes money. In fact, Simon makes more money for Sony BMG then most of their top artists.
It gets even better…
American Idol is now on TV in 30 countries. Each year, he signs the biggest stars in 30 countries. Simply genius, if you ask me!
What did Simon really do? He did the opposite of what all the other record companies were doing. The majority of the record companies spend their time and resources trying to recruit top selling artists away from their competitors. Not Simon.
He created a new business "in front of" the record business. The new business, American Idol, funnels signed artist after signed artist to his record company. In fact, he doesn’t waste anytime trying to recruit artists away from his compeitition. He isn’t even competing with them anymore. He figured out how to attract future starts to him through American Idol.
Does he chase these future stars, or do they chase him? They chase him – big time! In come cases, contestants travel for days, and wait in line for hours for the opportunity to be one of his artists.
Simon has completely re-invented the record business. Before I wrap up this post, let me ask you a few questions:
1. How can you put a business "in front of" your real estate business that delivers client after client to your real estate business? And don’t think it can’t be done. It can. I did it with my real estate business.
2. How can you create a situation where prospects chase you, rather than you chasing them? This can be done too. Prospects literally "apply" to become one of my clients.
3. How can you go the opposite direction from all other agents in your business? Is there a specific niche you can dominate in?
To see how I did this in my real estate business, get this FREE Report. In my next post, I’m going to share how you can use YouTube to get clients and sell homes. You won’t want to miss it. Sign up for automatic email notification in the box on the top right hand side of this page!
Rob Minton
