Have you ever bought a $1,000+ IM product?

This brings up a profound question. Do people who regularly attend events and buy high priced IM products usually make more than those who do not?

I know there are people on this thread who don't buy those products but they aren't doing 7 figures a year neither.

Makes you say hmmm.

It constantly amazes and saddens me to see all the wannabes who are loathe to even spend $300 for a tool like Camtasia (A tool that has made my business many, many thousands of dollars). You're so right - most just aren't serious enough about this business. And, until they wake up and decide to seriously apply themselves, they will never make much online - or offline.

Myself, I have always agreed with Kyosaki's teaching - investing in assets that will make you money, rather than spending money on stuff that will just empty your wallet. It amazes me that someone would rather make a payment on a car than invest that money in something that will actually make them money.

Have I bought $1000+ products? Yes, when they are something I need for my business and that I know will pay for itself.

Ron, do you see that big text ad at the top of this forum?

I'll leave it at that and let you figure out the rest.

You're more than bright enough to know what the answer is.

Street cred my friend...and you have it in spades.

Make them pay for it.

Yep, well it was actually a (useless) service not a product per se.

Perhaps Warriors see WSOs as BigLots or Wal-Mart of the IM world. I'm new to WF so I'm still in awe of the coolness. If I'd found it earlier that previously mentioned "service" would have been a declined offer. Anywho...

IMO, those comments say more about the state of their finances or success in IM more so than the quality of your product. If $37 is a plunge they're not doing too well. Not saying we should just throw money to the wind. But "plunge" is a bit dramatic for $37 unless you really don't have $37 to spare. That's not reflective of the quality of the product but the state of their relationship with $37.

Then again, if all they want to do is make the $37 back they could have just kept it. Problem solved. The notable point is they realize the info in action will produce results. Why they'd stop at $37 is beyond me.



Rashell

The low price point I believe is a WSO thing. The reason being is it was intended to be a special offer made just to Warriors. I believe if you brought a major launch into the WSO and offered it at half price the $1000 price tag would sell.

But it is hard to sell a $1000 product in a forum with just one contact. I know for a fact that you can sell a $1000 product through the WSO board but it needs to be done on the back end after a relationship has been built.

Now to answer your question more specifically... I believe that these launches are ridiculously over priced. And I have no respect for the marketer who then sends the leads over to the call center to sell $10,000 coaching programs to people that are then coached by a person who does not know diddly squat about marketing and coaches off of a script.

Sell a quality product at a reasonable price and you will do fine.

The chances of you selling a product at a reasonable price and doing 2 mill in a day may decrease, but the way I see it... I have never seen an armored car or a uhaul following a Hurst. It is always people. I am out to help people and make a reasonable profit doing so.

But seeing how you are a bit better at this game so far than me I am sure you already knew all that, so this is more towards the people that need to hear it.

Shannon

Agreed. And if I remember correctly, John Reese eluded to the fact that a lot of information products have become overpriced when he launched Traffic Secrets 2.0.

For some reason I think I purchased and refunded the same $2,000 product for a similar reason as you. Were the initials for this product LS?

Right. I'm going to look a bit stupid here now.

When I first really got going I got sucked in by Mass Control at 2k a pop, I then got sucked into PLF at 2k, I got sucked in by others too. I went through them all but the sales letter/process and the actual product were a touch different despite taking action. I have since found uses for them but I have to say I've since bought much cheaper products and got a way better return. Trouble is now there's a new 2k launch every month, each one saying its the best ever thing thats ever ever happenned ever in IM and if you don't buy it your family will suffer in poverty etc cos the course will never be re-released (only it is, like 6 months later but with a 2.0 after the name) I'm actually at the point now that when I see the 2k price tag, well $1997, I think "here we go again, yet another launch, get ready for the deluge of emails saying don't buy this product til you've seen my bonus" malarcky. I reckon people here are spoilt with the deals they get but thats just the way it is. Ron, my advice for all it's worth just be original with the price tag and give them a good product that lives up to the sales letter. I'd go with $1234.56 just to see what happens, at least it's not the dreaded £1997 best course eevvvvver price.

I'll get off my soap box now.

BTW is your course still for sale at $37?
[EDIT] Just realised it's your course at the top.

I buy $2,000+ IM courses all the time, I can afford it because I make 6 figures a year online.

The latest $2,000 IM course I purchased was Perpetual Traffic Formula by Ryan Deiss.

Other recent purchases I've made have been Video Boss, Magic Bullet System - all $2,000+ and dozens of others over the last couple of years.

I learn what is relevant to me and apply it to my business.

Having said that, I also buy WSOs for $10-$50 regularly.

There are rubbish $2,000 IM courses, there are rubbish WSOs.

There are fantastic $2,000 IM courses, there are fantastic WSOs.

I don't think the price makes any difference, you get good information and bad whichever price point you are at.

But if you're going to be selling information for $1,000+ you need access to the right audience and in the right mindset, the guru's have access to each others lists and the people on their lists are used to seeing (and buying at) the $2,000 price point.

Even then, they still require the massive pre launch build up, fancy videos etc to warm people up before the launch.

The WSO forum is full of people who are used to buying at the $10-$50 price point.

Even people who buy $2,000 IM courses like myself, as soon I'm in the WSO forum I expect to pay $10-$50, possibly up to $200 if something is really decent and has dozens of great reviews.

If any of the IM guru's tried to sell their $2,000 courses in the WSO forum would it work?

No chance, access to each others big responsive lists who are used to and are trained to pay the high price point is the key.

We added a step by step process to the course after it was released and we shared it with customers. Maybe you missed it.

On the customer forum, you CAN get one on one feedback.

You did miss something, in fact many things.

Firstly, the product includes a case study showing how I made myself press worthy long before the publicist was involved.

Secondly, I used the publicist mainly for his contacts. We actually worked together on the press releases and the angles for stories to attract the media as I stated in the course.

Thirdly, if you believe the publicist is the person to listen to, there is a full hour interview with him where he tells everything he knows.

Lastly, I've learned so much going through the actual process and I show you in the course how to do it without hiring a publicist.

Ok, now I understand the true purpose of your reply.

My experience was ten years later (2004), same price, by way of a 26-week Protege
Mentorship with Jay Abraham, Stephen Pierce and Rich Schefren - that's one of the
HIGH VALUE ones I mentioned in my post above with a HUGE multiple in ROI.

The right kind of high priced program can completely change your level of business
growth and success.

The wrong one(s) can hurt your bank-book badly, though!

All success
Dr.Mani

With all the information available for free, and in much lower priced products....I don't even know what my expectations would be for a $1,000+/product....

I have a very difficult time believing that anything presented would be 'new', per se...

What attracts you all to them then....is it the perceived authority of the person selling? Is it the WAY the information is presented?

...someone had mentioned Ryan Deiss....wasn't his recent product about SEO? Yet....not too long ago, the sales pitch for a previous product of his used the fact that he 'wasn't experienced in SEO' as part of the sales pitch.... (I'd have to dig for the exact wording...)

Hey Ron,

I bought your Publicity Academy $37 thing. Certainly some good info in there and worth the money.

For those selling the $1000 products they did not always start out at that price, generally they've been gradually raising the price as they have built up their name and brand such as Frank Kern and Jeff Walker.

I can't speak for all those expensive courses out there but I purchased PLF at about $2000 and it is a pretty packed course with a lot of videos and months of lessons and a lot of action to be taken - and you definitely get your ROI back and more if you apply it.

I also bought a very expensive course on PPC a few years back and again got a solid ROI by applying the course. Again it was packed with lots of info and took months to get through.

Another thing in common with these expensive courses (at least the good ones I have purchased) is that they contain info you know is not available anywhere else. The experts share knowledge they have developed themselves.

Also all these expensive courses are generally only available for a short time and are a one-off (or released once a year as an upgraded version).

So in my opinion its both a case of:
- Limited availability pushes price up
- The average person who applies it should pretty much be guaranteed to make double their money back. I know you can't really guarantee this, but you should know yourself that people can apply it and make a lot of money back if they put the effort in. So its a good investment.
- There are months worth of lessons/content to get through, which will probably take even longer to apply.
- There's completely unique and ground breaking information that is not available elsewhere.
- The person running it has developed a name for themselves by continually making others successful through their courses.

That said I've seen a few expensive courses out there which are just fluff and a $50 WSO does the job.

Warning: Long post ahead. (But keep reading because I think it could be very helpful!)

Interesting discussion!

Yes. Not many times, but a few. Generally, I was much more comfortable buying products in the $200-$500 range. I started taking big leaps and buying much higher-priced stuff around 2007-2008.

For me, the first IM course I bought was Alexandria Brown's Online Success Blueprint which was (and still is) $1500. It was (and is) very much worth what she sells it for. (In fact, I bought it again the next year (2009) when she was selling her last ever Online Success Blueprint Workshop-In-A-Box.)

Like many here, I wasn't making much money. I had a low-level day job as a customer service rep and couldn't really afford it. (I put it on a credit card.) I bought from her for two primary reasons:

1. It's a complete blueprint -- a SYSTEM -- not just a tactic.

It can be hard to learn/put together an entire online marketing system on your own when you're jumping from one strategy or tactic to the next. If you're buying every $37 e-book on different tactics and are still confused, I HIGHLY recommend buying at least one complete IM course/system to show it ALL to you. Then, when you learn the latest and greatest tactic, you know where to plug it in to your already-existing system.

2. It's targeted to REAL business owners (including service professionals), showing them how to take their ALREADY-EXTISTING businesses online and grow their businesses using direct marketing and online marketing principles. She's not selling IM info to other IMers. My pet peeve in IM is IMers making their money only by selling to other IMers! It's so incestuous and I DESPISE that.

It was A LOT of money to me (money I really didn't have), but WELL WORTH IT! (Which is why I bought two copies). I've never regretted it. But I also don't do it often and I'm VERY selective about who I buy from. (I've really gone out of my way to avoid the whole IMers selling to other IMers circus.)

I bought Mike Filsaime's 7 Figure Code when it was launching for a special price in the $700 range. (I think it went up after that.) I was NOT impressed and should have asked for a refund. To me, asking for refunds are a hassle and I let it go. I honestly almost never ask for refunds on anything. The seller has to be extraordinarily inept or an outright scammer for me to ask for a refund. Mike Filsaime is neither, so the DVD's and binders are sitting in my garage collecting dust. (That was the first and last product I ever/will ever buy from someone I perceive as an IMer selling to other IMers.)

THIS year has been my big year. I lost my job in Feb and in March, I discovered I had a lot more in retirement funds than I realized. Plus, I just happened to stumble on someone who teaches a business model which isn't very common but which also includes a lot of IM info in it. It was $3,000.

To me, it was absolutely amazing that I should lose my job (a huge problem by anyone's standards, including mine!) AND discover a new business model and mentor AND miraculously have the money to pay for it. I saw it as a HUGE opportunity and seized it.

It's not something I would have normally spent money on, especially when I've just lost my job and need to conserve my cash. But I've been a serious student of IM for some time and felt ready to seriously apply myself and take huge action. So I invested and am so glad I did.

This annual membership was a HUGE value which included:

1. A huge information product/course including CDs as well as DVDs of her live event last year.

2. A monthly, 80-minute live training call -- for a full year.

3. TWO monthly, 80-minute live Q&A calls -- for a full year.

I'm very much a do-it-yourself person and love to learn from home-study courses. But I'm well-versed in IM and need to ask questions when I get stuck as I've begun implementing (taking ACTION!). Considering that I only need to ask the occassional question (for which I can't justify paying her exorbitant hourly consulting rates), this is a huge value!

We also get physical CDs and transcripts of the training and Q&A calls in the mail and can download the MP3s and PDFs from the members-only page if we prefer.

2. An all-day (8 AM - 10PM) private workshop with my new mentor with just 16 other people in attendance, allowing plenty of time for one-on-one help. And it was a WORKshop, not a seminar where you just listen to a speaker or speakers all day long. It was nearly the equivalent of private, one-on-one consulting at a HUGE discount.

It was also my first-ever live event. The fact that it was a small WORKshop where I got personal feedback and help (as opposed to a huge seminar where I was just one of a crowd only listening to a speech) was what attracted me and what made it it VERY worth it to me.

(I've always shied away from conferences/seminars/workshops since I can usually get the content for about half price in the info product that comes out after the workshop. Plus I don't have to pay travel expenses. For these reasons, generally, I haven't found conferences/seminars/workshops to be worth the investment.)

3. A free ticket to THIS year's 3-day live event.

So I started off with a bang by going to the small, live workshop in April and got to meet my mentor personally. I get ongoing training and coaching from her each month with personal feedback from her. AND I'll get to see her again in Nov. (as well as the other people I met at the workshop in April)!

(Since I also got DVDs of last year's event in the huge information product she included, I essentially, I got three events: two of them were live and one of those two was an intimate workshop with personalized help.)

4. The digital version of three other, content-rich, very specific programs she'd previously created in another area of her business which she sells separately.

Yes, the membership was relatively high-priced ($3,000) but I've been HUGELY impressed with everything I've gotten from her. I got not only a huge information product, I also get a year's worth of coaching and training.

And the upcoming event in Nov. is my kick in the pants to finish some things so I can show up with something DONE. (Accountability!)

I've been around IM for quite a while and I've never received so much value from anything EVER. I've also never seen such integrity in a marketer. No selling IM to other IMers! I absolutely LOVE the fact that I pay one price and get it ALL: infoproduct, two live events AND personal coaching/training for a year. No buying a product and then having to shell out extra $$$ for a coaching program. (Grrrr!)


Are you SERIOUS?

I bought Ali Brown's course when I was a low-level customer service rep who couldn't afford it. I bought the $3,000 membership after I became UNEMPLOYED!

I'm a serious business person and take my business seriously and am learning to treat it as a business, not a hobby. If a product or program is right for me and will benefit my business and I can somehow cough up the money (borrow, beg or steal) then I'll do it.

Taking that first leap and buying Ali Brown's course was the best thing I ever did in my IM education career. How can you get to $75K/year if you're not willing to invest in your business and treat it as a business???

I heartily disagree. This is SO short-sighted! You cannot expect to be successful if you're not willing to investing in learning and in coaches and mentors. See above.

However, caveat emptor: balance is crucial. It's so easy to get sucked into the hype, buying everyone's program and spending yourself into oblivion. Lord know I've done that and I have a LOT of products/programs I've spent a lot of money on over the years. The ones I've mentioned here are just the more expensive ones. Otherwise, I typically buy in the $200-$500 range.

Only YOU know whether something is right for you. Be willing to invest in your business and in yourself. You'll know when it's right for you. But also be willing to exercise self-discipline and restraint when buying things. Only YOU know whether something is right for you. Pick a program put out by someone YOU resonate with. That may or may not be whatever the IM crowd is hyped up about and buying at the time. Pick what's right for YOU and the type of business you want to create.

Eeeezactly! This is a business. Treat it like one.


Very true! Again, you have to be willing to invest in yourself, yet balance it with what you really do have to spend and the amount of financial risk you're willing to take. Everyone and everyone's journey are different, so this will be different for each person.

Unfortunately, one of the side effects of the business opportunity market (IM, mail order, "opportunities" like those in "Business Opportunity" magazine, etc.) is that it breeds the "get rich quick with no work" mentality. Some of it is the fault of the advertisers, much of it is due to laziness on the part of business opportunity seekers and some of it is just the nature of the business opportunity market itself.

My advice is:

1. Treat your business like a BUSINESS! Be willing to invest in yourself and your business -- yet balance it with your available resources and the amount of risk you're willing to take.

2. If you want to make money in IM and are still struggling, buy at least one comprehensive IM course (usually around $1,000-2,000) to give you a complete system and help you see the big picture. THEN you can plug in all those nifty strategies and tactics you learn in the $37 e-books into your overall system.

In the short run, it might seem to take longer by choosing to buy and learn from a more comprehensive program. (You first have to come up with the money and then spend the time wading through all of that information.) But in the end, you'll save so much time, money and hassle than if you're jumping from one $37 e-book to the next.

3. Technologies change so incredibly fast, especially online. But the marketing basics (Marketing 101 if you will) DON'T change:

1. You can only sell two things: products or services.

2. Pick a business MODEL: information marketing, service provider, membership/continuity programs, etc.

3. Build your list (audience).

4. Make them an offer.

Of course, it DOES get a lot more complicated. (Will you sell your own products/services or someone else's? Will you sell a combination of them? Will you have an affiliate program? How will you advertise? Etc... ) But at it's core, it really IS that simple! I think this basic foundation gets lost in the hype.

Bottom line: If you GET CRYSTAL CLEAR on your business model, what you offer and who your target market is, and keep it mind when you're choosing which infoproducts to buy, you'll probably find you waste a lot less money and get a lot more value out of those infoproduct you DO buy.

You'll also be able to see the value in buying a higher-priced product if it's what you need and you won't feel scammed. You'll even remove a lot of the fear and possibility of being scammed because you'll be much more focused and thus be able to make better decisions.

Hope that helps!

Michelle

No, never, cos paid products may not be necessary be good, quality products. In fact, some free products are even better then the paid ones.

Just my opinion, though.

If Gary Halbert ran another course I'd pay much much more than $1,000 to get on it.

I do agree though, Frank Kern is the man.

This year, I've spent about $380 on marketing information.

-In the form of 3 seminars from Jay Abraham ($50 a piece).
-A fourth seminar ($150).
-Another seminar that use to cost a fortune, when the market was better in the late 90's for marketing info on the secondary market. The tapes probably would have cost $300 then. But with cd's, dvd's, file sharing, etc, the cost of information has sort of been diluted. Got it for $46.

And some other videos and sales letters from Jay.

I dont think its necessarily the price. You could learn more in an old $12 book, than you could in a $2,500 course. It depends on how you're impacted by it. You have to test prices. A famous jay abraham-ism, "You don't have the right to tell your marketplace anything. You have to find out through a test or trial run", to see what works best. You could probably raise the price of a $37 product to $89, or $79, and see an increase in orders. But its perception though.

and...all this time, I thought that people priced their products low just because they wanted to give Warriors the best possible deal....

Here's my take on products and WSOs...

Work you TAIL off to create a killer WSO that provides great value. Create a sales page, and price your product what it is worth. For a WSO, give a discount off of THAT price...

I think many people just RELY on the WSO forum to make a quick buck off $5 sales, by feeding off the fact that people are psychologically drive to say "well, I only paid $5 for it, even though it's crap, it's not even worth my best interest to ask for a refund..."

dremora,

Let me clarify:

1. The things I've mentioned have happened over a span of about three years. Only the unemployment and $3,000 purchase happened recently.

2. Yes, I've gone into debt before to buy stuff -- like the first copy of Ali Brown's Online Success Blueprint. (I was still employed then.) I haven't gone into ANY debt to buy the second copy, the $3,000 membership or anything else I've bought since becoming unemployed. I had the cash and decided to take a calculated risk. (VERY risky since I'm unemployed, but a calculated risk nevertheless.) I'm still in setup mode with this new business model and only time will tell whether I'll make money with it. So be it. For a long list of very solid reasons, which I won't go into here, I believe I'll be quite successful with it. (The catch is "How soon will the cash start rolling in?" THAT'S the tricky part. )

3. NOWHERE did I encourage anyone to go into debt to buy a $1k+ IM product! I didn't and if you don't have the cash, DON'T buy something you really can't afford. That said, business debt isn't always bad debt. If you DO choose to go into debt to buy something, 1) make sure what you're buying is worth it and 2) be aware of and ok with the risks involved. Period.

4. A lot of sales letters for business-related products and services play on the fact that you have to be willing to invest in yourself and your business. Very true. Taking a calculated risk to purchase something you might not usually purchase can be a significant turning point for you, both in terms of ROI (return on investment) on what you bought and your mindset.

But as I stressed in my previous post, only YOU know what's right for you and your business. As CEO of You, Inc. that decision is up to you and you usually know in your heart what's right for you and your business. Don't buy anything that's not right for you or buy just because it's the latest product that everyone else is hyped up about.

Like a lot of people here, I get SICK of the IM crowd playing on this, pushing every button they can just to get me to buy their latest over-priced product. You have to balance the need to invest in your business with plain common sense and what your resources are.

HOWEVER, I think there's kind of a poverty mentality, more pervasive on the WF than a lot of other places, an unwillingness to invest in higher-priced products and services that contributes to Warriors' problems. THAT was what I was addressing in my post.

IF you've only ever bought low-priced e-books, etc. showing you just one or a few tactics instead of giving you a solid, overall online marketing plan and things still aren't coming together for you, then I highly advise buying at least ONE product which shows you this, even if it's higher-priced. You'll be much better off than trying to piece it all together yourself. You'll save a LOT of time and frustration -- and yes, money.

You DO have to work from where you are though. If you truly can't afford something (or don't feel like you should go into debt for it), then don't buy it. Start with something free, like the 30-Day Challenge. (I've never used it, but I know a lot of Warriors recommend it.)

5. Pick and choose your mentors (and the people you buy from VERY carefully.) I've gotten SUPER picky about who I buy from and listen to. I love, love, love online marketing, but I absolutely DESPISE the incestuous nature of the IM world and have deliberately distanced myself from it. Consequently, only one of my mentors is in the IM niche specifically.

I also EXPECT (actually, I DEMAND) that my mentors be people who have "been there, done that" at what they're teaching me. I WON'T buy from people who are making their money just by selling me "how to make money" or other info. I also don't buy from people who are in the online world only. They ALL have experience marketing offline as well.

I've also gotten tunnel vision. I listen to/buy from/follow just three people currently and actively. That's it. I deliberately tune everyone else out. That kind of focus is important.

6. About the $700 product I never returned... You're right. Point taken. I SHOULD have returned it and in not doing so, I wasn't being a wise steward of my resources. I need to work on that.

My entire point with my post was to encourage Warriors to 1) stop coming from a poverty mentality, 2) stop expecting something for essentially nothing (either no work and/or no cost) and 3) stop being afraid/unwilling to invest in themselves and their businesses.

I am NOT advising anyone to go into debt for something they truly cannot afford.

For me PERSONALLY: I would honestly rather go into debt for one or two or three high-priced products/programs that give me what I really need than nickle-and-dime myself with low-cost products/services which never give me what I need to succeed. Worse, because I didn't succeed, I think I'm a failure and give up on my dreams of self-employment when instead the problem was that I didn't have the knowledge or tools I needed to succeed.

The bottom line: You are the CEO of You, Inc. and only YOU know what is best for YOU and what YOU need. It is up to YOU to select/buy what you NEED to buy. DO NOT let anyone pressure you into buying something you don't need or can't afford. Buy either only what you CAN afford or make a CONSCIOUS choice to go into debt, and be aware of and ok with the risks.

In other words, YOU are responsible for your success and no one else.

I DO NOT encourage people to 1) go into debt to buy something they can't afford, 2) buy things they really can't afford (with the grocery or electric bill money for example) or 3) not return products they didn't feel were worth it. ()

Hope that clears it up! My thoughts and advice still stand:

1. Treat your business like a BUSINESS and be willing to invest in it. Don't go crazy. Be discriminating: pick just one product if you really feel it's what you NEED.

2. Get picky about who you buy from and listen to. Pick those people who've been successful at what you want to do and listen to them. Tune everyone else out.

Hope that helps!

Michelle

I haven’t paid for a thousand dollar course because when I first started, I made a commitment to myself to invest a certain amount in my learning, and from there to take action.

I think the issue is people don’t fully master a marketing method so they jump from one thing to the next. However, the issue with this is that they have gaps in their marketing, so investing more money into products may not be the cure, but investing more time into implementing and refining the basics may be a better alternative.

In matter of fact, some of the best marketing strategies I’ve learned came from carefully monitoring the analytics of my website. People are definitely willing to pay lots of money for their education, just look at university students that get in debt for this.

But, they also have access to individuals that can help them ONE-ON-ONE if they run into issues, such as professors, teacher assistants, tutoring resources, which is not something that you can’t get even from a $5000 marketing course.

Doug