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The Godfather is a brilliant movie about mobsters, family, and power.
It’s also secretly a masterclass in business strategy.
I know that sounds ridiculous. But hear me out.
Over the past 90 days, we doubled our client base at Radical Marketing. And when I look back at what actually moved the needle, I realized I’d been following principles straight out of that 1972 classic.
No, I didn’t threaten anyone. No horses were harmed. Everything was completely above board.
But the lessons? They’re timeless.
Let me break down the five things I learned.
OR Listen Here:
Lesson 1: The Offer is King
"Make them an offer they can't refuse."
This is probably the most famous line from the movie. In the film, it means something a lot more sinister. But in business? The principle is gold.
Here’s what happened to us.
When we started this push to grow our client base, I tried everything. Fancy copywriting that spoke to pain points. Performance guarantees. Free audits. “Value first” content where we’d give tips and advice upfront.
Honestly? None of it worked.
I was scratching my head. We’re a marketing agency. We know how to write copy. We know how to speak to our audience. Why wasn’t anything converting?
Then it hit me.
The offer itself was the problem.
See, you can have the best copywriting in the world. The most persuasive messaging. The slickest funnel. But if your offer doesn’t make people stop and say “wait, WHAT?”… you’re dead in the water.
So we switched things up.
Instead of charging upfront fees, we said: “Let us do your marketing. No upfront costs. You only pay us based on results.”
That’s it. That was the change.
And it worked like gangbusters. Multiple new clients came in thanks to that one shift.
The lesson? If your marketing isn’t working, maybe the problem isn’t your marketing. Maybe it’s your offer. Switch it up. Make it so good that people feel stupid saying no.
Lesson 2: Focus is Key
"Never hate your enemies. It affects your judgment."
In The Godfather, Michael says this as a warning about letting emotions cloud your decisions.
In business, I think the “enemies” aren’t really our competitors.
The real enemies are distractions.
Shiny object syndrome. Low value tasks that eat up your day. Jumping from strategy to strategy without giving anything enough time to work.
That was my main enemy.
So I made a decision. I told my team: “I need to focus purely on outreach if we’re going to hit our goals by end of year.”
They stepped up. They took over day to day operations. And I went all in on sales and marketing.
This freed me up to test multiple approaches rapidly. Cold email outreach. LinkedIn marketing. Warm personalized emails. Paid ads with webinars. All sorts of things.
Some flopped. Some worked. But because I was focused, I could iterate fast and figure out what actually moved the needle.
The other thing that came out of this?
I finally had time to level up our sales process.
Previously, we had templated slides. We’d just swap out a few details for each prospect. Very cookie cutter.
Now? Every single proposal is bespoke.
We use their faces. Their logos. We create mock up landing pages and mock up ads so they can actually SEE what we’d do for them. No two proposals look the same.
That alone transformed our conversion rate.
The lesson? Stop spreading yourself thin. Pick the ONE thing that will move your business forward and go all in. Let your team handle the rest. Focus is a superpower.v
Lesson 3: Leads are Life
"My father is no different to any powerful man. He deals with politicians and the best people."
Even when you’re running a mob empire, you want as many options as possible. That’s how you build power. That’s how you build a strong business.
For the longest time, our leads were sporadic.
Referrals here and there. Some organic search traffic. Basically we were praying to the business gods that more leads would magically appear.
Terrible way to run a business.
And here’s the embarrassing part: I run a marketing firm. Lead generation is literally what we do for clients. But I didn’t have time to invest in it for my own business.
The result?
Every time a prospect came in, we were emotionally attached. If they said no, it stung. I’d feel depressed about it for days.
That’s no way to operate.
Now? We have a system. If we need leads, we turn on the tap. Simple as that.
The difference is night and day.
When a prospect rejects us now, it’s just “alright, next.” No drama. No emotional spiral. Because we know there’s another lead coming through tomorrow.
This also gives you confidence in sales conversations. You’re not desperate. You’re not needy. You can actually advise people properly because you’re not worried about where your next client is coming from.
The lesson? Build a lead generation system that you can turn on whenever you need it. Stop relying on hope and referrals. When you have consistent leads flowing in, everything changes.
Lesson 4: Persistence is Paramount
"We have things we must do and we have the power to do them."
I knew our goal: double the number of customers.
I knew I had the knowledge to do it. I’ve been in marketing for over 30 years. I’ve generated over 1.5 million leads for clients.
But I still needed time to figure out the exact process that would work for MY business.
And that required persistence.
Let me tell you a story.
I joined a lead gen group with about 40 other students. All of us wanted to figure out how to generate more leads for our businesses.
Out of those 40 people:
- 30 never even showed up for the group meetings
- About 10 were somewhat committed
- Only 2 of us actually made it work
The other 8? They weren’t taking massive action. They’d send a few emails per week. Do LinkedIn outreach to four or five people. Then they’d throw their hands up and say “this doesn’t work.”
I’d ask them: “Have you tried switching your offer? Have you changed your messaging?”
They didn’t have enough volume to even know what was working or not. And most of them just gave up.
To me, that’s crazy.
If you give up on generating leads for your business… what business do you even have left?
This is why I believe 90% of businesses fail. People give up too soon.
Here’s something that keeps me humble. The marketing greats like Dan Kennedy and Eugene Schwartz say that 90% of marketing campaigns fail. Only 10% actually give you results.
So when something doesn’t work, I don’t beat myself up. I think: “Okay, maybe my offer sucks. Maybe my copy isn’t hitting the right points. Let me try something different.”
Keep testing. Keep changing. Keep iterating.
Because when you find that 10% that works? It transforms everything.
The lesson? Don’t give up after a few failed attempts. The people who win are simply the ones who kept going when everyone else quit.
Lesson 5: Set Impossible Goals and Get Your Hands Dirty
"The lawyer with the briefcase can steal more money than the man with the gun."
This quote is about evolution. About being willing to change your methods to achieve your goals.
The Corleones didn’t stay street thugs forever. They adapted. They got lawyers. They went “legitimate.”
For me, this hit close to home.
I’m a paid ads expert. I’ve built funnels and run ads for clients for over 10 years. That’s my comfort zone.
So when people talked about cold email outreach or LinkedIn prospecting, I’ll be honest… I kind of looked down on it.
It felt icky. Like I was some kind of beggar. “That’s not what serious marketers do,” I told myself.
But then I had a reality check.
If these methods work for other people, who am I to judge? It’s a proven approach. Maybe I should put aside my ego and just try it.
So I did.
And guess what? It worked.
I also read Benjamin Hardy’s book about setting “impossible goals.” So I set one for myself: double our business in three months.
Not a “nice to have.” Not a “stretch goal.” An impossible goal that I treated like my life depended on it.
I worked nights and weekends. No half-assing. No excuses.
I told my team I would make this happen. My integrity was on the line.
And we actually achieved it faster than expected.
The lesson? Set a goal so big it scares you. Then be willing to do whatever it takes to achieve it, even if it means trying things you think are “beneath you.” Your ego is not your friend here.
So... What If I Made YOU an Offer You Can't Refuse?
Look, I just shared five lessons that helped us double our client base in 90 days.
But here’s the thing.
Reading about this stuff is one thing. Actually implementing it for your business? That’s where most people get stuck.
If you’re a coach, expert, or course creator who wants to scale with webinars, challenges, or appointment funnels…
What if we made you an offer you can’t refuse?
An offer where we only get paid when you get results?
If that sounds interesting, book a call with us and let’s see if we’re a good fit:
This podcast is hosted by Terence Tam, author of Lead Surge: 8 Radically Effective Marketing Funnels for Coaches and Experts. He is also the Founder of Radical Marketing, a digital marketing agency that partners with high-ticket coaches to scale their businesses with Webinars – by using a proprietary blend of story ads and battled-tested sales funnels to achieve better returns on ad dollars.
