Jeff Paul Infomercials...is he kidding?

Hmmm....

Not shocked at all. I don't think I've seen the infomercial, but there are a few reasons why it might be doing welll.

1. Infomercials typically run late at night - when people's defenses aren't as strong.

2. The majority of people have NO CLUE about how to make money online, but...

3. They know there's money to be made on that "internets thing", so...

4. They hear a sales pitch late at night about how to make money online and it's as if they're hypnotized into action.

Maybe that's why he's more down to earth, it helps maintain the trance on viewers.



You may not have to be a total idiot to believe the infomercial, just unaware of the truth about how to make money online.

All the best,
Michael

When someone watches an infomercial for making money they are looking for that one word that will hook them. Once they hear that one word that convinces them, they spend the rest of the time dreaming of what it could be like if only half of it were true.

People who are desperate and looking for a way out of a jam will go for it.

Ever have a lottery ticket for a huge jackpot and went to bed dreaming of what you could do with the money and all the people you could help out in your family.

Then you'd not go and check out the ticket right away because you didn't want to loose that good feeling you have just from dreaming about what you could do with the cash.

Hey, we've all been there...

Same thing with an infomercial. Right there in your living room... all alone, spouse is in bed and you are dreaming of what it could be like if you just went ahead and tried it. Imagine the good feeling you would have if your spouse couldn't stop talking about the success you found and even helped you with it.

Man, imagine how much money you could make...

See what I mean?

In a lot of households right now for the average person the talk is probably about MONEY... The desire to have more of it, pay your bills on time, go for nice dinners out and get your spouse off your back so you can both be happy again will persuade a lot of people into ordering it.

Mike Hill

I read recently that in the two hours before we go to bed
our defenses are down - way down... so for people who
are trying to lose weight it can be not so tough to be
disciplined... until it gets late and the brain gets impulsive.

Same thing with late-night infomercials I reckon.

I think you described that exceptionally well.

I was wondering the same thing lol

I was dissapointed when he said he went from flat broke to rich b/c of the internet, when the reality is his breakthrough came from selling to Financial Planners through Direct Mail.

I'm still a fan of his as I think he's a a great marketer but again, I was a little dissapointed as I don't think it was necessary.

I also completely agree with you - way too fake and way too much hype. I would keep the hot girls, big numbers (assuming they are accurate) and all the rest but the tone of voice that they used was so freakin silly. I sincerely believe that if he spoke like himself (you know typical Jeff Paul "I don't have to wear ties.." etc etc) he would have resonated with more people.

At the end of the day though - in terms of response - it's better to err on the side of hype than conservative and I think it still does a good job of converting the lottery ticket mentality. Heck, after watching that I bet he makes a TON of sales just off of sheer curiosity!

Yeah Mike - our critical filters come down when we are tired - it
can work to our benefit and detriment, depending on what kind
of habits we condition ourselves to drop into when we tire.

If there is one thing Jeff Paul knows, it's his market.

He tests everything and has probably run every aspect of that latest commercial thru experts as sharp as himself and tested in small markets as well. The girls are there because he no doubt has tested and analyzed his buyers: Mostly male and younger (especially at night).

The most prized infomercial buyer in the Bizop/Make Money/ Real estate/Day Trading market is a 30+ year old unmarried man living in his parents basement.

The testimonials are almost certainly true. JP is high profile and cannot risk inventing them at this stage. The 'catch' is that the success claimed by his testimonials came BEFORE Jeff's material and they could legitimately claim Jeff's stuff HELPED them.

In past infomercials he's had Shawn Casey, and even John Carlton.

Late night viewers of these deals usually think the 'success stories' started with nothing and achieved results overnight, and that ALL the results came from the product.
But mostly it's already successful folks who just were adding to their library of materials.

Mike Hill's right. The addicted BizOp Buyer is just waiting to hear that ONE THING, and then they buy. ...it's like a pavlov's dog response.

Interesting that most bizop buyers don't even open the package and go thru the materials.

There's some anecdotal evidence that the reason is the buyer does not want to find out the method or system doesn't work.

By not ever actually reviewing it or attempting to use it, they are able to stay in the 'get rich' trance longer. This also explains why some will re-buy THE SAME PACKAGE months later.

Anyway, I met Jeff P years ago before he lost his Financial Planning practice and had a business deal with him. He's sharp guy and very driven to succeed.
_____
Bruce

In the Chicago TV market Jeff's infomercial isn't just running late at night. It's running at various times all throughout the day and on multiple channels, mostly cable channels.

Bottom line - what Bruce said above is dead on. It's working big-time for Jeff or the dollars wouldn't be getting invested.

All the people giving testimonials are heavy-hitters so the numbers are real. However you need to listen carefully to the language used.

"Up to X per day/week/month/year" is what clears them from major legal issues, in addition to other elements being used.

It's amazing that it works so well considering how "obviously" manufactured it is. But I think that's the point.

He doesn't want you and me as customers. As Bruce pointed out, he's looking for the biz opp addicts with a Pavlovian buying impulse.

Ken

I just love the Shawn Casey cameo where Shawn says how he made oodles of cash over a weekend using Jeff's teachings...

The funny thing is that they show his name as "Shawn C." and they fail to mention that Shawn also had a huge list of hundreds of thousands of preexisting subscribers to mail, years of experience, and tons of affiliates and jv partners to help him promote ;-)

not to beat a dead horse here, but I found a few disgruntled customers of the Jeff Paul program here;

INFOMERCIAL SCAMS.COM - JEFF PAUL - MAKING MONEY IN YOUR UNDERWEAR COMPLAINTS

the complaints sound legitimate unfortunately.

Its a shame that so many people have been duped by this kind of thing. Makes it so much harder for the rest of us that try to give value upfront to try to build a good relationship with new subscribers. The people venting their frustration in that link will probably never trust another person on the internet, no matter how much value they give upfront.

This commercial runs constantly throughout the day on our cable in Hawaii, it's the second one for this scam that he's had. I was curious about it myself so I spent some time investigating it.

My understanding (from reading Scam Alert forums and BBB complaints) about how Jeff's program works is as follows:

- You sign up for the 34.99 course, once you pay the 15 dollar shipping and handling cost its 50 bucks.

- The course arrives, Jeff's Internet Secrets turnout to be nothing more than a bunch of dated affiliate marketing materials that are essentially worthless (hot tip - search for keywords on Overture, then saturate your copy with them!) .

- Then the fun begins. You get a call from your "personal coach" who agrees with you that the material you received won't be sufficient to constantly net those 10,000 dollar checks. They will offer (i.e.hard sell) you to upgrade to a 500 or 1000 dollar level. Many people sadly fall for this.

- Now the calls from every program that Jeff has an affiliate arrangement with start to come in. One that has been reported repeatedly in the scam forums is one for a Merchant Account service. They convince you that to make money on the Internet you need to accept credit cards, and they sign you up for a service that is almost impossible to cancel. Guess that PayPal isn't one of Jeff's shortcuts.

- And because he loves you, Jeff has provided you a free membership in his "exclusive club". Well, free for the first month anyway- after that you'll be billed 40 bucks a month, and good luck canceling it - remember, you gave him your credit card.

- Also, if you want to return the 1996 Internet Marketing course you just bought have fun. You are only entitled to your purchase price back, not the shipping. However, it seems that the original shipping material isn't good enough to send it back in, it will be rejected unless you insure the shipment. Most people won't bother to try.


Jeff Paul may have once had a good reputation on the Internet (heck I used to follow him) but he's flushed it down the drain with this one, along with his credibility. Judging from the amount it plays in our market it seems like its working for him.

What irks me about this kind of garbage is that it is an insult to our profession as Internet Marketers. Used car salesmen have had a stigma about them thanks to the unscrupulous tactics of just a few of them, I suspect most used car dealers are honest business people just trying to make a living. With scams like this taking advantage of people in these troubled times we risk having Internet Marketing viewed as a sleazy profession, just because of a few scam artists like Jeff Paul.

Oh, and my favorite part of the commercial (other than the two supermodels doing the interviews) - a guy proudly displays 3 handwritten checks for over 100,000.00 that he made with Jeff's shortcuts. Yet 5 minutes earlier Jeff explains that the money is all deposited automatically into your bank account. So what's with the checks? And how many companies hand write checks for 100 grand?

Needless to say I'm ordering my copy today!

Bill

woooooooooooooooooooooo...

Where do I sign up?.... someone make me a copy of that infomercial NOW!!!... I want in on this...



Peace

Jay

If ever there was an infomercial that could make me pine for a few minutes of screaming Billy Mays, it's this one.

From the actresses with surgically-implanted talent to the countless lies of omission, it's the worst kind of late night TV.

Once upon a time, before infomercials ruled cable after midnight, you could ride out your insomnia with Quincy, Vega$ or The Rockford Files. Who would've thought those times would become the "good old days".

Jeff Paul's infomercial is probably making him money.

It doesn't take a genius to realize that you can move some product if you're willing to combine the chance at easy riches with four barely-contained breasts on late night TV.

He'd probably end up in the black even if the "show" results in litigation and/or fines (note the "if"--I'm not claiming he's doing anything legally actionable). He's undoubtedly smart enough to have considered those risks in his decision calculus.

It's still a mess, in my opinion. It hurts the industry, it encourages the development of stifling and cumbersome regulation and we all know that the claims made are only "true" if you know "the rest of the story".

A lot of late night infomercials are done on ROS and also PI (per inquiry) basis.

Depending on the market they air in, PI deals can be cut for minimal, even zero up front cost (other than your sunk costs to cut the informercial).

And if times are like they are now--with strapped advertiser budgets--stations (or cable outlets) are hungry. Meaning: many will take a product that is in your face, and clearly asks the viewer for the sale, which gives the station a better chance to earn a decent bounty for doing nothing. Especially if it airs in off-hours.

You aren't taking into count the amount of research that goes into infomercials. Especially how to make money infomercials.

These are not put together willy nilly, they have a HUGE amount of research and psychology that goes into the crafting of the infomercial. The look, feel, models, scripts...

Then there are the lawyers who look over everything... These things are not just put together on a whim.

If the infomercial did not make a profit they would not keep buying airtime for it.

For those of you that are involved from the marketing and business side of the Internet Marketing Niche, are you taking advantage of the free publicity that all of these offline marketing campaigns are bringing into the market?

I love these infomercials not for the crap they are spewing but because of the activity they produce in the market.


- Terry

It' a shame people actually fall for this crap. Makes me feel sorry for those who get hustled by this slime ball. Jeff isn't even likable in the commercial.

I remember back in the mid-late 90's I bought into Don Lapri's "Tiny classified ads" system LOL. But at least with Don's system it made sense and had some potential to make money (not that i ever did LOL). Jeff's system simply doesn't add up at all. He's using people's ignorance to make a profit and that's just wrong on so many levels. Hope the FTC shuts his ass down.

yeah I Like Jeff Paul and love to listen to his teleseminars and love his ebooks.

But sometimes..these types of guys don't cross over well when they do a tv ad. It can come off as canned and cheesy and well..contrived too.

But hey...it might be that he wanted to test the infomercial and see what the response from it would be. Maybe he made a ton of sales from it.

I was waiting for him to poke her in the eye with those crazy hands...