If you’d like to find out more about the archives, visit www.DKArchive.com. Here is an excerpt from Special Report #24 of the archives. I’m sure you’ll find it valuable and enlightening.

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I’m afraid this particular Report is a bit dull, slow-reading, requires thought, and lacks any fun or interesting illustrations or exhibits. When I got it done and re-read it, I was tempted to scrap it and try replacing it with something a bit more lively and entertaining. But, these Reports are intended to deliver my most advanced, sophisticated and in-depth information for serious, professional info-marketers. So, here it is. And in here there are some very provocative ideas and a few true insider secrets that very few info-marketers know or use, that can lead to eking out considerably more profit from the same number of continuity customers/members. Late in the Report, there is one such secret hardly anybody knows about that, by itself, applied very diligently, might as much as double your NET from the same gross. I think that’s of growing importance to many, given industry and economic trends—although you may not be prepared to work at it yet. Regardless of your readiness, I am providing some very useful marketing, price and management advice that involves ‘retention,’ but goes beyond it, to other issues as well. As I’ve said before and elsewhere, it is still possible to run a very simple info-business and make a nice, mid to high 6-figure income. But push much beyond that, and the level of sophistication and the complexity takes a giant leap. Should you want mid to high 7-figures, I think what’s discussed here is essential.

How do we stop them from leaving us?

In the war against drop-outs, by far the best weapon is known as ‘Pain of Disconnect.’ This means that, when they leave, they endure a considerable amount of “pain” by doing so.

FunctionalPain of Disconnect

If you “drop out” of paying your utilities, something significant happens with your ability to function in life.Your electric power is cut off. No lights, no computer, no TV. Food in refrigerator spoils and smells. To achieve a similar level of functional inconvenience, the info-marketer’s continuity customer must be dependent on something(s) he is connected to. The two clients I’ve worked with, who have most successfully created this are Craig Proctor (in real estate) and, to a lesser degree, Michael Jans (in property/casualty insurance). In Craig’s case, the real estate agent in Craig’s coaching program has one or more 800# recorded message lines, one or more websites, and one or more automated follow-up sequences, all using Craig’s content, all connected through Craig, If unplugged, it goes away. A slightly less enforceable approach is the continuity customer having permission to use certain materials only while in continuity; sent a formal cease and desist for such use if exiting.

The entire movement of our field from selling ‘information’ to selling ‘do-it-for-them-services’ had been driven by client demand, but is also a big part of the answer to retention problems; a way to create pain of disconnect.If, for example, you prepare, print and mail a customer newsletter for your client, and his customers get used to getting it and like it, if he leaves you, he has to take something away from his customers. If that newsletter is damnably hard to replace or do on his own because it has celebrities and syndicated content from famous people, so much the better. If it gets the consumers to go to interactive websites, enter contests and win prizes, access archives of recipes, etc., now all that is to be taken away—so much the better. The Royalty Rewards^® loyalty card and direct-mail program conceived by Bill Glazer and Rory Fatt is an outstanding example of something with monstrous functional pain of disconnect. Many things are taken away from the end consumer that he was promised, likes and uses that are almost impossible for the business owner to replicate on his own.

EmotionalPain of Disconnect

Less powerful than turning off your lights and heat/air conditioning, computer and TV, but still significant is emotional pain of disconnect.Being banished is painful. Losing fraternity, such as at events and meetings, on group calls, in online communities, etc., can be enough to keep people in continuity—if that fraternity is strong. Breaking the bond with the guru is also painful, if that bond is strong enough. Losing status, painful. If there is a lot of validation and identification by belonging to ‘x,’ then disconnecting from ‘x’ happens only under extreme duress or provocation. There’s a saying in the human potential field: belong is being. This is somewhat similar to the strategy of deliberately encouraging confusion of activity with accomplishment, so people feel successful by being part of, not necessarily by doing; in network marketing, for example, many awards are earned purely by longevity or attendance, not by sales, recruiting or income achievement. When you create ‘belonging is being,’ you create great emotional pain tied to leaving.

New Formats

Most of the new formats introduced into Planet Dan info-marketing: coaching-plus, area exclusive coaching-plus, even full-scale franchising are designed to make exit difficult. In most cases, this is, in large part, due to the info-marketer actually taking on a great deal of responsibility, including advertising, marketing, lead development, to point of delivering customers to the door. This is a very serious decision:it alters the business from being paid on consumption to being paid for performance. However, if you can consistently deliver results more successfully, reliably and efficiently than they could on their own, this can be the strongest glue. Further, in many cases, there is significant up-front investment, walked away from if dropping out. Finally, there is the knowledge that, if they are the only client dealt with exclusively in an area and they leave, they will be replaced by a competitor. It is my belief that these types of businesses represent the future of info-marketing. While the most difficult, they are the most sustainable, and have the highest value. I have been working on one (in dentistry) since last year, where a ‘normal’ info-marketing business in that same niche would not have interested me.

Other new formats include deviation from continuity to term, long-term or even life-term contracts, typically with substantial pre-payment. These formats erase the retention problem through advance payment and/or irrevocable, obligatory contracts.

In short, most info-marketers react to retention problems in continuity by attempting to give more value; to better manage expectations and satisfaction, by identifying drop-out ‘spikes’ and pre-emptively acting to delay those drop-outs. These approaches are really not solutions to the problem. They are about buying x-number more months before loss. For some, they are little better than re-arranging deck chairs on the Titanic. What is hardly ever considered—that should be—is radical reinvention of the entire business model. New formats rather than incremental improvements. Not to say that you don’t want to work on all the incremental improvements you can; the other day, with a client, I spent two hours noodling five different, relatively little things to try, to buy even one more month, on average, of retention. But you may also want to creatively consider big things that alter your business model(s) itself.

Ascension

In many info-businesses, retention improves with ascension.At each higher level of commitment, active involvement, recognition, use of more goods and services, etc., the percentage of drop-outs is less, the length of retention greater. If this is true in your business, then it obviously suggests very aggressive and comprehensive efforts, on-going and in surges, at getting people to move up from one level to the next. If you do not know if this is true in your business or not, you should. On-going ascension encouragement includes strategic recognition of higher level members, showing discounts and benefits given higher level members to all members, promoting impending events, calls, reports, etc., given only to higher level members, and simply showing your ladder constantly to all members. In addition, special promotions that occur every so often, directed at all members, or to members reaching a certain benchmark of longevity, or to members exhibiting a certain predictive behavior should be put in place and used. At Glazer-Kennedy, our two major events during the year provide us with our best opportunities to upgrade Members—and, for a quick education, grab the main SuperConference brochure and go through it carefully to see how many times, places and ways we are encouraging upgrading membership in the brochure and at/during the event itself.

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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.

The point of your and my info-marketing businesses is to provide value by helping our customers get results. But Popular Science isn’t trying to make its readers into scientists. So, why would someone read it? The fact is 1.2 million “someones” read it, and the magazine has maintained its numbers over the last three years, a difficult time for the publishing industry.

Popular Science attracts its large audience because curious people want to know how things work. The magazine provides a lot of illustrations and charts to demonstrate various interesting things, such as how jet engines, stem cell therapies and airline flight cancellations work. These charts help to satisfy the curious mind.

Before you dismiss the importance of a curious mind to your business, consider this: How many times have you purchased a product because you wanted to learn how something worked? (And once you learned how that something worked, you were satisfied—even though you had no intention of ever implementing it for yourself?) For each of those purchases, your primary goal in buying and consuming a product was to figure out how something was done.

No one in the info-marketing world seems to realize this is a huge driver in his or her business. Your customers aren’t necessarily buying so they can implement themselves. That’s our assumption, but it’s not theirs. Instead, many of them want to know how things are done. They want to know and understand how something works.

As info-marketers, we get frustrated by our customers’ fascination with what we call “bright shiny objects.” But that’s how info-marketing customers are wired. That exact impulse drove them to buy from you to begin with. And if you don’t provide them the next interesting thing, they are going to move on to another info-marketer.

Popular Science has perfected the business of providing its readers with the next thing. It is the magazine of “bright shiny objects.” You may assume Popular Science readers subscribe to learn; however, the magazine’s research clearly shows its readers enjoy the periodical as downtime, a leisure activity, an escape. With this understanding, Popular Science made its magazine more fun. No reason to provide encyclopedia-type articles; instead, make them entertaining for the readers to enhance their downtime experience. The content is geared to prepare readers to be the smartest persons in the room. By knowing about new technology and being able to explain things to their friends, readers increase their self-image.

An important point about products created for this type of customer: Include illustrations. These customers want to understand how something works and are less interested in the step-by-step details they would need to implement it themselves.

How many of your customers buy from you to learn how things work? How many buy for entertainment and as an escape? My guess is the customers in these two categories outnumber those who buy to implement.

Of course, the typical info-marketing product is geared in some way for people to implement. So, is it wrong to assume that some customers buy for reasons other than implementation? Should we create all of our products solely for the implementers and then allow the other customers to tune in when (and if) they want? Let me know your thoughts at A Secret to Longevity.
Best wishes,

Robert Skrob

If you’d like to find out more about the archives, visit www.DKArchive.com. Here is an excerpt from Volume 5, Issue 3 of the archives. I’m sure you’ll find it valuable and enlightening.

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You’ve probably seen dogs appearing free to roam—and probably feeling less confined, perpetually fooled—by the surprisingly effective ‘invisible fence.’ In my Renegade Millionaire System, I talk about the problem of building up your knowledge and skills to a ‘10’ but being stuck in a ‘size 4’ opportunity. Truth is, quite a few mature, successful info-marketers arrive at just that place. If they/we applied our knowledge and skills to much bigger sized opportunities, they/we might just be billionaires instead of millionaires. But, among other things, it almost certainly means leaving the business of selling business information to businesspeople behind in favor of a much bigger, broader, consumer interest: sex, romance, relationships, gambling, food, etc. There is a mutual fund that’s done quite well in recent years investing only in “sin businesses”—casinos, tobacco, alcohol, etc. Imagine how “dangerous” the experienced info-marketer with our kind of know-how investing his time only in such categories. There may be ethical considerations—everybody draws their line, usually a moveable line, about what they will and won’t do to make money in a different place. But if we simply make the broadest delineation and compare the ‘entertainment’ and ‘information’ business, we will find 90% of the super-sized opportunities on the entertainment side of the line. One video game may produce $300-million, while the astute marketer of information to a niche or niches might require 10 to 25 years to hit that number with all his products, seminars, coaching, etc., combined. While Trump has taken some obvious, easy pickings from The Apprentice, by licensing himself to get-rich training events and products and grabbing big fee speaking gigs, you might notice he has not made serious investment here. The money made from licensing his name to one real estate project for points certainly eclipses all the money made or maybe even to be made with real effort selling his business advice to small investors and entrepreneurs; as the money from licensing himself to clothing manufacturers and Macy’s probably does. Trump knows small potatoes when sees them.

There are a lot of ways to make money in the info-business, especially after reaching a point of real understanding and competence, with some capital to operate with. You can “go negative” deeper and longer to buy more customers in your niche with confidence of creating satisfactory if delayed profits; you can cobble together multiple, compatible niche businesses by serial start-up or acquisition; you can even move from niche(s) to generic. But the truth—which I’ve always taught—is that these markets are finite and the most successful exploitation of them still is a box with four solid sides. For example, the average niche can, at best, provide only 20% of its population as viable customers, and, at best, only 20% of those will stay as your paying customers for life—thus a small niche of, say, 30,000 promises no more than 6,000 buyers; 1,200 lifers. Yes, the equal of only $1,000.00 net per year per lifer equals a nice 7-figure income. Manipulated by ascension, value increased by providing services not just goods, a mid-7-figure income. But nothing more. Even in a broader context, only about 1% of the U.S. population ever invests significantly in self-improvement, personal growth, or make money information (beyond casual purchasing of books and magazines)—about one million (by households) to two million (by body count) maximum number of customers being shared by a gigantic number of vendors. There is no such practical limitation to the number of consumers who “invest” money in movie tickets, games, toys, adult entertainment, etc., and there are more wrestling fans regularly spending money on that then there are ‘business information buyers.’ This is neither lament nor cautionary tale. I suppose just a reality check. The future of the information marketing industry as we know it is very uncertain. ‘Hard,’ physical product is losing its value, readers are scarcer, internet’s low barrier to entry multiplies competition, etc. Presumably there will always be new customers starting businesses, getting sales jobs, first-time investors who need us. Slight-edge practitioners who stay with us. But their number may very well diminish, their value diminish, the cost of acquiring them keep rising, the life of a customer and product shorten, so that the profits to be taken make ‘small’ less and less viable. On the other hand, there seems no end to expansion of domestic and worldwide consumption of entertainment product. Are most of us in the wrong business? I don’t know. I suppose it depends. What do you think?

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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.

There are many ways to fail in any business launch. The info-marketing business is no exception. You can choose a niche that is too large, under research your nicheand launch the wrong product, market poorly, market too little or rely too much on joint ventures—and this is just the beginning of the list.

Life is too short. I don’t want to be misled by someone who is trying to spare my feelings. If I’m missing something important, I want to be told.

I assume the same with the clients I work with. That’s why it irritates me when I see others teaching to “pursue your passion” or “follow your dream. ” That’s cruel.

Only fools expect success without effort.

You want to build the foundation of a business so that the business will continue to grow. It will take work, a lot of learning and a serious investment. But you are working for a result that’s bigger than a life of leisure; you are working for the mastery of your craft—and your life. The point where running your business and living your life become intuitive. When growing your business is like driving a car, and you’re getting down the road without having to consciously think about it. Instead, you can relax because you know exactly where you are going and how you are going to get there.

Unless someone is in therapy, he or she doesn’t need constant encouragement that everything is all right. Instead, that person needs to hear the truth.

You have a choice.

You can build a business quickly by giving customers a bunch of false promises about what they can expect from your products and services. Sure, customers want to buy a system that pours out money without work. Yes, lots of people will want to buy that. However, you will end up with customers who believe it’s possible to get money without doing any work. People like that will dump you and run to the next person who promises easy money.

Your other, much better, choice?You can build a business by becoming a master craftsman yourself.

If you have already made that choice, you are a master craftsman because you understand your customers, you understand your business and you are driving intuitively. You’ve invested the time and effort, and now you know exactly what to do next to reach your goal. If you haven’t made that choice, maybe it’s time you did.

What do you think? Do you agree that building a successful business is more about work and mastery than it is about pursuing a dream? Or do you have a different perspective based on your experience? Visit the page The Cruelty of Encouragement, and scroll down to the bottom of the page to leave me a comment. I read every comment and reply when appropriate.
Best wishes,

Robert Skrob

Amway provided the education that college didn’t. In it I learned useful skills, such as how to walk up to total strangers, start a conversation, get a phone number and follow up. It wasn’t fun at all.

One of the key tools that enabled me to launch from Master’s of Accountancy graduate to successful salesperson relying on in-person cold contacting was the book How I Raised Myself From Failure to Success in Selling by Frank Bettger. I still have it on my shelf, and whenever I get depressed, I refer to it to remind me of the tools that have gotten me through tough times.

“Chapter 1 – How One Idea Multiplied My Income and Happiness”
When my Amway upline set me loose on the city to cold contact, my sponsor spent a lot of time teaching me what to say, how to approach people and how to ask for their contact information. It didn’t do any good talking to strangers if you ultimately didn’t have the guts to ask for their follow-up information. I determined, above all, that no one would see me as scared or lazy.

I acted like I was a player at the Super Bowl. When we went around in teams of two, I’d jump out at each stop and introduce myself to as many people as I could find. I’d smile big. I could barely stand still I had so much energy—and it worked like magic. It didn’t matter what I was saying, the people I met liked speaking to me and were excited about my offer to call them later to meet with them.

Within weeks, enthusiasm took me from zero to $1,000. 00 a week in sales. I was brand new, but everyone wanted to know what I knew; they wanted to find out what I was so darned excited about.

Since then, I’ve found customers, clients and the public are magically attracted to enthusiastic people. It doesn’t matter if you don’t feel enthusiastic. If you act like an enthusiastic person, you get all the same benefits.

I firmly believe that enthusiasm is the single biggest key in attracting customers. While business knowledge will help you leverage customers for the most profit, that knowledge cannot help you obtain customers in the first place.

“Chapter 14 – The Biggest Lesson I Ever Learned About Creating Confidence”
I went through a series of terrifying revelations. Out of college, I thought I knew everything. I soon discovered, however, that I knew nothing.

What a terrifying year or two that was. No matter how much I tried, how many magazines I read and how many books I studied, I knew it was a small fraction of a percentage of everything there was to know.

That’s when it occurred to me.

During conversations with my clients and coworkers, I figured out everyone else was an idiot, too. Even the professionals—the attorneys and the doctors—yep, they were guessing, too. What a quandary, not only was I an idiot, but everyone else around me was one, too!

Even though I was an idiot, with a grasp of only a narrow bit of knowledge, my study had given me far more knowledge than anyone else around me, and they knew it. I’ve discovered that only a small number of people ever make this revelation. They are stuck in the stage where they realize they know nothing. Most people are constantly intimidated by everyone around them because they are searching for the person with all the knowledge.

Since then, I study before every meeting or sales presentation. I get myself familiar with the customer, I make sure I completely understand the details of the deal and I learn everything I can about my competitors. That knowledge and confidence comes through, and I consistently win the confidence of my customers. When someone gives you his confidence, it’s 100 percent. If he trusts you to on a $10. 00 sale, he’ll trust you on a $100,00. 00 sale. And it’s as easy as research, study and a commitment to learning.

“Chapter 33 – Don’t Be Afraid to Fail”
My family knows I’m a hermit. In fact, if I hadn’t gotten married I suspect I easily could have become a homeless bum reading books at the library. Before I met my wife I was shopping for a boat to live on instead of my apartment. The only challenge was where to store all the Amway products.

Speaking to others, or even writing for that matter, comes with great difficulty. There are lots of false starts, paragraphs that go nowhere, editing, chopping and finally a finished product. I’m a hermit. I have a lot of apprehension about expressing myself. After all, I realize how little I know, so what useful knowledge do I have to share?

Then I have to give platform sales presentations. I have to go to a strange city, stand up in front of people I’ve never met with a little PowerPoint clicker in my hand (it worked at the office) and try to give a sales presentation that inspires action. Or even worse, I have to stand on a platform in my own city, in front of people I’ve known for years, convince them I know something they want to know, get their credit card numbers and get out of there.

I’m scared to death up there. Before the presentation, during the presentation and after the presentation. I don’t like being in front of people, and I don’t like giving presentations. However, I’ve learned to beat the fear and do it anyway.

What I do is focus on what I want. I don’t worry about anything else. I’m there to get X new customers or to get the X deal done. As I focus all of my attention on that goal, everything else around me goes away. It’s like I’m in a tunnel and all I can see at the end of the tunnel is my goal. Everything else on the outside of the tunnel disappears, and nothing is between me and my goal.

In his book, Frank Bettger teaches, “Courage is not the absence of fear, it is the conquest of it. ” If you have fear about what people are going to say about you, that’s normal. Are you afraid your investment won’t yield the results you want? That’s understandable. Does it scare you to think about how complicated your life will become with 1,000 or 10,000 people on your monthly continuity program? There’s good reason.

You are perfectly normal to feel this way. But don’t let it stop you for one second. Instead, focus on your goal. Keep your eyes on what you hope to accomplish and get it done despite your fears.

All learning is a progression. Direct sales and the info-marketing business are no different. When you do something for the first time, it won’t be as good as what someone else has practiced and perfected over several years. You cannot compare yourself to them.

However, if you never do it for the first time, you will never begin the process of getting better. You have to do it. Even if it means you do it poorly at first. As you do it poorly, study what others are doing, hire experts to help you and get better. That is how all learning takes place.

Here is what I do know: If you act with enthusiasm, learn everything you can and overcome your fear, you have the recipe to achieve anything you want in the information marketing business.

What do you think? Do you have any insights on how to overcome obstacles to become successful? Visit the page How I Became Successful, and scroll down to the bottom of the page to leave me a comment. I read every comment and reply when appropriate.
Best wishes,

Robert Skrob