It Really IS All About Building Trust

58 replies
So numb nuts here sends out an email to his list this morning. In it was
SUPPOSED to be a link to a sales page. However, I copied and pasted the
wrong link and instead sent my list to...you got it...a buy now button.

Within several minutes, I got 3 sales.

One person wrote to me saying that the link only sent him to a PayPal button.

I checked email and sure enough, I put the wrong link in it.

And 3 people, sales page unseen, purchased the product.

Granted, 3 sales is not a fortune. But it shows the power of building trust.
Had I not gotten that email, I would have never known about my blunder
and would have never thought to look, given that sales were coming in.

There have been a lot of threads lately about all the bad going on. Hopefully,
this thread will show you that by simply treating your customers and
prospects like people and not like sheep to be herded, you CAN build the
kind of trust where you can literally send somebody a buy now button and
make a sale.
#building #trust
  • Profile picture of the author areevez
    Very good point Steven, that is the most important thing. If you treat people like you sincerely care about them and their success they will remain a loyal lifetime buyer! Thats the goldmine, not some 'the rich jerk' kind of way to treat your list. I hate that, just be honest and a real genuine person.
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    • Profile picture of the author Michael Shook
      I launched my last product, a weekly video series, because someone wrote to me asking if I could please offer them something more for sale.

      I was honestly touched by that and I have found that the relationships I have developed with this group of people to be wonderful.

      I think so many people miss out on so much fun and enjoyment mutual benefit and even profit on occasion by hammering their lists.

      Thank you for posting this, Steven.
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    • Profile picture of the author Peter Livingston
      Originally Posted by areevez View Post

      Very good point Steven, that is the most important thing. If you treat people like you sincerely care about them and their success they will remain a loyal lifetime buyer! Thats the goldmine, not some 'the rich jerk' kind of way to treat your list. I hate that, just be honest and a real genuine person.
      Trust is an important factor when building credibility..
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  • Profile picture of the author DrewClement
    Is it about building trust, or is it proof that the sheep often simply follow the herd?
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    • Profile picture of the author Paul Myers
      Originally Posted by DrewClement View Post

      Is it about building trust, or is it proof that the sheep often simply follow the herd?
      What herd? Each person reads that email individually. I rather doubt Steven had 30 people sending the same email to the same subscribers for him, which might invoke the social proof effect.


      Paul
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      • Profile picture of the author DrewClement
        Originally Posted by Paul Myers View Post

        What herd? Each person reads that email individually. I rather doubt Steven had 30 people sending the same email to the same subscribers for him, which might invoke the social proof effect.


        Paul
        You missed the point a bit here. Not so much a herd-mentality in terms of everyone else is doing it, so I better do it.

        But herd-mentality can also exist when there is a "leader". If the leader says this is the best thing since sliced bread, it must be...so I am going to buy.

        Not a bash on Steven(Ive worked with him for a long time now)Not a bash on the industry at all.....Not a bash on anything or anyone.

        Just more of an insight into the type of people that are in fact the ideal market for this type of marketing.

        Get the right people on your list, and selling can be an absolute breeze.

        Which is pretty much what Steven proved right here
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        • Profile picture of the author Paul Myers
          Drew,
          But herd-mentality can also exist when there is a "leader". If the leader says this is the best thing since sliced bread, it must be...so I am going to buy.
          I think you're using the word 'herd' where a lot of people would say something more like 'tribe,' then.

          Herd behavior is about doing what everyone else is doing. Tribe behavior is more about trusting the leader to give beneficial direction. The latter tends to require some independent thought before granting that trust.

          I often wonder how many of the disagreements people have online are due to using words in different ways.


          Paul
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          • Profile picture of the author DrewClement
            Originally Posted by Paul Myers View Post

            Drew,I think you're using the word 'herd' where a lot of people would say something more like 'tribe,' then.

            Herd behavior is about doing what everyone else is doing. Tribe behavior is more about trusting the leader to give beneficial direction. The latter tends to require some independent thought before granting that trust.

            I often wonder how many of the disagreements people have online are due to using words in different ways.


            Paul
            Tribe-mentality eh? I guess that could work in some context.

            Are you saying you wouldn't agree with the fact that a herd follows one Shepherd? Or that a herd isn't told what to do or pushed into one direction all together thanks to the instructions of one Shepherd or "leader"?

            I'm not so sure this is an instance of me misusing a word, so much as it is an instance of preference and/or just debating for the sake of debating.
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            • Profile picture of the author Michael Shook
              Originally Posted by DrewClement View Post

              Tribe-mentality eh? I guess that could work in some context.

              Are you saying you wouldn't agree with the fact that a herd follows one Shepherd? Or that a herd isn't told what to do or pushed into one direction all together thanks to the instructions of one Shepherd or "leader"?

              I'm not so sure this is an instance of me misusing a word, so much as it is an instance of preference and/or just debating for the sake of debating.
              In many instances, the word herd has perjorative connotation and the word tribe does not.

              Perhaps to your understanding of the word usage that is not the case. And they mean the same thing to you. Hard to say.
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        • Profile picture of the author gie grace
          Originally Posted by DrewClement View Post

          You missed the point a bit here. Not so much a herd-mentality in terms of everyone else is doing it, so I better do it.

          But herd-mentality can also exist when there is a "leader". If the leader says this is the best thing since sliced bread, it must be...so I am going to buy.

          Not a bash on Steven(Ive worked with him for a long time now)Not a bash on the industry at all.....Not a bash on anything or anyone.

          Just more of an insight into the type of people that are in fact the ideal market for this type of marketing.

          Get the right people on your list, and selling can be an absolute breeze.

          Which is pretty much what Steven proved right here
          You've got a point.

          Pretty good insight you provided.

          I would be very much interested in "getting the right people on my list"

          Personally, I think it's a combination of "trust" and "follow the leader" mentality.
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    • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
      Originally Posted by DrewClement View Post

      Is it about building trust, or is it proof that the sheep often simply follow the herd?
      Actually Drew, the email was for a limited offer (x number of copies) only
      available (as of now anyway) to my personal list and nobody else even knows
      about it yet. That may change in the future, but as of today, that email was
      the only one that went out until later on when I sent a follow up with the
      corrected link.

      I don't normally do bone headed things like that, and certainly didn't do it to
      prove a point (I'm not so full of myself to think that I can send people a buy
      now button and they'll buy from me) but obviously, there are at least 3 people
      in this world who trust me enough that they didn't need to see the sales page.

      Not sure what it means definitively, but I can only hope it's a good thing.
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  • Profile picture of the author tokaje
    And it also show the importance of checking the links, before sending the mails ;-)
    Tom
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    • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
      Originally Posted by tokaje View Post

      And it also show the importance of checking the links, before sending the mails ;-)
      Tom
      I normally do, but working only a couple of days a month now, I'm obviously
      a little off my game.
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  • Profile picture of the author RobertBayes
    It takes a long time for me to trust someone like that, and that trust is easily broken, but those I do trust get my business.

    Robert Bayes
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  • Profile picture of the author Steven Miranda
    Very good point you bring up Steven. I also notice customers will tend to go with the business they feel they can trust sometimes over other factors.
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  • Profile picture of the author CBSnooper
    Out of interest, did anyone unsubscribe from your list?
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    • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
      Originally Posted by CBSnooper View Post

      Out of interest, did anyone unsubscribe from your list?
      I would be shocked if there were no unsubscribes. Usually, after an email, I
      will get between 2 and 5 unsubscribes, regardless of the content.

      It's the nature of the beast when you have a large list. Some people will
      simply not respond to your message.

      That's why, as Paul Myers has said many times (one heck of a bright guy),
      when you try to please everybody, you end up pleasing nobody. I think I
      got that right Paul, though I may be paraphrasing a bit.

      I stopped trying to make everybody happy a long time ago.

      I have fewer gray hairs because of it.
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  • Profile picture of the author GarrieWilson
    Did your email tell about the product?
    Did your email tell it was limited?

    I ask because if it did, then it was a sales
    letter and might not have anything to do
    with trusting you.

    Garrie
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    • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
      Originally Posted by GarrieWilson View Post

      Did your email tell about the product?
      Did your email tell it was limited?

      I ask because if it did, then it was a sales
      letter and might not have anything to do
      with trusting you.

      Garrie
      Garrie, the email had very little info in it. Certainly nothing (other than maybe
      the subject line) that should make anybody buy. But hey, what do I know?
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  • Profile picture of the author Michael Meaney
    Steve, I did the same thing about 2 months ago.. no sales page, just a straight link to payment for a £180 product - recurring yearly, with a limited number of 10 spots available.

    They all sold out in under 2 days.

    Mine wasn't an accident, just an experiment to see what would happen - if anything.

    It told me that my list don't need a sales page when there's genuine scarcity involved - what a time saver.
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  • Profile picture of the author magnates
    Originally Posted by Steven Wagenheim View Post

    So numb nuts here sends out an email to his list this morning. In it was
    SUPPOSED to be a link to a sales page. However, I copied and pasted the
    wrong link and instead sent my list to...you got it...a buy now button.

    Within several minutes, I got 3 sales.

    One person wrote to me saying that the link only sent him to a PayPal button.

    I checked email and sure enough, I put the wrong link in it.

    And 3 people, sales page unseen, purchased the product.

    Granted, 3 sales is not a fortune. But it shows the power of building trust.
    Had I not gotten that email, I would have never known about my blunder
    and would have never thought to look, given that sales were coming in.

    There have been a lot of threads lately about all the bad going on. Hopefully,
    this thread will show you that by simply treating your customers and
    prospects like people and not like sheep to be herded, you CAN build the
    kind of trust where you can literally send somebody a buy now button and
    make a sale.
    I believe you mate ... I have actually had a similar experience . I was promoting a worthy membership program i truly believe in and used and someone facebooked me and ask to correct my link and buy through my affiliate link ...Good things happen when you are sincere with people
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    • Profile picture of the author Paul Myers
      Drew,

      We could debate the semantics all day and never get to a point where one perspective was clearly right and the other clearly wrong.

      I tend to make the distinction along the lines of "How much independent thought was involved?" Members of a herd don't tend to think. They react, based on what other members do. Members of a tribe, at least as I use the word, tend to think for themselves and choose their own direction. They give weight to the leader because they trust her or him, rather than because others choose to "follow."


      Paul
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      • Profile picture of the author DrewClement
        Originally Posted by Paul Myers View Post

        Drew,

        We could debate the semantics all day and never get to a point where one perspective was clearly right and the other clearly wrong.

        I tend to make the distinction along the lines of "How much independent thought was involved?" Members of a herd don't tend to think. They react, based on what other members do. Members of a tribe, at least as I use the word, tend to think for themselves and choose their own direction. They give weight to the leader because they trust her or him, rather than because others choose to "follow."


        Paul
        I agree wholeheartedly, and am in no mood or position to debate the semantics all day. I think the point is we are both on the same page.

        The way you separated the idea of a "herd" and a "tribe" right above, is actually EXACTLY the distinction I was trying to make in my first question.

        How many people THOUGHT before they bought, and how many people simply bought....without thinking?

        Don't you know see that we are essentially saying the same thing?

        And if the definition of "herd members" is that they do not think before taking action. Would it not be fair to conclude that herd members are exactly the type of people that most marketers WANT on their list?

        They less thinking they do, the faster and more often they will buy.
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        • Profile picture of the author Paul Myers
          Drew,

          The way I read your first post seemed to imply a conclusion rather than a question. Possibly I'm a bit jaded, due to the fact that the majority of comments using the word 'herd' here are meant along those lines.

          As far as wanting herd types on a list... I don't know if that's what most people want or not. I don't, but I'm not the market. And, given the way so many people assume the negatives, I'm not sure it's the demographic most people should want anyway.


          Paul
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      • Profile picture of the author GrahamLutz
        I think, in a "tribe," they will be following "him"
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  • Profile picture of the author mattlaclear
    I once sold 100 ebooks to real estate agents at $50 a pop in which I inadvertently gave a broken url as the download link for the product. Want to guess how many complaints I received from these initial 100? Just 2! That meant 98 of the agents never even bothered to download the product.

    So I'm not surprised to hear about prospects biting at bare hooks. In OP's case he clearly has rep built up with his list. So kudos for sure to Wags.

    I noticed on forums folks buy reputation more so than they do products or services. They figure a vendor in good standing wouldn't do anything to tarnish their reputation and/or standing on the forum.

    So vendors in the know realize they must build up their rep before anything else.
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  • Profile picture of the author PPC-Coach
    Proves your list loves ya that's for sure.

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  • Profile picture of the author RobertBayes
    I want to add that I'm a lot more selective and perhaps less 'forgiving' than I once was. These days, especially with all I've read on review threads, and JV threads, I'm a lot quicker to unsubscribe. I've seen too many once-trusted marketers try to sell me things that I've found out are known-bad products - either they don't work, don't work as advertised, etc.

    As far as I'm concerned, that means to me that this is someone trying to earn commission from me without regard to whether the product is any good. It's like a salesman who tries to sell you something you don't need. Not someone I'd trust.

    Robert Bayes
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  • Profile picture of the author Troy_Phillips
    Come on Steven ... get it together :-)
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  • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
    Originally Posted by Chris Kent View Post

    Wait a minute, Steve. Haven't you done that intentionally before in the past? Linked to a buy button (hosted on a blank page with nothing but the button?).

    Because I've seen that from you before, as well as your sales pages. So if I saw the link to the buy button, it wouldn't seem unusual at all.

    Now if you have no recollection of having ever done this before then it means that this is not the first time you've made this "mistake"!
    I may have done this goof before.

    Don't remember...I'm old.
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    • Profile picture of the author myob
      I think I'll start implementing this technique ASAP. Should save a lot of time in writing my long sales pages.
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    • Profile picture of the author Matthew Shane Roe
      Originally Posted by Steven Wagenheim View Post

      I may have done this goof before.

      Don't remember...I'm old.

      Pretty sure it's happened quite a few times

      Literally, the link you sent out took us to a white page with nothing but anchored text url that leads to paypal.
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  • Profile picture of the author GrahamLutz
    Anything different from an email marketer will probably be good.

    I have been receiving emails from one guy in particular and got an email just the other day from him that simply said "just bought this" with a link on "this."

    It went straight to a paypal page with one short testimonial on it. Almost bought it...almost.
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  • Profile picture of the author jushuaburnham
    Indeed trust is very important in all aspect not only in business.
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  • Profile picture of the author sscot
    Power of Trust! No more comments........
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  • Profile picture of the author KateHunter
    I unsubscribe from lists all the time cause they send me spammy emails promoting some junk, or they haven't bothered to tell me anything helpful in the email- such as- this is great go here and buy it (um why should I?), or they use a deceptive heading such as- you just got a payment, when the link is trying to sell me something. But if you don't do any of that then I will stay on your list and maybe learn to trust you. Dont seem too much to ask but a lot of email marketers get it so wrong.
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  • Profile picture of the author Cee
    Originally Posted by Steven Wagenheim View Post

    However, I copied and pasted the wrong link and instead sent my list to...you got it...a buy now button.

    And 3 people, sales page unseen, purchased the product.
    That is called hypnotic selling. When faced with a powerful suggestion these buyers obeyed what they were told without thinking and temporarily went into a hypnotic state rendering them incapable of critical thinking.

    You might want to remember who they were so you can just send them to the buy it now button again.
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  • Profile picture of the author John Romaine
    So a direct link to a paypal button aye?

    *logs into aweber
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  • Profile picture of the author Targeted Traffic
    Hey congratulations! In the online world Trust is quite hard to develop...cheers to you!
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    • Profile picture of the author Ben Armstrong
      Have you considered that the readers just found a way to get to the sales page from the link you provided? Or is this not possible from the link you provided them with?
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      • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
        Originally Posted by Ben Armstrong View Post

        Have you considered that the readers just found a way to get to the sales page from the link you provided? Or is this not possible from the link you provided them with?
        Absolutely not possible unless they, by some miracle guessed at the sales page
        URL. I'd say the odds were pretty much against that.
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        • Profile picture of the author lgibbon
          Banned
          Originally Posted by Steven Wagenheim View Post

          Absolutely not possible unless they, by some miracle guessed at the sales page
          URL. I'd say the odds were pretty much against that.
          I'd say that was very possible.
          Just about every paypal payment page I've seen has a return
          to vendor link.
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          • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
            Originally Posted by lgibbon View Post

            I'd say that was very possible.
            Just about every paypal payment page I've seen has a return
            to vendor link.
            You know Les, I never thought of that. So if they clicked on the buy now
            button and then clicked on "return to vendor" it would take them to my sales
            page?
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            • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
              Les, I just tested it out myself. When I click on the return to vendor link it
              takes me back to:

              www .mainurl. com

              Problem is, my sales page is:

              www. mainurl. com/subdomain/pagename.html

              So there really is no way for them to guess the sales page URL.
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            • Profile picture of the author lgibbon
              Banned
              Originally Posted by Steven Wagenheim View Post

              You know Les, I never thought of that. So if they clicked on the buy now
              button and then clicked on "return to vendor" it would take them to my sales
              page?
              Yes that's the way it works Steve.
              You usually have to fill in a return url when setting up a button.
              It's been handy identifying WSO scammers in the past.
              There were several ID's selling different WSO's but all were linked
              to the same sales page if you hit the return link instead of paying.
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  • Profile picture of the author DIGITALCHAMELEON
    Trust is not just for the traditional business as well it is the key for a for a successful online business.
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  • Profile picture of the author fccs
    trust = happy users, happy users = money for you
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  • Profile picture of the author gskesavan
    Yet another perfect example about building trust. This is called "customer focused selling" and it always works, no matter what.
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  • Profile picture of the author Andyhenry
    Hey Steven,

    You're right. I've used many sales letters which were not much more than a buy button because they were created for my list and since they already trust me and I'm going to tell them what to expect when I email them - all they really need is the buy button so that's often all I put there.

    I think people often forget that selling is just a matter of matching someone's need/want with a no-brainer way to get it. If they already know what they want but just not where to get it, giving them anything more than "here it is" can be overkill and just get in the way of the sale.
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    nothing to see here.

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    • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
      Originally Posted by Andyhenry View Post

      Hey Steven,

      You're right. I've used many sales letters which were not much more than a buy button because they were created for my list and since they already trust me and I'm going to tell them what to expect when I email them - all they really need is the buy button so that's often all I put there.

      I think people often forget that selling is just a matter of matching someone's need/want with a no-brainer way to get it. If they already know what they want but just not where to get it, giving them anything more than "here it is" can be overkill and just get in the way of the sale.
      I won't go as far a to say that I've tried sales letters with just a buy button
      on purpose (I'm not quite that confident) but I have found that I can screw
      up the process and still close the sale.

      However, I think this will ONLY work with people who already know and
      trust you. A stranger walking into a buy now button is not going to purchase
      unless they're so curious that they take a chance. Personally, I prefer not
      to run my business on taking chances...at least not THOSE kind.
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      • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
        Just to add one more thing. I really try NOT to do boneheaded things like this
        but I find that as I am getting older, I am doing them more and more. This is
        one of the reasons why I have gone into semi retirement. I don't want to
        reach a point where I become the punch line to some joke.

        I'd rather go out with some self respect than ever let that happen.
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        • Profile picture of the author Cee
          Originally Posted by Steven Wagenheim View Post

          Just to add one more thing. I really try NOT to do boneheaded things like this
          but I find that as I am getting older, I am doing them more and more. This is
          one of the reasons why I have gone into semi retirement. I don't want to
          reach a point where I become the punch line to some joke.

          I'd rather go out with some self respect than ever let that happen.

          You know everyone does boneheaded things from time to time no matter what age.
          You just gotta be able to laugh at yourself sometimes and not take it too seriously.
          And besides you made some sales out of it and it showed you the trust your list does
          have in you. That's gotta feel good.
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  • Profile picture of the author Justin Newcastle
    Great story Steven
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  • Profile picture of the author peakperformer
    WOW. Inspiring stuff brother.

    Makes me want to overdeliver and give more value to my subscribers and customers. Thanks for sharing, and most of all, reminding us that "people buy from people they trust".

    Thanks

    Max
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