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How
to profit with a Direct Sales Website ($197)
This link goes to the sellers
descrption and order page. It opens in a new window.
This
package consists of six cassette tapes (also available in
CD), and a workbook. It is an interview with the "Mysterious
Mr. H." about his incredible secret method of making
a killing on his direct sales Web site.
The
first question that comes to mind is why is the identity of
Mr. H. so mysterious? The answer lies in the nature of the
tapes. There are two sets of three tapes. The first set of
three tapes contains an older interview of "Mr. H."
by Bob Serling and the second three tapes are an interview
about two years later by Corey Rudl. Apparently Bob Serling
used the "Mysterious Mr. H" line as a teaser to
compel his customers to sign up for the telephone conference
call interview.
My
opinion of the tapes is the first set, with Bob Serling were
poorly thought out and poorly done, but the second set, with
Corey Rudl helps redeem the value somewhat.
Let
me elaborate a little. By "poorly thought out" I
mean that Mr. Serling didn't really think very carefully about
who his intended audience was. Was he talking to complete
beginners. If so, then why a telephone conference call that
teaches you a technique to add to your direct sales website?
Yet the tone of the call is obviously geared to beginners.
Bob constantly interrupts his guest to tell the audience the
meaning of simple terms like "lifetime value of a customer"
and "conversion ratio" which are terms anyone who
has taken any basic marketing course should already understand.
Another
thing that Bob Serling does that really bothers me is to constantly
say that this information goes against the advice all the
marketing experts give you. For example, at one point he says
you should focus your Web site on one single sales letter
and he makes a point to say that it goes against all the marketing
expert's advice. Huh?! What world does he live in? All the
experts tell you to do that!
There
are some points he makes very strongly about some of the techniques
Mr. H uses and says they're good advice, that go against expert's
advice, but are dead wrong. One example is that of breaking
your page up into several pages. Guess what? Since those tapes
were made, Mr. H has since abandoned the practice, when he
found that the experts were right to start with. It's now
one long copy page. Yet Serling goes to great lengths to tell
you why the psychology of breaking your page up into small
chunks works. Truth is, it doesn't.
By
"poorly done" I mean that Serling keeps interrupting
the conversation with "technical breaks" such as
having to turn the tape over or explaining how a conference
call works.
These
constant interruptions are frustrating to say the least. I
was glad that, as it turned out, only the first one of the
three tapes with Serling actually contained the interview.
The second and third tape were Serlings own recording - which
was still geared toward beginners.
The
second three tapes with Corey Rudl were much better produced.
All three tapes are his telephone interview and Rudl never
interrupts for technical breaks. It's very smooth. Rudl doesn't
seem to assume that all listeners are beginners, and saves
all conference call lisener questions for the end, rather
than interrupting Mr. H to ask them, in the middle of the
conversation like Serling does.
It's
evident that many listeners certainly were beginners, since
some of the questions were such things as "how do you
calculate the lifetime value of a customer?"
So
the whole package begs the question what is the purpose of
its existence? It all seems to be centered around one concept,
and only one concept. It is a single technique used by Mr.
Harris (oops, did I just tell you his name?) on his Web site,
namely a survey that allows him to customize his follow up.
Beyond that, nearly everything is standard stuff that you
ought to already know, and if you don't you should first spend
your moeny on a basic systematic course such as the "Insider
Secrets to Marketing Your Business on the Internet" which
is on my Must-Have list (see the link to either the course
review or to the must-have page on the left side of this page).
Frankly
this set of tapes at the same cost as the Insider Secrets
course doesn't live up to the same quality as the course.
In
it's defense, I'll say that, like many other teaching products,
if you already have a Web site and you need a single technique
to help you increase your conversion rate, this trick may
be worth the money to you. There comes a point in your Internet
Marketing career when you have a big enough customer base
that a single idea may be worth several hundred or several
thousand dollars, and then it would be worth nearly $200 to
learn more about it.
For
the sake of those guests, I'll not spill the beans completely.
I'll let you listen to the tapes to find out what company
Mr. Harris uses to program his survey, collect the data and
compose the autoresponders. I'll let you listen for yourself
to find out what other two companies Corey Rudl then adds
to the list of companies that do similar work.
For the rest, go get the Insider Secrets
course and come back when you need an extra trick to increase
your conversion rate. (top)
How
to profit with a Direct Sales Website ($197)
This link goes to the sellers
descrption and order page. It opens in a new window.
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