As the President of the Information Marketing Association, I host a monthly coaching call for info-marketers who have questions and are trying to launch their infopreneur business. Here is a question from Ted in LaHoya, California about transforming online newsletters into a mailing. Since this is a common question, I decided to prepare an article about this challenge to help you.

Back in 2006, the internet information marketers began to realize that although they had a great run sending out emails, the lists they used were waning. There were a lot of marketers who decided to try and convert their online clients to a mailing list. One way to help encourage online clients to give out their mailing address is to create a product that will interest them. For example, one information marketer who did this was Chris Pizo. He came up with the audio program that he knew his clients would just love and he offered to send it out to them for free. Of course it didn’t encourage all of them, but it encouraged a huge number to go ahead give him their full address to send the free CD. It doesn’t have to be a free CD though. It could be a free CD or a free report. It could be any thing you would like. But then it becomes something that is kind of a headline for one of your next emails. It is all about how this free product is going to be available and all they have to do to get it, is to click on a link and give you their mailing address.

You don’t have to give up on your email clientele. It really is not all that expensive to reformat your offline newsletter and stick it online, even if it’s brief or converted into articles. Regardless, you are going to want to continue tending to your email list. Email does have a much lower perceived value, and a much lower emotional attachment than something received in the mail. In the end, the goal is to create an emotional response, which is really trust. This is accomplished much easier through mailings rather than email.

There have never been greater, more diverse, more lucrative opportunities for everyone-experienced, successful entrepreneurs to rank beginners-in the field of information marketing. If you can name a topic, there is a market for providing information about it. People buy information about almost everything-from hobbyist topics like dog training, to business topics like how to sell over the telephone, to self-improvement topics like fitness walking. The key is to find a responsive market and then package information that customers want in convenient forms such as DVD’s, books, e-books, CD’s, magazines, websites, teleseminars, webinars, coaching programs, seminars, and conferences. Watch a free video revealing how several info-marketers created their products and became infopreneurs at www.Info-Marketing.org.

As the President of the Information Marketing Association, I host a monthly coaching call for info-marketers who have questions and are trying to launch their infopreneur business. Here is a question from Scott in St. Louis, Missouri about what to look out for when booking meeting space at hotels. Since this is a common question, I decided to prepare an article about this challenge to help you.

There are a couple of the key issues that hotels are going to look for an attrition clause. Hotels are in the business of selling sleeping rooms and while they do have meeting spaces at hotels, the only reason they have that meeting space is so that they have the ability to sell sleeping rooms for the people attending the meetings. As a promoter, we want their space by guaranteeing the fewest number of rooms possible, however, they as a hotel, want to give their meeting space up only to people who will book as much sleeping space as possible. When you get the contract or when you engage in the discussion, the first thing they’re going to ask you is, how much space do you need and how many rooms are you going to book? And based on that equation, they’ll figure out if they’re going to give you any kind of discounts on rooms. And then when they give you the contract, their going to ask for you to book a certain number of rooms. If you don’t book that number, then you’re liable to pay them for those rooms whether anybody slept in them or not. Then they’re also going to ask you for a food and beverage minimum. This is the amount of food, coffee, lunch, and things of the like that you buy are all going to be factored into that original contract. Some of the provisions and then there is going to be a cancellation provision. That’s the third thing that you really need to think about.

Now in terms of the attrition, a couple of years ago it was difficult to get any hotel contract without a real aggressive attrition penalty in it. Now, that is less and less the case and I find that hotels are more open to negotiating those terms.

The other issue you must consider is the amount of the food and beverage the hotel will require you to buy in order to use the meeting space at the hotel. The thing that surprises most people, is when you buy say $5,000.00 worth of food and beverage, that is plus service charge and plus sales tax. That’s like another twenty-eight percent that you’ll have to pay on top of that. If you look at the contract and think, “Okay five thousand dollars food and beverage will do great. That’s all I have to spend. That’s my budget.” Well, that five thousand is actually five thousand minimum food and beverage plus tax plus gratuity, so that ends up being closer to $6,500.00.

There have never been greater, more diverse, more lucrative opportunities for everyone—experienced, successful entrepreneurs to rank beginners—in the field of information marketing. If you can name a topic, there is a market for providing information about it. People buy information about almost everything—from hobbyist topics like dog training, to business topics like how to sell over the telephone, to self-improvement topics like fitness walking. The key is to find a responsive market and then package information that customers want in convenient forms such as DVD’s, books, e-books, CD’s, magazines, websites, teleseminars, webinars, coaching programs, seminars, and conferences. Watch a free video revealing how several info-marketers created their products and became infopreneurs at www.Info-Marketing.org.

When it comes to creating an info-product, one way to find content is to use a public domain source. These sources, such as books, allow you to borrow their content and add to it for your own use in products.

As the President of the Information Marketing Association, I host a monthly coaching call for info-marketers who have questions and are trying to launch their infopreneur business. Here is a question from Ted in LaHoya about converting public domain books into courses. Since this is a common question, I decided to prepare an article about this challenge to help you.

When you approach creating an info-product out of a public domain resource, such as a book, I would start with an outline. If you are looking to translate that content into a more detailed home study course, you need to make sure you have the expertise or can bring in the expertise to provide additional details to the content you will be creating. Really the simplest method is to take the chapters of the book and create an audio program for each chapter. This is especially useful if you do not have any idea what the category is but you take the chapters because they are already organized for the book. However many chapters there are, you can make a chapter into a CD or you combine a couple of chapters into a CD and add some examples and you’re done.

Adding a workbook utilizing the main points of the audio tracks can add perceived value. If you wanted to give them a step-by-step process at the end to help them implement your product, then you provide them with six or ten questions they can use as a jumping off point. The fewer the questions you use, the more pleased the customer will be, even though they will implement less. The objective of these questions is to help them work through and the answers will help in creating whatever it is that your product looking to help them create.

If you need additional content, you can always bring in a couple of interviews to add variation. Feel free if you need a particular piece of content to get somebody on the phone, interview them for fifteen minutes and add that to the CD for that particular unit. You can do this by giving a small intro, “On this program you’re going to learn this, you’re going to learn that and I have a special guest and this is what they’re going to bring. This is their name that’s all part of this program” and then you jump into that CD. That way don’t feel like you have to give anybody you interviewed a full hour and you still get the additional content for your product.

My only caution these days is that more and more customers want things distilled for them. Customers are fairly dependent and although it’s our inclination to give our customers absolutely everything they could possibly need to know; very often they are looking for what are the essential five things they need to know are. There is some value in that as well. Rather than saying “let me expand the content here,” use instead a “this is how you get started,” program. In that case, you walk them through the main points. Instead of making this a twelve audio CD product, you make it four audio CDs and what it is giving them is a step-by-step guide to the things they need in order to implement this product.

If you’d like to find out more about the archives, visit www.DKArchive.com. Here is an excerpt from Special Report #1 of the archives. I’m sure you’ll find it valuable and enlightening.

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Working with over 70 different information marketers, I have encountered only three who have functioned and sustained satisfactory profitability (so far) without having the periodic big pay-day of the boot camp or comparable event. On the other hand, there are a number of them who get one-third to two-thirds of their entire net profit for the year from one, two or three such events, and everything leading up to them, beginning with their initial customer acquisition (typically, the sale of a ‘kit’ product) done at losses, break-even and minimal profits.

As I pointed out when I was a guest speaker at one of the Ken McCarthy’s SYSTEM Seminars, even the Internet marketing gurus, teaching “the lazy man’s way to riches” via the Net, are all putting on boot camps. (Wonder why.) Finally, it is easier to sell high-priced coaching programs in this environment than by other means; two of the most successful at doing so—Craig Proctor, Joe Polish—have their boot camps engineered start to finish for that purpose. Some who stopped putting on boot camps, like Platinum Member Reed Hoisington, have returned to doing them.

ACHIEVING MAXIMUM ON-SITE SALES WITH MINIMUM PROBLEMS

The boot camp is a schizophrenic event. Because attendees have (usually) paid significant fees to attend, and been promised a value-rich, information-rich experience, considerable amount of content must be delivered. However, it is important to remember that is done to support the primary purpose—a sales event. The boot camp is, first and foremost, the “Tupperware party on steroids,” where a lot of goods and services are to be sold. It is realistic to average $1,000 to $3,000, even more, per primary attendee in on-site purchases, and in fact, your planning job begins with setting your target; dollars per primary attendee; then a lot of decisions are made to facilitate hitting that objective.

There is great concern, excess concern on the part of many people putting on boot camps about selling too much, selling too hard, having too many speakers selling. They lose sight of the purpose of the boot camp: to sell as much as possible to as many as possible. You cannot back away from that goal out of fear.

The problems that occur are manageable, can be kept within an acceptable range. Saying that means that there WILL be problems and complaints. Grumbling amongst the troops is worsened by these factors:

1. Audience makeup
2. Audience’s prior experiences/expectations
3. Agreements process at start of seminar
4. Agenda errors
5. Ineptitude of speakers selling—especially first one

Grumbling is mitigated—and receptiveness to purchasing improved—by these factors:

1. Relationship with host
2. Posture of host
3. Agreements process
4. Properly constructed agenda
5. Competence of speakers selling
6. Speaker introductions (endorsements)
7. Environment
8. Amenities
9. Gifts
10. Unanticipated added value
11. Influence of alumni/raving fans
12. Staff demeanor

#’s 1 & 2:

It is usually easier to run a “sales heavy” event when the audience is comprised of raving fans and successful students pulled only from within the host’s customer base vs. including outsiders from the host’s industry or general population, with whom he has no established relationship. In truth, relationship is everything. If the attendees are in a good relationship with host, have warm feelings toward host, possibly also intimidated by and unwilling to irritate host; if host has a strong posture or position; they are far less likely to think in dissatisfied terms and even if they do, unlikely to voice the dissatisfaction; and likely to invest in resources even if they do feel the selling excessive.

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If you enjoyed this excerpt, you may want to review the entire Dan Kennedy archive. It is available for a limited time at www.DKArchive.com. Every one of the 72 issues is packed with advanced, specialized, experience-tested insights into what it takes to succeed within the info-marketing business. Visit www.DKArchive.com to reserve your copy.

Creating a partnership can be difficult even in the best of situations. What do you do when you have a common interest, but do not know if you can work positively together? Dan in California thinks that he should cold call people in the same business area to see if he will get the answers to his questions and hopefully locate a partner. Is this the best thing to do? Read more and see.

As the president of the Information Marketing Association, I host a monthly coaching call for info-marketers who have questions and are trying to launch their infopreneur business. Here is a question from Dan in California about the best way to create a partnership with others in his field, not only develop his Information Marketing product, but also to assist in selling it. Since this is a common question, I have decided to prepare an article about this challenge to help you.

When contemplating the idea of bringing another source into your Information-Marketing project, you will need to ask yourself several different questions. The first is, why do you need someone else? If your answer is knowledge and creative input, then you are on the right track. However, if your answer is because you want someone else to do it for you, then maybe you are not the infopreneur you thought you were.

In Dan’s case, he is already an expert in his field and would like to bring in a partner to expand the knowledge base. His idea was to actually cold call others in his field and ask questions from a script. This is not necessarily a good or bad idea. The problem is the questions. In sales, you have probably heard the term KISS. It means Keep It Simple, Stupid. This term can relate rather strongly to the theme of this article. Remember, there is no person out there that is going to think just as you do. Each person will have their own brain and their own way of thinking and doing things. In addition, each will have their special hot spot in which the infopreneur will need to reach to achieve the outcome in which you are looking for. This concept is just like getting the potential customer from the initial phase through to the buying phase of the program.

If you decide to cold call, you will need to keep it real and be honest with the potential partners. Do not sound scripted or you will lose them in the blink of an eye. Instead, have an idea of the information you need and ask in a friendly conversational manner. This will gather more positive and honest responses.

Also, consider the fact that these people are just as busy as you are. It would be in your best interest to offer something that is real and tangible for their time. Remember that everyone likes to get something free. But, by the same token, people are bombarded by offers on a daily basis. What makes your different? Think about this prior to embarking on this avenue.