But this is a market you’re not familiar with, it’s a product you don’t know much about, or what it does, and you’re relying on the client and their feedback so that everything goes smoothly.

Ok, there is one issue here. Not every client is going to know everything about their market. They should, but not all of them do. So how can you tell if they’re Offer is an Irresistible one or not?

Well, the first thing you need to find out is what they’ve sold to the market before. You need to see what products have been successful, and more importantly, what haven’t. If they haven’t launched a product before, then you need to look at what the marketplace has launched. Look at what products have contained, and what the price points are. See what people are used to, and see how you can improve on it.

One thing I recommend clients don’t do is to go to the lower end of the market. When you do, you get the lower end people. While this may be ok when starting out for a client, as a long term strategy, it’s not advisable. A higher price, even if it’s slightly higher, will set you apart from the rest and give people a perception of quality.

But what should you include in your Offer to make it an Irresistible Offer?

Are there tools or tips that you can include? Is there training you can offer that no one else has, or that you do better? Is there a level of customer service that you can do better than everyone else in the marketplace? Can take away all or nearly all of the risk for them?

If you’ve seen any of Frank Kern’s Mass Control launches, especially Mass Control 2.0, you would have seen Frank tell you that if you didn’t like the product – for whatever reason or whatever part – to just send that part back to him and he’ll refund all your money. You could keep the bulk of the product if you wanted to, and send back 1 disc. This is a great example of Risk Reversal but going to this level is not necessarily something you would want to employ for you or your client.

You want to make sure that the Offer you are presenting is also what they market wants – and this is a BIGGIE!

If your product has everything that someone wants to do X that’s great if they are looking for X. If the market is looking for Y, then no matter how good the product is, it’s going to flop. It’s happened to me in the past. The one time it did happen, I relied on the information that the client gave me about what their customers were looking for. I believed they wanted X, when in fact it was Y what they were looking for.

In this case, the client’s customers were looking for a product like X, but the product was far too advanced for them, and it went over their head. It wasn’t as successful as it could have been. Because there was too much in it (that confused them) it was priced accordingly. The price was an issue too.

Since they didn’t understand the product (confusion being a very very VERY bad thing in any marketing) they didn’t see the value in it and weren’t willing to pay the price of it. It was too expensive in their eyes for what they wanted.

So, don’t rely too heavily on what your client is telling you. Test, ask questions, look at the marketplace and see what’s out there. Ask more questions about the ideal customer, get inside their head and figure out what you would want if you were their customer.

Then think what you would want as that customer, and what would be an Irresistible Offer to you. If you’ve got friends who are in that market, ask them too. Test and see… If they ask you where they can get it, you’re onto a winner.

Create an Offer that’s as Irresistible as possible and you’ll have Product Launch success.

Let me know your experiences, as I’d love to hear them, in the comments box below.

Well, there is no right or wrong answer here. It will depend on the market…

In my experience videos have definitely improved conversions.  But on the other hand, I’ve had Sales Letters that have converted at over 18%, way above the norm!

But I’ve never done a Sales Video on its own on a sales letter.  When I’ve used a Sales Video on a site, it’s always been with a Sales Letter.

When I’ve done that, I’ve usually shortened the sales letter to give the overall information and bullet points about the product, and not the full story, as I usually would in a Sales Letter.

Talking to Matt Bacak recently, I asked him about his experience of Sales Videos vs Sales Letters (as he is a demon for testing everything), and he said that each market can react differently.  He said that some markets that you think will convert with a Sales Video won’t, and a long form Sales Letter will work best.

And the same is true with the Sales Letter.  Sometimes the Sales Video will work better.

At the end of the day, there is only one entity able to tell you what will or will not work – THE MARKET.  You have to give it to them and test that puppy.  They’ll tell you which one they want.

As with most things there will be times when things are in fashion, and times when they’re not.  At the moment, the Sales Video is the method of choice for most of the big marketers.  The likes of Frank Kern have conditioned their list to accept his videos.

It does help that he’s a Ninja when it comes to the Pattern Interrupt and almost always giving you the unexpected.  If he feels he’s been using something too long, he’ll change.  This is something you should adopt.

So, if you’ve been using the Sales Letter a lot, either for yourself or your clients, then test the Sales Video, either alone of with the Sales Letter.

If you’ve been using the Sales Video only strategy for a while now, then look to add some copy to the sales page.  Again, test and see.  You might be surprised at what you might find.

I’d love to know your thoughts about Sales Video vs Sale Letter. Let me know what works for you and why.

So, what do you do when starting out?

The first thing I recommend is to write a list of all the people who you know you would like to launch for. Whether they’re family or friends, or friends of friends, or friends of the family.  Write them down.

Then look at the people who you don’t know, but know of and can approach, that you would like to do a launch for.

Then look at all the people who you know of in business, no matter where they are, etc, and write them down.  Write down as many people as you can think of.

Ideally, you’re looking at creating a list of 100 people on your list.  Now, prioritise them into people who you know have a product that you can approach easily, or who may have a product, or could use your services.  These are your low hanging fruit.

When starting out, the chances are that you’re not going to hit the jackpot.  Now, you could go straight to the top and get a big fish on your first attempt.  Good for you if you can.  But what you’re looking for in your first few times, especially when you’re looking to get some clients under your belt and get the experience to land bigger clients, is to get something done.  No matter how big or how small, get something!

You might classify them as throw-away clients, ones you “throw away” once you’re done with them, because they’ll have served their purpose.  Typically these type of clients won’t have a lot of money to pay you, and they’ll be looking to give you a big percentage of the takings.  But usually, nothing or very little up front.

Take these with the mindset that you’re using them to learn from.

Make sure you treat them as you would a big fish, as they’re testimonial could be the thing that gets you those bigger clients.  Keep them sweet and it’ll pay off for you.

You could even approach them by saying that you’re going to work totally on commission for the launch.  Tell them that you’ll only take money when they make money. You assume all the risk (a “risk reversal” strategy) so that it’s in their favour.

This is a dangerous strategy financially, but to keep it in your favour, I would do a number of things…

Once you get an agreement that the “client” wants to do an online product launch, get them to sign a contract saying as such.  In the agreement, put a clause that says that if THEY don’t go ahead with the Product Launch, they pay you $XXX for your time and effort.  If THEY don’t follow what you say to the letter and it goes wrong, then they pay you $XXX.  Put it in such a way that if they back out, they pay you.  This puts skin in the game for them to follow through and for both of you to make money.

Now, if you can get a retainer from them from the beginning, great.  Take it!  You have done well.

When you get the client, work with them, do the best job you can, as if they were a big fish, because, for now, they are your Big Fish!

So, write your list of 100 people or more, and then approach them.

Now, I know we can’t foresee everything that’s going to happen, but one thing you can do is to make sure that all your integrations are correct and that everything that is supposed to be plugged in correctly is.

When it comes to Product Launches, I’m almost on the verge of paranoid to make sure the systems work correctly.

Just today, I was integrating an Affiliate Software with WishList Member using PayPal on a site.  When I changed the price of the product from the test price to the normal price, I found that PayPal lost come code in the settings I had put in.  Now, if I had left it, any affiliate sales wouldn’t have happened, and also, the person buying the product wouldn’t have ended up the right place.

So, 2 major possible issues:

1. Customer doesn’t get the product they were supposed to (major Customer Service headaches and not a great way to start a relationship with them), and
2. Major catastrophe for client with Affiliates, as they would not get credited for the sale, and would possibly get customer complaints from the people they send to the site – so major relationship problems with them too…

Major issues could have happened, but through checking and checking, I overcome that.

I’m never really satisfied until many sales have been made and everything is working fine.  I want to nib any problems in the bud as quickly as possible (preferably before anything happens!) or before any major issues happen, especially if there’s a large amount of traffic being sent to the site, that may never be sent again, as in the case of an affiliate.

So, test your systems again and again and again.  Do some sales, make sure that your affiliate tracking is working and do another check just for good measure.

New Online Product Launches can be stressful enough without having to put out fires that could have been overted.

If you would like me to have a look at your systems, or even set them up, just contact me through the Contact page above and I’ll be more than happy to give you a quote and support it for you during your Product Launch.

But not all the time…

I was involved in a new product launch a few months ago, and it opened my eyes as to what can happen if you have the wrong Mindset for your Product Launch.

The client in question came from the totally wrong angle and this totally destroyed the launch. Yes, they did make some money, but by making this one mistake, they left more money on the table than they could make no matter how many times they launched!

The reason they didn’t do anywhere near as they could have is because they were Desperate!

They entered into the launch with huge desperation. They needed the money from the launch, and they needed it badly. They wanted the money yesterday, and because of such, their heads weren’t thinking straight and they made very bad decisions.

They allowed their customers to dictate to them what they wanted to do, and because they were looking for every penny they could get, they accepted it, even though I told them that those customers were not good for them, and that they’d never get all the money anyway.

They said I was negative, etc, but it didn’t change the fact that shortly after the launch, those people didn’t pay what was owed, and the client never saw them ever again…

So, when you’re going into your new online Product Launch, make sure you have an air of abundance, that your launch will go the way you want it, and that you get the paying customers that are right for you. Letting your customers dictate what they’re going to pay you is a big NO NO and allowing them to control you is a huge recipe for disaster.

I’d love to know what you think of this post. Let me know in the box below!

Well, I have to tell you now, it’s all part of the course!

People opting out of you list is expected. Your products are not for everyone, as much as you would like them to be. Not everyone on your list is right for you, again, as much as you would like them to be! It’s a fact of life and something we’ve got to deal with.

When I see emails from people saying that they’re leaving because they’re getting to many emails, or they’re not getting “valuable content” (one I have to laugh at time and time again!) it’s always from those people who either have never bought (and were never going to buy) or they were very high maintenance. These people sap your energy and expect everything for nothing.

So when I see their emails saying they’re angry at getting too many emails, I happily let them know that there is an opt out link at the bottom of every email they receive and they can leave the list at any time they choose.

More often than not, I opt them out just to save the hassle of receiving another email from them!

Let people go off your list, because they’re only going to take up your energy anyway! They cost you valuable time and money, and are highly unlikely going to spend any money with you. Let them go and you’ll be much happier for it!

You’re bringing in more customers during your online product launches, so focus on them as they’re paying you for your time. Don’t waste time on people who will rob you of it and give nothing in return.

Try it for yourself and let me know how you get on in the cool comments box below.

Many people feel that they don’t want to bombard people with emails every single day.  That’s ok.  In my previous article (Is Your Online Product Launch At Risk) I give you reasons why you should be communicating regularly with your prospects and customers so you’re creating a dialogue with them, rather than “shouting” to them once a month.

In this article I wanted to cover what to send them, when you’re communicating two or three times a week.

First thing you have to be sending them is valuable content. Without this, you won’t have anyone to email to!  Make sure you’re sending valuable content every week, preferable twice a week. Even if you send a Newsletter once a month, or even once a week, send them extra content on a weekly basis so you’re creating that dialogue with them.

If you’re using video, great.  Send them to a video on your blog or website and get them to comment on it.  Ask them a question in the video and get them to do something, either comment or send you an email – some sort of action that they can take so you create interaction with them.

You can ask them to give their opinion on a poll, or something like that.  People value being asked their opinion, so utilise this in your emails and marketing.

If you have a product the complements the information you’re sending in your emails, then sell it to them.  You don’t have to be in their face about it, but you can just say:

If you would like another 23 ways you can increase X in your business/life/relationship, then go to www.yoursite.com right now and get your copy of YOUR PRODUCT.

Also send out an email that is just a sales email.  Give them a great offer in your email and send them to your website to buy.  Give them direct instructions to buy your product.  Don’t get them to do anything else, except buy.

Sell to your prospects.  That’s how they become your customers, and how you make a living. Don’t be afraid to ask people for money, or to promote yourself to your list. It’s by being afraid that your business will fail.  If your list expects everything for nothing, they’ll never pay you, especially during your launch.

If 1 in 10 of your emails is a Sales Email, and the other 9 are content emails, with maybe a link to a product, then they’re going to stay on your list, and eventually buy.  If they do opt out of your list, then they were never going to buy anyway and you’re better off without them!

Let me know what success you get with this strategy.  I’d love to hear about it.  Go ahead and let me know below.

In the last article, we left off at sending your customers an unadvertised bonus of value at around day 32/33 after they purchased, if you were going with a 30 Day Guarantee/Refund Period.

Now, what you can do, is tweak this last step a little and by adding 2 simple steps you can not only get some raving testimonials from people (even from people who don’t normally give testimonials) and also increase your list!

The changes happen in the last email that you send out about your last unadvertised bonus.

Instead of sending them directly to the bonus, send them a survey page that has some key questions, that when answered will give you some great testimonials.

In the last email, you can say:

“Hey, I/we value you so much and we are very grateful you have bought out product X.  What I/we would like to do is give you yet another great bonus if you would take just a few short minutes and give us some feedback about the product.

Just click on the link below and you’ll be brought to a short survey, and once you’ve filled it in, you’ll get access to this other bonus Y.

Thanks again for joining me/us in X, I/we really do look forward to getting your valuable feedback and sending you another free bonus, totally on me/us.  Once you fill out the short survey, you’ll be immediately brought to the download page where you get instant access to this extra bonus, valued at $XX.00.”

Then you can send them to Survey Monkey, or some other survey site, or create one on your own site if you have someone who can do that for you, and once they fill in the survey, they will get access to the extra bonus you have for them.

Now, another bit of magic happens when you send them to the download page…

There, set up a Tell-A-Friend script and offer them yet another valuable bonus for telling their friends about your product, or a free give-away or something of value.  This way you can build your list with your existing customer’s contacts.

Once they send the information to their friends, you give them the extra extra bonus!

So, this is how not only can you keep more customers after your Product Launches, but you can also build your list for when your product re-launches and you can market to the new people on your list.

Let me know how this goes for you, and the successes you have with it.  Let me know below.

The money’s rolling into your bank, your JV’s have made loads of money, you’ve made loads of money, and you’re the talk of the marketplace. So what next? How do you make sure you keep you customers once they’ve bought?

Well, as it happens, there are a number of things you can do to have your “stick rate” as high as possible.

The best way that I’ve come across to have your customers stick with you is by giving an unadvertised bonus strategically throughout the guarantee period of your product.

Let me explain…

If you have a Guarantee Period (or Refund Period) of 30 days, then what you would do is to send them an unadvertised bonus on day 11 or 12. As with any bonus you offer, this has to be of value to the customer, and complements the product. There would be no point in sending a bonus of Women’s Fashion Tips if your product is for Internet Marketing or even Golf!

So, first thing is to send them something they want that’s of value.

When you send them the unadvertised bonus, let them know that you’re going to send them another gift in about 10 or 11 days or so, just to say thank you for being a loyal customer.

What you’re doing is building up reciprocity and increasing their appreciation of you and the justification of their purchase.

Then 10 or 11 days after you send the first unadvertised bonus, send them the other bonus. As like before, make sure it’s something that goes with the product they purchased and is of high perceived value.

It’s best to give them something of your own, or something you make your own. Giving them something that’s free from someone else if they opt in on their site isn’t of real value. Give them something of yours that will enhance their consumption of the product they have purchased.

Now, this will be about day 22/23 or so. As before, let them know that you’ll be sending them something else in about another 10 or 11 days.

This is strategically so, because this will be outside the Refund Period. Give them a hint as to what it is you’ll be sending them which will peak their curiosity and will also make them want to stay even more, just to get this unadvertised bonus.

So make sure this bonus is sent to them after the 30 Day Period, and you’ll increase your stick rate dramatically.

In my next article (Keep Your Customers After Your Online Product Launches PtII) I’ll show you how you can get your customers to give you great testimonials willingly after your Product Launch without much persuasion at all.

If you list this post, bookmark it and/or feel free to share with with those who you think it would be interested in it.

This is usually the easiest way to get JV Partners. Since you already have a “relationship” with them, it’s typically much easier to get them on board to promote you during a Product Launch. The better the relationship you have with them, the greater your chance of them promoting your product a lot during the launch. Typically, the less of a relationship you have, the less likely they’ll be motivated to promote.

This isn’t always the case, as some people who you don’t have much of a relationship with might be just good marketers and may just be looking to promote something to their list that complements what they do.

Call them by phone rather than emailing them. A personal call always goes much further than an email, unless they’re your buddy and you can get away with it. The less of a relationship you have, the more personal you need to make that initial contact.

2. Make a list of the people who are in your market that you don’t personally know.

List all the people who you know in your market, but don’t have a “relationship” with. These could be people who have products that you bought, or people you know bought. They could be the top people in your market, if you’re not one of them. Make a list of everyone you can think of here, that’s not on the list above.

Once you have your list, go to their websites and find their contact information. Find a direct number if you can and personally call them. Don’t ask them to promote you product straight away. This is the biggest mistake you can make to turn them off you, no matter how good your product is.

Ask to see if you can help them in some way. If they have products that you can promote to your list, do that. If you sell a number of their product(s) you automatically get on their radar.

By joining their affiliate program, you can connect with them directly, or with an Affiliate Manager. If you build a relationship with them, they can give you information that can help get your products promoted easier.

Also, if you are a customer of theirs, if you have great results with their product(s) and you give them a great testimonial, that will also get you on their radar.

3. Ask other people in your market if there is someone missing from your list.

Ask the people that you know if there is someone that’s not on the list that should be. Sometimes another pair of eyes can help a lot.

Depending on what category they’re in, follow the steps above.

4. Existing Customers

Existing customers are a great source of JV’s. They’re great because they typically will have had a great experience with you and know first hand how good your product is.
You can email your list and find out if anyone is interested in promoting your products. You generally can send them to your Affiliate Signup page and they’ll be on board there.

A personal call, or at least a personal email from you saying thank you will definitely help to motivate them to promote you.

5. Go to ClickBank and search for people/products in your market/niche.

Find the people who are selling products in your market on CB. If they’re not on your list, add them and proceed as in Step 2.

6. Search on Facebook & Twitter for people who are in your market.

As with ClickBank, you may be able to find people in your market on Facebook. One thing here, the number of people who they are “friends” with or are following them does not make for a list. Always presume that the numbers they have on Social Media is a big fat ZERO!

My belief is that unless they’re on a list or that the majority of people following them are customers, then the numbers here are not of much use to you. Make sure they have a list, and not just “friends” or “followers” on Facebook or Twitter.

If they have sold or are currently selling products in your market, and they have big followings on Social Media, then they’re a hot prospect to approach.

Approach them as in Step #2, unless you know them personally.

7. Search on Google for products/services/people in your market to find more people.

Search for products in your market to see if you have got everyone on your list. You may find products from people who you’ve never heard of, especially if they’re in another country.

As in Step #2, approach them, join their Affiliate Program, and build a relationship with them. Make a personal call to them and have a good relationship before you ask them to promote you.

8. Search for JV Networks in your marketplace.

Search on Google for Your Market + Joint Venture Network, or Your Market + Affiliate Network, or Your Market + JV Network, and see what comes up.

If there are not many results, then take off “Network” from the search and see if you get more results.

You may find sites with Affiliate Programs. If so, then sign up to them and see what comes up. This will give you another level of access to them to promote your products.

9. Attend live/networking events in your market.

Live events are typically the best source for finding partners. It’s here that you can build a relationship with people, whether it’s in the room, over lunch or over a beer. You can then get agreement from them to promote your stuff.

As in Step #2, ask what you can do for them. You never know what they’re looking for at that moment, and you may have a connection that they may be looking for. Build up the reciprocity with them first so that they’re more willing to promote your product(s).