How to Uncover Six Figures of "Found Money" in Your Business: A 5-Step Magnetic Marketing Guide

Stop leaving money on the table today and start extracting the hidden six-figure profits already sitting dormant in your customer list. These strategies are not mere suggestions or “trends”—they are based on the “Timeless Laws” of strategic direct response marketing pioneered by the legend, Dan Kennedy. By the end of this guide, you will have a clear, actionable roadmap to multiply your business value from within your existing assets.

Let’s get to work.

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Step 1: Fragment Your Audience into High-Value Subsets

Stop being lazy and start being analytical. The most common mistake business owners make is viewing their customer list as a monolith—a faceless pile of names. To uncover “found money,” you must shift your perspective and see your list as a collection of “little businesses within the business.” Treating every customer the same isn’t just bad marketing; it’s financial suicide. Analytical segmentation is the primary driver of multiplied customer value because the parts are inherently worth more than the whole.

Identifying Trigger Points of Loss

To segment effectively, you must identify your industry’s “trigger points of loss.” This is the precise moment when a customer should have returned but didn’t. In the dry cleaning business, that point is six weeks; in hair cutting, it is two to four weeks. Identifying these specific moments transforms a “lost customer” into a “high-priority prospect.”

Real-Life Example: The “Grizzly Bob” Intervention

Consider “Grizzly Bob,” a regular at a local diner who comes in every morning for three chocolate donuts, a diet Dr. Pepper, and a bowl of Wheaties. If Bob isn’t there one morning, that is a trigger point. A magnetic marketer doesn’t wait; they act. Why? Because Bob might have died—but more likely, he met a friend at a competitor’s diner where the waitress treated him better and burnt his toast just the way his ex-wife did. If you don’t have a system to identify that trigger point, the process of losing Bob to a competitor is already complete.

Actionable Instructions: Identify Your Categories

Review your data today. Do not look at your list as a whole. Categorize your audience into these specific subsets:

Absent/Lost Customers: Those who have passed their specific “trigger point” (e.g., missed the third Thursday of the month).
“X but not Y” Buyers: Customers who buy one specific product but never cross over (e.g., the breakfast regular who never stays for lunch or dinner).
Unconverted Leads: Categorized by their original source and the age of the lead.
Demographic/Lifestyle Commonalities: Subsets based on marital status, age, or income.
Event-Based Segments: Customers with upcoming birthdays, anniversaries, or the anniversary of their first purchase.
Dropout Segments: Those who specifically dropped out of a continuity or subscription program.

Once your list is cut into these specific pieces, you can stop sending the same boring, generic message to everyone and start speaking to their unique motivations.

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Step 2: Develop Precisely Matched Marketing Messages

One-size-fits-all messaging is a recipe for mediocrity and a guarantee of low response. When you send a generic broadcast, you are begging to be ignored. Precision matching increases the perceived relevance of your offer, making the prospect feel like you are speaking directly to their soul.

The Psychology of the Subset

Your copy must reflect the specific emotional state of the segment. If you segment correctly, you can make your customer value 5 to 10 times larger than it is now.

Real-Life Example: The Skincare Segment Multiplier

In the high-end skincare industry, one product can be marketed with five different messages. A woman in her 50s who is recently divorced views a skincare product through a lens of urgent, lifestyle-shifting need. She is significantly more motivated by “crow’s feet” and “wrinkles” than a woman who has been married for 20 years. By segmenting into Single, Married, 2nd/3rd Marriage, and Recently Divorced, the marketer addresses the specific psychological motivations of each.

Actionable Instructions: Draft Message Profiles

Identify your three largest subsets from Step 1 and draft a “Message Profile” for each. Define:

The Primary Emotional Driver: (e.g., Guilt, Fear, Entitlement).
The Precise Problem: What specific “itch” are you scratching for this group?
The Language: Use words that reflect their current life stage.

Targeted messaging is powerful, but its impact is multiplied only when you stop seeking “simplicity” and start embracing the complexity of high-frequency sequences.

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Step 3: Embrace “Strategic Complexity” to Outpace Competition

Most business owners fall into the “simplicity trap.” They want one ad, one website, and one follow-up piece because it’s easier to manage. Simplicity is why 95% of businesses remain broke. High-earning marketers embrace the “Complexity Paradox”: the more unique sequences you create for unique assets, the more money you make.

The Advantage of the Micro-Sequence

Competitors are lazy. They want the “perfect” ad. You should want 30 different ads for 30 different markets. You must audit your current assets and look for places where a “micro-sequence” can replace a single-shot broadcast.

Real-Life Example: “Gold by the Inch”

A simple business selling gold-plated chain by the inch at swap meets became an “eight-times sales” powerhouse not by lowering prices, but by adding layers of media complexity:

Media 1: The original sign.
Media 2: An improved, higher-impact sign.
Media 3: A TV playing video of the process and happy customers.
Media 4: A good-looking woman wandering the crowd to invite people to the booth.

Most distributors wouldn’t do this because it’s “too much work.” That’s exactly why you should do it.

Actionable Instructions: Asset Audit

Open your CRM or spreadsheet and map out where “micro-sequences” can be implemented. Look specifically for:

A sequence for people who bought your “Basic” package but not the “Deluxe.”
A sequence for leads from a specific source (e.g., Trade Show leads get a different sequence than Facebook leads).
A “Stick Letter” sequence designed to reaffirm the purchase and reduce refunds for new buyers.

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Step 4: Deploy a Multi-Media Magnetic Sequence

Relying on a single channel is a “simplest approach” fallacy. You cannot presume you are entitled to someone’s attention just because you sent an email. You must earn that attention through repetition and variety.

The Moving Parade of Interest

A prospect who is uninterested in your solution today might be desperate for it tomorrow due to a change in circumstances (the “Moving Parade of Interest”). If you only send one message, you are gambling on timing. Multi-media sequences ensure you are “there” when the timing becomes right.

The Giorgio Sequence: Psychological Triggers

Using the “Giorgio’s Restaurant” model, we can see how a 4-step sequence uses psychological levers to drive response.

Step 1: The Authority Letter (Problem/Guilt). Sent from a “Romance Director” persona. This letter creates guilt—the same way stuffed animals are sold at airport gift shops to traveling parents. It uses the stat that “2/3 of all marriages end in divorce” (marketing impact number; the actual stat is closer to 55%) to agitate the problem of neglect.
Step 2: The Attention Grabber (Gimmick/Attention). Sent 10 days later with [Lumpy Mail/Grabber]—specifically three pennies glued to the top. It acknowledges the first notice and uses the “3 coins in a fountain” hook to grab attention.
Step 3: The “Too Blue to Cry” Letter (Personal Disappointment). Includes copies of the previous letters. The persona expresses deep personal disappointment that the recipient hasn’t responded, using the Dunning Model of collection.
Step 4: The Final Notice Postcard. A provocative postcard with the headline “Can this marriage be saved?” This is the last shot before the offer is withdrawn.

Actionable Instructions: The Sequence Template

Draft a 4-step sequence for your “Lost Customers.”

Step 1: Letter from a specific persona (Service Director/Manager). Include [Hand-drawn Doodles].
Step 2: Follow-up with a physical “grabber” (a penny, a plastic compass, etc.).
Step 3: The “Disappointment” letter with copies of previous mailings.
Step 4: A final notice postcard with a “Can this be saved?” angle.

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Step 5: Engineer an Irresistible “Bait” (The Proposition)

Marketing failure usually stems from the “Proposition” (the bait), not the “Process.” Marketing fails for three reasons: the wrong Prospect, a broken Process, or a weak Proposition. If your process is proven, and you’re talking to the right people, your bait is simply too weak.

The Stupak Strategy: Vegas World

Bob Stupak built a casino from scratch with the “Vegas World” offer. For $396, you got lodging, booze, meals, and $1,000 in “match play” money. While the match play was technically worth $500 and the roulette wheels had six zeros and six double zeros to protect the house, the proposition was so aggressive it was irresistible. Stupak understood Customer Lifetime Value (LTV); he was willing to spend more on the bait to acquire the customer.

Actionable Instructions: The Bait Audit

Compare your current offers. If your offer is a “Birthday Oil Change,” stop. People don’t want to get their oil changed on their birthday. They want to ignore their age or eat cake. Replace weak bait with a compelling proposition.

Weak Bait (Boring/Generic)	Magnetic Bait (Urgent/Irresistible)
Free Report on Taxes	How to Legally Murder the IRS: 7 Secrets Your CPA is Too Scared to Tell You
Free Oil Change on Your Birthday	The “Total Peace of Mind” Restoration Package: (Focus on safety/reliability, not the birthday)
$20 Off Your Next Visit	The $396 “Vegas World” Style Extravaganza: (Massively loaded value with high perceived worth)

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Conclusion

The philosophy of Magnetic Marketing is simple: identify the “little businesses” within your big one and hit them with irresistible bait through multiple, complex channels. Stop seeking the “easy” way and start seeking the “effective” way. Found money is the result of applying these five steps with absolute consistency.

Which technique from this guide are you going to try first to find the “hidden money” in your business?

Choose an option and get started:

The “List Cut”: Segmenting my list to find the “X but not Y” buyers.
The “Better Bait”: Overhauling my lead magnet from “boring” to “irresistible.”
The “Giorgio Sequence”: Implementing a 3-step mailing sequence for lost customers.

Want more of the straight-talking marketing strategies that drive real results? Check out Dan Kennedy’s NoBSletter and start applying powerful, proven tactics to your business today!