The Six-Figure Second Income: How to Start and Grow a Successful Online Business Without Quitting Your Day Job (30 page)

Money Question Five: “Why Should I Believe Your Claims?”

Another way to state this is: Prove it. In the extremely over-hyped world of goods and

services, words are cheap and proof is rare. Anybody can say, “I made a ton of money

on this product,” but very few marketers go to the trouble of backing those statements

up.

I (Dave) frequently describe to live audiences recent real estate transactions I’ve done

where I made a lot of money. I watch as a certain number of people are impressed, and

then I put pictures of cashier’s checks up on the screen for everyone to see. That has a

far bigger effect on the audience.

That blender company, BlendTec, could have said, “Our blenders are tough and can

blend just about anything.” Most people would think:
″Uh
huh. Big deal. That’s what they

a ll
say.″
Instead, BlendTec showed a video of their blenders grinding up marbles,

phones, and broomsticks. That’s genius-level proof.

Now don’t you start in with the,
″But
my situation’s different—I’m a beginner who’s

writing a simple information
product.″
You know how I feel about that attitude. Even first-

time info marketers can add plenty of proof elements to their text. Here are several great

ways.

Get Specific

People tend to believe exact numbers and dismiss round numbers as either guesses or

exaggerations. Therefore, don’t say, “There are tons of heirloom tomato varieties out

there,” but instead say, “Did you know that at last count there were 319 varieties of

heirloom tomatoes?”

Likewise, if you interviewed people for your info product, say, “I spent more than 12

hours interviewing three of the top Harley dealers in the country to find out how they

personal y break in their new bikes. . . .″Scan through your material and, wherever you

can quantify your effort or your results, do it.

Use Testimonials

This is enormously powerful, and it’s cal ed social proof. Ever since we roamed the

savannah along with the antelope, we’ve been influenced by where lots of our fel ow

humans seem to be heading. We see it every Christmas when suddenly one toy

becomes hot and huge crowds of people absolutely need that toy—even though they

didn’t even know it existed a week ago.

I’m not suggesting you try to incite riots with your info product but rather that you tel

people what other people think of it, because of course people know that you think the

world of your own product. Even before you launch your new info product, send it to a few

people whom you met in your research. Have them try it out or even give it to their

friends. If you don’t get positive reactions then you must figure out why, or else your sales

may suffer. Maybe the text is too smal or instructions were confusing. If you do get a

good reaction, then ask if you could quote them. Almost always they’l say, “Sure.”

Here’s the secret with testimonials: Don’t get a feel-good testimonial where someone

says, “Wow, I real y enjoyed reading your guide. You were funny, too!” Instead, get a

results testimonial like, “I suffered for 3 hours with trying to figure out the embroidery

attachment to the CS-6000i and, after reading your guide, I had it solved in under 15

minutes.” Do you see how the second one is vastly more effective?

Just make sure you don’t overdo it and use testimonials that are not representative of

your customers. Some real y big marketers of things like weight-loss supplements

regularly get into trouble with the Federal Trade Commission because they claim crazy

results like, “I lost 14 pounds in a week!” You′re better off talking about the nonmoney

results your product or service provides—but again be sure the testimonial is specific

about those results.

Quote Other Experts

If you did interview experts in the field then of course quote them. But even if you didn’t

interview some of the big names in your target area, you can stil quote them in general.

For instance, you might have a quote from a head judge for the Westminster Dog

Show about how winning is not al about genetics but instead how grooming differences

are often the reason why one dog wins and another dog comes in second. You might

have simply read that in a magazine. You’re not implying that the judge has endorsed

your product, but what you have effectively done is show that you know who’s who in the

field, and you’ve reinforced the need for your product.

Get Creative

If you sold your info product on Amazon and it’s getting lots of five-star ratings, then put

that in your marketing materials. If people from other countries have bought your guide

—which is highly likely with Internet products—then you can say you have an international

fol owing, because it’s true. If your product has been talked about in blogs or picked up

in the press—even due to your own press release—then it’s fair to say the press has

taken notice of it.

You cannot overdo the number of proof elements you use in your materials. The more

of them you add, the more you’l sel —it’s as simple as that. As you become more

experienced and your product generates lots of fans and better results, then continual y

review your materials and swap out the less-powerful proof elements for newer, more

powerful and specific ones.

Money Question Six: “What’s It Going to Cost Me?”

If you’ve ever successful y interviewed for a job, you know the pattern: At first the

questions are al about your qualifications and approach to work. Then things warm up

and a positive tone enters the conversation when it appears to both of you that this

interview might be successful. At the point when the interviewer brings up the salary

question, you know it’s getting serious.

Imagine what would have happened if you shook hands, sat down, and immediately

said, “So, I’m real y interested to know what you’re prepared to pay me.” That would be a

real y short interview. If you’ve ever made that mistake you quickly learned that

compensation is best discussed after the employer is interested in you.

That’s why so many marketers are sil y to load their headlines with hype and price.

They come across like guys in a bar: “Hi baby my name’s Bob and I lift weights and I’m a

real y cool guy and did anyone tel you how gorgeous you are wel I real y want to go on a

date and definitely take you home tonight and maybe even marry you someday so let’s

dispense with the formalities and just get right down to business shal we?”

Bob gets slapped a lot. If you try this in print with your prospects, you’l get thrown into

the spam bucket a lot. However, if you’ve methodical y covered the first five Money

Questions, then your readers are already thinking,
″Hey,
this stuff is pretty good. I

wonder what it wil cost me to get
it?″

Now and only now should you talk price. Here are some guidelines on how to set and

describe your price.

Know the Market

If you created your USP properly then there is no direct competitor—yours is the first and

only specific product of its kind. But stil , your prospects wil have a rough idea of what

other vaguely similar items cost. You also need to know bal park prices from the

research you did earlier. For instance, yours might be the only kidney stone remedy

guide that uses techniques gathered from ancient texts across the world, but your

potential buyers have in their heads that the other remedies on the market go for $20 to

$40. When you set your own price, at least be aware of the magnitude of the other

offerings out there.

Do Not Compete on Price

Let Wal-Mart or Amazon compete on price. If you do that you’re simply turning yourself

into a commodity. There’s an old saying: In the absence of value, price becomes a

factor.

You’re much better off competing on value. If you can demonstrate through the quality

of your argument that you’re unique and you wil save the reader a great deal of time and

money then the price becomes secondary. If you can do what I described earlier in this

chapter and appeal to their deep desires for recognition, relief from pain, or peace of

mind—wel , then price becomes trivial.

In Your Materials, Do Not Say Cost or Price, but Instead Say

Investment

Once again, most marketers are oblivious to this distinction. Costs are things that you

spend and never see again. For instance, your lunch today cost money and, even though

it was necessary, it’s now gone. It’s the same with other necessities like your electricity

bil and the price to fix that broken tooth.

Investments are different. If I invest in an education, I hope to have it pay me back over

time in the form of a better job. I’l invest in IBM stock because I expect it to go up in

value. Therefore, you should rid your sales material of any mention of cost or price and

instead say, “Your investment in my guide is only $17,” or “You can get my guide for only

$69 and by this weekend you’l be on your way to having the Schnauzer of your dreams.”

It’s a subtle distinction but lots of messages in life are subtle but clear. Send the

message that their investment in your guide wil come back to them in spades.

Create More than One Product Level

Even with your very first info product you should consider creating a complete version

and a deluxe version. If you do, you’l find that a surprisingly large number of your sales

wil be for the deluxe version.

You’ve fol owed the Money Questions and fashioned a strong argument for people to

get your product. Some of them wil want everything you have and even then wil e-mail

you and ask, “What else you got for sale?” They’re known as hyperresponsives and they

wil usual y be your very best customers.

Besides, some people are accustomed to buying the best, whether they are box seats

at the basebal game or first class seats on the airplane. It would be a shame not to cater

to that desire.

The other great reason for offering two versions is you now have changed the decision

from Do I buy it or not? to instead Which one do I buy? That’s a better question for your

prospects to ask, wouldn’t you agree?

By the way, it’s best not to cal your lower-level product a basic version. Who wants

basic? That implies bare-bones and maybe even incomplete. You’re better off cal ing the

lower-level offering complete, and then you can cal the upper one deluxe.

You may wonder what you could possibly put in the deluxe version. That’s easy. Al you

have to do is think about some of the materials you came across in your research and

package them in the form of bonuses:

1. If you offered an audio or video in your complete version then include a

transcript in the deluxe one.

2. Maybe you created a very detailed spreadsheet in the course of your

research. Just pretty-up the spreadsheet and now it can be a bonus.

3. An excel ent add-on for the deluxe version is what’s known as a 911 certificate.

You can print this certificate on fancy certificate-looking paper found at any office

supply store and it wil entitle the customer to cal you for a 30-minute consultation

relating to your product. This bonus alone can boost the value of your deluxe version

by $100 or more.

Remember—people think their situations are different from everyone else’s. They

may be happy to pay considerably more in order to have you help them with their

particular issue.

4. You could create additional video content that only the deluxe buyers get.

5. Create a single-page, two-sided Handy Reference Guide that distil s your

entire info product into a highly usable checklist. People love these things.

Look back in Chapter 3 where we talked about 42 different product formats. Your

deluxe version could simply include another of those product formats. For instance