You may be asking yourself, "What on earth is a monkey's paw? And why (or how) should I market them?"

When big cruise ships come into port, they have giant ropes used to secure them. But those giant ropes are way too big for a human to tie them off somewhere, so there's a smaller rope used to connect to the large rope. That smaller rope is called a monkey's paw—it's the small piece that lets you connect to the bigger piece.

The same is true in business. We all have those small pieces that get us one step closer to that more significant piece. Yet we often overlook the importance of marketing that monkey's paw because we're so focused on the more significant product we're marketing.

The challenge with that in marketing (and sales) is that you can end up chasing business you're never going to get. But if you identify smaller opportunities you can market to your prospects, you can open the door to larger opportunities.

This concept aligns with Sandler Rule #34: Work Smart, Not Hard. If you can position your marketing efforts to qualify or disqualify prospects early on, you're working smarter.

Think about this: how many companies offer a free consultation? What happens if they instead charged a flat fee of $100 for that consultation? They might do fewer consultations overall, but the people who invest in that consultation already qualify at a higher level than those taking advantage of a free consultation.

Think about your business and what monkey's paws you could market. An assessment? A short trial of your product? A white paper on a specific topic? A paid lunch seminar?

When it comes to marketing your monkey's paws, your audience doesn't need to know a lot of information about it to make a one-time investment. The price point is considerably less than the full investment in your services, and it creates a great entry point for beginning a relationship with a new client.