---
title: "Ascending Transaction Model (ATM)"
description: "A product strategy that links four types of product with three pieces of glue so clients move from knowing little about you to buying a lot."
canonical: https://tomsharman.com/bookshelf/entrepreneur-revolution/ascending-transaction-model-atm/
updated: 2026-11-03
---

# Ascending Transaction Model (ATM)

> A product strategy that links four types of product with three pieces of glue so clients move from knowing little about you to buying a lot.

Daniel Priestley's framework, from Entrepreneur Revolution, pp. 107 to 130.

Framework 9 of 13 from [Entrepreneur Revolution](https://tomsharman.com/bookshelf/entrepreneur-revolution/index.md) by Daniel Priestley. Category: Lead generation.

## The steps

1. **Gifts.** Free products given with no conditions that are meaningful and cheap for you to deliver, so people want to know more.
2. **Products for prospects (PFP).** Low-cost trial products that share your big ideas, capture contact details and give a quick win, preferably in under seven days.
3. **Core offering.** The full, remarkable and unique solution you are known for, priced to be profitable and focused on implementation, not ideas.
4. **Products for clients (PFC).** Highly profitable, different and logical next products sold to existing clients, ideally subscriptions, aiming to double profit.
5. **Lead capture process.** Collects contact details between your gift and your PFP, through several routes.
6. **Sales conversations.** Structured conversations with people who have already tried a gift or PFP, so they are pre-sold.
7. **Servicing process.** Looks after clients above expectations after they buy, by underselling and surprising them, so they buy your PFC.

## Where it comes from

From chapter: CHAPTER 5: BUILDING YOUR GLOBAL SMALL BUSINESS, pp. 107–130

Priestley says a business starts as a series of experiments, and the next step is to build a model, then a product ecosystem. The model is a financial forecast and a business plan, ideally made with an outside consultant. He rejects four weak product strategies (OOPS, J curve, one-stop shop, brokerage) and offers the Ascending Transaction Model instead. The ATM links four products (gifts, products for prospects, core offerings, products for clients) with three pieces of glue: lead capture, sales conversations and servicing. He says most small businesses without it push the core offer too soon, cut prices and stay small.

## The animation

24 seconds, 4:5, no sound.

- MP4: https://tomsharman-downloads-006143767029.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/bookshelf/entrepreneur-revolution/ascending-transaction-model-atm.mp4
- MP4, dark: https://tomsharman-downloads-006143767029.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/bookshelf/entrepreneur-revolution/ascending-transaction-model-atm-dark.mp4
- Still: https://tomsharman-downloads-006143767029.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/bookshelf/entrepreneur-revolution/ascending-transaction-model-atm.png
- Still, dark: https://tomsharman-downloads-006143767029.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/bookshelf/entrepreneur-revolution/ascending-transaction-model-atm-dark.png