I made this mistake and I even knew about it beforehand!

Hey Brandon, great point. You might have the best product in the world, but it never gets seen cause you don't know how to market it!

- Steve

I disagree, actually.

Sales, marketing, and product are the three sides of the "iron triangle" of IM.

The product fits along the left-hand side. It's the "left brain" work of the process: it matches the intellectual needs of the customer.

The marketing goes along the right-hand side. It's the "right brain" work, matchine the emotional wants of the customer.

And the sales portion connects the other two. It's where you connect the dots between "you need this" and "you want this" to create action - "buy this."

You can mix and match how much of each you have, but if you don't have all three, you're missing a lot of customers and losing a lot of sales.

Interesting thinking, process can influence product but I also think the reverse is true as well.

Poor products do sell (quite well sometimes) but if you are in business for the long term you will learn quite quickly that it is much easier to sell to an existing satisfied customer than to find a new customer. (I appreciate however that this is not everyone's view).

If you are looking business as a long term process, then you need to sell quality products than quantity products..

does this means that we should focus only one part of business(Major part off cource ) and outsource rest part ?

I think quality products is very very important but with that being said, I do hear a lot that my product isn't the best but I have the best marketing. I never know whether to take that as a compliment on my mad marketing skills or to make that product better!

I think just because the Sales process is more important than the product - it cannot be overlooked. Customer Retention and repeat customers are an important aspect of Marketing and Business in general and after they have gone through the Sales process, it is the quality of the product that keeps them coming back.

Otherwise- the word 'Over-deliver' wouldn't be so talked about in IM.

Maddi

I don't buy your premise though I understand what you're saying. The product is at least as important as any other aspect of your campaign. A long time ago I learned that for an information product to sell it had to be created for a very specific group.

Then all of the promotional stuff had to be tailored to that market. You obviously need to get on the same level of experience, understanding, etc. as your buyers and speak to their needs. I completely agree with that.

But as a copywriter I've been asked to write sales material for some absolute crap. I'm talking about stuff that doesn't deliver what it's supposed to, stuff that is poorly written and confusing, stuff that is a knock-off of something similar, and products with many other 'issues.'

Many times I've struggled with the notion that I could get paid very well to write some very persuasive copy and entice people to buy the crappy product. I don't take assignments like this any more.

I can even say that I would be able to stay within the boundaries of 'the truth' in accurately describing a poor product, but in my heart I know that it really sucks and my words are getting people to buy something that isn't going to help them. This happens a lot in the IM info-product world. Great promotion, garbage product.

So... as I've already said, unless you want to be bombarded with returns, and maybe even some guilt in knowing that the product is lacking in one or more ways, the product has to be at least as good as every other aspect of the entire promotion.

The product must be top notch. The easiest person to get to buy from you is someone who has already bought from you. Unless, of course, you sell them a crap product.

However, and this is where I think a lot of folks get this confused, you have to start with the marketing. That is NOT to mean marketing is more or less important than product.

Lets say you are an avid horse shoe player. You love it. you're great at it and you are passionate about it.

Starting with the marketing means discovering if there's a market for it. doing tons of research to find out if anyone wants it. And if they do want it; why they want it, what their pain is, etc. market research.

you have to figure out who your competition is. why their products sell and how you can offer something better or different.

I would even go as far as saying you should work on your sales page before you start on your product.

But product is still just as important as everything else. Just because you start with marketing in mind, doesn't mean that the product is not just as important.

I think a lot of people are misunderstanding what I was trying to say. I did not say to create crappy products. There is no question that this will put you dead in the water.

What I was trying to say is that most people don't have a real marketing USP, they simply think their product will sell because it is top notch. I think that's a mistake.

My personal example: I spent 1300 hours creating a product at a cost of over $4, 000 (Copywriting, development etc.) I feel it is a TOP TOP notch product. In fact here is the download page: http://www.thedebtsolutionsystem.com/download_package1.html

Long story short.....I cannot sell it. I focused ONLY on the product and look where I am. Turns out that I am in a market with no money I did lots of testing and spent about 15 total months trying to sell it lol. It just goes to show that an excellent product will not necessarily sell.

Create great products, but understand that it is not the MOST important thing.

Cheers

Brandon

Great insight. However, a lot of sales also goes through word-of-mouth so it is important that you develop high quality products to get even higher conversions.

Imo product is 20% sales letter is 20% driving traffic (connecting prospects with your product) is 60%

I can sell anything, with any sales letter (ofc conv % will vary) because i know how to connect.

A lesser product will sell better as a result of a better sales/marketing machine. The quality becomes important if you want returning customers.

The plan must be to have a plan and put it in place so the sales/marketing machine that will give visibility to the product. You only need to start selling when the prospect says "no".

A fool with a plan will do better than an genius without a plan.

You only have to outsell an inferior product on technicalities and benefits when the competition has more visibility and the prospect has choice.

The ideal scenario is; you want to be the first to bring your product to the attention of the prospect and you want to get them to make a decision to buy there and then. If not, the chances are they go away and find something else to spend their money on and you have lost that prospect who will not convert to a customer.