Are You Falling For This...?

24 replies
You know this one thing has always intrigued me, ever since I got into the IM niche and began making money online.

What is that one thing you ask? Well it is this. Anytime you land on a sales letter, especially in the IM/make money niche, the one thing they all have in common is, they're selling the END results.

If you look and read through, or watch any video, from any sales letter or product launch of any make money product, you will always see the gurus selling their results.

What do I mean by that? Well, when you see that this new shiny product will make you six figures in 60 days, as it has for countless others in the testimonials, then you usually get all pumped up and it looks like a killer product and you jump in a drop $2000 to buy it.

Then what happens next? Usually most people who buy IM products, like 90%, never take any action at all.

The other 10% who buy and actually take action, well they soon discover that, ummm, making six figures in 60 days, well that is a little bit of a stretch.

Why is this?

Well it's because, the gurus and product creators know how to write copy and create compelling stories that get you to buy stuff. Most of these gurus who make money, sell make money online products.

But moreover, these guys are selling the end result of years and years and tons of money and tons of testing, that after all that, they're now making six figures in 60 days. And now they can send out an email to their giant list and generate a fortune with sending out 1 email.

So the gurus sell those "make money fast" products, because it makes you get all warm and fuzzy inside, and you get all excited and you want to hit that buy button now.

The big problem though, is that of those 10% who do take action, well they quickly discover that it takes a ton of work, money, time and massive daily action to achieve the hyped up results they claim in their sales letters.

Most newbies or wannabees who buy these IM products fall for this hype, hook line and sinker. That's why there is so much money in this niche.

If you were to say instead on your sales page, that it is gonna take alot of time, and money and you will get frustrated and you will have to work you ass off, well do you think anyone would buy?

I myself have fallen for this type of sales letter persuasion more times that I care to admit. However, I now know why these guys do this, because it works. Duh.
#falling
  • Profile picture of the author StanTman
    Well you do make money online no? Maybe some products didn't help you directly, but maybe you learned something that you used later or in other circumstances to make money.

    Some gurus just sell products to newbies to make money. They make money by telling others how to make money. Maybe it doesn't work as good as they claim, but it seems to be working nevertheless.
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    • Profile picture of the author Steve B
      Tjaysen70:

      In Internet marketing speak it's often referred to as "selling the dream" or "selling the sizzle." This approach is nothing new and not specific to the make money niche.

      Savvy marketers have been painting pictures for prospects so it's easy to insert oneself into a new lifestyle enjoying the dream without having to think of what it's going to take to get there.

      This form of marketing hits every one of us hundreds of times a day.

      - Why do exercise and diet ads always show thin and "beautiful" people?
      - Why do new car ads show the new owners having so much fun as they drive through beautiful scenery?
      - Why do match-making sites show couples finding love?

      You're not going to see any beer ads showing highway accident scenes and drunken drivers or under-aged kids "ralphing" in the gutter as they wallow in their own vomit.

      Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author WeavingThoughts
    Unless you risk it, you will never be able to reach anywhere.
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  • Profile picture of the author Michael Oksa
    People don't buy work, they buy results. That's why results are sold.

    I have seen several sales letters that mention things like:

    "It's going to take effort, but..."
    "You'll have to do work..."
    "There are no shortcuts..."

    And so on.

    The point is that even when the "gurus" mention work is involved, the buyers ignore it, gloss over it, or don't see it.

    All the best,
    Michael
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    "Ich bin en fuego!"
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    • Profile picture of the author ksmusselman
      Originally Posted by Ken_Caudill View Post

      If there are no results, that makes the product fraudulent, no?
      Not necessarily, no. A lot of people won't follow ALL of the steps in some programs or "secret formulas" and end up not getting the results that they should or could.

      Some people who buy these things already have a network of people to sell to and can get results right away.

      Some people "get on the inside" and find out that it's something they're not going to enjoy after all and so no, they won't get the results.

      But none of this means the product or the seller is fraudulent.

      Just my take on it. I've bought into quite a few programs that after I saw the seller "on the other side" I wasn't happy with what I saw. That doesn't mean I asked for a refund or bashed the program. It just meant it wasn't for me and so I knew I wouldn't get the results because I wasn't going to work the program. :rolleyes:
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    • Profile picture of the author Kal Sallam
      Originally Posted by Ken_Caudill View Post

      If there are no results, that makes the product fraudulent, no?
      Yes,Unless It's stated that there are no results
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      • Profile picture of the author professorrosado
        Products with no results or people who expect results with no work? Where is the fraud? People buy for the wrong reasons - especially here on the WF.

        In all my years on the Internet, I never expected a product to make money for me. Being a tool for making money is at best what anyone could reasonably expect. But to sit back and expect money flowing into your bank account - this is naive.

        What I don't appreciate are the customers who buy my products - granted, I do a lot of work for them - but then they pull out while I'm midway or more in preparing advanced result producing work. So even if they expect "turnkey" and "done for you" service, they don't have the patience to wait for the provider to do ALL the HARD WORK they don't know how to do or simply don't want to do for themselves.

        They may be disappointed but I'm the only one whose time was wasted with customers who simply don't deserve any results - hence they will never have any until they change their approach to making money online and their product/service expectations.
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        • Profile picture of the author professorrosado
          This is one customer out of an hundred - 1 in 100 tells the story my fellow warrior!

          But I am still remiss at the fraudulent expectations that people bring into the buy now process. It is they who have the wrong perspective, not the merchant who is selling a product.

          As a merchant, I have not "taught" the market to buy into a dream - it is the market that has insisted that merchants present "dreams" to them. Same as in politics - you want the candidate to lie to you and you believe them every election.

          However, I don't at all believe that the WF has a great many dream makers on it - but rather, there are too many dreamers dreaming the sales offer and not reading the truth of the offer. Everything requires work - and anybody that purchases an offer believing they have to do no work is dreaming.

          A done for you website does not equate to $1200 a month income. I have yet to see any offer on the WF that made me believe that there was no work involved in it - in fact no offer can exist on this forum which does not require you to at least click a button

          Again, we can water this thing down and you will have the result of the matter - watered down marketing that no one will buy - no one! The market needs to realize the truth and deal with each offer with a reasoned mind. If you don't, you'll get bit - not from the merchant, but from your own unreasoned expectations against all the great advice on this Forum and, indeed, all over the Internet.

          I have purchased many WSOs here not for the hype of the sales letter, but for the utility I glean from the demo, video and its features. Because I buy WSO's based on my need for some quality of it - not for the package in whole as an all-in-one dream fulfillment, I never expect a WSO to be everything for me - never. I expect it to be another product, software, plug-in, blueprint, etc., which shows me something or does something along the lines of what my needs (as I think them) are - but may indeed not work as I expect it to nor have the result that I need fully. How can I blame the merchant for my own expectations?

          I bought around 5 website cloners and not one of them worked for me! I never expected them to - I hoped they would, but understanding server sides I knew that no cloner could possibly be pre-adapted to every single host environment in the world - this is unreasonable. But others would be infuriated that they spent 27-47-97- etc., on a cloner that's a piece of junk! Who is lying? No one - it's just unreasoned to believe that your experience will pan out according to your expectation. I am not generalizing here, but pointing out that certain products / services fall within these parameters. Others do not and one is full within their right to complain about a widget that doesn't do what it is supposed to do functionally and reasonably - no one can debate this.

          But I allowed one developer to be honorable to his offer: Robert Plank. His cloner is just beautiful. It worked for me in the beginning, but soon totally stopped working due to server issues and php updates that Robert Plank was keeping up with, but hosts don't update immediately like that. I was a long time without cloning and I ceased to open up tickets with Robert because I knew that they did everything they could for me up to that time.

          A month or two later, I get an email from Robert to download the latest update as it should resolve my issue. I did not believe it, but I went ahead and downloaded, installed and executed a clone....it worked!

          So what I am saying is that I could have easily bad mouthed a warrior for his hyped up WSO that didn't work for me and then support was a miserable play on my expectations - but I did not. I let it go but he did not. He is a credit to this forum and the WSO system as the majority of warriors with WSOs on this forum are or could be if afforded reasonable relationships and expectations.

          If you are able to believe a warrior in his offering to you then I say let them fulfill and be understanding of realities. This is a serious platform here and some warriors take it upon themselves to trash others and the WSO forum. Warriors protect their reputations as I do, but I see how easily anyone hiding behind pseudonyms and avatars are easy to flick a whip as evidenced all over the forums here.

          I believe that a good conversation need be had for the sake of educating WSO purchasers and newbies coming to the forum. But Paul and Allen have already posted warnings and rules that, it seems, most newbies don't bother reading. Why? Because they prefer to dream than to deal with real life.

          Don't be unreasonable and wake up from your dream! See and Read the WSO with reasonable thinking. Purchase ONLY what you believe may assist you in some way toward achieving your goals or satisfying a need.

          DO NOT EXPECT to make money by DOING NOTHING. Why? 0 X 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000....... = 0 ZERO!
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          • Profile picture of the author kartherma
            Originally Posted by professorrosado View Post

            As a merchant, I have not "taught" the market to buy into a dream - it is the market that has insisted that merchants present "dreams" to them. Same as in politics - you want the candidate to lie to you and you believe them every election.

            Pure Gold!

            This is a concept with a great number of ramifications and could be the source a great study in human nature (Actually, I'm pretty sure it has been)

            Just my opinion, but it seems to me that the market's cries of 'foul' about the 'predatory marketers' are really cries indicting themselves for not having taken an honest inventory of their own efforts and dedication.

            I am not condoning predatory marketing, rather truth in advertising...But time has proven that those marketers who provide the market with what the market wants do a whole lot better in sales than those who provide what (the marketer thinks) the market needs.
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    • Profile picture of the author ProAffiliate01
      That's not necessarily true. It could be a fraud, but oftentimes it's just a matter of knowing how to market properly.
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    • Profile picture of the author tjaysen70
      Originally Posted by Michael Oksa View Post

      People don't buy work, they buy results. That's why results are sold.

      I have seen several sales letters that mention things like:

      "It's going to take effort, but..."
      "You'll have to do work..."
      "There are no shortcuts..."

      And so on.

      The point is that even when the "gurus" mention work is involved, the buyers ignore it, gloss over it, or don't see it.

      All the best,
      Michael

      True, that's a funny thing too, and I think we all understand that there is work involved to make anything get results, especially online. However, you're right, people seem to gloss over it. When I ask newbies if they took action and followed the advice that the product explains, more often I hear them say, "ummm well I'm waiting on this, or I haven't done that yet, or yeah I place a cl ad and no money rolled in so I quit"..Sheesh.
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      • Profile picture of the author Michael Oksa
        Originally Posted by Ken_Caudill View Post

        If there are no results, that makes the product fraudulent, no?
        Originally Posted by Ken_Caudill View Post

        If you sell the product knowing it will achieve few, if any, results, it's fraudulent, no?
        Those are two entirely different scenarios.

        In the first scenario, it could be the customer not following through, and that doesn't make the product fraudulent. In the

        In the second, it's most likely the seller being intentionally misleading, and that would point to fraud (unless the seller makes it clear that it's only an "idea" being sold, or fully discloses the risky nature of the offer).

        All the best,
        Michael
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  • Profile picture of the author dlane1987
    i think there is an eliment of hype but ultimately most people are out to help other people (and themselves).
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  • Profile picture of the author louie6925
    As mentioned, show me an industry that doesn't use hype to sell!!!!


    ....also, when writing a post about people using results to sell, and how the wool is being pulled over peoples eyes, its probably best not to have '10k in 30 days' in your sig!!
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  • Profile picture of the author thedanbrown
    Originally Posted by Steve B View Post

    Tjaysen70:

    In Internet marketing speak it's often referred to as "selling the dream" or "selling the sizzle." This approach is nothing new and not specific to the make money niche.

    Savvy marketers have been painting pictures for prospects so it's easy to insert oneself into a new lifestyle enjoying the dream without having to think of what it's going to take to get there.

    This form of marketing hits every one of us hundreds of times a day.

    - Why do exercise and diet ads always show thin and "beautiful" people?
    - Why do new car ads show the new owners having so much fun as they drive through beautiful scenery?
    - Why do match-making sites show couples finding love?

    You're not going to see any beer ads showing highway accident scenes and drunken drivers or under-aged kids "ralphing" in the gutter as they wallow in their own vomit.

    Steve
    This is funny because now-a-days you hear marketers say their product is all steak no sizzle. :confused:

    But, good point one of the main points of marketing is show the benefits of a product/service not its features. Consumers want to be sure they will be happy with their purchase, and seeing/visualizing the end result brings out the emotions needed to get the sale.
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  • Profile picture of the author koreancowboy
    Originally Posted by tjaysen70 View Post

    You know this one thing has always intrigued me, ever since I got into the IM niche and began making money online.

    What is that one thing you ask? Well it is this. Anytime you land on a sales letter, especially in the IM/make money niche, the one thing they all have in common is, they're selling the END results.

    If you look and read through, or watch any video, from any sales letter or product launch of any make money product, you will always see the gurus selling their results.

    What do I mean by that? Well, when you see that this new shiny product will make you six figures in 60 days, as it has for countless others in the testimonials, then you usually get all pumped up and it looks like a killer product and you jump in a drop $2000 to buy it.

    Then what happens next? Usually most people who buy IM products, like 90%, never take any action at all.

    The other 10% who buy and actually take action, well they soon discover that, ummm, making six figures in 60 days, well that is a little bit of a stretch.

    Why is this?

    Well it's because, the gurus and product creators know how to write copy and create compelling stories that get you to buy stuff. Most of these gurus who make money, sell make money online products.

    But moreover, these guys are selling the end result of years and years and tons of money and tons of testing, that after all that, they're now making six figures in 60 days. And now they can send out an email to their giant list and generate a fortune with sending out 1 email.

    So the gurus sell those "make money fast" products, because it makes you get all warm and fuzzy inside, and you get all excited and you want to hit that buy button now.

    The big problem though, is that of those 10% who do take action, well they quickly discover that it takes a ton of work, money, time and massive daily action to achieve the hyped up results they claim in their sales letters.

    Most newbies or wannabees who buy these IM products fall for this hype, hook line and sinker. That's why there is so much money in this niche.

    If you were to say instead on your sales page, that it is gonna take alot of time, and money and you will get frustrated and you will have to work you ass off, well do you think anyone would buy?

    I myself have fallen for this type of sales letter persuasion more times that I care to admit. However, I now know why these guys do this, because it works. Duh.
    This is exactly the reason why I'll never do MMO...I feel like most of those that do are preying on n00bs and what not. Even if their system works (please show me one that actually does), if they're not emphasizing the point that it takes lots of hard work and dedication over hype, then they're not adding value to the internet.

    Which is why every single one of us should be doing this to begin with...
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  • Profile picture of the author TimothyTorrents
    I also just figured this out recently. Did they make 6 figures in 1 month? Nope. It probably took them several years of hard work to eventually make 6 figures in 1 month.
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  • Profile picture of the author Chri5123
    Yes, people are falling for this...

    The sad thing is that it has little to do with IM.

    Just take a look at the shopping channels.

    The thing is that to sell you ALWAYS sell the "sizzle"!

    Look at it this way:

    I try and sell you a steak:

    "Would you like to buy this dead flesh - cook it with some onions and stick some peppercorns on it?"

    OR...

    I show you it cooking, you get to smell the onions and the sauce and you are hungry - I throw in an ice cold beer and some homemade chips...

    Both at the same thing - which is more appealing?

    Or another example:

    You want six pack abs?

    Run for 1 mile in the morning - working your way up to 5 miles in 6 months.

    Perform ab crunches and sit ups every morning as many as you can do.

    As you lose weight if you keep on going with this you will notice your abs in 6-8 weeks.

    But those ab crunching products make it look so much easier on TV right?

    The truth is you don't FALL for anything in my opinion - you simply look for ways to confirm what you think is true so nothing violates your values.

    If you can have the flexibility to change or reassess your values from time to time it doesn't hurt.

    After all there ARE people with six pack abs and there ARE people making money online - you already know how THEY are doing it - or think you have a good idea - how you do it is up to you...

    My 2 pence,

    Chris Jones
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  • Profile picture of the author Rough Outline
    Selling the benefits and dreams is marketing 101, you'll notice it in all marketing. The dodgier the seller, the more extreme it is.
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  • You know what is funny? That the OP has the following signature: "10K in 30 Days Blogging? Wait. See Video Here."

    Oh, the irony...
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  • Profile picture of the author shodansword
    Just a few times ;o)))
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