Why is contacting a "Guru" near impossible?

I think you're in the wrong forum- the Karl Marx club is across the street.

Spoken like someone who's never had to handle more than 10 customers at once...

When you have 1,000 - 10,000 or even more, I'll bet your thought process will change dramatically.

Mike

AHAH that`s a joke, right?

How do you expect them to keep in personal contact with 50,000 people plus? If you would stop and think logically for a minute (I think that's what's really getting out of hand... no one stops to think) how successful do you think a business would be if the CEO did nothing all day but field phone calls and answer emails? HELLO!

Mike Hill

Yep, and if you provide good enough online resources with a very comprehensive FAQ, reduces the overall questions asked.

100,000 or so, well that could be a different matter, but to have a no-reply in their emails is just poor customer service, they should have a auto-ticket system for emails and should get answered by HIRED staff, if they don't hire staff to take care of the questions they don't deserve to be in the Marketing Industry completely ignoring those who lined their pockets with our cash.

Any ways, each to their own I suppose, I've never had a problem with a list size of over 24,000 people and reply to each and every single email I get.

Well i guess i agree with what Kiev had said about the GURU'S.

They might have long long long list of people which is not easy for them to contact by them self ,but instead they have an system where you send them the mails to there Help Desk and they take care for all your queries and problems.

Kiev you will be a GURU one day.......... i m sure .....

This is a hoot...I was just thinking about all the emails I'm going to be getting about all those bonuses from the Stompernet program. Then, I began to wonder how many email the "guru" gets and how many they actually see???

Jay NaPier

P.S. - Seems many of these folks are work a holics? Maybe they spend all their time reading email and they pay people to make their products??

I think it is a general statement to conclude that gurus are hard to contact. I feel it would be more constructive to ask where do they normally hang out or who do they hang out with.

Is it easier to get in touch with their friends who we may know? Don't misunderstand me as in we make friends just to get near to the gurus.

Be genuine and build long term relationship.

Personally I have made many friends with local gurus and I am being mentored by a few of them, some local and others are from overseas.

They are still human beings afterall and it is easy to find them.

Now we have internet to get access to them. Twitter and facebook makes it so easy to find them.

Sometimes buying their products, being in their list, joining their forums are some of the ways to contact them.

There are many ways. It is a matter of if you want to do it or not.

Cheers,
John

Maybe because they have 24 hrs in a day like everyone else - they are producing products, managing sites, building a business. The more well known their name is, the more email they receive.

If you use the right path (the help desk) and ask valid questions- you should have a response. If you bypass the system they have set up and/or are asking questions that don't relate to the marketer's business, you may be ignored. Time management is the reason.

Phone contact is even more time consuming than emails. Having a relationship with customers doesn't translate to being available personally every time someone wants to chat.

kay

You will never know you will become the next guru.

You can contact me anytime you like..

I won't necessarily be able to reply though

I'm busy on my yacht...

Mruhahaha

Peace

Jay

Jeff, I gotta be able to buy your stuff before I can try to sink my time vampire fangs into ya! J/K That's just my way of tellin ya that the link in your sig file doesn't appear to be working.

I know.

I'll prove you wrong one day though! Looking forward to it.

I'm curious as to who you've tried to contact without success and what kind of message you were trying to get to them.

Nearly every major email marketer has a help desk and a phone answered by real, live people.

Contacting them is not difficult but as with most busy business owners you should expect to go through a gate keeper before you get to talk to the head honcho.

It's the same in any business and especially in consulting businesses where people are charging for advice and expertise.

If you're just looking for free advice without offering to pay for it then your chances go down (as they should).

Many "gurus" have clients paying them $5,000+ a year for one on one consulting.

Do you think you should be getting this hard earned information free?

Do you think it's fair for a "guru" to take time away from his paid clients to give you the same information they're paying for completely free?

I've found most internet marketers are exceptionally easy to get in contact with and talk to compared to other businesses as long as you're not just trying to get some kind of free ride (not that I'm saying you're doing this).

But again I'm really curious as to who you're having trouble getting in contact with?

Kindest regards,
Andrew Cavanagh

I don't buy the whole hierarchies thing - The best thing about IM is that you create your own system and do business with whoever you want (or don't want) to.

The only time this hierarchies BS comes in to play is if you're after something from other people and you feel the need to play games to get it.

It's a choice.

If you start out and decide you want to make money selling how to make money products to other beginners then there are obviously people already drinking from that well and they can be competitors or partners, or you can just ignore them and do your own thing.

It's your choice.

I don't give a noodle what other people are doing as far as my business goes. My business relies on what I do. Any time I get involved with other people is because I like them or they've got a great product that I really like.

So, if someone I don't know or don't like wanted to contact me - WHY would I want to make that easy?

Whenever I meet someone I like and would consider doing business with - I give them my details.

This 'Guru' thing only becomes real if you're from the school of WIIFM.

Mostly here it's in the IM niche and people are all trying to eat each others dinner, so working with people you don't know or trust just means jeopardizing your business and revenue.

It might make it 'seem' like some sort of old boys club - but who would YOU rather work with?

You can make great money without any Gurus involved in your business, so if you really think you NEED them - you have bigger problems than whether they'll answer your emails or phone calls.

Keep it real and do your own thing. If you're in the IM niche and doing unique, interesting things - people will find you.

Andy

Maybe the original post title is the reason why it may seem impossible for some. How about treating them as fellow human beings instead (in direct line with what Jeff and a few others mentioned). Profound, yet simple....rather than looking at someone with celebrity status.

...Along with understanding (and adapting to) what many other posters have said about time, energy, mindset, email, productvity, a product people want and that helps them or their customers, six degrees of seperation, etc.

I missed it - what was the secret

Wouldn't that first involve changing the business name? If they haven't done that then I doubt ignoring their customers is their alternative grand strategy.


Yup, that's why when I go into a JC Penny I expect to talk personally with Mr Penny.

Or when I ring Trump organization I expect Donald to personally answer my call.

:rolleyes:

Here's the thing..

When you receive an email starting "Hey Bill" and you see that it's got a "no reply" address, you realise that you're not having a conversation, you're being broadcasted to. The personal salutation is simply being used to foster an illusion of intimacy.

That's fine if you understand the process, but you can't blame people for buying into the perceived personal nature of the relationship, given the method of communication. If the marketer's done his or her job well, there's a feeling of connection which is different from the relationship that a customer might have with the CEO of a major corporation.

As I understand it, you may believe the guru is in your monkeyspere, but you may not be in his.


Frank

Well, I did not do it by going to events.

(First off, I dig many of the people in this
thread, like Jeff Walker and Gary A. etc)

But, I've never met either one of them
face to face. I've only been to a few
events and most of them were Dr. Mike's
(because I was working with him closely)

I have not met most gurus face to face.

I do think that events are great, and you
should get out and meet people to expand
your business and contacts. It's always
going to be a people business.

However, dont think that's it.

There's one thing that matters most and
that's a beautiful word that all RICH people
understand very-very well.. and that word
is...........

LEVERAGE

If you create killer products... you'll get the
contacts and get through to the big dogs.

If you write killer copy... you'll get the
contacts and get through to the big dogs.

If you have a ton of contacts... you'll get
the deals and get through to the big dogs.

If you have a big list, are a top affiliate of
theirs, etc... you'll get the deals, the contacts
and get through to the big dogs.

If you have a name, and a following, bingo

If you can generate traffic like a maniac, bingo

Even at events, even though I rarely write
copy anymore for others, I still get emails constantly
and phone calls, and people coming up to me
for copywriting.

It's leverage.

Now that am a partner with Mike Filsaime, guess what
I get?? emails, phone calls and people coming up to
me for nothing else but to get MIKE to promote their
stuff.

It's all that and much more.

Jeff is right though... these folks are normal people
and most are good folks. Mike is good people and
so is Dr Mike. They get hammered with emails,
proposals, phone calls, visits and such. It's impossible
to keep your sanity without help, and they employ
help.

Mike and me had a two hour conversation last night
on one thing... ONE CUSTOMER complaint and how
we can learn from it, improve and get better and
better.

When people complain about gurus and not being
able to get in contact with them, etc it's usually
completely unjustified and unreasonable.

Anyhow, the key is "Leverage". What are you
good at and what do you have a name for? If
you are just another email from a name not
easily recognized, it'll get deleted --- unless
it's a customer --- or a justified reason.

An email that says:

"Hey. Guru. I know this is a bigtime long shot,
and you're probably too busy... and you're most
likely never going to see this email at all, but can
you, if you can, possibly, call me on my cell
because I have something big to run by you..."

Is probably not going to get you anywhere.

Unless, they recognize your name and identify
your name with LEVERAGE.

Then, when you go to events, even better!

I hope that helps. And Jeff, when we going
to meet face to face big daddy? 'cause I have
something HUGE to run by you.



jk

Eric Louviere

Hi Fabian,

Hmmm, it's a difficult one. But after a little thought, I'd have to say Dan.

Spot on Terry.

And in most cases they've given you fantastic advice which you're still NOT taking action on!

Kindest regards,
Andrew Cavanagh