"Guru" selling secrets

13 replies
i`m wondering what is behind those guru`s over clickbank, or other affiliate programs, how they are able to make thousands of sales... the way i`m looking, all the product presentation look the same. there is someting behind each product? does the author need to make some deals with the biggest affiliates out there, in order to promote his product?
#guru #secrets #selling
  • Profile picture of the author owenlee
    I guess their emailing list is really large...once they have a product, they just promote it and people will buy it...they should have a strong relationship with their readers and this boast their sales too...
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  • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
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    They have a large following, a large list, a lot of JV relationships, and a lot of affiliates who want to promote their products.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ed Micah
    I guess Szanne is right, they have a large list of JVs with good relationships that wants to promote their products!
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  • Profile picture of the author Daniel Wilson
    JV is really important. If someone with 100k subscribers has 10 friends with the same amount subs that will send out his product he'll get at least a few 1000s sales.
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  • Profile picture of the author barbling
    The large list and the JVs definitely are the main reasons.

    2 other reasons are the:

    1.) Followup marketing included in customer care thank you letters
    2.) Affiliate links added into pdfs

    #2 especially gives me long-term residual income from all of the products I myself creation.
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  • Profile picture of the author CDarklock
    Originally Posted by ddDonPaul View Post

    how they are able to make thousands of sales... the way i`m looking, all the product presentation look the same.
    It works like this.

    You make a product that doesn't suck.

    A person looking for products that don't suck finds it.

    He mails it to his list and says "hey, this doesn't suck."

    Because his list trusts him, they buy the product.

    You make another product that doesn't suck, and he looks at it because the last product you made didn't suck.

    He finds that you have once again made a product that doesn't suck, and mails for the new product.

    Now he goes to some of his friends and says "hey, this guy's products don't suck."

    His friends look at your products and say "damn, they really don't suck."

    Now they're mailing for your products.

    And after a couple more products, they start telling their friends.

    Most of the really good affiliates are looking for products that don't suck.

    These products are hard to find, so if you start making them, they will find you and word will spread.

    Everyone wants to think there is some kind of secret or conspiracy, but there's really not. Nobody is hiding the good products in some secret stash. The number of good products is small enough, and the market for them large enough, that whenever one comes out people pass the word around as much as possible.

    The secret to lots of sales is just to make a damn fine product and get a few influential eyeballs on it to confirm that it's a damn fine product.
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    • Profile picture of the author travlinguy
      Originally Posted by CDarklock View Post

      It works like this.

      You make a product that doesn't suck.

      A person looking for products that don't suck finds it.

      He mails it to his list and says "hey, this doesn't suck."

      Because his list trusts him, they buy the product.

      You make another product that doesn't suck, and he looks at it because the last product you made didn't suck.

      He finds that you have once again made a product that doesn't suck, and mails for the new product.

      Now he goes to some of his friends and says "hey, this guy's products don't suck."

      His friends look at your products and say "damn, they really don't suck."

      Now they're mailing for your products.

      And after a couple more products, they start telling their friends.

      Most of the really good affiliates are looking for products that don't suck.

      These products are hard to find, so if you start making them, they will find you and word will spread.

      Everyone wants to think there is some kind of secret or conspiracy, but there's really not. Nobody is hiding the good products in some secret stash. The number of good products is small enough, and the market for them large enough, that whenever one comes out people pass the word around as much as possible.

      The secret to lots of sales is just to make a damn fine product and get a few influential eyeballs on it to confirm that it's a damn fine product.
      Ahhh... This is actually a blueprint for capitalism itself, not just Clickbank success. Though in reality I think it's a bit on the idealistic side.

      Here's another more cynical scenario. A few influential people (with substantial mailing lists) get together for a brainstorming session. The main questions they address in this session are:

      What's the herd buying these days? What's hot?

      These questions aren't hard to answer. In fact, one could almost do all of his or her market research on this very board in the WSO section. Another place to look for hot selling products would be Clickbank itself. Either way, it's not hard to determine what people are currently buying.

      Anyway, these influential people (I frown on the nebulous term, Guru) decide what's hot and decide to create a product to capitalize on existing momentum. In other words, what the herd is already buying. It's my opinion that in many such launches quality, or "a product that doesn't suck" is secondary to a product that has a lot of sizzle and existing buzz around the hot niche itself.

      Then they go about putting a launch together. It's interesting to know what their priorities are for the launch. Here's a rough idea of what's important for a "successful" launch:
      • A Really Slick Sales Site (often loaded with pics of bikini babes, fast cars and swirling cash in the atmosphere)
      • Really Slick Product Packaging Graphics
      • A Really Slick Sales Letter Loaded With Earnings Proof And Testimonials From Influential Marketers
      • A Really Generous JV Commission Structure With HUGE Bonus Incentives
      • Lots Of Pre-Launch JV eMail Flying About Pumping First, The Pre-Launch And Then, The Launch Itself (These eMails often point to sites where you can get launch information and see a nifty little digital countdown clock ticking away toward the launch date, right down to the actual microsecond)
      • A Product Designed To Meet The "What's Hot?" Question
      It's interesting to note that if the product has been created simply to piggyback on existing momentum and not provide a lot in the way of actual value, there will be a massive number of refunds. But still, a lot of spaghetti (or baloney) will stick to the wall. Enough, at least to make this all worth the effort.

      And if the product actually "doesn't suck" or to put it another way, if it's one of real quality offering real value, then the launch is likely to be a screaming success (with the viral effect as noted by CD above kicks in about an actual product that doesn't suck) with relatively few refunds.


      And products that are created to address real needs and provide true value often become evergreen, with reputations that live for a long time in the marketing community. I wish there were more of them.
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  • Profile picture of the author joseph despariak
    Don,

    Most of the 'gurus' have built a long term business making constant contacts and sharing lists with other affiliates. There really is no secret to making money!

    Secrets are nothing more than undiscovered knowledge or in your face common sense.

    Nevertheless, I wrote an ebook and in one year, sold more than 1500 copies (@ $34) without a list, without affiliates and without a JV. Sure I may have sold a lot more with help from others, however, I did not know any affiliates or JVs or have a list at the time.

    Since then I have built a list of over 2500 pre-qualified and targeted contacts that I can upsell to.

    The method I use to promote my eBook is through articles, feeder blogs and posting information and tips to networks in my niche.

    Suffice it to say, I am proof that promoting your own eBook through proven methods of article marketing is a top notch strategy.

    However, as stated by CDarklock, you want to have a "damn fine product". One that does not merely rehash the same strategy or knowledge, rather, give new insight or strategy or an alternative approach in your niche.

    My advice to you is to not look for the secrets of the gurus, rather, examine your niche, find out what it is you can do to further that niche or product and consider marketing your own product that might reveal a new method or strategy. Be creative and write your own ebook about the niche and potentially grow a good income from your efforts.

    Hope this helps,
    Joe
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  • Profile picture of the author Willie Crawford
    In addition to what has already been said about joint ventures,
    I'd say that you need to focus on actually building real relationships.

    We all like helping out friends, especially if we know that they will
    reciprocate when we ask.

    It's a simple as that.

    The super affiliates who can drive a lot of traffic DO realize that
    if they promote garbage to their lists, they soon won't have a list,
    so the ones who really care, will only promote a quality product
    that they know that their customers will be happy that they told
    them about even a year from now.

    Make your product that type of product and large list owners will
    actually seek you out.

    Willie
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    • Profile picture of the author celente
      Originally Posted by Willie Crawford View Post

      In addition to what has already been said about joint ventures,
      I'd say that you need to focus on actually building real relationships.

      We all like helping out friends, especially if we know that they will
      reciprocate when we ask.

      It's a simple as that.

      The super affiliates who can drive a lot of traffic DO realize that
      if they promote garbage to their lists, they soon won't have a list,
      so the ones who really care, will only promote a quality product
      that they know that their customers will be happy that they told
      them about even a year from now.

      Make your product that type of product and large list owners will
      actually seek you out.

      Willie
      Willie has summed it up perfectly yet again

      It is not really about having a big list, but that does help...the real power comes with the relationship with your list.

      There are gurus with say lists of 10k lists that do better than those guru dummies that have a list of 500k that spam stuff out everyday thinking they will make a killing.

      Now if you can put 10 of these people in your list, the ones with the 10k responsive lists, then you can really leverage some big $$$ into your bank account fast.

      But it does come down to product quality too. Alot of the really good high quality products on clickbank do well, because well....they are just good and do help people.
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  • Profile picture of the author Andyhenry
    Amen to what Willie said.

    If you just go look at someone's product in a marketplace and think you can tell how well it sells or why then you're deluded.

    Many people's sales come from their relationships and their sales page is just a tiny element of the process.

    I have some sales pages with nothing but a buy button.

    Your sales page can suck but if someone loves the product and tells a lot of people "the sales page is terrible but the product is amazing - just go buy it!" then your sales page is largely irrelevant.

    It's much more important for customers that have not been pre-sold.

    But most successful marketers are not getting most of their sales from random people who have not been introduced to some part of the sales funnel.

    Don't look at the sales page - look at the product owner and the pre-sales process.

    Andy
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    nothing to see here.

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  • Profile picture of the author lassekn
    And a good method is twitter you can make alot off money there
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  • Profile picture of the author ddDonPaul
    so i understand from all these opinions that it doesn`t matter if you don`t havea big email list, or friends with big email lists... as long as you make a quality product that people will actually think that is helpfull, the affiliates will promote it from clickbank or another affiliate program.
    let`s assuming that i will create the top converting product, with valuable, quality informations, no lies, no bs, something that will actually help people... i don`t have any email list or any friends. i will add my product to clickbank, wso, digiresults and other affiliate programs. the affiliates will promote my product???
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