Demand Gives You Leverage Most Owners Never Get | How to Build a Waiting List

Most business owners spend their time trying to get more customers. The best businesses spend their time creating more demand.

In this episode of The $100M Entrepreneur Podcast, Brad breaks down why the most successful companies focus on becoming desirable rather than simply becoming available. Using examples from Ferrari, Rolex, Disney, and Apple, he explains how scarcity, exclusivity, and anticipation create demand that drives growth.

Brad shares the mindset shift that separates average businesses from elite ones: moving from "How do I get more customers?" to "How do I become sold out?" You'll learn why waiting lists create value and how demand gives you leverage.

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About Brad Sugars
Internationally known as one of the most influential entrepreneurs, Brad Sugars is a bestselling author, keynote speaker, and the #1 business coach in the world. Over the course of his 30-year career as an entrepreneur, Brad has become the CEO of 9+ companies and is the owner of the multimillion-dollar franchise ActionCOACH®. As a husband and father of five, Brad is equally as passionate about his family as he is about business. That’s why, Brad is a strong advocate for building a business that works without you – so you can spend more time doing what really matters to you. Over the years of starting, scaling and selling many businesses, Brad has earned his fair share of scars. Being an entrepreneur is not an easy road. But if you can learn from those who have gone before you, it becomes a lot easier than going at it alone.

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Transcript

The Sold Out Mindset Shift

SPEAKER_00 0:00

One of the biggest mistakes I see business owners make in this, they think, how do I fit more customers in? Elite business owners think, how do I create enough demand that I choose my customers? One of the greatest mindset shifts in business is moving from how do I get enough customers to how do I become sold out. When people hear you're sold out, they assume you must be good. Demand creates momentum and momentum itself creates more demand. Stop chasing customers, start chasing demand. Well, g'day and welcome to season three of the $100 million podcast, the demand engine formula. Previous seasons we've gone over how to build a $100 million company. Then we've looked at the strategy of building a $100 million company. This one is about authority, trust, visibility, community, and demand. That all creates exponential growth for your business. Businesses that dominate the next decade will focus on creating demand over supply. They'll build trust, become known, develop real authority, build real communities, and create total movements. See, the companies that will win are the aren't the companies with the best products or the best service. They're the companies that create the most demand. All right, episode one, let's dive straight into it.

Why Waiting Lists Win

SPEAKER_00 1:12

So why do some businesses have waiting lists? Okay, they build the demand engine. So why can Ferrari make you wait? Why can Rolex make you wait? And why can Disney basically charge whatever they want to go to their theme parks? Why can some restaurants have, you know, like a six-month wait list while others struggle to fill tables tonight? And perhaps the biggest of questions, why are some businesses, some businesses, constantly chasing customers while others have customers chasing them? And you know, they can say the answer is better products or better service, but it it's I don't think it's better products or better service. I don't think it's even better marketing. The answer is demand. Today we're talking about one of the most important businesses you'll ever learn. The businesses that create demand win. Supply's good, demand is great. So huge business lie, I think, that business owners believe that growth comes from selling more. It doesn't. Growth comes from becoming more desirable. There's a big difference between the two. One's pushing, the other's pulling. One's convincing, the other is attracting. One requires a constant effort, the other requires, or well, the other one creates momentum. Demand creates that. Most businesses spend their lives trying to convince people to buy. Elite businesses spend their lives becoming the business people want to buy from. And I think that changes everything in your focus of your marketing. So the demand versus supply lesson is important. Most business owners are totally supply focused. They focus on like better products, better systems, better stuff, better delivery, and even better operations. Now, don't get me wrong, all of those things matter, but supply does not create growth. Demand creates growth. Now, I want you to go back to Steve Jobs and think about Apple. Okay, Steve Jobs was a master of demand creation. He made people want products before they even existed. I remember people lined up around the block for products they didn't, I mean, they've never even touched it. Now, Tim Cook's good, but he's a master of supply. He makes sure those products get manufactured efficiently and delivered worldwide. Now, both of them matter, but demand comes first. Without demand, supply does not matter. Ferrari knows this. Look at their model. Uh, you walk into a Ferrari dealership, can you buy whatever Ferrari you want today? Probably not. You'll get put on a list, and sometimes that's like a very long list. And here's the fascinating thing. Ferrari could probably manufacture, well not probably, they could manufacture more cars. They they have the capability, they can get the money, but they don't. Why? Because scarcity creates desire. Exclusive, exclusivity is their thing. It creates value. People want what other people can't have, sort of thing. Ferrari isn't in just the car business. Ferrari's in the desire business. The car is simply, put it my the fun way, the vehicle. See, Rolex is similar, right? Rolex understands this perfectly. You don't walk into a Rolex store and simply buy the watch you want. You join a list, you build a relationship, you wait, and the waiting becomes part of the experience. The waiting creates status, it creates desire. You think about how much desire is created because you got to wait, you got to get put on a list, sort of thing. The waiting increases the perceived value. Now, most businesses panic if a customer has to wait. Elite businesses, though, understand that strategic waiting can increase demand. Disney knows this. I mean, think about Disney. You go to Disneyland, Disney World, and people stand in line for like two hours, maybe three, all to experience a ride for like five minutes. Think about that. Two hours of waiting, five minutes of experience, and people leave happy. Why? Well, because Disney understands demand. Disney understands anticipation. Disney understands emotional value. The waiting becomes part of the story. The waiting becomes part of the experience. The waiting increases the perceived value of the experience itself. Now, one of the biggest mistakes I see business owners make in this, they think, how do I fit more customers in? Elite business owners think, how do I create enough demand that I choose my customers? See, it's a completely different mindset. One mindset creates stress, the other creates power, one mindset creates discount, the other creates premium pricing. One, well, it I won't Yeah, it does. It creates desperation. The other one creates confidence. Demand creates confidence. Having a sold-out list creates confidence. Most businesses try to become available. Elite businesses become desirable.

Scarcity Psychology And Perceived Value

SPEAKER_00 5:51

So if you look at the psychology of scarcity, human beings are wired to value scarcity. We value things that are rare, exclusive, limited, difficult, or hard to obtain. We undervalue, though, things that are common. They're unlimited. They're easy, they're everywhere, available anytime. This isn't marketing. This is human psychology. When something is scarce, our brain automatically assigns it a greater value. I mean, that's why limited editions work, sold-out events work, waiting lists work, invitation-only communities work. See, scarcity changes perception. Every time you start thinking about having a greater business, profitability's got to kick in, and demand creates profitability. So I well, let's think about it. Available now is often a bad strategy. Now, many businesses proudly advertise it, though. Available immediately, same day, unlimited capacity, always available. Now, sometimes that's necessary, but be careful. Unlimited availability often signals unlimited value, you know, and unlimited value often means lower perceived worth. The most successful businesses often have like boundaries, I guess. Like they have capacity, they have standards, they have limits. And those limits create the demand out there in the marketplace. If you think about the waiting list strategy, uh I want to be clear though, I'm not saying everything in your business needs a waiting list. That's not the lesson here. The lesson is that every business should have something people want badly enough to wait for. Maybe it's a premium service, maybe it's a VIP program or a limited edition or a mastermind, your executive level program, your annual event, your highest level offering. Create one thing that people aspire to access, one thing that isn't available to everyone, one thing that creates anticipation. One of the greatest mindset shifts in business is moving from how do I get enough customers to how do I become sold out. See, sold out creates trust, social proof, scarcity, excitement, desire, so much more social media posting. When people hear you're sold out, they assume you must be good. When people hear you're desperate for customers, they assume something's gotta be wrong. Demand creates momentum and momentum itself creates more demand.

Pricing Power When Demand Leads

SPEAKER_00 8:19

So uh think about it this way: demand also creates pricing power. Uh it becomes very practical when you think of it this way. Demand exceeds supply, you can raise your prices. When demand exceeds supply, you choose better customers. When demand exceeds supply, you improve margins. Um, you can reduce your stress, obviously. See, when demand exceeds supply, your business becomes more valuable. Demand creates pricing power. Pricing power creates profit. Profit creates freedom. Now, I look at it for us at Action Coach. One of the, well, one of the biggest mistakes I see business owners make is they only market enough to stay busy. Think about that. They market just enough to survive, just enough to fill this month's calendar, just enough to hit payroll. That's small thinking. The goal isn't enough customers. The goal is more demand than you can currently supply. The goal is to create options, the goal is to create leverage, to create choice, to create a waiting list. We make sure we overmarket. We want to market to about 120% of capacity. We want a waiting list.

Questions To Find Your Premium Offer

SPEAKER_00 9:25

So, some questions that you might want to ask yourself this week to start thinking this way. Um, ask yourself this. Maybe what do I currently offer that people would wait for? What's one thing I could put into this category? What could I create that people would wait for? Where am I too available? Where am I competing on convenience instead of value? Where am I trying to sell instead of creating demand? Um, what would happen if demand doubled tomorrow? Could I handle it? Would I raise prices? Would I create a waiting list? Would I create a premium tier? So some of the common mistakes, if I flip that over for just a second, that I see repeatedly are competing on price, being available to everyone, trying to please everyone, squeezing another chair in your restaurant, offering unlimited access. No premium offer is just a massive mistake. Like no exclusivity, no wait list, no scarcity, no demand strategy. Most businesses have a sales strategy. Very few have a demand strategy. Supply is great, but demand wins.

Action Challenge And Closing Advice

SPEAKER_00 10:28

I want you to do one thing this week, okay? Let's do an action challenge, uh seen as action coach. What could I create that customers would willingly wait for? Not what they can buy today. That it's not what's convenient. It's not what's available. It's what would they actually wait for? Build that, market that, position that demand changes everything. Okay? The goal isn't to sell more. The goal is to become so valuable that people hate waiting for for you. You know, when demand exceeds supply, business becomes easier. Margins improve, customers get better, and growth accelerates. So stop chasing customers, start chasing demand. I'll give you one last example of this from our own business. You know, I have a program once a year. It's $25,000 just for the program. You have to be in my $120,000 a year program to get in. Is only 10 people allowed. The waiting list for that is two years out type thing. People want to that to build their billion-dollar business plan, you're on a two-year wait list. Now, I do keep two seats aside, kind of like a great restaurant. They always keep one table unreserved to make certain if their number one customer shows up, they've got the table, if that makes sense. So when you think about creating demand, remember this. If demand is the number one thing your business focuses on, you will always have a great business. Focusing only on supply or majority of your time on supply, good business. Great businesses, elite businesses, they focus on demand. Next week we're going to be back and we're going to stay focused on that. We're going to look at the raise your hand revolution and keep building your marketing and demand engine. Thanks for joining me on the $100 million podcast. If you've got value from today's episode, make sure you've subscribed and share this with all of your friends. Never miss a strategy that could change your business and your life. And remember, the fastest way to scale is to learn from those who've done it. That's what this show is all about. See you on the next episode.