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If you stay on a Guru's mailing list for long enough, sooner or later they all seem to let the cats out of the
bag, one by one. Let me explain.
Guru
Secret #1
Have
you ever noticed how all those "killer" sales
letters look and sound so similar? It's as if there's a
magic formula that governs what works and
what doesn't.
Yet those of us who've been advertising and marketing professionals
for a long time know all too well that there are NO
magic formulas in advertising.
If there were, all ads would look the same and we'd
die of boredom, after slavishly buying everything ever
put to us in those magical ads. We wouldn't be
able to help ourselves!
So why is there such strong similarity in all the Guru sales
letters? Not just the look of them, but the tone
and even the words.
Without naming names, but armed with plenty of admissions
by Gurus in their newsletters, usually in announcing some
kind of tag-teaming with other Gurus, here's the simple
reality
- The
Gurus tend to use each other's specialised talents
and skills.
- If
a Guru is a great sales-letter copywriter, he or
she writes for lots of other Gurus
- If
a Guru is great at sales letter layout, he or she
designs them for lots of Gurus
- If
a Guru is good at designing ebook covers, he or
she creates them for other Gurus
Are
you getting the picture here, ?
They
all look so similar because they're all being created by
the same inner circle of specialists used by all
the Gurus!
Is this a bad thing?
Not if they're honest and upfront about it. And not
if they don't create the illusion that YOU can learn how
to do what the Guru has achieved all on your own. After all... THEY DIDN'T DO IT ON THEIR OWN, EITHER!
Of course, even the bad imitations all look and
sound the same nowadays, as the Gurus flog their Magic
Formulas to the desperate, ignorant and gullible. You
only have to look at all those sales sites with blue and
orange colour schemes to see this "clone" mentality
at work.
Guru
Secret #2
There's a distinct life cycle for products sold online
that you usually have to work out for yourself over a long
period of time, from personal observation and experience.
So let's shorten that timeand reveal that life cycle to
you right now...
- Launch
of new product to your list and via web site.
- Web
site and mailing list sales peak, then decline.
- Negotiate
joint ventures with one or more gurus.
- Joint
venture sales peak, then decline.
- "Tag-team"
with more gurus — hit their lists, expand your
own.
- Achieve
personal "Guru" status through teaching
(teleseminars, etc).
- Extend
your affiliate program — let the little guys
in on the action.
- Affiliate
sales peak, then decline.
- Negotiate
bonus giveaway deals with other gurus — use to
upsell and cross-sell.
- Giveaway
upsell and cross-sell sales peak for a while, then decline.
- Product
rarely dies, but ticks over. Bursts into renewed life
sporadically.
Can
you see what's happening here, ?
Remember
the story of the unscrupulous
mine owner who, once the actual gold seams were
mined out, began selling off the tailing dumps and teaching
inexperienced would-be gold miners how to find gold in them?
Then sold them tools and supplies at inflated prices, bought
any gold they managed to find from them at low prices, until
his victims finally woke up to reality?
Remember
the story of the property investment "gurus" who
sold expensive seminars and workshops, teaching the uninitiated
how to duplicate their personal success?
Can
you still not see what's happening here, ?
Let
me be even clearer...
Once
the gurus begin offering to teach YOU how to duplicate their
success, and to sell you the tools and systems they've created,
or to join their membership programs, you can be absolutely
certain of these three FACTS of life...
-
The REAL money has already been made! If
not before now, then through sales to YOU and the tens
of thousands of others like you.
- All
the low-hanging fruit, surface gold and main ore seams
have already gone! The gurus got there
first. Now they're at phase 2... leveraging their tailing
dumps and supply stores by selling YOU the tools, systems
and opportunities to look for gold in those tailings.
- You
now have tens of thousands of new competitors,
created by the very same gurus you're paying to
"teach" YOU how to do the same as they
did. Yeah... right!
It's
wake-up call time!
Does
it mean that you CAN'T succeed?
No.
It's a big world and a very large market place. There's
plenty of room for everyone. But there are some basic
business realities you need to understand and implement
first, including these...
- The
only REAL security we ever have is what WE create for
ourselves.
- We
only create REAL wealth by doing what we KNOW...
or we'll be eaten alive by those who DO know that
they're doing.
Guru Secret #3
Manipulative
selling techniques are the stock in trade of the majority
of gurus. Watch out for these classic warning signs
of manipulative selling...
- Using
fear of loss to get you to act without first
thinking things through properly, getting all the facts,
finding the most accurate perspective and then making
a rational, informed, objective, business decision.
- This
includes setting artificial limits on quantity, artificial
deadlines by which to decide, artificial limits
on availability, etc.
- Powerful
emotional appeals that target your desperation, frustration,
greed, laziness, ignorance or gullibility. These are
the core reasons why people FAIL, not succeed.
- Lack
of transparency — hiding material facts revealing
that duplicating the gurus' results takes a LOT more than
what they claim. In other words, telling you only part
of the story. Typically, the concealed facts are gradually
revealed over a period of time in order to sell you additional
products, training or services.
- Patronising
pitches that treat you like a seven year-old. This
gives you a pretty good idea of how the writer really
sees you!
- Foaming-at-the-mouth,
hype-riddled copy designed to get you caught up emotionally,
usually appealing to your fear of loss, frustration, greed,
laziness, ignorance or gullibility, with lots of references
to easy money, secret formulas, silver
bullets, tricks of the trade, insider knowledge
or little-known methods, etc. These are nothing
but gimmicks that appeal to the causes of
failure while separating you from your cash!
- Mutual
admiration messages from one guru about another guru.
Whether they're in the form of raving testimonials or
special deals done exclusively for the subscribers of
one guru by another, or any other "hush-hush, get-it-now-before-it's-gone"
spiel, be very wary about what you believe and accept.
Get the facts.
I
could go on and on, but you get the idea by now. Always remember...
- Emotion
is never a substitute for reason.
- Opinion
is never a substitute for fact.
- Rationalisation
is never a substitute for objectivity.
- Emotional
manipulation is never a substitute for persuasion.
- Logic
and cunning are never substitutes for intelligence.
- Merely
wanting something to be true will never make
it the truth.
There
are some essentials for success in Internet marketing
that very few people appear to know or understand. The first
of these are the two foundation laws that govern
success and failure... the Law of Success and the
Law of Failure. Since success requires knowledge
and failure doesn't, failure is the default
setting for ALL human beings.
Learn
more about BOTH laws, and why they're so critical to YOUR
success (or failure) at
http://www.TheLawofSuccess.info
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