Another question for you (bit off topic). Going back to your 1st week at WA, what was the story behind you quitting your job the next day? What kind of success did you have or what mental breakthrough about the affiliate business did you have?

Kirk

““I tried this DVD and it’s really good and I think if you try it you’ll find it will help you too.”

Now I totally understand what you say about the story ( just doesn’t come naturally to me ) and just seeing that written down I can see how it is alot more powerful than just doing a review of it.

Can I just ask though if I am recommending this in the P.S. section of my follow up for say 6 emails ( so they are aware of it & people usually have to see the offer 7 times so I am told ) and on the 7th instead on doing the full review are you saying that I go with the story instead on the 7th email.

I am just trying to understand how I would tie in the story with the previous recommendations so as to come across as helping and not selling.

Do you then just go back to providing quality on say the rest of the followups until you decide to do another promotion.

How soon after you do the first promotion do you consider doing a second one. As I say have about 2 months of an autoresponder in place but am kind of lost as to what to do after the first promotion.

Do you just go with a story type again and should I be trying this when they are still receiving the autoresponder series or wait until they have finished it.

The co. I am affiliated with have many dvd’s for each aspect of the game. I have a few of them so want to try & promote more of the DVD’s to my list too but am afraid to as think they might not want to buy after purchasing one from me already.

I take it this is the wrong attitude to have if I want to sell them again so I assume it is another story line to come up with -

BTW. Thanks for the replies they have been helpful

Regards,
LOC

Do you believe in the product? Do you believe it will lower their score or improve their game?

Do you really want to help them be better golfers?

Then you “owe” it to them to tell them about this product. You owe it to them to help them get what they want and that is a better golf game.

So don’t come out saying things like “I tried this DVD and it’s really good and I think if you try it you’ll find it will help you too.”

You need to tell them how good it is and even better do it with a story …

I’m sick and tired of getting my butt handed to me by my golf buddies every single weekend. Especially this one guy, Tom, who just doesn’t stop rubbing it in.

last week was like winning the lottery when I kicked his ass across the greens. It was the funniest thing because he kept going on about how he was having a bad day …

Yeah, whatever! The things is … his score wasn’t much different than past weeks. The only real difference was MY score!

And the best part is that deep down HE knows it too!

Look I know I’ve told you guys about this kick ass DVD before and if you’ve already seen it then you KNOW what I’m talking about.

if you’re still struggling to drop your score …

if sick and tired of that 19th hole walk of shame and always having to buy the drinks …

Then go buy this DVD and in no time the drinks at the end of the game will be on Tom!

—

I’m sure this can be much improved. It’s just a 2 minute random guess at what I might do.

If some of the people on your list don’t to be told to go buy then they aren’t going to buy.

I would highly recommend EVERYONE goes and buys a book called “Influence: Science and Practice” by Robert Chialdini.

This book is THE classic on marketing psychology. It is the bible for all successful marketers and you can probably get it used at amazon for $5.

In there you will learn the reason behind all of the most common marketing tactics you see in the web.

Including the strong call to action.

If you are not salesy and do not ASK for the sale you won’t get the sale.

People need to be told what to do.

cheers,
Todd

cheers

Can I pick an example Todd so.

I am in the golfing niche and there is a DVD that I am promoting that helps them lower their score ( I bought the dvd myself so I know what it is like ). As I say in the above post I include a recommedation in my first few emails and then do a review of it in the 7th ( soft sell approach ).

This is not working too well but from what you are saying I should just come out and say buy this.

If you were in this niche Todd and you will selling a dvd how do you go about wording it without coming across all salesly on it.

This is the big problem I have that I am trying to overcome. Would you mind just jotting down here say 2 sentences of how you would word this to your list if say you were recommending a DVD that you knew to be very good and that would help them.

Regards
Osgar

You were commenting on how you dislike all the promo emails you get from Ewen Chai.

You probably delete them without really looking at them after a while right? You probably do this with most emails you get from gurus right?

Well this is exactly the WRONG thing to be doing!

Thinks about it … everyone of those emails you get from one of those “gurus” who mail to much promo stuff is a FREE email marketing lesson!

I have folders for all the gurus in my mail program and I save every email I get from them.

When I need to write a promotional email I look back to see how they did it because I know they really know what they’re doing. I look at not just the email but the whole sequence leading up to a product launch etc …

Those emails are golden and they’re free and most marketers think of them as junk but the smart marketers think of them as free education that the gurus would normally charge $2K for.

If you want to learn to be a better email marketer all you really need to do is watch and read what the gurus are sending out. Follow their campaigns more cloesly and you’ll see 90% of their course in action. Combine that with the free line material they give out and you’ve got an MBA in marketing delivered right to your email box.

cheers,
Todd

It’s great to hear you’re building your list and it’s at the 5000 mark.

I know what you mean about Ewen Chai and all the stuff he peddles … but your comment about not being able to make enough sales to your list makes it a little ironic too.

One of the biggest problems people have is that they’re scared to sell to their list because they’re afraid people might unsubscribe.

It’s a problem that holds back most marketers.

It’s important to provide value to your list and to give them lots of stuff and info to help them … but ultimately the reason you, as a marketer, are doing it is because at the end of the day you are hoping to get paid for it and to do that you need to sell something.

If you only pitch products that you actually believe will help your list member then you have nothing to worry about.

If the product is good and you genuinely believe it will help them then tell them about it. If the list member decides they don’t like this and unsubscribes then guess what?

They’re probably weren’t ever going to buy anything from you anyway so you really didn’t lose anything did you?

It sounds cold, but the reality is you are in the business of helping people in your niche and like any business you need to get paid. You simply can’t build a business based on giving everything away for free. At some point you need to ask for a sale. Most marketers who are not making much money are too afraid to ask for a sale and don’t do it often enough.

Just make sure the product is good and will actually help your list. That’s all you can do.

BTW, there’s a reason why the marketers who promote more often make more money. It’s not a coincidence.

Lastly, different niches have very different responses to this sort of thing.

There’s a reason I don’t build my business in the IM niche. the IM niche is one of the most difficult niches to market in and in my opinion is not a good place for new marketers.

Almost all of my money comes from non IM niche. This is why I only ever send one email a month from my long tail treasure list … it’s not a money maker for me.

When I send email to my long tail treasure list it’s usually because I’m telling them about something I truly believe will help them. Believe it or not … it’s not because it makes me money because the money is peanuts compared to my other niches.

I think you will find useful material in the Optin Profits in regards to making more sales, but I suspect what I just told you is probably your biggest problem.

I will be discussing this issue in the seminars I’ll be holding.

regards,
Todd

Don’t get me wrong he obviously is good at what he does but I just hate the way he pitches all the time.

I already posted a comment in a previous post of your blog to say that I am building a list and now I have about 5,000 in that list. I have spent along time on this but am avg about 50 sign-ups a day now.

My problem as I said before is how to sell to the list. This I find the hardest. I now have over 25 msg in my follow up ( spread out over 2 months ) and I am getting some very good feedback from some folk.

I use the P.S. section of the first 6 emails I send out to recommend a product that will benefit them and in the 7 email I send them a full review of it. It is making some sales but not a hell of alot.

I have made other sales with mail outs to my list but my conversion rate has not been good at all.

Will this optin-profits course address this issue for me & your bonus or am I better off waiting to get your LTT course when it comes out.

The weird thing Todd is I am managing to get my sign ups very cheap - my cost to convert is on avg $0.25 ( that is the price I pay for somebody opting in to my free report ) so I know how to do that pretty well.

What most of these course lack is teaching you how to sell to your list - this is what I am looking for. I really would love for somebody to tell me what I am doing wrong so any help in that regard Todd would be much appreciated

Regards
Osgar