Kinda wrong

I had to post this. In my last post I wrote, "I am fairly certain that there is not one sales page out there that will tell you to not buy the product unless you have so much experience." Now that is true of the programs I have reviewed. This morning I was checking emails and I got a link to a program Ed Dale is launching. As I read through his pitch page here is what I found:

...Getting serious for a second — if you have never done anything online and you're just starting out, DON'T SIGN UP — the Immediate Edge is not for you. Go take the Thirty Day Challenge. You'll have no risk, it won't cost you a cent and it's a proven system that has gotten thousands of people started on the path to replacing their day job with a real live Internet Business.

So I was wrong there are some marketers that are real teachers as well. Some may try to use this type of language as some kind of reverse psychology on prospects with the end goal to prod them on to buy. But I think this is genuine. I don't think that is the case here. Ed's 30 day challenge is a great program for anyone getting started...it is free and the only income I think Ed's team makes is if some of the students buy products he endorses in the course. OK, by me if they work!

So kudos to Ed.



....still think the page is too long :)

Internet Marketing Systems: Truth or Scam?

Over the past 6 months I have either joined a trial period or bought 8 marketing programs. Each program was presented through a very long and drawn out squeeze page (another term for a sales page). For those of you who are regular readers you know my views on such pages: The more bull on a page the bigger the fool. A good and valuable product can be presented in a few paragraphs. After that the marketer is just trying to baffle you with bull.

Back to the topic at hand. These sales pages had common elements (see if they don't sound familiar), they include but are not limited to:

• Never before revealed secrets
• Rag to riches or a 'I'm-just-like-you' story
  
• You will make $X,000 or $XX,000 per month
• Easy, no work, 15 minutes a day etc
• Proven system
• Testimonials galore
  
• I should be selling this for $1997...but for a limited time only
  

And the list goes on and on.

So what I have learned from looking at these programs?

1. Most of the marketers are making money but they are NOT making money delivering value for the majority of their students. Why do I think that? Because so many of the folks I talk to at events, seminars, online etc all share about the same experience-some good info but limited productive content. I have looked at so many programs I am almost to the point of thinking that most of these people throw together garbage and then start selling each others products to their lists. God help the people on those lists.

I have seen the statistic battered around that only about 3% of those people trying to start a business online succeed. I don't think the failure rate in these programs is that high but its not even a 50/50 success rate either. I think what follows below, in part, may explain why. (Disclaimer: this is not an exhaustive study. One reason is because when I emailed the marketers only 2 responded and neither wished to share this information. One could speculate it's because they don't know or they know the numbers are low. Also I recognize its not a statistically significant pool of participants...so take it with a grain of salt. My goal here is to cast some light on the practices of some unscrupulous marketers). In my ebook and newsletter "Don't Scam Us" I devote a chapter to identifying red flags since it is impossible to identify every scamster online.

2. 7 out of the 8 courses were either videos (from interviews or seminars)or rehashed PDFs (readily available content found elsewhere-note ok to be basic IF good instructional material is added for clarity) and private label right material. Now some of this content was interesting but anyone subscribing to the program or buying then system would not get what the sales page advertised. Most entrepreneurs will cut their own path at some point but when it comes to training they want clear direction and deliverables. Much of the content I reviewed provided neither. One program by Holly Mann did offer a very comprehensive how-to get started course that is straight forward, no bells and whistles-it was precise, complete with clear explanations.

3. Though coaching was emphasized none had a true customer experience process in place. All emails were from a no-reply account so there was no way to reply, ask questions or get more information. You were on your own. There were no phone numbers to reach people. Several had 800 numbers in the membership site but most went to a message recorder. Of the messages left (about 10) I got 1 call back. And that was an upsell call and not an answer to the question I had left.

Just a word on customer experience, like corporate America, internet marketers who want to succeed will figure out this is a must for their businesses. Customer Experience is not service! It is a business process that helps customers succeed so that they buy more and refer people to the business. So contrary to what I have heard at some business development seminars it is an avenue to more revenue not a detour away from cash flow.

Why is there so little attention given to customer experience? I can think of several reasons but suffice it to say that the root cause is a preoccupation with making money by any means available to them. On one site there is actually a video presentation where the speaker downplays customer experience and in the same context talks about several marketers he knows that have been shut down for violating FTC laws. Hello? Where is the integrity? Besides breaking the law its clear that the road to FTC trouble was paved with customers that were abused and misled.

4. Most programs were sold for $77-$150 and the subscriptions were $67 to $97 per month. Based on what I have seen so far I would never consider buying a course for several hundred dollars or more--there are just too many horror stories about bogus programs. Any program possibly worth such a price better provide more detail than what is offered in these ridiculously long pitch pages. I digress....

In all these programs there was not one tip, secret, or technique that could not be found elsewhere for free. The only tangible value with these courses was that someone had organized some information for you already. That's it! And that is ok if you know that going into it. If you have access to a user group, another marketer with experience, other marketers with which you can form a mastermind group, then you can discover 99% of what these big name marketers are selling online. My take-away was that only one or two courses were a true course. The others packaged articles and videos of rehashed information. Seeing the information offered I can understand why consumers move on to what hopefully will be a course that meets there needs. I would like to hear from you if you have bought a course and what you thought of it. My email address is above in the blog header.

5. I have collected nearly 1000 emails from these marketers I signed up with. There was no follow up to the material or inquiry about my satisfaction (remember the sales page sold personal attention--had that not been pitched this would not matter). All the emails (yes, all) that followed were pitches to buy more stuff. Even though you were supposedly on the inside they still pitched products with little to no substantive detail. You had to pay up...now! but they did offer a refund.

Back to quality of help. I asked my wife, who has no internet marketing experience, to go through some of the training and contact the sponsor with any questions she had. Most of her questions were, as you'd expect, basic and most of the answers were half backed. It was clear the the information was all she was getting and beyond that she was on her own. I am fairly certain that there is not one sales page out there that will tell you to not buy the product unless you have so much experience. All of these programs produced no results unless you know how to drive traffic to your site and that is another critically important caveat to success that none of the sales pages let you know about. While on the topic of representations, beware of "review" sites. If a "review" site is not giving details then it is most likely an affiliate trying to sell the product. I recommend you pass.

6. All 8 courses offered guarantees,cancellation and promises of integrity and no spamming.

Let's take spamming first. On seven of the sales pages I used a first name that was joined with partial name of the program. For example, Bobintblueprnt or SueprgXYZ etc. This way I could associate a salutation name with the program it should come from. Within in two weeks I received emails using that program's specific name from other marketers. So much for no spamming.

A word of caution here. Please do not take my meaning to be all marketers act this way--not at all. Just be aware that it happens and in this little test case it happened most of the time. So be aware and use caution if you want to protect certain emails accounts. I would recommend one gmail account to handle all your trials and subscriptions.

Now lets talk about charges and cancellations. With 3 of the 8 I had a very simple online process to go through and with others I had some hoops to jump through. Two programs tried to make charges against my account during the trial period and after I canceled. The Delta Squadron cancellation process is to open a trouble ticket. I opened the trouble ticket and received an email with a video link. The video extolled the benefits of the program (np--its ok for him to like it) but after a while I closed it. I was looking fro cancellation information not a pitch to stay. I received an email acknowledging my cancellation trouble ticket. What I did not know is that to really cancel (asking was not enough) I had to listen to the entire video to get directed to a web page. That is a highly questionable process.

In the mean time Delta Squadron tried to charge $97- that was rejected- and then, very interestingly, they tried a few minutes later to run $37 through-that was rejected. Thank goodness for Bank of America's safeshop program. To Mike's credit when I followed up I got another email explaining the video and assuring me there would be no more charges. Its been almost two weeks no more charges. I don't know what it would have been like to try to get my money back. I suspect they would have stood on the technicality that I did not jump through the appropriate hoops to cancel. Mike Filsaime.com also tried to process a charge I did not know about it. I made a copy of the sales page so unless it was in some small print it was not authorized (it happens and it too is a shady practice). When I learned about this charge I canceled because such behavior is unacceptable.

If you speak to your credit card company they will tell you that it is a common complaint from people that online businesses try to harvest credit card numbers, have spotty or questionable cancellation practices and try to run through charges. You can learn more about such situations on ripoff and scam watch sites that report on these problems.

Mike Filsaime's cancellation process is straight forward. You call a phone number and then get directed to cancelmetoday.com. I don't know why they do not direct you to the cancellation site right away. At the site you have to fill out some user name and password information or the last 4 digits of your credit card and the cancellation process goes through. As of this posting I cannot tell you that it has been completed without a snag.

So my conclusion is as follows. Do not buy a course unless you get some solid information about what you are going to receive. Disregard 99% of what you read on the sales page. Be certain you have protected your credit card. I hope you never use a debit card!!! For more information on what to look for in a good program read my earlier posting on internet marketing courses: Mike Filsaime et al. What to look for in an internet marketing course

Mike Filsaime et al. What to look for in an internet marketing course

Hey folks I am trying out an offer from Mike Filsaime. Clearly this is a guy that has made a lot of money selling information products. I don't know if he has businesses that sell consumer products or if he is just selling courses to teach people how to sell his courses online.

When I entered the site Mike greets you with a very clear and concise video on how to cancel. Some may question this but thinking people who don't like to waste time will be grateful for his direct and candid approach. The trial offer is very limited IMHO. So far I have not come across anything that makes you say, "wow!, that's new".

Much of the material is rehashed (maybe too strong a word) from calls or seminars and there are some good FYI nuggets in there if you are patient to listen all the way through. One thing you will notice is Mike is always selling--kudos to Mike that is why he is so wealthy. He has upgrades, new courses and even in the forum they are linking you to other programs they are promoting. Personally I did not like that. But you can't fault a salesman for selling.

If the purpose of the trial is to show you the benefit of his program then so far its not cutting the mustard. In several sections I get a message I'm not allowed to view that content. It would have been helpful if trial users could get a feel for all the various content sections.

I have more to look at and I will keep you posted. At this point, unless I see something in the newsletter or new information online, I am reporting that this is not a value at $97 or maybe even $47 per month. I'll let you know.

This afternoon I signed up for Eben Pagan webinar on 10 online businesses you can start NOW. When you sign up for these offers you know the sale is coming--that's fine. What I will be looking for, and reporting back back to you on, is whether or not he provided any actionable value other than to buy his course. Like dozens of other marketers he too wants to charge you $97 per month to learn what he has to offer.

For those of you who have been reading this blog or have seen my articles elsewhere I am a customer advocate. When customer experience is done right it's ALWAYS a win-win situation. What I don't like to see is marketers that are really snake oil salesman. I think in the area fo internet marketing 'How-to' courses you have to be careful. There are some great mentors out there that have their heart in the right place and there are others that are all about making the money at any cost. Those folks need to be exposed and avoided.


Here is what I think you should be looking for before buying into any course or subscription service:

1. Does the material meet my needs for where I am today? In other words we all start businesses with different skill sets and abilities. My wife bought a course that did not have one new idea in it BUT it was valuable to her because it was written in a very clear and thorough manner that helped her understand the concepts and was delivered without a bunch of hyperbole or Internet marketing jargon. So the lesson is make sure the program is going to teach you in a way that lets you learn and put it into practice. It does you no good if a very successful marketer talks over your head.

2. Does the program give you the tools to grow? No one wants to be a newbie for long. We all want to move on and run profitable business. If you select someone to teach you make sure they are in it to do just that. They are entitled to make a buck but they need to make a honest buck providing real value. So many snake oil salesman out there made some cash selling some program or scam online and then declared themselves to be a teacher. Rubbish...they made up a recording and wrote some notes and then claim that if you buy their course you too will make millions. They could no more teach than fly to the moon. Take the time to look at what they offer and ask yourself if the program is more about making them money or teaching you how to succeed?

3. Ezine articles tries to make sure that authors don't submit articles that are nothing more than warmed over thoughts and ideas from someone else. You should make sure of the same when you pick a course. Are you seeing creative, well thought out plans and ideas? Or, are you seeing the same 'ol stuff you have seen all over the Internet. Like I mentioned above its ok to offer the basics just so long as the marketer does not over hype and delivers values to the students. A rehash of some phone call does not meet that standard.

4. Lastly, do you have access to people that can answer questions? This is not a trouble ticket system. This means does the marketer or someone on staff make themselves available to answer questions. Many try to offer help by offering a forum. Not the something. Forums are great but they cannot replace that personal interaction when you hit an obstacle. One last word on this...no one can be at the beckon call all the time so don't expect it--that's unreasonable. What you should expect is that the program has a protocol for getting you one-on-one help. It could be a monthly call with two-way interaction, chat or some interactive media. But a course that just offers some articles and video and says, "Good luck" should not be a serious consideration for your hard earned money.

Hope this helps.